Xuan Zan is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels in Chinese literature. Nicknamed "Ugly Prince Consort", he ranks 40th among the 108 Stars of Destiny and fourth among the 72 Earthly Fiends. Background An eight chi tall skilled warrior, Xuan Zan is strikingly ugly with a face like the charred bottom of a wok, an upward pointing nose, hair messy like rank grass, and a red beard. He fights with a long sabre and is good in archery. A prince is so impressed by Xuan Zan when he beats contestants from a foreign state in archery, bringing glory to the Song empire, that he marries his daughter to him. Xuan Zan is therefore nicknamed "Ugly Prince Consort". However, the princess is so unhappy with the marriage, finding his looks disgusting, that she soon falls ill and dies. As a result, Xuan Zan falls out of the prince's favour and is relegated to a low-ranking military position in a garrison unit of Dongjing, the imperial capital. Becoming an outlaw When the outlaws of Liangshan Marsh attack Daming Prefecture to rescue Lu Junyi and Shi Xiu, Grand Secretary Liang Shijie, the governor of Daming, seeks help from the Imperial Tutor Cai Jing, his father-in-law, in the Song imperial capital Dongjing. Xuan Zan, who is under Cai, recommends his friend Guan Sheng, a military inspector in Pudong County, as cut out for the job. With the assent of Cao, Xuan rushes to Pudong to summon Guan. Guan comes with his friend Hao Siwen to the imperial court, where he is tasked with saving Daming and the latter appointed his lieutenant together with Xuan Zan. Guan Sheng adopts the strategy of attacking Liangshan to force Song Jiang to lift the siege on Daming. Things develop as he has expected. But, in face of many good fighters, Guan finds it a daunting task to squash Liangshan. Huyan Zhuo, a former imperial general who has gone over to Liangshan after failing to conquer the stronghold, comes to Guan one night alone, claiming that his capitulation to the outlaws is a sham. Guan is duped by Huyan to conduct a night raid on the camp of Song Jiang. When he gets there, he is pulled off his horse by hook wielders waiting in ambush and captured. Meanwhile, Xuan Zan is no match for Qin Ming and is seized too. Hao