Tan Lingyun

Tan Lingyun is a National Eastern University combat instructor whose fierce temper earns her the campus identity “Savage Goddess.” That title is a nickname for Tan herself, not a separate person. The corpus occasionally spells her name Tang Lingyun, most notably around the NEU mecha competition; those instances refer to the same character. Beneath her confrontational manner, Tan is a protective teacher whose determination carries her from a university rivalry through the ARC program and into Star Division’s war against the alien worlds.

Biography

The professor called the Savage Goddess

Tan enters the story by seizing Lan Jue and Richard Austin after concluding that the two men are harassing her students. Her intervention is violent and premature: she drags them to the teaching-affairs office without learning that Lan Jue is a fellow professor. Once Wu Junyi establishes his identity, she releases him and admits that she did not know, but her embarrassment quickly turns back into hostility. The scene establishes why students call her the Savage Goddess—her temper makes even well-meant protection look like public punishment—while also showing that the name belongs to Professor Tan rather than an alternate identity. (Chapters 99–100)

Her judgment of the men is not entirely indiscriminate. She firmly rejects Richard’s claim that Zhou Qianlin should be treated as his wife when Qianlin has not accepted him, and threatens to seek his expulsion if he continues approaching her at school. Tan’s manner remains overbearing, but the principle behind it is student safety and a young woman’s right to refuse. Her early conflict with Lan Jue therefore begins as a collision between two protectors: he conceals his abilities and motives, while she acts on incomplete information and assumes his passivity proves weakness. (Chapters 99–108)

Taihua’s warning and an unseen rescue

On the NEU excursion to Planet Taihua, Tan serves as a group leader rather than merely a combat escort. She organizes the faculty in a perimeter formation, monitors the less athletic teachers, and studies the living environment through her natural-energy Discipline. When the surrounding plants communicate fear and she realizes that the region’s animals have vanished, she treats the anomaly as an emergency rather than waiting for visual proof. Her warning drives the group to abandon the forest, demonstrating that her affinity with nature is valuable first as perception and judgment, not just force. (Chapters 130–136)

The alien attack vindicates the warning. Tan remains behind when evacuation becomes chaotic, searches for missing colleagues, and rescues multiple tourists while fighting through the forest. Already exhausted, she confronts a giant armored serpent by drawing power from Taihua’s vegetation into the Core at her forehead and shaping the energy into an emerald blade. She injures the creature but reaches the limit of what her body and eighth-level Discipline can sustain. Even when she knows another exchange may kill her, she attacks again because people remain in danger. (Chapters 136–139)

Lan Jue saves her with Thor after she loses consciousness, but deliberately conceals his identity. Tan remembers only the powerful mecha and its striking eyes, leaving her unaware that the professor she despises is the rescuer she admires. The truth surfaces much later alongside Lan Jue’s other identities. That revelation changes the meaning of Taihua for her: the supposed weakling had understood her attempt to save others and returned it in kind, while asking for no credit. (Chapters 139–151, 454, and 465)

The victory that belonged to Lei Feng

During the NEU–Lir University competition, Tan commands the home students and then faces Su He in the instructor match. She is an experienced Sovereign-ranked pilot and an eighth-level Adept, but Su He’s superior piloting puts her on course for defeat. The masked Lan Jue, acting as Lei Feng, secretly enters her cockpit and takes the controls. He uses her natural energy to reinforce the machine, executes maneuvers Tan cannot yet follow, and wins with a high-level diffusion blade technique. Tan participates by reading the opponent and supplying her Discipline, but the decisive piloting is Lei Feng’s. (Chapters 178–197)

The secrecy creates a false reputation. The public concludes that Tan is God-ranked, while she knows she has not crossed beyond Sovereign. Lei Feng refuses credit and asks her to preserve his anonymity; Tan in turn locks the cockpit long enough to question him about his identity and whether she can contact him. For the first time, combat skill overcomes her reflexive contempt for a man. She begins to admire the masked pilot precisely because his mastery is undeniable, although she does not yet know that he is Lan Jue. The rare “Tang Lingyun” spelling in these chapters does not indicate a second pilot. (Chapters 195–197)

When Tan later discovers that the university’s best students have been diverted to a secret Advanced Robotics Combat class, her first response is anger at being excluded from responsibility for them. Learning that the teacher is supposedly God-ranked turns that anger into a request to join. She wants both to watch over her students and to learn from someone stronger. In the first DreamNet exercise she attacks the Demon Drillmaster to protect the class, is decisively incapacitated, and suspects that he may be Lei Feng. Rather than retreat from the humiliation, she accepts a silver mask and becomes his assistant. (Chapters 228–237)

Assistant drillmaster and guardian of the ARC class

Tan submits to the same severe ARC conditioning imposed on the students. She initially challenges the drillmaster when his methods appear needlessly cruel, but the training is designed to expose weak judgment under stress and trigger the Adepts’ defensive reactions without lasting injury. Her iron will allows her to complete the earliest ordeal without needing Lin Guoguo’s psychic mending. As the program continues, suspicion becomes respect because she sees both the results and the drain the training places on its masked architect. She remains demanding, but her concern matures from trying to shield students from hardship into helping them survive purposeful hardship together. (Chapters 232–268)

DreamNet simulations and field exercises force Tan to replace headlong aggression with control. Her superior personal mecha cannot compensate when the drillmaster manipulates formation, timing, and her instinct to rush to a student’s defense. She learns to assess limited attack power, order shields raised, and coordinate a group, even when the drillmaster repeatedly turns her momentum against her. Alongside Wang Hongyuan, she becomes part of the instructional structure rather than a rival authority. The ARC program consequently changes her professionally: strength is no longer something she proves by shouldering every fight herself, but something she develops across a team. (Chapters 268–328)

When Lan Jue’s public identity is exposed and he is absent from the university, Tan and Wang maintain the independent ARC program. They preserve his strict training doctrine and keep students such as Tang Xiao, Jin Tao, and Tang Mi consolidating what they learned. Tan’s work here is unglamorous but consequential: the class does not dissolve around its famous founder, and its members later enter Star Division with a shared foundation. By Chapter 605, Tan herself serves in First Division’s Alpha Squad and has reached ninth level; the preceding year has improved her more than the prior half-decade. (Chapters 510–517 and 605)

Letting go of the mask

The Great Adept Tournament and Lan Jue’s return force Tan to reconcile the identities around which her feelings have formed. Professor Lan, Lei Feng, the Demon Drillmaster, Zeus, the tournament champion, and the pilot who rescued her on Taihua are one man. Her immediate reaction retains their familiar physical antagonism, yet she quiets when he wears Zeus’ mask because it evokes the figure whose strength she trusted. She regrets how often the Savage Goddess’s temper led her to abuse the very person she admired, while Lan Jue finally understands that her attachment was directed primarily toward his masked bearing and actions. (Chapters 454–466 and 510–517)

Tan does not receive a romantic resolution. Lan Jue tells her that he loves Qianlin and that his university position began as Qianlin’s protection. Tan recognizes that she never had a real chance, wishes for Qianlin’s recovery, and redirects herself toward becoming as strong as she can. Her choice is painful but constructive: she neither turns against Qianlin nor abandons the force Lan Jue built. Later she can observe the couple’s tenderness, acknowledge the ache it causes, and continue as a trusted officer under his command. (Chapters 605–632 and 774)

When Lan Jue becomes a Paragon, Tan finally accepts that the distance between them is emotional as well as martial. She deliberately turns away from the fantasy that the masked Lei Feng might belong to her. This is not indifference—the attachment persists—but a decision not to let it govern her loyalty or professional judgment. The woman once defined publicly by uncontrolled temper becomes a poised combatant whose overbearing courage has been refined into discipline. (Chapters 774–792)

The green mecha over Angel

In the defense of Angel, Tan fights within Lan Jue’s assigned group while accepting the personal discomfort of seeing him and Qianlin together. She leads a small Star Division unit in an emerald-green mecha against heavily armored, turtle-like aliens supported by centipede creatures. Her paired short swords and natural energy generate an aquamarine wave that turns the enemy’s purple beams back toward them, protecting her team and helping expose the armored creatures’ weak points. The action depends on command and timing rather than a solitary charge. (Chapters 820–821)

This counterattack is Tan’s final source-grounded appearance. She is alive and actively leading her people when the narrative leaves her; the supplied corpus does not establish a later personal epilogue or eventual fate. Her last scene nevertheless completes her central development: the Savage Goddess remains fierce, but her power now serves a coordinated team capable of surviving the war she helped prepare them to fight. (Chapter 821)

Appearance and personality

Tan is described as a pretty, physically striking woman whose combat suits emphasize an athletic and curving figure. She appears in a white combat suit during the NEU–Lir competition and in close-fitting flight gear during later training. Her natural power commonly surrounds her in green light, and one later scene describes large green eyes sparkling as she responds to a combat alarm. The corpus does not consistently establish a specific hair color, so none is assigned here. (Chapters 130, 178, 228, and 511)

Her loud voice, abrupt physicality, pride, and easily provoked anger create the Savage Goddess reputation. She can mistake suspicion for certainty and answer embarrassment with greater aggression. Yet colleagues also recognize a good heart beneath the temper, and her actions support that judgment: she defends students’ boundaries, warns the Taihua party, remains behind for missing people, and repeatedly puts herself between danger and a weaker group. The corpus hints that an unspecified event years earlier may influence her hostility toward men, but it never explains that history; a definite cause is therefore unknown. (Chapters 99–100, 130–140, and 511–517)

Training preserves Tan’s fearlessness while disciplining its expression. She has exceptional endurance and an iron will, but early tactics often rely on overpowering a problem personally. Learning from Lei Feng and the ARC class makes her more analytical, more willing to accept another leader’s expertise, and more effective at sustaining a unit. Her handling of unreturned affection shows the same growth outside combat: emotion still affects her, but it no longer excuses losing control of her responsibilities. (Chapters 228–268, 605–632, and 774–821)

Disciplines and abilities

Tan’s combat system combines a natural-energy Discipline, strong physical endurance, and Sovereign-ranked mecha skill. She begins the relevant combat arcs at eighth level and is explicitly ninth level after joining Star Division. Her abilities are strongest in healthy living environments and are less compatible with the aliens’ corrupted vitality.

Natural-energy Discipline

Tan channels the vitality of surrounding nature through the Core between her eyebrows. On Taihua she perceives the fear of plants and surveys environmental changes across an area stated to extend roughly three thousand meters. The perception is not omniscience: it tells her that the ecosystem is terrified and abnormally empty, but does not identify the alien creatures or explain their origin. Its practical value is early warning, and Tan must still interpret the signs and convince others to act. (Chapters 134–136)

In combat, green energy strengthens her body, forms protective force, and can be condensed into an emerald sword. A vigorous forest supplies additional natural mana, allowing her to continue after ordinary reserves are nearly exhausted. That environmental reinforcement does not remove bodily limits: against Taihua’s serpent she suffers internal injury, exhausts the available power, and loses consciousness despite the forest’s help. Later she explains that alien protogenia does not resonate with her. Healthy nature can promote her Discipline, while alien life twists and consumes vitality in a way she finds both spiritually repellent and mechanically unsuitable. (Chapters 139–140 and 605–632)

By the defense of Angel, Tan can channel the Discipline through her mecha and paired swords. She creates a broad aquamarine wave able to intercept and reflect multiple energy beams, converting personal power into cover for her squad. The scene demonstrates mature defensive control, but does not explain whether reflection is a named technique or a general application of her natural energy. Her latest explicit cultivation state is ninth level rather than Paragon. (Chapters 605 and 820–821)

Mecha piloting and battlefield leadership

Tan is genuinely a Sovereign-ranked pilot. The public belief that she became God-ranked after defeating Su He is incorrect: Lei Feng secretly operated her machine, while Tan supplied her Discipline and tactical observations. Her own piloting favors a fast, dexterous green mecha, close-range pressure, palm spikes or blades, and natural-energy reinforcement. She has extensive combat experience and can recognize an opponent’s output limits, but her early preference for direct charges makes her vulnerable to redirection and formation traps. (Chapters 178–197 and 228–232)

ARC training improves both her technical execution and command judgment. She endures high-speed simulation workloads, learns from repeated defeats, and helps maintain the program after Lan Jue’s departure. In Star Division she serves in Alpha Squad before later leading a small team herself. Her final battle shows the result: she screens allies from ranged fire, coordinates an attack on identified weak points, and keeps the unit moving against multiple alien types. The corpus does not explicitly promote her beyond Sovereign rank, so her substantial wartime improvement is not treated as proof of God-ranked piloting. (Chapters 237–328, 510–517, 605, and 820–821)

Endurance and instruction

Tan’s physical conditioning and will are important even when no named technique is involved. She survives prolonged combat and rescue work on Taihua, and during the ARC program she is one of the few participants who completes the initial ordeal without psychic mending. Endurance does not make her inexhaustible; Taihua leaves her unconscious, and the ARC exercises reduce her to severe fatigue. What distinguishes her is the ability to keep making purposeful decisions near that limit. (Chapters 136–140 and 245–249)

As an instructor, she can organize teams, establish defensive formations, monitor students’ condition, and enforce sustained training. Her early severity sometimes outruns judgment, but work with Lan Jue and Wang Hongyuan gives it a clearer doctrine. By maintaining ARC in Lan Jue’s absence and later commanding in Star Division, she demonstrates that teaching and battlefield leadership are connected skills rather than incidental jobs. (Chapters 132–136, 228–268, 510–517, and 820–821)

Power progression

Relationships

• Lan Jue: Tan begins by misjudging and manhandling him, then admires his concealed Lei Feng identity before learning that he is also the drillmaster, Zeus, tournament champion, and her rescuer on Taihua. Her unreturned attraction matures into professional loyalty and acceptance of his relationship with Qianlin.
• Zhou Qianlin: Tan first acts as Qianlin’s protective professor and defends her right to reject Richard. After learning that Lan Jue loves Qianlin, she suppresses jealousy, wishes for Qianlin’s recovery, and continues to support them both.
• Wang Hongyuan: Wang is Tan’s fellow ARC assistant and later co-caretaker of the program. Their different temperaments complement one another as they preserve Lan Jue’s training system.
• Wu Junyi: The NEU director corrects Tan’s first misunderstanding with Lan Jue and later admits her to the ARC class. He relies on her as both a prominent instructor and a protector of the university’s students.
• Tang Xiao, Jin Tao, and Tang Mi: These ARC students repeatedly test Tan’s assumptions about talent and responsibility. She moves from trying to carry their battles herself to helping train them as members of a coordinated force.

Items

No separately cataloged item is associated with Tan Lingyun in the approved manifest.