Yanba

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Hatching and Contract

Yanba hatched from the stone Yun Li had given Feng Zhuo. His egg had previously shared a market stall with the White Tiger’s egg, and the tiger had encouraged him to treat human cultivators as inferior creatures to be bullied 17 48.

Less than an hour after hatching, Yanba forcibly established a Life-Bound Contract with the unconscious Feng Zhuo. He then demanded deference on the strength of his Calamity Beast bloodline. Feng Zhuo subdued him with third-tier Life-Bound Spirit Fire, forcing him to acknowledge who was master. Spirit-Feeding Pills secured his cooperation, and Feng Zhuo ordered him to stay away from the White Tiger 17.

Life on Carefree Peak

Yanba became Carefree Peak’s gate guardian during Heaven-Soaring Peak’s campaign of harassment. After repeatedly returning with scorched challenge notices, he began guarding the mountain boundary; a charred stele warned trespassers to provide for their own cremation 18.

He also accepted unwanted flames from friendly visitors and helped deliver messages. His reputation as a flame-eating beast concealed the real purpose of this collection: gathering nourishment for Feng Zhuo’s advancing Life-Bound Spirit Fire 18.

Green Wood Illusion Forest

Yanba carried Feng Zhuo south through the secret realm, evading beast attacks and illuminating the hidden cave with the glow between his scales. After drinking the remaining Bell Spirit Milk, he advanced to the sixth tier 22 24.

In Yi Wood’s ancient battlefield space, Yanba guarded Feng Zhuo and helped him withstand three bolts of tribulation lightning. The Life-Bound Contract brought Yanba another advancement. When Yi Wood’s tainted essence endangered Feng Zhuo, Yanba helped destroy the remaining Evil Qi and swallowed its remnants, awakening Soul-Scorching Flame. Feng Zhuo then fed him a drop of Yi Wood Sacred Physique blood as protection against a backlash 25 26.

After Feng Zhuo contracted the Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine, both emerged gravely injured. Yanba’s Heart-Scorching Flame helped suppress the vine, but exhaustion made this only a temporary measure 27.

Yanba later restrained Nangong Tang and her Green-Eyed Golden Toad while Feng Zhuo forced her to disclose the truth about an ancient cave abode. He accompanied Feng Zhuo inside and watched over him during the dangerous process of binding the vine through the Symbiotic Contract 29 34 35.

Battles at the Secret Realm’s Exit

When the White Tiger attacked Feng Zhuo, Yanba intercepted it, blocked its spatial movement, and killed it without damaging its fur. Feng Zhuo kept the corpse for its valuable materials 38.

During the duel with Chu Yunfei, Yanba stopped the remaining thirty percent of Chu Yunfei’s Annihilation Sword Intent after Feng Zhuo’s flames had weakened it. He then joined Feng Zhuo’s counterattack. When Zhong Mingxuan intervened, Yanba resisted the elder’s pressure and continued pursuing Chu Yunfei, breaking his sword 41 42.

Journey to Clear Creek Village

Yanba subsequently carried Feng Zhuo and Cang Wuya for ten days without stopping on their journey to Clear Creek Village. His request for roast fish prompted a rest stop near their destination, though Feng Zhuo ultimately fed him specially prepared Spirit-Feeding Pills instead 50.

Appearance

Yanba combines a dragon’s body, a lion’s head, deerlike legs, and nine chain-shaped tails. He grows from the size of a nursing puppy to that of a lion before the secret-realm expedition 17 19.

• Coloration: Blood-crimson scales with glowing, magma-like patterns between them 17.
• Head: A leonine face and fluffy mane, often shedding sparks 17 34 50.
• Feet: Four long, deerlike legs; his feet also bear five sharp claws 19 26.
• Tails: Nine flexible, chainlike tails that rattle and interweave into nets 17 19.
• Post-tribulation change: His tail chains acquire a faint purple sheen after channeling heavenly lightning 25.

Personality

Yanba begins life boastful and convinced that his bloodline entitles him to command humans. His bravado quickly collapses under Feng Zhuo’s punishment, and his appetite repeatedly wins over his pride. He readily flatters Feng Zhuo for pills, steals toward an unattended supply when he thinks his master is distracted, and immediately retracts his challenge to Chu Yunfei when faced with actually fighting a Golden Core sword cultivator 17 20 32.

Despite this opportunism, Yanba develops genuine loyalty. He resolves to follow Feng Zhuo through mortal danger, becomes distressed when their soul link lets him sense his master’s suffering, and angrily confronts Yi Wood for harming him. By the time Feng Zhuo completes the Symbiotic Contract’s first stage, their relationship includes affection beyond the practical consequences of their bond 24 25 26 35.

Abilities & Skills

Nüba Bloodline

• Calamity potential: A fully grown Yanba is described as capable of bringing great drought upon emerging into the world. This mature power has not yet been demonstrated 17.
• Innate speech: Can speak human language from birth, unlike ordinary Demon Beasts, which normally require thirteenth-tier cultivation 49.
• Bloodline pressure: His thin Nüba bloodline is comparable in rank to the White Tiger’s mixed Divine Beast bloodline. The tiger’s greater bloodline purity nevertheless reduces the suppressive effect of Yanba’s pressure 38.

Heart-Scorching Flame and Demonic Fire

• Shapes fire into chains, nets, and defensive curtains 26 27 41.
• Helps counter the Soul-Devouring Vine’s blood resentment Qi, although severe exhaustion can leave him unable to maintain the flame 27 30.
• Warps nearby space sufficiently to prevent the second-tier White Tiger from using spatial travel 38.
• Attacks the White Tiger’s soul while leaving its fur intact 38.
• Combines flames and chains to stop the weakened remainder of Chu Yunfei’s Annihilation Sword Intent 41.

Soul-Scorching Flame

• Awakens after Yanba consumes residual blood resentment Evil Qi 26.
• Appears as black fire that emits no heat yet distorts surrounding light 26.
• Specifically counters souls; initially, Yanba can kindle only a candle-sized flame 26.
• Is distinct in name from the Heart-Scorching Flame already used in combat 26.

Nine Chainlike Tails

• Intertwine into nets to catch objects or restrain opponents 17 38.
• Conduct leaking tribulation lightning into the ground 25.
• Support precise manipulation, including catching pill bottles and attempting to steal from Feng Zhuo’s Storage Bag 32 50.

Flight and Mobility

• Flies on clouds of fire beneath his feet and serves as a mount 18 19.
• Uses speed and agility to avoid dangerous encounters in the Green Wood Illusion Forest 22.
• Can carry both Feng Zhuo and Cang Wuya over an extended journey 50.
• Cannot effectively pursue the Green-Eyed Golden Toad once it escapes underground 29.

Life-Bound Contract

• Closely links Yanba’s soul to Feng Zhuo’s, allowing him to sense his master’s suffering 25.
• Enables Yanba to benefit from Feng Zhuo’s advancement, as demonstrated after the Foundation Establishment tribulation 25.
• Cannot be dissolved while both remain alive. Feng Zhuo’s death would severely damage Yanba’s vitality 17 35.

Relationships

• Feng Zhuo — Master and Life-Bound Contract partner. Their initially coercive arrangement develops into mutual protection and affection; Feng Zhuo also customizes supreme-grade Spirit-Feeding Pills to Yanba’s tastes 17 26 35 50.
• Yun Li — Gave Feng Zhuo the stone from which Yanba hatched. Feng Zhuo later cites this gift as a reason for helping restore her arm 48.
• Ling Shuanghua — Teases and feeds Yanba. Feng Zhuo suspects her influence when Yanba begins using coarse language and recalls that she has taken him to the gambling den 18 20.
• White Tiger — Former neighboring egg at the market stall and the source of Yanba’s early anti-human boasting. Yanba ultimately kills it while defending Feng Zhuo 17 38.
• Cang Wuya — Travels with Yanba and Feng Zhuo; uses precisely controlled ice to help catch the fish Yanba requested 50.
• Nangong Tang and the Green-Eyed Golden Toad — Initially restrained by Yanba to compel an honest explanation of the cave abode; afterward accompany Feng Zhuo in seeking it 29 30 34.