Phantom Equal

Phantom Equal is the title borne by the hidden leader of Phantom Dais Tribe. Outsiders believe the office belongs to one eternal, indestructible person, but its current holder reveals that each successor awakens after the previous one dies. His long search for the missing next Phantom Equal brings him into contact with Su Ming and leads directly to his own death.

Biography

Freezing Sky and the Ninth Summit

The current Phantom Equal is first described as one of Northern Frontier's four great leaders, with power difficult to discern and believed to be close to the Berserker Soul Realm. Hidden beneath purple robes, he asks to speak privately with Su Ming and remains calm even when Tian Xie Zi threatens him. He has forgotten his personal name and identifies completely with his office. Sensing both an unfamiliar presence around Su Ming and the tribe's sacred item, he concludes that Su Ming has met the successor he has sought across South Morning: Lei Chen. He says the tribe's Phantoms would teach and protect the successor, but Su Ming refuses to disclose his location. (Chapters 285, 295)

The Phantom Equal performs a ritual with purple blood to call Lei Chen awake. Instead, an overwhelming semi-transparent figure in an emperor's robe appears and breaks his neck while Mo Shan watches helplessly. Before dying, Phantom Equal warns the elder never to provoke Su Ming. He leaves Su Ming a Purple Harmony, but its intended use is hazardous: if the creature that consumes it fails, the creature will die, so Su Ming does not attempt it. His death also causes a soul fragment once gathered by the first Phantom Equal to gain intelligence and survive independently. (Chapters 295–297, 726)

Arid Triad and the dying aeon

Much later, Su Ming remembers the Phantom Equal's search as one of the fragments that shines permanently in his memory. The recollection does not revive him; it preserves the tragedy of a man who endured beyond his expected lifespan to locate a successor, only to encounter a force wholly beyond him when he finally found the right trail. (Chapter 1268)

Appearance and personality

Phantom Equal appears in purple robes, with face, clothes, voice, and behavior normally concealed from outsiders; his revealed voice is hoarse. He is calm, guarded, persistent, and more concerned with succession than personal identity. He avoids forcing Su Ming to speak and claims no ill will, but his ritual shows he will take dangerous action when he believes the tribe's continuity is at stake.

Abilities and cultivation

His exact realm is not confirmed. Contemporary estimates place him near the Berserker Soul Realm, and Mo Shan calls him Phantom Dais Tribe's strongest person, but the emperor-robed apparition renders him as powerless as an ordinary old man. His learned Phantom ritual uses a bowl of purple blood and his own wounded finger to reach toward the next title-holder. It successfully locates something, but cannot control what answers, making it fatally unsafe against a superior intervening will. The title's seeming immortality is succession, not bodily invulnerability. (Chapters 285, 295–296)

Relationships

• Lei Chen: Phantom Equal identifies him as the next bearer and wants to teach him Phantom Realm and Phantom Art so the world's Phantoms can protect him. (Chapter 295)
• Su Ming: He questions Su Ming because Su Ming carries the trail of the successor, gives him Purple Harmony, and dies after attempting contact. His final warning links Su Ming to the terrifying power that answers. (Chapters 295–297)
• Mo Shan: The elder respects Phantom Equal as the tribe's strongest member and witnesses his death and warning. (Chapter 296)

Items

• Purple Harmony: A purple insect given to Su Ming. A creature may swallow it for an uncertain result, but failure kills the consumer; this risk prevents Su Ming from testing it. (Chapter 297)
• Purple blood and bowl: Components of Phantom Equal's successor-seeking ritual, not established combat treasures. (Chapters 295–296)