Chen Luo

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Chen Luo (陈洛)
Alias(es)	Daoist Changsheng; Hyena Great King; Master/Venerable Ling Xu; Divine Physician Chen
Species/Race	Human
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Former Corpse Collector; Divine Lake Immortal Sect; Qionghua Sect; founder of the new Heavenly Court
Occupation/Role	Cultivator, alchemist, formation master, talisman master, artifact forger, soul cultivator, sect leader, Heavenly Emperor
Status	Alive; becomes the new Heavenly Emperor of the Immortal Realm
First Appearance	1

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Martial Grandmaster	49	Reveals that he has practiced martial arts for only a little over a month, yet sends Grandmaster Ruan Jianglong flying while using seven-tenths of his strength.
Qi Refining Layer Three	83	Breaks through after replacing most of his weaker External Brains with late Qi Refining and Foundation Building cultivator brains.
Qi Refining Layer Six	95	Advances after a surge of spiritual power enters and condenses in his dantian.
Qi Refining Layer Seven	102	Reaches Qi Refining Late-stage; his internal spiritual-energy serpents increase from nine to thirty.
Foundation Building Realm	161	Demonstrates combat ability far beyond a newly advanced Foundation Building cultivator while defeating Elder An's group.
Foundation Building Late-stage	170	Reaches the late stage after five years of secluded cultivation, pill refining, and cultivation in Black Stone City.
Peak Foundation Building Late-stage	244	Digests accumulated Inner Demon Power and reaches ninety-nine Spiritual Power Flood Dragons.
Foundation Building Completion	261	Completes the final Foundation Building step after digesting the high-integrity brain of the Immortal Sect Master; his Flood Dragons reach one hundred.
Mid-stage Core Formation	336	Refines and reorganizes Jade Liquid spiritual power, advancing into the middle Core Formation stage.
Golden Core Completion	400	Can briefly erupt with power near Mid Nascent Soul through the simultaneous operation of more than five hundred External Brains.
Early Soul Transformation	521	Stabilizes his new Soul Transformation cultivation after killing Spirit Pool Fairy and Xing Qi.
Middle Soul Transformation	556	States that his strength is close to Earth Seed Soul Transformation despite only being at the middle stage.
Void Return Realm	661	Breaks through while confronting manifestations of his desires and emotions; uses the Immortal Corpse's brain to regain control.
Peak Void Return	694	Possesses magical power, physical strength, and spiritual strength exceeding other Peak Void Return cultivators.
Early Dao Integration	813	Reads the brain of the long-dead Dao Integration cultivator Zi Tiangang and gains further insight into divine abilities.
Tribulation Crossing Realm	892	Reaches the peak of Dao Integration through spirit cultivation and crosses the tribulation threshold with Grudge's assistance.
Mahayana Realm	970	Breaks through after obtaining the Immortal Artifact Soul Burying Banner.
True Immortal Realm	1046	Scares off cultivators pursuing Ning Chenye with a single glance and begins planning an Emperor Armament.
Fourth Realm True Immortal	1074	Returns to the mortal realm and accesses the Huanyu Immortal Emperor's brain, though the strain consumes substantial Spirit Power.
Immortal Emperor	1100	Completes his Emperor Tribulation; Myriad Daos resonate as a power unique to him emerges.
Heavenly Emperor	1114	Establishes a new order in the Immortal Realm, replacing Tribulation Qi with Immortal Qi and enfeoffing twenty-one Immortal Emperors.

Background

Chen Luo began as a teenage Corpse Collector working alongside his Third Uncle, burying Jianghu Wanderers killed in conflict. While handling a corpse, he awakened the ability to contact and read a dead person's residual brainwaves. The first Lingering Obsession he read contained a medicinal formula for increasing strength, revealing that the dead could become a source of knowledge and skill for him 1.

He initially used the accumulated experience of Jianghu Wanderers to learn martial arts. Although his own combat experience was limited, the collected minds gave him familiarity with swords, spears, blades, halberds, staves, forks, and other weapons. A high-quality Royal Family Brain later transformed his martial progress, giving him the direction and aptitude that hundreds of mediocre brains could not provide 11 18.

After activating the Royal Family Brain and the Nineteen Young Master's brain, Chen Luo developed a Spirit Root suitable for immortal cultivation and entered the Divine Lake Immortal Sect. His cultivation accelerated as he replaced weaker External Brains with the brains of cultivators, grave robbers, and defeated enemies 58 83.

Appearance

Chen Luo is first described as a young man in his late teens. As a Core Formation cultivator, he wears a light azure robe with flowing sleeves and has black hair; his appearance is compared to that of an immortal stepping from a painting 1 347.

• Usually appears in cultivator robes and travels by flying sword.
• Can alter or suppress his aura by activating particular External Brains.
• Uses disguises, puppet doubles, and borrowed identities when direct exposure would be inconvenient 238 473.
• His combat form can display beast-like Bone Patterns and a powerful Body Manifestation 379 520.

Personality

Chen Luo began as a diligent and respectful Corpse Collector who treated unidentified dead with dignity. His earliest use of his ability is practical rather than malicious: he reads a corpse's final memory to obtain a strength-enhancing medicinal recipe 1.

He is highly pragmatic. Chen Luo avoids revenge when the difference in power is too great, withdraws when risks outweigh rewards, and changes identities or routes when his enemies gain an advantage 28 108 468. He values information, resources, cultivation methods, and high-quality brains above reputation or convention.

His pragmatism can become ruthless. Chen Luo kills Wan Ming after exposing his false identity, eliminates enemies for their brains and inheritances, and repeatedly treats powerful opponents as sources of knowledge once they threaten him 108 161 695. Even so, he is capable of restraint and responsibility: he gives Qi Yunyun a martial technique, protects Yu Jun Yao during Elder Luying's assault, and later personally guides his followers to keep them from straying from the Immortal Path 113 422 659.

Abilities & Skills

External Brains

Chen Luo's defining ability allows him to contact dead brainwaves, read Lingering Obsessions, and retain the deceased as “External Brains” within his consciousness.

• Reads fragments of residual knowledge, memories, instincts, cultivation insights, and final obsessions from corpses 1 108.
• Uses individual brains for specialized tasks, including alchemy, formations, artifact forging, sword arts, curses, tracking, and cultivation-method deduction 52 203 543.
• High-quality brains can fundamentally improve his aptitude; the Royal Family Brain and Nineteen Young Master's brain allow him to manifest a Spirit Root and cultivate immortality 58.
• Can assign separate brains to study different parts of a technique simultaneously, accelerating mastery through parallel thought 845.
• Had over one hundred Foundation Building brains by his time in Black Stone City, more than five hundred External Brains during the Thousand Faces battle, eight hundred after fifty years in the mortal world, and more than 2,800 by the time of his later conflicts 218 400 527 940.
• Brains vary in integrity and specialization; damaged brains provide incomplete information, while different subjects reduce the duration or effectiveness of a given brain's assistance 13 52.
• Excessive high-level brain power can overwhelm him. Absorbing Zhang Chengdao's Immortal Emperor-level brain forces him to discard more than a thousand lower-level brains to restore control 1061.

Cultivation Versatility

Rather than following only one path, Chen Luo combines the accumulated experience of many cultivators.

• Possesses seven Spirit Root attributes when his External Brains are stacked, allowing him to cultivate diverse techniques 159.
• Has mastered Spirit Techniques, Wind Manipulation, Five Elements Divine Abilities, body cultivation, sword qi, curses, and minor techniques 159 161.
• Uses opposing methods in succession to exploit an enemy's weaknesses, including Sword Qi, body cultivation, talismans, formations, and curse techniques 161 291.
• His Three Manifestations integrate different cultivation paths, allowing him to retain multiple Divine Ability routes instead of abandoning them at the Tribulation Crossing Realm 894.

Inner Demon Art

Chen Luo's principal cultivation method evolves from the Inner Demon Art into an increasingly complex system incorporating multiple legacies.

• Draws benefits from others' Inner Demon Tribulations and converts harvested power into spiritual cultivation 227.
• Uses the art to stabilize his mind after absorbing enormous quantities of foreign spiritual power 227.
• Becomes a top-tier Curse Cultivator after absorbing the Seed Demon Sect Master's knowledge and completing the art's Foundation Building-to-Core Formation content 238.
• Later manipulates emotional and malicious thought power as an extension of the art 664.
• The method eventually contains so many grafted cultivation systems that little besides its name remains of the original Inner Demon Art 664.

Sword Arts and Sword Formations

Chen Luo is not a dedicated Sword Cultivator, but he can convincingly wield sword techniques through borrowed experience.

• Learns the Azure Wood Sword Intent and a Foundation Building sword art from a Sword Dao genius brain 238.
• Refines a Wood Sword Formation using nine magic swords; its Wood Formation killing move is assessed as equivalent to Old Demon Fang's full-strength strike 200 207.
• Uses sword formations, sword qi, and the Grand Void Sword in high-level combat 379 702.
• Acquires Ke Zhenbei's precious sword and reproduces its Mirror Sword Realm with greater effectiveness than its original owner 845.

Formations, Talismans, and Crafting

Chen Luo is proficient in all Four Immortal Cultivation Arts and uses preparation as a major equalizer against stronger opponents.

• Studies medicine, divination, astrology, physiognomy, calligraphy, formations, alchemy, and artifact forging through his combined brains 52.
• Reaches Second-rank attainment in alchemy, artifact forging, and formations after reviving Beiyu Ji's brain 203.
• Deploys the Earth Vein Profound Spirit Formation to suppress powerful enemies and isolate battlefields 398 399.
• Uses large stores of Spirit Talismans, thunder balls, and refined magical artifacts to injure enemies above his apparent realm 422 501.
• Can dismantle flawed high-tier formations by applying the expertise of dedicated formation-master brains 806.

Soul Cultivation and Puppetry

Chen Luo uses soul-based artifacts, corpse materials, and puppet techniques as both weapons and sources of growth.

• Commands the Soul Banner, whose Baleful Souls and Main Souls grow stronger through the addition of powerful remnant souls 194 539.
• Creates straw-figure doubles and puppet bodies capable of deceiving tokens and observers 238 845.
• Uses Reverse Soul Seizing and cognition-altering methods to control or modify subordinates without destroying their cultivation knowledge 571 591.
• Can manage the madness associated with soul cultivation by changing the brain he is using 665.

Immortal Artifacts and Emperor-Level Power

After reaching the Immortal Realm, Chen Luo gains artifacts and abilities capable of reshaping large-scale conflicts.

• Soul Burying Banner — an Immortal Artifact used for suppression, soul collection, and later the creation of Immortal Soldiers and Generals 970 1023 1114.
• River of Rebirth — an Immortal Artifact inherited through Zhang Chengdao's aura; its recorded abilities are Lifespan Erosion, Departed Souls Pull, and Erosion 1061 1064.
• Changqing Immortal Emperor's brain — his primary source of high-level deduction, ancient knowledge, and solutions beyond the understanding of lesser brains 481 980.
• Emperor-level authority — after becoming an Immortal Emperor, he can reach into the River of Time and graft a deceased Immortal Emperor's “past” onto another being 1100 1112.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Grotto-heaven Gourd — stores magical artifacts, formation flags, talismans, weapons, and other resources; Chen Luo also draws a chessboard from it in battle 447 842.
• Soul Burying Banner — Immortal Artifact and soul-cultivation weapon 970 1023.
• River of Rebirth — Immortal Artifact once tied to the Zhang Family; later controlled and refined by Chen Luo 1061 1064 1068.
• Grand Void Sword — powerful sword used with the Pig Dragon Sword Saint's brain to command Gang Wind and sword intent 702.
• Wood Sword Formation — nine magic swords upgraded to Second-rank and arranged into a formation 200 203.
• Ke Zhenbei's precious sword — a high-grade sword capable of producing Mirror Sword Realm when wielded with pure Metal spiritual power 842 845.
• Spirit Talismans and thunder balls — mass-produced tools used to compensate for gaps in his direct technique-cultivator offense 422 501.
• Chessboard — a Spirit Artifact-level weapon Chen Luo uses as a blunt instrument in his “Great Strength Chess Dao” style 501 1088.

Relationships

• Third Uncle / Chen Dahe — Uncle and fellow Corpse Collector who teaches Chen Luo the rules of corpse collecting and remains attached to him after Chen Luo becomes a cultivator 1 157.
• Crippled Ma — Martial master who considers Chen Luo his disciple and is both proud of and envious of his extraordinary aptitude 49.
• True Person Evergreen — Chen Luo's master at Divine Lake Immortal Sect; Chen Luo returns to see him during his master's final decline and offers him a Qi Nourishing Pill 58 158.
• Huang Ying — Junior Sister from the She Kingdom who sells Chen Luo's talismans and benefits from their cooperation 98 102.
• Qi Yunyun — Mortal girl observed on True Person Wuwei's instructions; Chen Luo confirms she lacks a Spirit Root, then gives her Black Tiger Fist and improves her meridians 113.
• Lady Hong, Blood Saber, and Zuoqiu Long — Cultivators who persevere through the Inner Demon Tribulation and continue following Chen Luo with loyalty and respect 331 334.
• Ao Ye — Chen Luo's disciple; even after losing his memories during a tribulation, Ao Ye becomes Chen Luo's close friend and ally before later receiving his master's guidance again 324 607.
• Yu Jun Yao — Qionghua Sect cultivator who spars with Chen Luo, recognizes his overwhelming strength, and is protected by him during Elder Luying's attack 291 422.
• Flower-Backed Turtle — Long-standing follower, diviner, and steward entrusted with sect resources during Chen Luo's absences 521 556.
• Le Qingzhu — Cunning rogue cultivator and recurring collaborator who trades formations and information with Chen Luo 447 454.
• Wang Chengguan — Changqing Immortal Emperor's evil incarnation and Chen Luo's missing friend, whose whereabouts Chen Luo continues to investigate 1083 1088.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Corpse Collector and Martial Beginnings

Chen Luo begins by collecting corpses with Third Uncle and awakens his brain-reading ability from a dead Jianghu Wanderer. He builds his earliest combat foundation from the instincts and experience of dead martial artists, then uses the Royal Family Brain to rapidly improve his Black Tiger Fist 1 17 18.

Divine Lake Immortal Sect

The Royal Family Brain and Nineteen Young Master's brain give Chen Luo the aptitude needed to cultivate immortality. At Divine Lake Immortal Sect, he studies broadly, hunts for Spirit Stones, refines pills, and replaces weak brains with the brains of Qi Refining and Foundation Building cultivators 52 58 83 116.

Evil Cultivator Territory

After leaving the sect amid conflict and blockades, Chen Luo survives through careful route changes, disguise, alchemy, grave robbing, and decisive violence. He establishes himself in Black Stone City and Gu Demon Mountain, accumulating resources, Foundation Building brains, sword formations, and Inner Demon Art gains 108 170 218 238.

Qionghua Sect Leadership

Chen Luo returns to the Qionghua Sect's sphere of influence, rises beyond ordinary disciple status, and becomes the accepted authority over Great Profound Peak and the wider sect. His strength suppresses the Southern Sky Region's rogue cultivators, while sect disciples and elders increasingly seek his guidance 402.

Higher-Realm Expansion

After reaching Soul Transformation and Void Return, Chen Luo expands his influence through the Demon Race, the Ancient God Sect, Myriad Stars Gate conflicts, and the Emperor's Tomb. He acquires numerous high-level brains, masters increasingly dangerous formations and artifacts, and begins using ancient methods such as Borrowing from the Ancient 567 653 714 759.

Immortal Realm and Emperor Tribulation

Chen Luo enters the Immortal Realm, gains access to Imperial Clan and Immortal Emperor-level brains, refines the River of Rebirth, and investigates the source of the Great Tribulation. He ultimately completes his Emperor Tribulation and obtains a power unique to himself 979 1061 1068 1100.

New Heavenly Court

After becoming the greatest “Dharma” in the Immortal Realm, Chen Luo destroys the old Tribulation Qi order and replaces it with Immortal Qi. He cleanses the Soul Burying Banner, resurrects its former Baleful Souls as Heavenly Court soldiers, enfeoffs twenty-one Immortal Emperors, and establishes a new Heavenly Court whose cultivation system spreads across All Heavens and Myriad Worlds 1114.

Notable Quotes

“Worshipping deceased seniors is a custom in my hometown.” 1088

“Looks like I won this game.” 1088

Trivia

• Chen Luo's first borrowed memory is a recipe involving Orchid Withered Ball, Iron Thread Grass, and White Flower Fruit to increase strength 1.
• His first refined pill is a laxative, despite being a successful refinement 100.
• He often treats powerful enemies, tombs, and battlefields as potential sources of useful brains.
• His External Brains can disagree, specialize in different fields, and provide distinct tactical perspectives rather than functioning as a single unified consciousness 52 100.