Xiao Heng

Xiao Heng is the son of Dali's Southern King, a political hostage raised in the Su household, and one of Li Fan's earliest long-term cultivation investments. His repeated lives carry him from a cautious child trying to protect his foster family to a formidable water-and-sword cultivator and, in the future revealed by the Xuanhuang calendar, the founder of the Rebirth Immortal resistance.

Biography

From Dali hostage to cultivator

Xiao Heng first appears on Liuli Island as a displaced young noble who has learned to keep his ambitions small. Although he is the Southern King's son, his position as a hostage and exile gives him little practical security; when he helps Li Fan identify Starry Sea Quicksand, he asks only for a comfortable courtyard and easier work because conspicuous wealth might invite disaster. His strongest loyalty is to the Su family: he mourns Su Changyu's apparent death and later kneels beside him to beg Li Fan to save the infant Su Xiaomei. (Chapters 25–36 and 71–73)

In a later simulation, Li Fan meets Xiao Heng in Dali as a nervous seven- or eight-year-old fostered by the Su household and transmits the Cleansing Heart Mantra to him. Fear that he will fail to purge the Immortal-Mortal Miasma drives him to persist until he succeeds within the journey's deadline. After entering the cultivation world, he repays Li Fan with the incomplete Minor Yan Water Technique and remains attentive even while advancing faster than his benefactor's public identity. Li Fan's later sponsorship of techniques and Foundation Establishment treasures deepens that relationship, but Xiao Heng's gratitude and loyalty precede the formal investment arrangement. (Chapters 42–47, 71–73, 134–152)

Mingyue Palace and independent cultivation

Years without direct contact from Li Fan force Xiao Heng and Su Changyu to navigate the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance themselves. They accept tasks, accumulate contribution points, and reach late Qi Condensation while waiting for a stable path forward. When Li Fan returns, Xiao Heng chooses the Cloud Carving Monument as his Foundation Establishment Heavenly Treasure and the Spring Wind and Rain Decree as his advanced water-path method. The resulting blue-cloud foundation is slower to form than Su Xiaomei's phoenix manifestation, yet it gives him a coherent route built around water, clouds, and patient control rather than her explosive fire. (Chapters 134–155)

As Mingyue Palace expands its lending business, Xiao Heng becomes both an enforcer and a steady organizer for the island group. Observing the Sea Covering Palm's Dao resonance produces an elusive, unpredictable palm intent that matches his temperament, and later sparring shows Water Dragon Song overcoming Ye Feipeng. Another simulation gives him the Burial Sea Bone Sword instead of the Cloud Carving Monument, demonstrating that his foundation varies with Li Fan's interventions. By the island-group Golden Core period, he combines Ocean, Sword, Cloud, and Emptiness laws; the last lets him become elusive against Ye Feipeng's overwhelming physical charge. These advances turn him from a sponsored novice into a leader who can choose opportunities, coordinate companions, and protect them without constant direction. (Chapters 153–163, 204–242, 273–300)

Rebirth Immortals and final resistance

The long future recorded in the calendar places Xiao Heng in a world where the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Formation increasingly drains cultivators while empowering the Heavenly Alliance's Sky Warlocks. He responds first with restraint rather than rebellion, warning the offworld survivors that openly challenging the Alliance would be suicidal and that endurance and inheritance matter more than immediate glory. He accepts four Minor Medicine King Cauldrons left by Li Fan's skull projection, guides the group toward the Medicine King True Cauldron, raises Han Wuyou after the boy's parents die, and persuades Linghu Chang to join the Rebirth Immortals. His caution becomes the organizational principle of a movement intended to outlive any single failed action. (Chapters 396–398)

By year 139, Xiao Heng has gathered cultivators who believe the disappearances and weakening of their kind are tied to the Soul-Locking Formation. The Rebirth Immortals survive failed operations and purges long enough to join the wider uprising in year 270, when Xiao Heng reunites with Su Xiaomei, Zhang Haobo, and other old companions. Their base falls in year 273 despite Su Xiaomei and Zhang Haobo dying to cover the retreat. Xiao Heng escapes with Han Wuyou but is mortally wounded; before dying the next year, he entrusts the resistance's legacy to the younger cultivator. The frightened hostage's lifelong caution thus culminates not in withdrawal, but in preserving a cause beyond his own death. (Chapters 396–398)

Appearance and personality

Xiao Heng is first shown as a nervous seven- or eight-year-old in Dali, a small figure whose confusion and fear reflect his status as a political hostage. Later scenes emphasize a composed young cultivator rather than fixed facial traits, height, or clothing. During his Golden Core island period, his imagery is dominated by blue cloud, ocean energy, and sword light, visual signs of the cultivation path he assembled from several different opportunities. (Chapters 71–73 and 273–300)

He is protective, grateful, cautious, and more restrained than Su Xiaomei. Even before cultivation he dislikes attracting envy, and after entering the immortal world he habitually weighs whether a confrontation will expose or endanger the group. That caution does not make him passive: he competes seriously in sparring, accepts demanding opportunities, and eventually organizes resistance against the strongest institution in the world. His leadership rests on patience and continuity. He lets companions pursue their own paths, raises Han Wuyou, and preserves the Rebirth Immortals even when others value personal advancement more highly than the movement. (Chapters 25–36, 204–242, and 396–398)

Abilities and cultivation

Xiao Heng follows post-calamity immortal cultivation and specializes in water, cloud, sword, and evasive laws. His exact foundation and later techniques vary between simulations, while the Rebirth Immortal calendar does not state a dependable final realm; the abilities below therefore distinguish demonstrated timelines instead of combining every advantage into one permanent loadout.

Minor Yan Water Technique

The Minor Yan Water Technique is Xiao Heng's early Qi Condensation method and the first cultivation inheritance he personally passes to Li Fan. The surviving jade-slip portion reaches only middle Qi Condensation, so it establishes a water-aligned foundation without supplying a complete higher-realm route. Its specific attacks, costs, and circulation pattern are not described. Its narrative importance lies in reciprocity: Xiao Heng acquires cultivation independently after Li Fan's mortal-world help, then shares what he has rather than severing the relationship once his status rises. By Foundation Establishment he replaces it with a more advanced method suited to his chosen treasure. (Chapters 42–47 and 134–141)

Spring Wind and Rain Decree and Water Dragon Song

Li Fan finances the Spring Wind and Rain Decree when Xiao Heng prepares to establish his foundation with the Cloud Carving Monument. The technique develops his existing water affinity into control over rain, cloud, and ocean-associated power. Water Dragon Song is its clearest combat application: during island sparring, Xiao Heng shapes water power into an attack capable of defeating Ye Feipeng. The corpus demonstrates its result and compatibility with his blue-cloud foundation but does not give a complete activation formula, range, or spiritual-energy cost. Its latest confirmed development is incorporation into the Ocean and Cloud aspects of his Four-Law Golden Core. (Chapters 151–155, 239–242, and 300)

Elusive Sea Covering Palm

Xiao Heng learns this palm not from a conventional manual but by observing the Dao resonance of the Sea Covering Palm under Li Fan's direction. His insight produces a misty, elusive, and unpredictable intent, sharply contrasting with Su Xiaomei's dominating interpretation of the same source. Their day-long exchange shows that the shared inheritance does not force identical techniques: Xiao Heng relies on ambiguity and changing force rather than direct suppression. The source does not provide named submoves, a measurable range, or later upgrades, so its latest established state is as part of his Foundation Establishment combat repertoire and the group's shared inheritance. (Chapters 153–163)

Four-Law Golden Core

In the island-group timeline, Xiao Heng condenses a Golden Core from Ocean, Sword, Cloud, and Emptiness laws. Ocean and Cloud extend his water-path foundation, Sword reflects the Burial Sea and sea-sword opportunities surrounding the group, and Emptiness makes his position difficult to reach: he explains that Ye Feipeng's brute-force attack is like throwing an axe at the sky, unable to touch its surface. The corpus confirms the combination and a representative evasive effect but does not fully map each law's independent costs or techniques. This Four-Law Core is his latest explicit formal stage in that timeline; the later Rebirth Immortal calendar gives no reliable personal realm and is not treated as a further promotion. (Chapters 273–300 and 396–398)

Power progression

Relationships

• Li Fan: Li Fan rescues Su Xiaomei at Xiao Heng's request, gives him the Cleansing Heart Mantra, and later finances his techniques and treasures. Xiao Heng responds with enduring respect and practical repayment, while Li Fan also treats his advancement as a Mountain Meditation investment.
• Su Xiaomei: Raised in the same household, she is effectively Xiao Heng's younger foster sister, sparring partner, and lifelong companion. He tempers her impulsiveness without trying to suppress her independence, and her death covering his retreat becomes the decisive loss of his final year.
• Su Changyu: Xiao Heng's loyalty to Changyu begins before cultivation and anchors him to the Su family. They undertake Alliance work together and later share responsibility for preserving the offworld group.
• Ye Feipeng: Ye Feipeng is both a companion and competitive foil. Their sparring tests Xiao Heng's Water Dragon Song and Emptiness law against the other's overwhelming strength and speed.
• Han Wuyou: Xiao Heng raises him after his parents' deaths, guides his cultivation, and ultimately chooses him as heir to the Rebirth Immortal legacy.

Items

• Cloud Carving Monument: Xiao Heng chooses and consumes or incorporates this high-quality Human Heavenly Treasure when establishing his blue-cloud foundation. Its custody ends as a separate item once it becomes his Foundation Establishment basis. (Chapters 151–152)
• Burial Sea Bone Sword: In a later simulation, Xiao Heng obtains this sword from the White Bone Realm altar and uses it as an alternate Foundation Establishment Treasure. It belongs to that timeline and should not be combined with the Cloud Carving Monument foundation as though he possessed both simultaneously. (Chapter 242)
• Minor Medicine King Cauldrons: Li Fan's skull projection leaves four small cauldrons to Xiao Heng. He safeguards them, presents them to the group, and uses their connection as keys and guides toward the Medicine King True Cauldron; the true vessel itself is Medicine King Sect property rather than Xiao Heng's personal possession. (Chapters 397–398)