Yan Shoumei

Yan Shoumei is an emissary of the Dreadgod cult that follows the first Dreadgod to awaken in the Cradle series, The Bleeding Phoenix. She has a Blood Shadow she calls Crusher.

Yan Shoumei

• A girl with black hair in her eyes, wearing the colors of Redmoon Hall, red and black

“Her hair hung over her eyes like a hood, and her Blood Shadow slithered formlessly around her.” (Uncrowned, ch 9)

• Has an attitude
• Feels no bond with the Sage of Red Faith or his cult, Redmoon Hall
• Striving to advance because she needs the power to protect her city
• Appears to care about kids and helpless citizens (but that’s hard to swallow)

Rank, Path

Yan Shoumei was a Truegold in book 5 Ghostwater. She advanced to Underlady soon after leaving the pocket world.

UKT

As an Underlady, she competed in the 18th Uncrowned King Tournament with her Blood Shadow, Crusher. Eithan Arelius threw his match to her in exchange for his terms with Reigan Shen (see Wintersteel)

In the tournament she defeated her fellow Redmoon Hall contender, Blacksword. Then Crusher, her beastly Blood Shadow, proceeded to feast on his body and blood. (Chapter 5, Wintersteel)

• See also Uncrowned King Tournament

Blood Shadow

Yan Shoumei created Crusher after visiting Northstrider’s pocket world, Ghostwater. Sacred Beasts of unique and rare species lived in his pocket world. She took samples of their blood, following instructions from the Redmoon Hall Sage of Red Faith. She used the blood to refine and enhance her Blood Shadow, a chimera named Crusher.

Her Blood Shadow is terrifying. Named Crusher. He showed his stuff when he fed on a fellow cultist in the 18th Uncrowned King Tournament

Yan Shoumei stood there, wounded and panting, her red robes exposed but her Blood Shadow no longer visible. It was eating Blacksword. Little Blue squeaked and covered her eyes. The Shadow had swollen into a monstrous form, fifteen feet tall and built like a cross between a heavily muscled man and a bear. Its fingers were unnaturally long, with sharp claws on the end, and it had the ears of a rabbit and the maw of a wolf. It was covered in the suggestion of fur, but spines rose in a row from along its back. Every inch of it was blood-red. It dug into Blacksword’s chest with its muzzle, feasting. In the center of a bowl-shaped crater that covered two-thirds of the arena floor. (Wintersteel ch 5)

She called him Crusher. A monstrously muscled humanoid body formed from the blood madra she usually wore as a cloak. The Shadow inherited its body from a Deepwalker Ape that had mutated its spirit to focus entirely on physical strength. Crusher’s fur was thick and shaggy, taken from the blood of a bear dreadbeast that had inherited power from the Wandering Titan itself. The spines that rose from his back and the claws on his long fingers came from the diamond dragon, who had been the only member of its species. The wolf’s muzzle and tall, rabbit-like ears must come from the other, more common blood samples that were mixed into the spirit for balance and tempering. Crusher’s final, hulking form stood more than twice Shoumei’s height, and its strength… (Wintersteel ch 20)