Zhou Yi

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Zhou Yi (周易)
Alias(es)	Zhou Li; Zhu Gang; Tang Xuan; Zhou Can; Jin; Old Xu / Heavenly Lord Yuanling; Sanzang; Xiao Shanzi 47 70 101 124 140 237 314 425
Species/Race	Human; later a Human Immortal 374 375
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Heavenly Prison; Dan Ding Sect; Mending Heaven Sect; Celestial Court 47 105 302 317
Occupation/Role	Cultivator, martial artist, prison interrogator, sect disciple, teacher, Mountain God, palace director, and emperor 47 124 252 293 397 459
Status	Alive; attained the Human Immortal Realm 374 375
First Appearance	3

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Tendon-and-bone tempering	10 11	Demonstrates enough physical force to crush a teacup lid into powder; later perfects tendon-and-bone tempering but encounters a viscera-refinement bottleneck.
Innate Grandmaster	16	Refines five hundred years of internal energy into Innate True Essence and manifests visible sword qi.
Origin Returning Art mana conversion	23	Converts all Innate True Essence into magic power, gaining more flexible mana manipulation and improved absorption of spiritual energy.
Qi Refining, third level	68	Reaches the third level after a decade of secluded cultivation at Little Dan Mountain.
Qi Refining Grand Perfection	90	Forces the Origin Returning Art to its thirteenth level through long-term accumulation and spiritual herbs.
Divine Bull Transformation, Grand Perfection	90	Completes the ancient body-refinement method after seventy years of cultivation.
Foundation Establishment	99	Uses twelve Foundation Establishment Pills to liquefy his mana; his spell power rises severalfold.
Re-cultivation: Qi Refining, third level	124	After dispersing his cultivation, reaches the third Qi Refining level again in six years through the Green Wood Art and abundant wood-attributed herbs.
Re-cultivation: Qi Refining, eighth to ninth level	124	Reaches the eighth level after twenty-two more years, then restores the ninth level three years later.
Foundation Establishment, re-established	124 126	Advances again after re-cultivation; later rebuilds his cultivation repeatedly over a century.
Late-stage / perfected Foundation Establishment	143	Breaks through the late-stage bottleneck within several years and spends thirty more years accumulating mana to perfection.
Golden Core	184 270	Later openly displays Golden Core aura and is recognized as having formed a Golden Core despite the era's spiritual restrictions.
Golden Core Completion	274	Turns his attention to the Four Arts of Cultivation after reaching the completion stage.
Nascent Soul Dao Lord	288	Survives heavenly and heart-demon tribulations, forms a Nascent Soul, and can fully wield his spiritual treasures.
Five-Element Spirit Root	309	Acquires his first Spirit Root after more than 6,600 years by refining Five Elements treasures into his body.
Spirit Transformation	360	Cultivates an independent Primordial Spirit capable of surviving apart from the body.
Human Immortal	374 375	Passes the Human Immortal Tribulation after 16,000 years and becomes unrivaled in the world.

Background / History

Born into poverty, Zhou Yi was sold into the palace as a child and became a eunuch. He learned to read in the East Residence, then began practicing the Ephemeral Bloom Manual, a martial art that trades lifespan for power. When he discovered that he aged far more slowly than his peers, he concealed the anomaly with disguise ointment and false aging. 377 378 379

His search for longevity led him to the Nameless Incantation, which he identified as an Immortal Dao method. Unable to sense spiritual energy or cultivate it normally, he concluded that he lacked a Spirit Root; the Longevity Dao Fruit's infinite lifespan nevertheless gave him reason to keep pursuing every available path. 4 58

Zhou Yi first advanced through the Martial Path, secretly cultivating the Return to Origin Skill and later the Heaven Devouring Demon Art. He became an Innate Grandmaster, then converted his True Essence into mana through the Origin Returning Art. He repeatedly abandoned identities, including posing as his own disciple, in order to outlive suspicion and return to the Heavenly Prison under new faces. 14 16 23 47

After settling at Little Dan Mountain as “Zhu Gang,” he farmed spirit fields, learned spells and formations, and reached Qi Refining Grand Perfection through decades of accumulation. He eventually refined Foundation Establishment Pills, entered the Foundation Establishment Realm, joined the Dan Ding Sect, and later rebuilt his cultivation multiple times rather than accept unsafe shortcuts. 70 90 99 105 124

He later became a disciple of Iron Crown Immortal of the Mending Heaven Sect, gained access to higher inheritances, cultivated the Grand Five Elements Escape Technique, and acquired a Five-Element Spirit Root after millennia of effort. His long cultivation ultimately carried him through Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, and Human Immortal tribulations. 302 303 309 360 374

Appearance

Zhou Yi’s true appearance is that of a striking young adult, preserved by his longevity and continuously nourished by mana. He habitually alters his face, voice, clothing, mannerisms, and apparent age to protect his identity. 12 23 47

• Often appears as a handsome young man in his early twenties. 47
• Can make a disguised face resemble his true appearance by roughly seventy to eighty percent without drawing recognition. 47
• Uses transformation techniques to assume elderly, middle-aged, rustic, noble, Daoist, and other identities. 78 137 184
• While traveling by sea, he wore long loose hair and a navy Daoist robe. 279
• His advanced transformations include a golden-horned azure bull body and a giant golden martial form. 99 447

Personality

Zhou Yi is fundamentally cautious, patient, and survival-oriented. He avoids prominence when possible, prefers stable arrangements over advancement, and views escape as more valuable than pride. His infinite lifespan reinforces this outlook: enemies, dynasties, and famed experts can all be outlived. 10 12 70 376

He is pragmatic rather than conventionally virtuous. He can be generous to people he considers deserving—helping Huang Yuniang, Xiao Tiezhun, Chen Jinyu, and later disciples—while remaining capable of manipulation, extortion, torture, and ruthless retaliation against threats. He deliberately maintains moral limits because he fears becoming someone he no longer recognizes. 23 83 92 398 410

Despite his caution, Zhou Yi enjoys wine, books, food, fishing, celebrations, and pleasure houses. He uses such indulgences both as genuine recreation and as a way to preserve his humanity across immense spans of time. 72 191 199 279 352

Abilities & Skills

Longevity Dao Fruit

The Longevity Dao Fruit grants Zhou Yi infinite lifespan and halts his natural aging after adulthood. 4 12

• Allows him to cultivate slowly without accepting dangerous shortcuts.
• Lets him wait out enemies, dynasties, and suspicions by changing identities.
• Its origin remains unknown even to Zhou Yi, who eventually questions whether such longevity could exist without cause. 433
• His unchanged vitality is a major secret; discovery would expose his abnormal nature. 134

Disguise and Identity Crafting

Zhou Yi is an expert at altering his appearance and building believable false identities. 12 47 78

• Alters skin tone, facial shape, voice, hair, posture, and apparent age.
• Creates supporting documents, recommendation letters, and unverifiable backgrounds for his aliases. 47
• Uses transformation techniques to deceive strangers, though familiar cultivators may notice unchanged mana aura. 78
• Adapts speech, accent, etiquette, and local customs over decades to blend into new societies. 280

Martial Arts

Zhou Yi initially built his strength through the Martial Path before entering immortal cultivation.

• Heaven Devouring Demon Art — Absorbs and refines others’ internal energy; its lack of pre-Innate bottlenecks enabled his rise to Innate Grandmaster. 14
• Indestructible Vajra Divine Skill — Creates a golden body with immense strength, poison resistance, and extreme durability; its duration depends on true-energy reserves. 384 447
• Emotionless Sword Art — A life-shortening technique that requires severance from one’s kin; Zhou Yi used the extermination of his clan as the condition for its completion and Innate breakthrough. 415 449
• Formless Sword Qi — Zhou Yi’s own creation, allowing sword qi to erupt from major acupoints throughout his body. 450
• Indestructible Golden Body — A comprehensive internal-and-external body-refinement method developed from the Indestructible Vajra Divine Skill and other external arts. 450

Immortal Cultivation

Zhou Yi compensates for his original lack of Spirit Roots through time, resources, and broad study.

• Origin Returning Art — Converts martial True Essence into mana and serves as his principal foundational cultivation method. 23 90
• Five Elements Scripture — Gives him access to the Five Elements Escapes after his mana transforms into five-colored radiance. 105 106
• Grand Five Elements Escape Technique — Enables traversal through the five elements and ultimately grants Zhou Yi a Five-Element Spirit Root after he refines rare elemental treasures. 291 309
• Azure Emperor Contemplation — A spirit-refinement inheritance whose only stated requirement is a sufficiently long lifespan. 291
• True Dragon Nine Transformations — Includes animal transformations that enhance physical attributes, such as the Ox Transformation’s strength and Eagle Transformation’s speed. 291

Thunder and Divine Wind Methods

Zhou Yi has exceptional proficiency with offensive elemental techniques.

• Five Thunder Technique — Can be cast nearly instantaneously after more than a century of refinement; at Foundation Establishment, its power exceeds ordinary magical artifacts. 99 116
• Innate Destruction Divine Wind — A powerful wind-based divine ability he refines through deep comprehension and later uses to erase demonic threats. 309 310
• Myriad Laws Divine Light — Combines countless spells and divine abilities into a single divine light capable of dispersing Human Immortal tribulation lightning. 374

Escape Arts

Self-preservation is the core of Zhou Yi’s combat doctrine.

• Five Elements Escapes — Permit travel through earth, metal, water, fire, and wood. 106
• Blood Ignition Escape Technique — Used alongside his transformation arts to outrun even Golden Core cultivators. 124 135
• Void Escape Technique — Traverses the void and can bypass ordinary formations and restrictions, though void astral winds threaten his divine sense. 291 298
• Earth Travel Technique — Used extensively to flee danger without flying openly. 94

Formations, Talismans, and Alchemy

Zhou Yi studies all Four Arts of Cultivation rather than specializing narrowly. 59 274

• Learns simple maze formations while stalled at the third Qi Refining level. 68
• Repairs formations for income and later teaches formation principles to others. 81 83
• Uses the Four Aspects Sumeru Formation to defeat multiple demon kings. 140
• Purchases and applies the Microcosm Formation to create a shrinking array. 184
• Refines low-level pills over decades before successfully producing Foundation Establishment Pills. 98
• At Golden Core Completion, reaches a level where he can set formations with a gesture, draw talismans in the void, and refine pills without a cauldron. 274

Divination

Zhou Yi practices numerology and divination primarily to avoid danger. 136 299

• Uses the Minor Heaven Severing Art to determine fortune and assess risk.
• Masters the Heaven Severing Secret Art after studying numerological traditions for millennia. 313
• Its high-level use consumes Nascent Soul lifespan to divine a single day’s fortune. 313

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Rivers and Mountains Cauldron — A spiritual weapon Zhou blood-refines over ten years; it can fly, strike with overwhelming force, suppress ghosts, and later becomes a high-grade magical artifact. 44 45 126
• Jianmu Tree — An Innate Spirit Root bound to Zhou Yi through a soul contract; it becomes his spiritual artifact and provides spiritual energy for cultivation. 190
• Kunlun Grotto-Heaven — Refined over two centuries into a protective treasure and potential world, with the Dragon Emperor Pearl as its core. 210
• Dividing Light Sword — A spiritual treasure that Zhou Yi can fully wield after forming his Nascent Soul. 288
• Supreme Clarity Talisman — A high-grade talisman used to destroy a fierce ghost and protect his disciples. 237 288
• Arhat Relic — A Buddhist cultivation treasure bestowed on Zhou Yi by Yinguang Arhat. 314
• Divination cylinder — His frequently used tool for casting fortune sticks and assessing danger. 136 299

Relationships

• Wei Chang — Early martial mentor who teaches Zhou Yi secret methods and introduces him to the Nameless Incantation. 3 4
• Niu Xiaowei — Heavenly Prison colleague and political patron; Zhou Yi reveals his martial strength to earn greater security while refusing to compete for Niu’s position. 10
• Lao Bai — Longtime friend whose wedding Zhou Yi attends; Zhou Yi entrusts Chen Ya’er to him when seeking to keep her away from Shenjing’s turmoil. 23 38
• Huang Yuniang — Grievous Spirit and later Ghost King whom Zhou Yi initially spares and helps settle in Emperor Chongming’s tomb; centuries later, he returns to apologize and settle their karma. 20 23 184
• Chen Jinyu — Protected beneficiary and ally; Zhou Yi assists her from the shadows and later establishes a means to exchange information with her. 45 58
• Xiao Tiezhun / Xuanxiao — A cultivator Zhou Yi helps with spirit rice and cultivation advice; Tiezhun later risks himself to repay that kindness. 82 83 121
• Real Person Xuan Yu — Initially pursues Zhou Yi after he steals the Profound Yang Pill Scripture; they later meet again as fellow Dan Ding Sect cultivators. 94 124
• Iron Crown Immortal — Zhou Yi’s master in the Mending Heaven Sect; their initially pragmatic relationship develops into genuine master-disciple closeness. 302 303 305
• Spirit Ginseng Child — Companion and subordinate who tends spiritual plants, travels with Zhou Yi, and is treated alternately as a troublesome child and trusted attendant. 190 210 279
• Xiao Ran and Li Chao — Zhou Yi’s disciples, whom he protects from a fierce ghost and rewards for obtaining spiritual objects. 237 244
• Zhou Ping’an — Adopted son and capable official who relies on Zhou Yi’s legacy to protect the Zhou family and rise in the court. 410 455
• Old Lu — Palace mentor, former spy, and eventual enemy; Zhou Yi retains complicated affection for him even after their relationship turns toward revenge. 387 422 461

Notable Quotes

“The greatest difficulty in life is accepting mediocrity and still striving!” 5

“Time is on my side!” 191

“Losing face was better than losing his life.” 376

Trivia

• Zhou Yi writes diaries to preserve his memories and prevent his personality from eroding across centuries of life. 279 459
• Pear Blossom White is his preferred wine and a recurring tool in his friendships, negotiations, and celebrations. 5 303
• He estimates that he has visited at least eighty to one hundred pleasure establishments over his long life. 199
• Fewer than five cultivators in the cultivation world have seen his true appearance. 271
• He considers escape techniques more valuable than combat fame and teaches students that cultivators skilled at fleeing vastly outnumber those unmatched in battle. 253