Shen Hu

Shen Hu is assumed to be a Earth / Mountain / Lake cultivator. His family has a village in the western part of Emerald Seas Province in the territory ruled by the Meng.

He is a tall, lanky boy with handsome features and a "corpsely pallor" when he was first encountered, though this may have been simply a consequence of his cultivation art at the time. Shen Hu is, in fact, as tall as Gan Guangli in his base form at approximately two meters tall, but is much lankier. This makes him amongst the tallest boys met so far. His hair is long enough to reach the middle of his back, and is tied back into a messy tail. He does not wear shirts. Or shoes. He does, however, occasionally wear pants.

## Style

His weapons take the form of claws composed of black crystal about fifteen centimeters long. Shen Hu's primary style of combat involves working together with his Green Realm mud spirit Lanhua, by wearing her semi-fluid body as a suit of armor. This synchronicity in combat surpasses all forms of similar partner fighting styles displayed in the Outer Sect. Lanhua uses this ability to carry Shen Hu as a means of protecting him during his long cultivation induced fugue states.

Furthermore Shen Hu is proficient at area effects similar to Ling Qi, by using Lanhua and his own arts to create a very large mud pit trap. It is supplemented by him using spires of dark crystal rock, which spring from the mud incredibly quickly.

Another central art to his style is an art called the Languid Summer Art. When initially introduced it was used too frequently and powerfully for it to be a normal art, leading to speculation into what was causing the oddity. Its effects stops the target's movement for a turn and slaps on a high defense penalty. Said effects are described as this:

> *For an instant, Ling Qi felt lethargy flood her body, the urge to simply lie down for long nap under the humid summer sun surging in her thoughts.*
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During his battle with Sun Liling in the Inner Sect promotional tournament, it was confirmed that this art comes from a second, unmaterialized, spirit that Shen Hu possesses. How similar this spirit is to Sixiang, and its other qualities, is unknown.

His domain weapon is defensive in nature, and takes the form of a slate grey slab of polished stone as large as a grown man.

## Story

Ling Qi first encountered him on a Sect mission to drive off a terrifying Green Realm spirit beast roaming around the edges of the sect lands. This turned out to be Lanhua, carrying Shen Hu inside her body as he cultivated in a fugue state.

Later interaction after their fight in the Inner Sect promotional tournament's preliminaries revealed that he was unable to compete in the tournament preceding the events of Forge of Destiny when a friend of his named Nan Ju failed to wake him up. Whether this was intentional on Nan Ju's part is uncertain, though plausible given that Nan Ju apparently progressed.

## Bound Spirits

His Spirit Beast is a Shambling Terror named Lanhua. She is a mass of earth four meters tall and nearly as broad at the shoulder. She is composed of river mud and black loam, with plant life such as reeds and moss growing from her body. Her hands have three fingers, and her body was described as "half liquid."

During the depths of Shen Hu's cultivation art fugue state she has been shown to carry him around within herself. Shen Hu also wears Lanhua as a suit of armor during battle and assists her in melee combat from within her semi-solid body.

Shen Hu also has a second spirit, likely similar to Sixiang in being able to act from within the dantian. Little is known about this spirit beyond that it is the source of his Languid Summer Art and its oddly frequent use.