Yang Jian

Yang Jian is introduced as a mystic from Kunlun who is taught by Yuding Zhenren and is a prominent support character in the series. He is well known for his incredible shape-shifting, enabling him to mimic anyone he desires perfectly.

In the English adaption of Mystic Heroes, he is known as Captain Dax. In the English version of Saiyuki: Journey West, his given name is Jiro Shingun and he is the Cavalier Guardian.

Before his playable appearance, he was as a generic officer in the Warriors Orochi series, being named Vela in the English localization, following the pattern of the Mystic Forces generals being named after a constellation.

Warriors Orochi
Yang Jian makes his debut in the franchise in Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate. Unlike the rest of the mystics, Yang Jian was busy with other tasks and was never present in aiding the humans at all throughout their struggles. Dragged into Zeus's warped world for the first time, he finds Sun Wukong fighting the other mystics at Xu Province. Upon learning the full story from Taigong Wang and the other immortals, Yang Jian decides to only participate as an observer, still skeptical of the worth of the humans. After witnessing their bravery and determination at Hanzhong and Nanzhong, particularly that of Zhao Yun's, Yang Jian finally offers his full support to their cause at Guandu and helps them save Joan of Arc.

As part of the Coalition, he accompanies the other mystics to Chencang-Ueda to breakthrough the Spring of Mimir's first line of defense. While his strategies work well with Taigong Wang's, the two vehemently deny being friends, to the amusement of the their allies. He later joins the final battle against Odin at Yggdrasil itself, accompanying Zhao Yun in breaking through the front gates.

In the second storyline, where Hades turns evil, Yang Jian and Sun Wukong play a pivotal role in bringing down Hades once and for all. Yang Jian is revealed to have a deity form with his third eye at Ueda Castle where Mitsunari Ishida and Cao Pi are struggling against Hades, even when deified and Yang Jian deifies himself in order to get Hades to retreat. He keeps lending his assistance until Hades' final defeat at Yggdrasil and helps send the human warriors back to their own world.

Fengshen Yanyi
Like Taigong Wang, Yang Jian is ordered by his master to inspect the human world in Fengshen Yanyi. He infiltrated King Zhou's domain, Morning Song, under the disguise of a common servant maiden. When the hero is thrown into prison, Yang Jian -still under his disguise- frees him and Huang Feihu and returns their stolen possessions. He guides them to the Huang home and reveals his true form to defend himself from one of Hu Ximei's minions. After his formal introduction, he agrees to aid the group's escape before leaving to report to his master. During his time away from Taigong Wang's party, he infiltrates Morning Song once more and learns that they are receiving assistance from the Nine Emperor Gods lead by Tongtian Jiaozhu. Once he hears that Wen Zhong has left the capital, Yang Jian departs from his position to rejoin Taigong Wang.

By this time, the group was fighting Yu Hua. Disguised as a common soldier, Yang Jian interrupts the battle to deliver a false report about the enemy position. He taunts the enemy commander before attacking him and reports his findings to Taigong Wang after the battle. Yu Hua, who escaped death, never forgot the humiliation Yang Jian caused him and confronts the party a second time during their march back to Morning Song. Unlike their first encounter, Yu Hua perfected a new destructive weapon and wounds Yang Jian. He is seemingly taken by his master back to Kunlun to recover. However, when Taigong Wang's party confronts Yu Hua shortly after, Yang Jian descends from the heavens under the guise of Yu Hua's master, Yu Yuan, and slays him. The real Yu Yuan enters the scene to avenge his pupil but he is also defeated. Yang Jian continues to fight with Taigong Wang and returns to his training when peace is restored.

In Magical Fengshen, he is one of the four legendary heroes who is accredited to sealing Da Ji's soul. His whereabouts are unknown by the common people and Ne Zha only presumes that he is at Animal Forest, a place where the spirits of animals reside. Sora and his friends find him impersonating a tiger ghost. As a reward, he gives them two treasures, one of which can allow them to shift into any form. Since the kids are still inexperienced, he informs them that they can only transform into fish for now. He gives them a clue to find Taigong Wang, saying that he has been spotted sitting near a river.

Yang Jian returns as a supporting character in the rest of the series. In Fengshen Yanyi 2, he appears to rescue Ziya's party as they fight Qiu Shou Xian's new battle god. After their foe retreats, Yang Jian reports that he is also searching for the missing Taigong Wang. When they find that the strategist has collapsed, he tells them that Taigong Wang's wounds need to be healed in the mystic realm. Leaving for a time to mend his friend's wounds, he returns to try to defend King Wu from the Nine Dragon Sect. When Ziya reaches him, he joins their party permanently. After the final battle, he returns to his training in the mystic realm.

He is one of the characters who start with Ziya in Mystic Heroes.

Saiyuki: Journey West
He also appears as one of Sanzo's Guardians in Saiyuki: Journey West. Sanzo finds him resting on the highest peak at Dragon Cliff. He calmly explains that the people hounding the monk are devils who are the mortal enemies of Heaven. Before he can elaborate, Nagini appears so he hastily pardons himself into Sanzo's staff. When he is summoned, he increases the move of Sanzo's party and gives Sanzo the power to float. He attacks with his trademark trident in a short radius near Sanzo.

Personality
Proud and serious, Yang Jian's wisdom and skills is looked up by the other Mystics. The sole exception of this, however, is Taigong Wang, and the two often compete to see who is superior in as many fields as they can. While both men acknowledge the talents of the other, they refuse to accept any sort of suggestion of being friends, to the chagrin of the other mystics. He is known to be fond of his dog, Xiaotian, considering his companion as an extension of his limbs.

He is known to occasionally take over Sanzang's post in supervising Sun Wukong. Because of this, Yang Jian may appear once in a while to reprimand the monkey for his behavior and this earns him the scorn of the monkey. Conversely, Sun Wukong gets along well with Xiaotian, much more than the dog's owner.

He is amused by Ryu's philosophy of becoming stronger thanks to knowing one's weakness. Though he respects Zhong Hui's drive for knowledge, he sees the general's reasons for its pursuit to be too petty at times.

In the Fengshen Yanyi series, Yang Jian is a calm and collected man, and one of the voices of reasons in the group. He is proud of his versatility, especially his shape shifting abilities. Sometimes, however, he loses track of when he is in disguise and may slip into them as a subtle reflex. In the first game, he only broke his composure when dealing with his self-proclaimed fiancée, Long Ji Gongzhu.

Voice Actors

 * Ryōtarō Okiayu - Fengshen Yanyi series (Japanese)
 * Daisuke Matsubara - Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate (Japanese)

Moveset

 * (far away):
 * (while rising):


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 * undefined (held): Targets multiple highlighted targets.
 * , undefined:


 * (gauge full):
 * (partial gauge):

Fighting Style
Yang Jian is a character who has overall balanced stats. He is a good fighter and his high magic stat makes him a solid spell caster. He can easily adjust to any role that the player wants him to take in the party, whether it be as an attacker, healer, or mage. Since his defense slightly suffers in close encounters, Yang Jian might be best as a proficient mid-ranged fighter. Fengshen Yanyi is the only game which allows him to summon his divine dog to attack opponents. The summoning is his special ability and is guaranteed to always be on his person. The hound has good range and accuracy and remains an effective weapon for Yang Jian throughout the game.

In Fengshen Yanyi 2 his attacks are have ice as an elemental theme. He can equip any paopei, so he may be a good backup magic caster for trapping enemies. Yang Jian's special ability in the field is unlocking the orange tinged treasure boxes for the player. His battle ability allows him to instantly teleport beside a party member and hit foes with a wide ranged attack.

Mystic Heroes has him keep his ice attack motif.

The following lists his starting weapon and magic proficiencies in Fengshen Yanyi.


 * Sword - 1/7
 * Spear - 3/8
 * Club - n/a
 * Bow - n/a
 * Earth - 2/7
 * Healing - n/a
 * Illusion - n/a
 * Chi - 3/8

The following lists his stats in Mystic Heroes.
 * Magic Type: Ice
 * Power: 3/4
 * Magic: 3/4
 * Jump/Speed: 2/4

Fengshen Yanyi
Yang Jian was an extraordinary taoist master and a disciple of Jade Tripod. He mastered the art of seventy-two different transformations and was a man with a third eye on his forehead. He was known to have used a Three Point Double Edge Blade and his divine hound in battle.

He first introduces himself in chapter 40 and volunteers to deal with the troublesome teamwork of Jiang Ziya's current opposition from Zhou, the Diablo Brothers -Mo Lihong, Mo Liqing, Mo Lihai, and Mo Lishou. Before his arrival, West Qi City barricaded itself from their attacks and forced a ceasefire for three months. When Yang Jian left the city gates, he saved the supply troop by flinging himself into the mouth of Mo Lishou's elephant. Still living inside the belly of the beast, he broke free from its flesh and reported his actions to the Prime Minister. Using the mink's appearance, he slipped back to the Diablo Brothers' camp. He stole Lihong's legendary umbrella during the night and hands it to Jiang Ziya. He continued to act as Lishou's pet until the next day when the Diablo Brothers faced Huang Tianhua. Lishou ordered his elephant to trample the youth and the master was met with surprise when his so-called pet stamped its feet on him instead. Thanks to their efforts, the Diablo Brothers were defeated and their heads were hung over West Qi's walls.

He served Jiang Ziya by offering sage advice and warnings to many of the following conflicts. His versatility with his morphing abilities allowed him to escape capture several times and his hound wounded several of his enemies. His quick thinking and deception were major contributors to strengthening and defending the West Qi forces.

He helped recruited Earth Traveler Sun by finding the trick behind his taoism and personally informed the dwarf's master, Krakucchanda. When West Qi City was infested by a plague caused by the enemy, Yang Jian stalled for time by erecting straw and clay soldiers to momentarily scare the opposition. As his master replaced his position for maintaining the spell, he visits the Three Holy Masters and received the cure from the Emperor of Heaven, Fu Xi. He then was one of the four main defenders for the weakened city.

Knowing that his foe had an appetite for hearts, he replaced his heart with an internally damaging mass of magic to greatly weaken Ma Yuan. Later, when facing the reputed Yu Hua, he allowed himself to get poisoned in the arm by his enemy's dagger just so he could analyze the toxin. To gain the antidote, he disguised himself as Yu Hua and went to the man's master, Yu Yuan, with the pretext that he stabbed himself with his dagger and needed a cure immediately. Yu Yuan granted this request and realized too late that he had been tricked. With Thunderbolt's support, Yang Jian was able to deal a mortal blow to the general who "never suffered defeat".

Yang Jian was one of the six taoists who survived to see the end of the Shang Dynasty. At the end of the war, he executed one of Da Ji's sisters, Hu Ximei. Like the other five taoists, he decides to retreat into hermitage rather than stay in the newly found empire.