Zhang Xuezhou

Biodata

Power Progression

Zhang Xuezhou develops cultivation realms, mental power, Gene Fighting Techniques, and individual Technique Methods along separate tracks.

Background and History

Early life in two worlds

In the real world, Zhang Xuezhou grows up with Zhang Weimeng, Song Fengying, and his older sister, Zhang Manqian. His father's serialized novels support the family, but unsuccessful attempts to become wealthy leave the siblings short of money. Initially underage, Zhang Xuezhou cannot easily find work to pay for treatment 3 5 20.

His other life begins in Zhang Household Village, where Zhang Zhong and Lady Yourong raise him. Originally named Zhang Erbao, he insists on adopting the real-world name Zhang Xuezhou when he is six or seven. Although the weakest child of his age in the village, he later recognizes that its demanding mountain upbringing gave him a stronger physique than many outsiders 8 3083 3375.

He initially treats his experiences in the other world as dreams associated with mental illness, recording them in a patient diary. The appearance of the Supreme Purity True Technique in reality undermines that explanation. He later suspects that his family's different abnormalities reflect phenomena beyond contemporary understanding rather than ordinary illness 3 20 197.

School and the Yedie River Holy Land

At school, Zhang Xuezhou lives under the reputation of his academically successful, physically formidable sister. He improves to 218th in a ranking examination, one place ahead of his deskmate Mei Renteng, and later expects admission to Canglan Academy's psychology program 11 20 94.

In the other world, he seeks security at the Yedie River Holy Land. His status as the Golden Toad Dharma King's adopted son wins attention, but studying under Hongku brings danger: the repeated deaths of Hongku's students make him fear that he could be next 90 94.

He and Wu Chao cooperate against Hongku, although Wu Chao also coerces him. Their eventual escape from that predicament does not erase the damage. Wu Chao's attempts to repair their relationship convince Zhang Xuezhou that continued cultivation is necessary if he wants alliances based on equality rather than dependence 124 130 250 251.

Building connections and entering official life

Zhang Xuezhou's ties to the Ren Household help him enter Western Capital City's cultivation and research circles. Recommendations from Luo Gaogao and Zhu Kuang secure his admission to the Scions' Back Garden, a network normally restricted to influential families' children. The Zhang Household also develops an internet-technology business in a field with relatively little lineage competition 525 959.

In the Great Han, he studies with Dong Zhongshu while navigating the restrictions surrounding formal master-disciple relationships. Although he has little patriotic attachment to the dynasty, official appointments offer cultivation resources and opportunities to develop Fortune Techniques 429 478 761 982.

His court career includes the Gongche Sima commandant post and an offer to become a scholar awaiting imperial summons at the Golden Horse Gate, conditional on answering an examination question. He later becomes Grand Palace Counselor, but his health and reluctance to enter political disputes frustrate Dong Zhongshu's hopes of using that position to promote Confucian rites 1223 2295.

The invading presence and bodily transformation

The Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon threatens Zhang Xuezhou's control over his body. He asks Ren Yisheng for help resisting it and later uses the Yang Corporeal Soul Transformation Technique to give it a body when caught between its escape attempt and Tuer God's attack 356 781.

His struggle becomes entangled with Zuo Luo's intervention in his brain. Zhang Xuezhou concludes that a chip or similar mechanism left by Zuo Luo has confined the demon, inadvertently improving his own position 2065.

After exchanging places with the demon and returning to Soul-Severing Ridge, he discovers that he cannot use his Technique Methods. Instead of abandoning cultivation, he accepts a body with extraordinary resilience and flight capability, judging that survival remains possible despite the loss of offensive power 2279.

Recovery, family, and rebirth

His recovery proceeds unevenly. Even after attaining the Sole Self Realm, he reports that his Law Power remains unrecovered. When injured again, he arranges continued medical treatment through Yi Shuo and seeks resources owed for risks taken in the court's service, while preparing for possible retaliation from Dao Lord 3008 3148.

His family life also changes. A Qiao bears him a premature son, but their marriage ends in divorce. Yi Shuo's bond with him develops differently: she chooses the relationship herself, and he eventually recognizes that what he had regarded as treatment carries genuine affection for her 3013 3037 3505.

Using the Reincarnation Stone, Zhang Xuezhou merges the Life and Death Techniques and restores his body after decay. He subsequently explains his understanding of repeated rebirth to the new emperor 3275.

Immortal Court conflicts and plans to leave

His later conflicts reach the Immortal Court. Wanted by Haotian, he approaches the retired Jade Emperor under Celestial Venerable Yuanshi's protection to recover Rong Tianding and his companions. He reveals that Haotian's body has been seized and names Donghua, prompting the Jade Emperor to take the accusation seriously 3611.

After creating a Mind Ape, Zhang Xuezhou agrees to take Zhang Hao to the other world and promises to relocate his family once his remaining affairs are settled. Yi Shuo is prepared to accompany him. He later coordinates the practical requirements for cross-world exchanges with Ren Anran and considers consulting Donghua, reasoning that Donghua cannot reach or threaten him in the real world 3797 3810.

Appearance

• Early presentation: Described as refined and courteous, despite a sharp tongue and calculating temperament 1001.
• Cultivated physique: His skin develops a faint, moonlit sheen. Li Su finds him apparently unchanged—or younger—after ten years 2893.
• Changing age: Treatment and cultivation alter his apparent age; Yi Shuo is startled by his youthful face and voice, while he later returns to the emperor with an older-looking face and a beard 2989 3008.
• Wings: The Technique Within the Clouds produces retractable wings that progress through wood, bronze, and eventually golden forms 267 433 2220.
• Disguises: Uses facial alterations and borrowed clothing when traveling, sometimes making his appearance incompatible with his travel documents 749.

Personality

Zhang Xuezhou's temperament changes considerably. Originally cheerful, he becomes withdrawn after his mental-illness diagnosis, then increasingly daring as he begins treating the other world as unreal. Experience leaves him outwardly polite but sharp-tongued, pragmatic, and adept at small schemes 411 1001.

Survival matters more to him than heroic conduct. He favors escape, preparation, ambushes, and indirect attacks over fair exchanges. He also distinguishes borrowed strength from personal ability: treasures are useful tools, not proof that their power belongs to him 433 1608 2760.

His independence does not exclude loyalty. He and Zhang Manqian share useful discoveries without demanding repayment, and he gradually accepts responsibility for relatives and villagers who depend on him. He prefers helping promising people and forming good connections to maintaining retainers or purchasing lifelong loyalty 180 620 1831 3460.

He is cautious about hierarchy and coercion. Unequal dealings with Wu Chao and the Zuo Household make him sensitive to supposed friendships that conceal control. Nevertheless, he can reassess former rivals and cooperate when interests align 214 251 1784 2528.

Abilities & Skills

World Traversal

His consciousness alternates between the real world and the cultivation world.

• Initially associated with sleep and experiences he records as dreams 3 20.
• Crossing can leave his body unconscious and dependent on others' protection 617.
• His unusual rhythm includes remaining asleep or fully awake for days at a time 1871.
• Later cross-world exchanges require agreed candidates, preparation on both sides, and coordination 3810.

Yin-Yang Cultivation

His foundational cultivation draws on the Yin-Yang School's inheritance.

• Complementary Realm Techniques increase both Law Power reserves and quality 1506.
• Realm cultivation expands his capacity for mental power, while mental power improves technique range, precision, and strength 1565.
• Blocked acupoints and Heaven and Earth Bridges repeatedly obstruct advancement 982 1972.
• His resource-heavy approach prioritizes whatever keeps him alive and allows another step forward, rather than an economical, predetermined cultivation route 2740.

Mental Power and Suppression

The Mental Strengthening Chapter becomes one of his strongest specializations.

• Strengthens intimidation and Realm Suppression beyond the normal expectations of his cultivation realm 1826.
• Gives his soul exceptional resistance; the Venerable One judges his thought power comparable to peak Sole Self Realm or possibly True Self Realm levels 2411.
• Can make techniques difficult to restrain: after reaching the seventh chapter, fully healing an injury is easier than deliberately healing only part of it 2130.
• Eventually enables the creation of a Mind Ape, discussed as a potential substitute in the Three Realms. Multiple Mind Apes and cross-dimensional contact remain possibilities rather than demonstrated results 3797.

Flight and Evasion

He develops several distinct aerial abilities rather than relying on a single system.

• Technique Within the Clouds: Uses refined wings; his early human form limits its range compared with bird demons 267.
• Crane Soaring: A Gene Fighting Technique suited to backward flight and dodging 530.
• Cloud Soaring Technique: A Technique Method strengthened by mental cultivation and later raised to a Flying and Leaping Divine Ability 2130 2220.
• Bodily aerial movement: Develops an instinctive ability to rise into the air, distinct from both Gene Fighting Techniques and spellcasting 1709.
• Nine Evasion Techniques: Counter their corresponding types of Technique Methods, with increasingly pronounced protection at higher mastery 2128.

Healing and Medicine

The Supreme Purity True Technique underpins his work as a healer.

• Uses Law Power to treat injuries and pierce acupoints; stronger dual cultivation reduces his reliance on silver needles for certain patients 1506.
• Treating high-Sequence experts exposes him to their personal and political conflicts 1446.
• Refines pills and prepares medicines, drawing on gathered herbs, recipes, and specialized treasures 1274 2653 3527.
• His knowledge is uneven: delivering Wei Shao'er's baby does not make him a trained obstetric specialist 1835.

Fleshly Body and Rebirth

His defensive development eventually exceeds his conventional offensive ability.

• Bodily transformation compensates for deficiencies in his incomplete Technique Within the Clouds inheritance 2279.
• Remains difficult to kill with blades and swords even without actively defending himself 3073.
• The Sole Self Realm Fleshly Body Technique can obstruct or dispel incoming Technique Methods 3249.
• Merging the Life and Death Techniques through the Reincarnation Stone allows bodily regeneration and revival; his first documented restoration takes three days 3275.

Combat Techniques and Ranged Control

His fighting style combines targeting, mental attacks, restraint, and remotely controlled weapons.

• True Spirit Realm target-locking gives him exceptional shooting accuracy, but does not compensate for slow bodily reactions 455.
• The Eye of the Ba Snake allows him to manifest the Kunpeng Combat Technique in the cultivation world 435.
• Yellow Sand Sect techniques and the Green Rock Wooden Staff provide options for direct combat 1565.
• The Yang Corporeal Soul Dharma Form greatly amplifies techniques such as Stone Transformation 1033.
• Weak genes limit his Gene Fighting Techniques. Later experiments substitute mental power or a physical medium, including a heated alloy needle, while he explores the Innate One Qi Technique 3645.

Fortune Techniques

He pursues Fortune cultivation through official appointments and dealings with other practitioners.

• Learns that aligned intentions can support mutual benefit, while opposing intentions can trigger clashes and shared misfortune 982 2016.
• Attributes unexpected assistance during cultivation to Fortune 1972.
• Recognizes recurring failures of competing schemes as a familiar consequence of conflicts among Fortune practitioners 2653.
• Learning Kunlun's Qi Fortune Technique requires merit and the Divine Emperor's favor; Divine Lord Zhenyuan recommends the Centennial Pact as an opportunity 2380.

Memory, Adaptation, and Negotiation

• Excels at memorizing complicated material, making Confucian recitation-based cultivation attractive to him 478.
• Is better at combining acquired knowledge and reproducing others' methods than independently comprehending profound teachings 2490.
• Maintains confidentiality even when offered valuable blood agents in payment for information 1649.
• Builds cohesion by directing shared interests and distributing benefits, complementing Ren Yisheng's use of authority 3391.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Eye of the Ba Snake — Yao Treasure that contracts into a nearly weightless black bead. Helps manifest the Kunpeng Combat Technique and resist the tree demon's green light 435 1765.
• Purple-Gold Medicine Gourd — Pill-refining treasure used to produce medicines including the Potent Spirit-Forging Pill. Holy Mother Wudang warns against relying on treasures born from Chaos Spirit Roots 1274 2760.
• Green Rock Wooden Staff — Strengthens sand and earth Technique Methods 1565.
• Innate Spirit Wood Staff — Innate spiritual object from Fangzhang Island. Initially unreliable; Sect Master Zhunti's refinement and subsequent mental nurturing improve its responsiveness 1826 3041 3090 3091.
• Heavenly Robe — Provides convenient flight, though Zhang Xuezhou does not count its effects as his own cultivation strength 2760.
• Marquis of Sui's Pearl — Particularly effective against Yin entities. He promises it to Rong Tianding, but delays transferring it because of its connection to Emperor Jing 1826.
• Six Talismans of the Tai Steps — Gather the Yin-Yang Sacred Land's Spiritual Qi and support his dangerous Divine Ability Realm breakthrough attempt 1972.
• Infinite Blade — Soul Jade-controlled remote weapon suited to striking weak points. Its relatively low power, fragile control medium, and limited Spiritual Qi restrict its use 1360 2256.
• Infinite Gun — Designed to hunt exotic beasts; ineffective against Ferocious Beasts 2256.
• Reincarnation Stone — Anchors his divine soul during the merging of the Life and Death Techniques 3275.
• Three-Zhang Azure — Azure silk entrusted to him by Heavenly King Li. Automatically binds opponents, changes length through an incantation, and repairs itself if cut 3352.
• Storage treasures — Possesses storage pouches, the Lesser Heaven and Earth Bag, and Purity Bamboo among the items that survive his repeated clashes 1826 2760.
• Liang Garden Token — Grants access to Liang Garden and allows him to bring Gongsun Hong there as a guest 1657 2893.

Relationships

Family and Partners

• Zhang Weimeng — Real-world father and novelist. Their relationship is unusually equal and friendly; Zhang Xuezhou values it despite frequently mocking his father's ambitions 3 1649.
• Song Fengying — Real-world mother. Her livestreaming embarrasses him, but he comes to recognize the effort his parents expend for their children's future 20 320.
• Zhang Manqian — Older sister and central ally. Their quarrels coexist with unconditional sharing and mutual support; she later places him at the center of the Zhang Household's advancement 95 180 1446.
• Zhang Zhong and Lady Yourong — Parents in the cultivation world. Their upbringing sustains him through his early travels, and he later works to recover and protect them 1542 3083.
• Rong Tianding — Cousin whom he guides in cultivation and supplies with opportunities and pills. Zhang Xuezhou later seeks his release from the Immortal Court 620 3527 3611.
• A Qiao — Former wife and mother of his premature son. Initially placed with him through the King of Huainan's Household's schemes, she has little freedom in forming the relationship; they later divorce 2379 3013 3037 3505.
• Yi Shuo — Physician, cultivation beneficiary, and partner. His advice helps her advance, survive imprisonment, and avenge her parents. She chooses a bond with him and prepares to begin a new life in the other world 2990 3505 3797.

Teachers and Cultivation Allies

• Hongku — Dangerous teacher whose arrangements Zhang Xuezhou helps disrupt. Their relationship remains wary and transactional, though Zhang later regards him as more reliable than complete outsiders 94 259 2131 2520.
• Wu Chao — Senior fellow disciple, ally, and former coercer. Shared danger creates lasting ties, but Zhang Xuezhou refuses to return to a subordinate relationship 130 250 251.
• Jin Chang — Cultivation associate involved in exchanges of inheritance and techniques. Guards Zhang Xuezhou during his Divine Ability Realm breakthrough attempt 940 982 1972.
• Venerable Lei — Teacher of the Technique Within the Clouds and its wing-refinement methods 248 290.
• Golden Toad Dharma King — Adoptive father whose status gives Zhang Xuezhou considerable protection and prestige 90 290.
• Dong Zhongshu — Confucian instructor and adviser on official life and Fortune cultivation. His hopes for Zhang Xuezhou's political role exceed Zhang's willingness and physical ability to participate 478 982 2295.
• Divine Lord Zhenyuan — Cultivation companion and adviser who encourages him to seek Kunlun's Qi Fortune Technique and offers help preparing for the Centennial Pact 2279 2380.

Real-World Allies and Rivals

• Ren Yisheng and Ren Anran — Early, stable members of his inner circle. They help with mental cultivation, the threat inside his brain, and later cross-world preparations 356 2065 2095 3810.
• Wang Haoran — Senior ally willing to guide and protect him. Values Zhang Xuezhou's ability to unite people through shared benefits 880 959 3391.
• Zuo Teng — Begins as an unequal, mistrusted collaborator. Their relationship becomes more workable as Zhang Xuezhou grows stronger, although disputes over information and leverage persist 214 1784 1814.
• Zuo Quan and Zuo Luo — Powerful figures whose cooperation comes with coercive pressure. Zuo Luo's apparent brain implant also becomes an accidental restraint on the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon 2014 2020 2065.
• Tuer Kalanduo — Believes him to be her fiancé because of the Tuer Clan's customs concerning her jewelry. Recognizes his world crossing and calls him a living god or divine messenger; Zhang Xuezhou does not reciprocate her romantic interest at that stage 617 1003.

Court and Otherworld Powers

• The new emperor — Patron and recurring confidant who offers appointments, discusses court problems with him, and witnesses his account of rebirth. Their familiarity extends beyond ordinary official business 1223 3008 3025 3275.
• Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon — Invading presence that threatens to take his body. Zhang Xuezhou resists it, exploits restraints placed upon it, and later argues that he should be able to borrow its power in return 356 2065 2317.
• Donghua — Longstanding enemy involved in repeated attempts on each other's lives. Zhang Xuezhou eventually considers an alliance because withdrawal to the real world would remove direct competition between them 3148 3810.
• Zhang Hao — Teaches him the Mind Ape method; Zhang Xuezhou agrees to take him to the other world 3797.

Notable Quotes

“My adoptive father saw me in the Han Dynasty and found my appearance pleasing, so he took me as his adoptive son. Take a look at me. I'm a pure human, born to humans!” 90

“I have zero Law Power available, nearly half my Demon Power is locked away, and my Qi and Blood have grown immensely stronger!” 2279

“My genes are weak, so I can't use the Gene Fighting Technique as a foundation. I need to switch it out for mental power, or else use a medium.” 3645

Trivia

• Only Zhang Zhong continues calling him Zhang Erbao after his childhood name change; even Lady Yourong adopts his preferred name 3375.
• By the time a Kunlun visitor seeks him in Chang'an, outsiders rarely know him as Zhang Xuezhou rather than Dongfang Shuo 1848.
• Early in the story, light is all he perceives even at night: he cannot see darkness and is poorly suited to nighttime activity in either world 148.