Xu Jia

Courtesy name Wenhe. Jia Xu is the third member of the Eight Enigma, genius military advisors handpicked by renowned veteran strategist Sima Hui 'Shujing' from his students. He's also arguably the most notorious among the Eight Enigma, due to his favorite sacrifical strategy, which twice has killed his lords for the sake of eliminating the common enemy (Lu Bu). As best friend of the Fourth Enigma Guo Jia, Jia Xu is a fervent believer in the 'Darkness ideology', the belief hailing actions of utmost cruelty, rather than of benevolence, as the ultimate mean to pave way for peace and prosperity. This causes his rupture with the way of justice Shujing taught, which he deems obsolete, and his premature graduation from the school of Shujing. During the course of the story, Jia Xu has served various lords. He was particularly loyal to Dong Zhuo, the Imperial Prime Minister whose inhuman reformist method was the closest to his ideal. However Dong Zhuo and his advisor (also Jia Xu's sworn brother) Li Ru hardly heeded his advices, and eventually died in Lu Bu's usurpation. Jia Xu then joined forces with Dong Zhuo's son-in-law Niu Fu and successfully overthrew Lu Bu at the cost of Niu Fu's life and his own exile when Niu Fu's subordinates turned on him out of jealousy. Since then he's expressed the intention to join Cao Cao and secretly kept in touch with Guo Jia, but still stayed with the remnants of Dong Zhuo's faction. When Cao Cao's expedition against Lu Bu began, Jia Xu returned and played one of the vital roles in Lu Bu's eventual elimination.