Ta Shan

Ta Shan is the altar keeper and leading warrior of the isolated Chosen Immortal Clan. He begins by challenging Wang Lin's supposed status as a celestial, then willingly accepts refinement into a Celestial Guard when his bloodline's slave imprint leaves him dying. For years afterward he lives in Wang Lin's shadow as a nearly silent bodyguard. His later recovery of the Tattoo Clan Holy Ancestor's inheritance restores enough independence for him to leave, but not enough to erase the loyalty that makes him return when Wang Lin is near death. (Chapters 804–815, 819, 1025–1031, and 1078–1110)

Biography

Altar keeper of the Chosen Immortal Clan

Ta Shan first appears as a burly warrior respected by the Forsaken Immortal descendants around him. He openly doubts the ancestral stories about celestials and refuses to bow merely because an elder identifies Wang Lin as one. Their first contest confirms that Wang Lin is far beyond him, yet Ta Shan does not respond with easy worship. He continues questioning the old records until Wang Lin admits that he is not a celestial and explains that the Celestial Realm collapsed long ago. (Chapters 804–807)

His skepticism does not make him disloyal to his people. When outsiders exploit the slave imprint buried in the clan's bloodline, Ta Shan forces himself to resist even after both knees shatter. He watches clan members die, captures a fog beast threatening the children, and returns grievously injured before collapsing. The inherited prohibition against attacking the clan's former celestial masters has consumed his remaining vitality. (Chapters 810–812)

As the current altar keeper, Ta Shan chooses Wang Lin's proposed alternative to death. The Celestial Guard refinement requires an unwavering will and complete consent; hesitation would destroy the subject. Ta Shan agrees without qualification. The result preserves his origin soul within a transformed body rather than producing a mindless puppet, but his continued life now depends on the guard seal and Wang Lin's maintenance of the body. (Chapters 814–815)

The shadow guard

The newly refined Ta Shan has a Corporeal Yang body and can emerge directly from Wang Lin's shadow. He absorbs explosions, blocks short swords with his body, pursues fleeing enemies, and attacks whenever Wang Lin sends a thought. In the fighting around Yao Changdong and Yao Bingyun, Wang Lin repeatedly repairs him by melting captured magical treasures into his damaged body. This partnership is practical at first: Ta Shan receives continued existence and Wang Lin gains a durable close-range guardian. (Chapters 816–828)

Over time, routine protection turns into personal loyalty. Ta Shan sits outside caves while Wang Lin cultivates, keeps watch during travel, and withdraws into the shadow when no visible guard is needed. He accompanies Big Head and Lei Ji through Allheaven and back to planet Suzaku, helping Wang Lin confront hostile cultivators, old restrictions, and the consequences of his family's rise. His expression remains cold even when the others show fear or excitement, making his reliability visible through repeated action rather than declarations. (Chapters 837–851, 886–920, and 978–988)

His guard instincts operate even without precise instruction. When Wang Lin disappears, Ta Shan returns to a familiar rock and cultivates there, his limited independent mind unable to determine a new purpose. Once reunited, he protects Wang Lin's palace against a crushing divine-sense attack and even throws a punch at Situ Nan when the much stronger cultivator advances without permission. (Chapters 954 and 991–992)

The Holy Ancestor and a recovered self

Inside the Celestial Emperor's cave, the Tattoo Clan Holy Ancestor Qiu Yao recognizes Ta Shan as one of her descendants. She removes the Celestial Guard seal by force, drawing the refined treasures out of his body. Because he had already been at the edge of death before refinement, the loss of the seal should kill him. Qiu Yao instead gives him her forehead tattoo and clan inheritance. Ta Shan survives, but his eyes initially show confusion as a self built around the guard seal adjusts to restored clan power. (Chapters 1025–1029)

Wang Lin does not try to reclaim him. He accepts that meeting the Holy Ancestor is Ta Shan's fortune and wonders only whether the warrior still remembers him. Ta Shan settles in a forbidden region, hunts fierce beasts, and uses their skins to practice the recovered tattoo arts. The change grants him an independent path rather than merely an upgraded guard body. (Chapters 1031, 1078, and 1088)

Return in the Demon Spirit Land

The answer to whether he remembers comes when Wang Lin is about to die before the All-Seer. Ta Shan senses the crisis and charges out despite no longer bearing the old control seal. He supports the exhausted Wang Lin, blood at the corner of his own mouth, then obeys the command to help Big Head. His action proves that the loyalty formed during his years as a guard has survived the restoration of his clan identity. (Chapters 1078–1079)

Afterward, Ta Shan does not rejoin Wang Lin as a permanent shadow. He remains apart, silently feeling Wang Lin complete closed-door cultivation and listening to the celebrations from a distance. When Wang Lin visits before leaving for the Rain Celestial Realm, the two do not stage a formal farewell. Wang Lin asks him to care for a disciple on planet Qin Ling if they meet; only after Wang Lin departs does Ta Shan kneel and kowtow. He then gathers his beast skins and leaves to follow his own cultivation. (Chapters 1088, 1092, and 1110)

His influence continues through the tattoo knowledge he passes on. Wang Lin later uses a speed tattoo made by Ta Shan to escape fatal suction and recalls that both the Holy Ancestor and Ta Shan taught him the method of refining animal skins and beast essence into tattoos. The art's enormous cost in living creatures makes Wang Lin reluctant to employ it, preserving an important limit to the inherited technique. (Chapters 1128 and 1272)

Appearance and personality

Ta Shan is a large, muscular man whose arrival makes his clanspeople cheer. After refinement he is most often recognized by his cold gaze, impassive face, and the shadow-like way he appears behind Wang Lin. His body becomes a constructed weapon repaired with melted treasures, yet the narrative continues to mark his injuries and subtle choices, keeping him distinct from a disposable puppet. (Chapters 804, 815–828, and 978–992)

He is skeptical, direct, proud, and protective. Early defiance comes from refusing to surrender judgment to inherited religion; later obedience comes from a choice he makes while dying. He rarely speaks and does not participate in the emotional reactions of Wang Lin's other followers. The clearest signs of feeling are therefore indirect: returning at the moment of crisis, failing to calm himself during Wang Lin's celebration, and kowtowing only when no answer is expected. (Chapters 804–807, 1078–1079, 1092, and 1110)

Abilities and cultivation

Ta Shan's power has three distinct phases: inherited Chosen Immortal tattoos, Wang Lin's artificial Celestial Guard refinement, and the deeper Tattoo Clan inheritance restored by Qiu Yao. The later phase removes imposed control rather than merely adding another combat technique.

Chosen Immortal tattoos and slave imprint

Before refinement, Ta Shan forms seals through tattoos inscribed on his body and beats his chest to activate their power. The tattoos strengthen direct physical combat and let him contend as his clan's foremost warrior. The same bloodline carries a slave imprint designed to force submission before a recognized celestial; resisting it shatters his knees and progressively destroys him. His defiance demonstrates willpower, but will alone cannot remove a control mechanism embedded in the lineage. (Chapters 805 and 810–815)

Corporeal Yang Celestial Guard body

Wang Lin saves Ta Shan from the failing imprint by refining him into a Celestial Guard at the Corporeal Yang level. The process produces a dense close-combat body that can survive self-detonations, endure weapons passing through flesh, and continue fighting after repeated magical collisions. His punches create sonic booms and break shields or hostile tattoos, making durability and impact—rather than complex ranged spells—his principal battlefield role. (Chapters 815–828, 897, 905, and 992)

The body is a refined vessel, not invulnerability. Damage accumulates, severe attacks can suppress or nearly destroy it, and Wang Lin must repair the guard after major battles. During this state Ta Shan retains intelligence, but the guard seal and dependence on Wang Lin's commands leave him with little independent purpose when separated from his master. (Chapters 827–828 and 954)

Shadow concealment

As a Celestial Guard, Ta Shan can enter Wang Lin's shadow and emerge at close range. This provides continuous protection without an obvious visible escort and lets him launch sudden pursuits or counters the moment Wang Lin identifies a threat. The ability is tied to his guard state and proximity to Wang Lin; the corpus does not establish it as a general teleportation method retained after Qiu Yao removes the seal. (Chapters 819, 822, and 851)

Holy Ancestor inheritance and beast-skin tattoos

Qiu Yao's tattoo removes the Celestial Guard seal and passes on the Tattoo Clan Holy Ancestor's deeper methods. Ta Shan regains a clan-based cultivation path and independent choice while retaining the loyalty developed during service. He can kill fierce beasts, refine their skins into functional tattoo talismans, and preserve a beast's specialized property in the result. A speed tattoo he creates later helps Wang Lin resist a powerful spatial pull and escape. The technique depends on suitable beast material and refinement rather than granting every beast ability innately. (Chapters 1025–1029, 1088, and 1128)

Power progression

Relationships

• Wang Lin: Wang Lin saves Ta Shan by refining him and repeatedly repairs the resulting body. Ta Shan's obedience becomes voluntary loyalty, demonstrated most clearly when he returns after the controlling seal is gone. Wang Lin then releases him to pursue the Holy Ancestor's inheritance. (Chapters 814–851 and 1025–1110)
• Qiu Yao: The Tattoo Clan Holy Ancestor recognizes him as a descendant, removes the imposed Celestial Guard state, and gives him her tattoo inheritance. Her intervention restores both a clan path and the possibility of an independent life. (Chapters 1025–1029)
• Lei Ji and Big Head: They form Wang Lin's traveling guard group through Allheaven. Ta Shan is quieter than either companion but repeatedly stands beside them during watches, battles, and reunions. (Chapters 912–920 and 978–992)

Items

• Beast-skin tattoos: After receiving Qiu Yao's inheritance, Ta Shan kills fierce beasts and refines their skins into tattoo talismans. One speed tattoo remains with Wang Lin and contributes directly to his escape from a powerful spatial pull. (Chapters 1088 and 1128)