Xiao Zhang

Xiao Zhang is a ferocious spear cultivator whose reputation for madness conceals a strict personal understanding of honor. He attacks Su Li, helps break the Imperial Design during the coup, saves the rival he most wants to defeat, and continues fighting after becoming a fugitive. His eventual breakthrough into the Divine Domain makes him one of humanity's supreme experts, but his defining quality remains his refusal to let injury, authority, or political convenience decide which battles belong to him. (Chapters 386–400, 646–712, 856–866, and 1124–1160)

Biography

The spear on Xunyang's street

Xiao Zhang enters the confrontation in Xunyang as one of the strongest members of his generation assembled to kill the wounded Su Li. Although eager to fight, he waits while Su Li is treated with the dignity owed to the swordsman who has protected humanity, showing that his violence is not simple obedience. When the confrontation begins, his terrifying spear forces Chen Changsheng to defend a man far above his own realm. Xiao Zhang's immediate aim is victory over a legendary target, but the arrival of Wang Po turns that opportunity into another test of his standing among his peers. (Chapters 384–390 and 398)

Wang Po's blade sends Xiao Zhang flying and heavily injures both him and Liang Wangsun, demonstrating the gap that has long tormented the spear wielder. Zhu Luo's later arrival makes further action by Xiao Zhang pointless, so he walks away rather than pretend that joining an overwhelming execution still proves anything. The encounter deepens his rivalry with Wang Po without reducing it to resentment: losing gives Xiao Zhang another reason to chase the cultivation path, while his refusal to claim honor from a predetermined death foreshadows the choices he makes during the coup and on the Luo River. (Chapters 392–400 and 424)

A rival saved and a fugitive made

During the coup against the Tianhai Divine Empress, Xiao Zhang descends from a red kite into the Imperial Palace and attacks the Lingyan Pavilion with his spear. Xue Xingchuan, wielding the Frost God Spear, defeats him in one exchange, but Xiao Zhang rises and charges again because the object is to disrupt the Imperial Design rather than win a formal contest. His excitement at confronting the foremost spear outweighs fear, and his willingness to absorb the palace defender's attention contributes to the coalition's larger success even though he cannot personally overcome Xue Xingchuan. (Chapters 646–647 and 657–669)

Later, Xiao Zhang intervenes when Imperial forces move to kill Wang Po after Wang has severed an arm to break into the Divine Domain. One spear drives back two Divine Generals, raises river water to destroy a rain of arrows, and disables more than ten military experts, at a serious cost in blood. He saves Wang Po because only a personal victory over his lifelong rival can answer their contest; allowing proxies to kill him would make Xiao Zhang permanently inferior. This rejection of the government's promised outcome turns a former collaborator into a wanted man, beginning years of pursuit and bloody resistance. (Chapters 705 and 711–712)

The breakthrough beyond the snowy plains

While hunted, Xiao Zhang spends years in or beyond the snowy plains rather than disappearing into safety. He repeatedly fights demon experts, killing or defeating Demon Generals while both the Great Zhou and Xuelao City track him. An earlier pill-assisted attempt to advance had driven him mad and required more than a decade of recovery, so his eventual Divine Domain breakthrough comes with an established history of physical and mental risk. Black Robe predicts the event and sends three ancient Mountain Men to kill him before it can stabilize; Xiao Zhang breaks through, but reaches Chen and Xu Yourong unconscious from blood loss and pursuit. (Chapters 856, 1067, 1124–1126, and 1152)

Recovery does not make him cautious. Xiao Zhang exchanges ten years' use of his kite for temporary custody of the Frost God Spear, hides in Shang Xingzhou's carriage, and wounds Black Robe when she attempts an assassination. Still carrying earlier injuries, he later pursues the Demon Commander and lands a spear strike that prevents her from fighting effectively for a time, helping a burning painting destroy Xuelao City's gate. His body is left broken and he falls into another coma, but the strategic consequence is decisive: the human army gains a route into the demon capital, and Xiao Zhang survives to witness the final confrontation. (Chapters 1154–1160 and 1174–1179)

Appearance and personality

Xiao Zhang covers his face with a sheet of white paper pierced by three dark holes. Wind makes it flap, battle tears it, and blood repeatedly stains it, creating the frightening image most people associate with him. He stands extremely straight and usually carries a long, plain black spear; even when exhaustion makes him collapse, his rigid posture causes him to fall like a pillar. The few descriptions beneath the mask emphasize blazing or harsh eyes rather than stable facial features. (Chapters 417, 646–647, 712, and 1124)

He is loud, arrogant, competitive, and widely called a lunatic, but his conduct follows recognizable principles. He respects worthy strength, refuses victories that another person would secure for him, and values a direct martial answer above political calculation. That same temperament makes him reckless with his own body and dismissive of hierarchy. Away from fighting, he is an exacting lover of tea who prefers wild leaves found in forests, villages, and small temples to famous varieties, an unexpected patience that contrasts with his battlefield image. (Chapters 388–400, 647, 711–712, and 861)

Abilities and cultivation

Xiao Zhang progresses from the peak of Star Condensation and the upper ranks of the Proclamation of Liberation into the Divine Domain. Before his breakthrough, he can already contend with several elite cultivators, resist techniques that disturb the mind, and make a spear strike powerful enough to threaten Su Li. Afterward, his Qi and command of laws rise to the level of humanity's supreme experts. His strength does not remove limits: Wang Po repeatedly defeats him, Xue Xingchuan overwhelms him while holding the Frost God Spear, the Mountain Men nearly kill him during his breakthrough, and accumulating wounds repeatedly leave him unconscious. (Chapters 392, 619, 646–647, 711–715, and 1124–1126)

Spear force and battlefield control

His spear style converts directness, momentum, and exceptional true essence into large-scale control. On the Luo River, one thrust throws back two upper-level Star Condensation Divine Generals; a horizontal sweep raises a water wall that destroys volleys; and a downward motion turns the river upward to wound surrounding troops. Against the Demon Commander, his charge concentrates a fearless, chilling force into a single armor-piercing strike. The style is most effective when he can commit completely to a line of attack, but that commitment exposes him to counterstrikes and makes every success physically expensive. (Chapters 711–712 and 1160)

Will, risk, and breakthrough

Xiao Zhang's cultivation depends unusually heavily on resolve. He keeps attacking after bones, knees, and wrists are damaged, and he can continue through mind-affecting pressure that would stop other peak cultivators. Yet his will is not immunity to consequence. A dangerous pill once offered a chance at rapid advancement but instead drove him mad, with damaged meridians requiring years to recover; his later breakthrough occurs while ancient demons are hunting him and leaves him unable to stand. His path therefore produces exceptional combat power by accepting risks that would cripple or kill most cultivators, not by escaping those risks. (Chapters 619, 647, 1124–1126, and 1152)

Power progression

Relationships

• Wang Po: Wang Po is the peer Xiao Zhang has never defeated and the standard against which he measures himself. Xiao Zhang saves him from Imperial execution because a proxy's victory would permanently end his own chance to surpass Wang Po, accepting fugitive status to preserve the rivalry. (Chapters 392–394 and 705–712)
• Chen Changsheng: Xiao Zhang first attacks Chen while the youth protects Su Li, but later fights beside him in the coup and northern campaign. Chen treats his injuries after the Divine Domain breakthrough, while Xiao Zhang's battlefield actions help open the route into Xuelao City. (Chapters 398, 646–669, 1124–1126, and 1154–1160)
• Su Li: Su Li is initially Xiao Zhang's target and an almost divine benchmark. Xiao Zhang is willing to attack him but not humiliate him, and the Xunyang confrontation teaches him that participation in an arranged killing offers less meaning than an honest contest. (Chapters 353 and 384–400)
• Zhexiu: Zhexiu stands between the wanted Xiao Zhang and pursuers in Fengyang City, making clear that arresting him would require a bloody fight. Their alliance is practical and rooted in shared resistance to government pursuit rather than extensive personal intimacy. (Chapters 856–866)
• Shang Xingzhou: Shang Xingzhou employs Xiao Zhang as the concealed spear in his trap for Black Robe and lends him the Frost God Spear. Xiao Zhang later fulfills his promise by helping disable the Demon Commander and deliver the burning painting to Xuelao City's gate. (Chapters 1154–1160)
• Black Robe: Black Robe attempts to have Xiao Zhang killed before his breakthrough, fearing another human Divine Domain expert. Xiao Zhang survives and later ambushes her with the Frost God Spear, inflicting a grave wound without managing to kill her. (Chapters 1124–1126 and 1154–1155)

Items

• Black spear: Xiao Zhang's usual weapon is a straight, plain, dark spear whose fame comes from its wielder rather than ornament or an identified artifact rank. It channels his full-body charges, wide sweeps, and river-shaping force, but can bend or fail against a superior divine weapon. (Chapters 398, 647, 711–712, and 1124)
• Frost God Spear: After being defeated by this weapon in the Imperial Palace, Xiao Zhang later receives temporary use of it from Shang Xingzhou in exchange for ten years' use of his kite. Its cold and imperial force lets him pierce Black Robe's chest, though his injuries and her strength keep the ambush from becoming fatal. (Chapters 647 and 1154–1155)
• White paper mask: The pierced paper conceals Xiao Zhang's face and becomes the visual record of his battles as wind, tears, frost, and blood alter its surface. The corpus does not attribute a defensive technique to it; unlike armor, its function is identity and intimidation. (Chapters 417, 646–647, 712, and 1124–1125)
• Red kite: Xiao Zhang uses a large kite and line for aerial movement, including his descent into the Imperial Palace and later travel over the northern battlefield. He agrees to surrender ten years of its use to Shang Xingzhou in the exchange that grants him the Frost God Spear. (Chapters 646, 711, 1124, and 1155–1160)