Lord Bai-Luan is a high-ranking official of the Ming dynasty and the leader of a Chinese expedition sent to Japan during the Sengoku period under the orders of the Emperor. His mission is to locate a specific prophesied child and perform an ancient ritual to produce an elixir of immortality, known as the Xian Medicine. He is an elderly man who carries the weight of his years, and his primary motivation is a deep, obsessive drive to complete this ritual, which he views as his ultimate purpose. Bai-Luan is a calculating and ruthless strategist who treats everyone around him as expendable tools. He views both the local Japanese population and his own soldiers as means to an end, showing no regard for the lives lost in pursuit of his goal. To manage the immense stress of his endeavor and his own failing health, he is often seen consuming opium. He commands a group of Ming warriors, including the formidable Western swordsman Luo-Lang, though he struggles to maintain control over the independent and bloodthirsty fighter. Bai-Luan also negotiates a fragile and treacherous alliance with the local daimyo, Lord Akaike, securing permission to build a large sacrificial altar on his land in exchange for gold. His role in the story is that of the orchestrating antagonist, driving the relentless hunt for the boy Kotaro. As the narrative progresses, Lord Akaike plots to betray him, but Bai-Luan anticipates this and captures the daimyo, using him as a human shield within his fortress. In the climax, as Nanashi storms the altar to rescue Kotaro, Bai-Luan attempts to shoot the ronin with a rifle. However, Luo-Lang severs his master's arms in order to clear the way for a final personal duel. Bai-Luan is killed in the ensuing chaos, his quest ending in utter failure. He meets his end realizing too late that his lifelong obsession with the elixir of immortality was in vain, and that his ruthless ambition led only to his own destruction. His notable abilities lie not in physical combat, but in his capacity for careful planning, manipulation, and the ruthless coordination of his forces, though his reliance on opium and his inability to control his deadliest asset ultimately prove to be his undoing.