Zhou Yixing

Zhou Yixing is an aristocratic Wildlands necromancer who enters the story hunting Bai Xiaochun, then becomes the disguised cultivator's captive, follower, operative, and eventual friend. His knowledge of flame conjuring and Wildlands society helps Bai Xiaochun build the identity of Bai Hao, while his loyalty later makes him one of the few people entrusted with the truth behind that disguise. (Chapters 539–579, 589–684, 732–850, and 1128–1130)

Biography

The chosen hunter becomes a captive follower

Zhou Yixing enters the labyrinth as a handsome young member of the eastern Zhou Clan's direct bloodline, already at the great circle of Core Formation and able to conjure nine-colored flame. He initially considers the war at the Great Wall beneath him, but the chance to kill Bai Xiaochun offers a path to a complete set of five-elements deva beast souls, a Nascent Soul breakthrough, and higher necromancer rank. His aristocratic confidence rests on real resources: an ancestral star sigil, a ninefold-enhanced greatbow, and an elevenfold-enhanced fire soul arrow capable of threatening Nascent Soul cultivators. (Chapters 539–546)

The hunt instead strips away those advantages. Repeated encounters with Bai Xiaochun cost Zhou Yixing his nine-colored flame and fire soul arrow, while survival in the labyrinth exhausts the limited teleportations stored in his star sigil. After the labyrinth scatters its survivors, he attacks Bai Xiaochun again without recognizing the man's Bai Hao disguise and is defeated. Bai Xiaochun takes the greatbow, seals most of Zhou Yixing's cultivation, and uses an Aphrodisiac Pill to force information from him. Zhou Yixing eventually supplies flame formulas and Wildlands knowledge under coercion, with only five percent of his power left available and a restrictive spell preventing escape. (Chapters 545–570)

Their relationship changes when Zhou Yixing watches his captor learn flame conjuring at extraordinary speed. He initially resents being sent to gather souls while weakened, and returning for Bai Xiaochun's protection is an act of necessity after a prolonged chase. Once Bai Xiaochun successfully produces eleven-colored flame, however, Zhou Yixing begins to regard service to a terrestrial necromancer as genuine good fortune. Respect, ambition, and rivalry with fellow follower Li Feng reinforce what began as captivity, and Zhou Yixing vows to follow Grandmaster Bai while competing to remain his most useful subordinate. (Chapters 570–582)

Concealed support around the Bai Clan and Giant Ghost City

When Bai Xiaochun enters the Bai Clan under Bai Hao's identity, Zhou Yixing and Li Feng remain outside as logistical support. Zhou Yixing proposes using murdersoul spikes to breach the clan's formation, accepts Heavenspan River water to finance the purchase, and cooperates with Li Feng to obtain the spikes, teleportation talismans, and souls despite their mutual hostility. Their collaboration softens that rivalry, but Bai Xiaochun does not reveal his real identity to either follower; Li Feng even keeps Zhou Yixing out of a separate investigation into Bai Hao's history. (Chapters 582–592)

After Bai Xiaochun escapes the Bai Clan and enters Giant Ghost City, Zhou Yixing functions as a local guide, information source, and supplier. He reports on the city's market, warns about the three great clans' aggressive acquisition of souls, and suffers the loss of his own stock when their people rob him. The corpus continues to identify him as an aristocratic necromancer at the great circle of Core Formation, but it does not show a successful major battle of his own during this period. His value instead lies in knowing how Wildlands institutions, magical goods, and social networks operate. (Chapters 610–633 and 659)

Bai Xiaochun's rise during the Giant Ghost rebellion also elevates Zhou Yixing. He provides vital services, gathers a small army with Li Feng, and later arrives at the head of forces used to remove wealth from the three great clans. Zhou Yixing organizes seized property, obeys orders before politically powerful witnesses, and receives a share of the resulting treasures. By the time Bai Xiaochun becomes the city's majordomo and inspections commissioner, Zhou Yixing has progressed from a branded prisoner into a publicly recognized lieutenant whose standing depends on his patron's authority and on his own skill at making that authority operational. (Chapters 645–684)

That advancement includes a calculated betrayal. While recovering Chen Clan reserves with Li Feng, Zhou Yixing ambushes and kills his fellow follower, then arranges the later deaths of the two accomplices who helped him. His purpose is to eliminate evidence connecting him to events in the labyrinth and to Bai Xiaochun's concealed identity. He has inferred that “Bai Hao” is Bai Xiaochun and decides that his future depends on keeping the secret and betting everything on the disguised cultivator. His loyalty is therefore already deliberate, but it is bound to ruthless self-preservation as well as gratitude. (Chapters 678–679)

Business warfare, shakedowns, and necromancer advancement

After learning about Li Feng's death and recognizing what it suggests about Zhou Yixing, Bai Xiaochun becomes wary and leaves him behind in Giant Ghost City. Zhou Yixing worries that his choice of allegiance may have been a mistake until Bai Xiaochun summons him to Arch-Emperor City for a covert commercial campaign against Sima Tao and Sun Yifan. Zhou Yixing hires changing groups of agents to buy and distribute their marked soul medicine according to Bai Xiaochun's plan; the toxic modification itself is Bai Xiaochun's work, not Zhou Yixing's. In return, he receives the formula for thirteen-colored flame and promises of further instruction. (Chapters 732–735)

Zhou Yixing then becomes an essential administrator in the inspections commissioner's punitive expeditions. He organizes treasure while clans are stripped of property, acquires souls and flame for Bai Xiaochun's research, spreads information to support the city's auxiliary heirs, and proves exceptionally thorough at uncovering hidden valuables. He also takes custody of Song Que, recognizing that the captive has an unexplained connection to Bai Xiaochun even though Song Que does not understand who “Bai Hao” really is. These duties show observation, discretion, and resource management rather than independent political authority. (Chapters 762–785 and 792)

During the search for the captured Bai Hao, Zhou Yixing tracks scattered Miao Clan members without alerting them, commands one thousand corpse troopers surrounding the captives, and performs the countdown used to force their patriarch's surrender. After Bai Hao is recovered, Zhou Yixing places secret branding marks on the spared clan members so they can be threatened or killed if they later turn hostile. The episode demonstrates that his loyalty includes carrying out coercive orders and that his practical techniques extend beyond flame conjuring, although the corpus does not explain the mechanics or limits of those brands. (Chapters 795–800)

At the Underworld River Restricted Area, Bai Xiaochun fulfills his promises with sustained instruction. Zhou Yixing advances from twelve-colored flame to the ability to conjure fifteen-colored flame, earning the professional rank of celestial necromancer and becoming the only person of that rank in his clan other than one patriarch. He also maintains an outside information network and promptly warns Bai Xiaochun about Mistress Red-Dust mobilizing against an apparent impostor. The professional title does not mean that his cultivation has reached the Celestial Realm; his later demonstrated cultivation is only Nascent Soul. (Chapters 732, 811–818, and 1128)

The identity revelation and service to the Hell-Emperor

When rumors identify Bai Hao as Bai Xiaochun, Zhou Yixing goes into hiding and takes Song Que with him. He is relieved when the new Hell-Emperor is publicly revealed as a separate Bai Hao, yet his familiarity with Bai Xiaochun lets him recognize that this genuine Bai Hao is his lord's apprentice. Throughout Bai Xiaochun's seclusion, Zhou Yixing sends detailed reports about the changing rumors and political response. His information helps confirm that the public connection between the two identities has been suppressed even though the Wildlands' upper leadership understands the truth. (Chapters 845–848)

Bai Xiaochun then arranges Zhou Yixing's future before returning to the Heavenspan region. At the Underworld River, Zhou Yixing sees the complete relationship among Bai Xiaochun, Bai Hao, and the disguise he had served confirmed. Bai Xiaochun recommends him as the Hell-Emperor's follower and emissary in the living world, an appointment that promises status beyond his former place in the Zhou Clan. When Song Que starts deducing the impersonation, Zhou Yixing follows Bai Xiaochun's cue and falsely swears that it never occurred. He thereby continues as an active keeper of the concealed identity. (Chapters 848–850)

Zhou Yixing follows Bai Hao into the Underworld River while Bai Xiaochun leaves the Wildlands. The corpus does not show what work he performs as emissary or how long that appointment lasts; Bai Xiaochun later misses his efficiency during a treasure excavation and remembers him among the important people from his Wildlands years. After the Heavenspan world is destroyed and its survivors are scattered into the Eternal Immortal Domains, Zhou Yixing is next found alone in Saint-Emperor Dynasty territory. The intervening loss of his position, clan support, and connection to Bai Hao is not narrated. (Chapters 850, 875, 1007, and 1033–1050)

Grandmaster Zhou and the choice to return home

In a small county of the Eternal Immortal Domains, Zhou Yixing survives by bowing to local power and selling spirit-enhancement work, gradually accumulating spirit stones. Bai Xiaochun's reappearance gives him confidence to build a stronger reputation because the local cultivators cannot ordinarily perform the Heavenspan art. Over time he succeeds in becoming “Grandmaster Zhou,” a publicly celebrated spirit enhancer whose patrons include a demigod. Some stories about his past and miraculous protection are clearly local legend rather than confirmed history, but his livelihood, audience, and professional standing are directly shown. (Chapters 1050 and 1128–1129)

By the time Bai Xiaochun finds him, Zhou Yixing has reached the Nascent Soul stage and enjoys the comfortable authority he once sought. He knows about Mistysea Prefecture but has delayed going there, and his tearful claim that he spent all his time searching for Bai Xiaochun is an act motivated by fear of disapproval. Bai Xiaochun sees through the performance but publicly ends their master-servant relationship, calls him a friend, and protects his reputation. That unexpected generosity leaves Zhou Yixing ashamed and changes reunion from another forced submission into a voluntary choice. (Chapters 1128–1129)

Zhou Yixing abandons his independent comfort and accompanies Bai Xiaochun to Mistysea Prefecture, calling the return “home” because it reunites him with people from the Wildlands and ends his isolation in an unfamiliar society. He later stands with the Grand Heavenmaster and Giant Ghost King among the prefecture's senior figures. When the expanding spiderweb threatens the region, he supports evacuation and helps issue orders as the population enters the Greatsword of the North. This is his last explicit appearance; the corpus does not state his fate during the later crises or restored peace. (Chapters 1129–1130 and 1144–1148)

Appearance and personality

At his introduction, Zhou Yixing is an exceedingly handsome young man in expensive long clothing, with a noble bearing and a star-shaped ancestral sigil on his forehead. His pitch-black greatbow is strapped across his back. The labyrinth later leaves his hair disheveled and the sigil visibly cracked, while repeated life-force expenditure turns some of his hair white. Much later in the Eternal Immortal Domains, he appears middle-aged and somewhat emaciated in a Daoist robe, but still has bright eyes and deliberately projects a transcendent grandmaster's demeanor. (Chapters 539–540, 545–547, 573, and 1128)

Zhou Yixing is proud, ambitious, status-conscious, and highly alert to shifts in power. He can move rapidly from defiance to flattery, and his theatrical humility often serves self-preservation. Those traits coexist with adaptability, organizational intelligence, and loyalty that becomes sincere after Bai Xiaochun repeatedly advances and rewards him. He is capable of coercion and ruthless self-protection, including murdering Li Feng and the witnesses who helped him, yet he also protects secrets and finally gives up a comfortable independent life after Bai Xiaochun treats him as a friend rather than property. (Chapters 539–582, 589–684, 732–850, and 1128–1130)

Abilities and cultivation

Zhou Yixing combines conventional cultivation, aristocratic necromancy, specialist equipment, and administrative skill. His power is most clearly documented through flame rank and support techniques rather than victories over equal opponents. The source calls him both great-circle and late Core Formation during the same broad period, then shows him at Nascent Soul much later without narrating the breakthrough. It never places his cultivation in the Celestial Realm. (Chapters 539, 573, 659, 817, and 1128)

Multicolored flame and necromancer rank

Zhou Yixing can conjure nine-colored flame when introduced, making him a master necromancer. He understands the established formulas used by aristocratic clans and can explain them well enough for Bai Xiaochun to learn the lower colors in rapid succession. His flame can be used directly as a dangerous magical resource, converted into soul-based effects, or applied to spirit enhancement, but his own early record stops short of ten-colored flame despite his ambition to become a terrestrial necromancer. (Chapters 539–541 and 566–572)

Bai Xiaochun's instruction transforms that ceiling. Zhou Yixing reaches twelve-colored flame before being summoned to Arch-Emperor City, receives the thirteen-colored formula and tailored advice there, and later succeeds with fifteen-colored flame. That final achievement gives him the title celestial necromancer, a professional rank within the Wildlands' flame hierarchy. The corpus does not show him conjuring higher colors, inventing a new formula, or matching Bai Xiaochun and Bai Hao's advanced theoretical work. (Chapters 732 and 811–817)

Soul archery, ancestral sigil, and escape arts

His black greatbow bears nine silver enhancement designs and fires rapid volleys of soul arrows. When paired with a specially prepared fire soul arrow carrying an eleventh enhancement, it can produce a dragon-shaped attack capable of killing a Nascent Soul cultivator. The shot wounds Bai Xiaochun and forces him to combine several defenses, but Bai ultimately captures the arrow and later takes the bow. Zhou Yixing therefore demonstrates the weapon's threat without retaining it as a permanent part of his later fighting style. (Chapters 539–546 and 567–568)

The star sigil on Zhou Yixing's forehead marks aristocratic ancestry and contains defensive or escape power. It breaks Bai Xiaochun's control technique, enables emergency teleportation, and repeatedly saves Zhou Yixing from the labyrinth's supernatural dangers. Its stored power is finite: heavy use leaves it cracked and near destruction, and Zhou Yixing believes replacing it would require forty-nine years of obeisance at his clan's ancestral shrine. He also uses a separate speed art fueled by his own life force, which keeps him ahead of pursuers but causes bleeding, exhaustion, and whitening hair. (Chapters 539 and 545–547, 566–567, and 573)

Restrictive, soul, and cultivation techniques

Zhou Yixing can build clan-specialty restrictive formations, trap cultivators, and use a secret magic that consumes flesh, blood, and cultivation to repair his own injuries. He later places lethal branding marks on Miao Clan members and controls their activation, although the process, resistance conditions, and range are not explained. These arts show a dangerous technical repertoire beyond flame, but many are used against weaker or captive targets, so the source does not establish how reliably they work against peers or higher-realm cultivators. (Chapters 566–567 and 795–800)

His cultivation is initially stated as the great circle of Core Formation, though a later passage calls him late Core Formation while he is injured and restricted. With ninety-five percent of that power sealed, his effective strength falls to roughly early Foundation Establishment and many techniques become unusable. He eventually appears at Nascent Soul in the Eternal Immortal Domains, but neither the recovery of his sealed cultivation nor the breakthrough is shown. The later text gives no named Nascent Soul abilities or battle record. (Chapters 539, 567–573, 659, and 1128)

Spirit enhancement and operational expertise

As a Wildlands necromancer, Zhou Yixing understands the connection between multicolored flame and spirit enhancement. In the Eternal Immortal Domains he turns that knowledge into a livelihood, first accumulating a modest supply of spirit stones and later performing enhancement work before large audiences. He is asked to attempt a fourth enhancement for a demigod patron, but the reunion with Bai Xiaochun interrupts the scene before the result is shown. His reputation is real, while claims that the laws of the Heavenspan Realm specially favored him or protected him from destruction are stories told by admirers, not demonstrated facts. (Chapters 1050 and 1128–1129)

His most consistent strength is logistical. Zhou Yixing locates rare supplies, recruits intermediaries, distributes goods without exposing his employer, manages intelligence networks, organizes confiscated wealth, discovers concealed treasures, and commands subordinate troops. These skills make him useful even when Bai Xiaochun surpasses him completely in necromancy and cultivation. Their limits are institutional rather than supernatural: his influence declines when separated from Bai Xiaochun, and in a new world he must rebuild status through a market for spirit enhancement. (Chapters 589–592, 623–633, 668–684, 732–805, and 1050–1129)

Power progression

Relationships

• Bai Xiaochun: Zhou Yixing begins as Bai Xiaochun's ambitious hunter and repeatedly loses valuable resources to him. Captivity, a restrictive seal, and forced disclosure make the early relationship abusive and unequal, but Zhou Yixing later embraces service because Bai Xiaochun offers protection, formulas, status, and consistent rewards. He becomes a trusted operative and protects the Bai Hao deception after learning it. In the Eternal Immortal Domains, Bai Xiaochun publicly releases him from servitude and calls him a friend; Zhou Yixing then chooses reunion instead of independent comfort. (Chapters 539–582, 589–850, and 1050–1130)

• Bai Hao: For years, Zhou Yixing unknowingly serves Bai Xiaochun while the latter wears Bai Hao's face. He later encounters the real Bai Hao as Hell-Emperor, learns that Bai Hao is Bai Xiaochun's apprentice, and receives an appointment as the emperor's follower and living-world emissary. Zhou Yixing follows him into the Underworld River, but the source does not narrate their subsequent work together or explain how the relationship ends before Zhou Yixing appears alone in the Eternal Immortal Domains. (Chapters 566–684 and 843–850)

• Song Que: Zhou Yixing first treats Song Que as a sensitive captive because he recognizes a connection to Bai Xiaochun. He manages Song Que's movements, hides with him during the identity crisis, and brings him to the Underworld River. When Song Que begins to infer that Bai Xiaochun had impersonated Bai Hao, Zhou Yixing supports Bai Xiaochun's denial despite knowing the truth. The relationship is custodial rather than intimate, and the corpus does not show them together after Bai Xiaochun returns to Heavenspan. (Chapters 767–779, 811–818, and 845–850)

• Li Feng: Li Feng begins as a rival who threatens Zhou Yixing's privileged place as Grandmaster Bai's first follower. A mission to acquire murdersoul spikes forces cooperation, and they later conclude that working together offers both of them a better future. Zhou Yixing nevertheless ambushes and kills Li Feng while seizing Chen Clan reserves, explicitly choosing his own future over their partnership. He also eliminates the accomplices, erasing evidence that might expose what he knows about Bai Xiaochun. Bai Xiaochun learns enough to become wary of Zhou Yixing before eventually employing him again. (Chapters 576–592, 668–679, and 732)

• Zhou Clan: Zhou Yixing belongs to the clan's direct bloodline, bears its ancestral star sigil, and expects its protection when captured. He knows that its most valuable future resources will not necessarily go to him, which motivates his attempt to kill Bai Xiaochun and seek advancement elsewhere. Becoming the Hell-Emperor's emissary would make him a pillar rather than merely a crown prince in the clan's eyes, but the world is destroyed before the corpus shows that status being exercised. (Chapters 539–547, 567, 659, and 843–850)