Soul

Soul

• Chinese name: Hun (魂)
• Codename: Black Wound
• Sex: male
• Born: twenty-eight years before Rainblood
• Height: five chi nine fen
• Allegiance: The Order
• True identity: second son of the Bastion of Mó
• Weapon: Black Wound (his own blade)
• First appearance: Rainblood Prequel: Mirage (age 18)

Character profile

The Order’s youngest Nether Envoy, codename Black Wound. His wraithlike movement and his life’s techniques all come from a mysterious clan that was already wiped out — the Bastion of Mó — and his weapon is one of the fortress’s three treasures, Black Wound. Soul is descended from the Bastion of Mó; he is the second son of its lord, Mo Tian, and the younger brother of its eldest son, Mo Jian.

Early life

From infancy Soul was raised by an unmarried woman in Nancheng. In his memory there lingers the fragment of a tall man carrying him and running through firelight, and it became the nightmare he could not shake for years. Soul grew up in the care of an unmarried woman in Nancheng; in that era a woman with a child and no husband drew the neighbours’ censure. His foster mother died when he was twelve, and to bury her Soul sold himself into an underground fighting house in Nancheng to brawl for money. There he met Zuo Shang, sold into the same house, and the two became closest friends. Later they escaped and began to drift through the jianghu, doing deeds no one would name in polite company.

Years in The Order

After his foster mother died, Soul took to wandering with Zuo Shang. In those years the two nearly uncovered the most terrible secret in the wulin, and Soul nearly lost his most important token, the Heart of Black. In a quarrel with the Southern Riverlands master Qingfeng the Swordsman, Zuo Shang killed him by mistake and the orthodox sects came after them. Yet they realised their own strength could carry them to something far greater. A middle-aged man then “happened” to find them and show them the most meaningful thing under heaven. From then on the two were taken in by the wulin’s most secret and most powerful body, The Order, trained into fighters whose name made men quail, and began to win countless merits for The Order’s expansion. Early on, Soul risked his life as a Living Envoy of The Order, grew into an outstanding swordsman under that grinding, and did not fail the expectations of the adoptive father who had taken him in — Mu Tianmiao. Soul’s growth was steeped in the helplessness of being manipulated, and two things had plagued him since childhood: he often had nightmares of a great fire outside and of a figure with his back to him slowly turning, whose face he could never see; and sometimes an indescribable killer aura surged up in him, his subconscious blurred and even ran wild, and he feared that one day this killer aura would take his reason and cause an irreversible disaster. Then, in the thirtieth year of The Order, Soul — who had distinguished himself in the battles at the Sword Pavilion and Moon Bastion — was given a more important task: to go to the Southern Wulin and investigate the mystery of Mirage. Soul and Zuo Shang distinguished themselves in the battle of Mirage and exposed the hand behind it. The Nether Lord thought highly of Soul for it, raised him from a Living Envoy to a Nether Envoy, and made him a core figure of The Order. In this period Soul and Zuo Shang drifted apart, yet Soul still believed Zuo Shang was the friend of his life and never doubted what was between them. Soul still remembered the vow the two had made as children: to build a great enterprise of their own in this wulin.

The Order’s internal war

In the thirtieth year of The Order, Soul took the stage as the protagonist again. But this time Zuo Shang, who had always fought beside him, went after the Council of Eleven at the very start and pushed deep into the vast desert, and the two parted ways; Soul, who knew Mirage best, alone served as the Order’s vanguard against it and fought a series of stirring battles. In the fortieth year of The Order, he was used by his closest friends and his lover, killed the Order’s leader by mistake, was hunted by the whole Order, and was gravely wounded in the decisive duel with Zuo Shang. To fight off The Order’s pursuit, Soul accepted the Poisoned-Heart art of the inscrutable physician Ghost Hand. His martial skill returned quickly, but he had only sixty-six days of life left. In those last sixty-six days he set out resolutely on the road of no return that would end every debt of love and hate. Meanwhile, because of The Order’s internal war, the wulin situation changed violently…

Personality

Taciturn and something of a loner, and by appearance that is about all one would say of this young swordsman. In fact Soul runs cold outside and warm inside, and values loyalty deeply. Steady most of the time, he is also young and hot-blooded, with a rash and thoughtless side.

Appearance

Lean and wiry, with slender, tall limbs and deep, bright eyes. He likes black cloth, which hides him in darkness when he moves, and wears an exaggerated red cape in ordinary days.

Base abilities

Sha-Chi: the root of every technique, and some techniques can be strengthened by boosting it. The effects of the Sorrowful Cry pill and other drugs can push a single technique to its limit at the moment it is released.
Killing intent: of one source with Sha-Chi and another name for it — ordinary Sha-Chi is a resource, while killing intent is that resource pushed to its extreme form, ten times the effect of ordinary Sha-Chi.

Sword arts

Absolute Kill: Black Wound’s terrifying technique of extermination; it strikes several opponents at once with lethal force and weakens them. Boosted, it can crush several wulin masters in a single move.
Rain Kill: dozens of light, quick strikes lash out in front, winning by sheer number.
Plunge Kill: dropping from the air, it splits the enemy open with enormous force and speed.
Whirl Kill: a storm of swordsmanship that flings the enemy into the air.
Instant Kill: Black Wound’s signature technique, unmatched in speed; with it Black Wound once cut down countless first-rate masters. The blade brings unimaginable pain and then death.
Phantom Kill: another of Black Wound’s divine arts; it uses Sha-Chi to make an illusion that baits the enemy’s attack and turns its force back on them. The fiercer the attack, the stronger the counter. It cannot counter complicated moves.
Stealth Kill: Soul hides himself and then lands a surprise strike from behind.
Shadow Kill: a surprise strike, the mysterious sword art hidden inside Ghost Step; the same principle as Stealth Kill.
Underworld Kill: Soul’s slowest but strongest move, a terrible blow as if blessed by the wraiths of the underworld.

Ultimate techniques

Zero. Sundered Head: a blade-aura attack that gets in everywhere and breaks everything, far beyond any of Soul’s moves but Annihilation.
Annihilation: Soul’s strongest ultimate; no one in the wulin can withstand one blow of it. Even Soul cannot control how the move changes. It spends so much Sha-Chi that he does not use it often.
Return to Zero: “It is the highest secret art of our Bastion of Mó: break through this one form and the body can produce endless Sha-Chi, surpassing all speed, strength and space.” — the lord of the Bastion of Mó
The final ultimate of the Bastion of Mó, as dictated by its lord.

Equipment

Soul’s strength comes from four kinds of slots, each answering a different question:

The weapon pool holds more than thirty primary weapons in three classes — one-handed, two-handed and dual-wield — each with its own stagger power and recovery, plus more than twenty Phantom Edges.

How he fights

Sha-Chi is a budget. The Sha-Chi gauge sits under the health bar: holding guard stance, throwing a Sha-Chi attack or taking a hit all drain it, and it rises back on its own once you stop for a beat; a precise parry spends no Sha-Chi and chips a chunk off the opponent’s. Sha-Chi attacks and ultimates are paid from the same pool.

Blocking is the engine. A well-timed block against an ordinary attack costs no Sha-Chi and cuts the enemy’s; catching a blue-light attack triggers Ghost Step and puts you behind the opponent to strike back; a red-light attack cannot be blocked and needs a precise dodge — land it and Ghost Step follows too.

The second weapon is a defensive tool. Swapping refills Sha-Chi, clears one guard break, and puts the stowed weapon on cooldown.

Relationships

• Mo Tian — father
• Mo Jian — brother
• Zuo Shang — closest friend
• Mu Tianmiao — adoptive father and leader
• Mu Xiaokui — childhood playmate, the girl he grew up beside
• Tong Mei — someone he has feelings for
• Jian Xuan — friend

Appearances

• Rainblood: Town of Death — age 28
• Rainblood II: Ye City — age 28
• Rainblood Prequel: Mirage — age 18
• Phantom Blade — age 18
• Phantom Blade II — age 19
• Phantom Blade III — age 26
• Phantom Blade Zero

Quotes

“If there is no heart, what use is seeing this game clearly?” “Nobody in the wulin today can dodge this move!” “I cannot hold this Sha-Chi back!” “My road is mine to decide.” “Only this much?”

FAQ

Can Soul be customised? Only through gear — weapons, Phantom Edges, potions, accessories and the ability tree; body type and class cannot be chosen.

Can you play another character? In the published material there is no second playable character.

Does difficulty change his setup? It changes only enemy attack, health and behaviour; Soul’s own moves stay the same.