Chen Yi

Biodata

Power Progression

Cultivation rank and Dao mastery are separate measures: Chen Yi repeatedly develops techniques capable of challenging opponents above his cultivation rank 261 322 430.

Background / History

Chen Yi was originally an ordinary corporate worker who awakened in the body of a celebrated Jiangnan scholar. His predecessor had been proficient in poetry, qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting, with handwriting praised by Master Juyi of Jinling Academy. The newcomer initially lacked most of those skills and used temporary amnesia to explain discrepancies noticed by Xiao Die 1.

The original Chen Yi’s circumstances deteriorated after his mother died and his father, Chen Xuanji, was absent. First Madam Cui Yu confined him for two years, denied him books and writing materials, and prevented him from taking an important imperial examination. She subsequently arranged his marriage into the declining Xiao Family 1.

On the wedding day, an unknown party manipulated the predecessor into fleeing the marriage. He died before the Xiao Family recovered him, allowing the present Chen Yi to take his place. Knowing someone had already targeted him, Chen Yi postponed any escape until he could protect himself 1 2.

Chen Yi initially understood his treatment as Cui Yu’s persecution. He later questioned why the Chen elders had never intervened and eventually learned that his placement in Shuzhou involved arrangements by the Chen Family and White Tiger Guard. This deepened his distrust of his father’s intentions 339 564.

Appearance

• Build: Tall and slender, becoming considerably more robust through martial cultivation. Loose robes and his concealment technique preserve the appearance of a delicate scholar 298.
• Face: Handsome, with softer and less rugged features than his Chen Yu disguise; Xiao Wan’er notes that his natural complexion is somewhat darker 178.
• Clothing: Commonly wears scholarly robes, belts or sashes, boots, and jade ornaments. His academy outfit includes a dark navy satin robe and double-fish jade pendant 146 357.
• Bearing: Usually gentle and composed. When he stops restraining his aura, his posture and presence become markedly more forceful 175.
• Dao influence: Perfection-level attainments give him a natural, peaceful bearing that his concealment art does not entirely suppress 377.

Personality

Chen Yi wants an undisturbed life of fishing, tea, chess, and study rather than an official career. His apparent idleness conceals persistent training: he practices after his assigned instructor leaves, cultivates privately at night, and later uses illusory substitutes to free more time for advancement 10 47 120 429.

He is patient, observant, and difficult to provoke. He can answer insults with self-mockery, entertain unfamiliar relatives through tactful conversation, and wait for reliable information before acting. He regards an identified threat as a solvable problem, however long the solution takes 52 87 207.

His caution does not prevent decisive violence. When Liu Jing threatens the Xiao Family and insults Xiao Wan’er and Xiao Jinghong, Chen Yi kills him and his accompanying men, removes evidence, and returns home calmly. Later, he openly threatens lethal consequences for outsiders investigating his household 123 533.

Despite his reluctance to become entangled in affairs, Chen Yi increasingly treats the Xiao residence as his home. He rejects pressure to pursue the Chen Family’s preferred career and explicitly places the Xiao Family’s interests first. During the confrontation with Yu Yueren, he refuses to abandon Xiao Jinghong and Chu Xiudao despite his injuries 279 280 514 528.

Abilities & Skills

Daily Intelligence and Fortune

• Receives intelligence notices identifying a future event, its time and location, and the Fortune potentially available there 7 34 109.
• Uses these notices to uncover covert meetings, anticipate attacks, and locate significant martial encounters 150 326 479.
• Spends accumulated Fortune through his Light Screen to advance Dao realms and receive their associated profundities 133 177 590.
• Also advances through practice and epiphany; his Perfection Spear Dao is not solely a purchased upgrade 229.

Cultivation and Physical Conditioning

• Great Spear Stance Cultivation: Tempers his skin, sinews, bones, and organs while developing strength and qi 10 33.
• Four Symbols Technique: Cultivates True Essence through three qi seas and four Divine Seats, whose Wood, Water, Fire, and Metal Spirit Essences enhance his techniques 168 261 322.
• Body Dao insight: Improves cultivation efficiency and his understanding of the body; reaching Perfection accelerates progress across several techniques 285.
• Barbarian-derived training: Combines insights from the Spirit Fusion and Spirit Possession methods with Body Dao to temper his physique through internal cultivation 571 575.

Concealment and Disguise

• Mysterious Turtle Breath Concealment Art: Spreads finely controlled qi across his body and seals his pores, suppressing the leakage that could reveal his cultivation 53.
• Passive cultivation: Its circulating qi can refine Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi even when he is not actively practicing a stance 57.
• Physical disguises: Uses masks, altered clothing, scent-concealing sachets, and changes in posture, voice, and expression 175 272.
• Layered identities: Can wear Chen Yu’s mask beneath Liu Wu’s to preserve another disguise if one is removed 272.
• Limits: He does not trust the concealment art to deceive Ye Guxian; Xiao Wan’er also notices similarities between Chen Yu and her brother-in-law 175 353.

Spear Dao

His principal high-end martial discipline is the Dragon Falling Spear Art, also rendered as Falling Dragon Spear 83 222.

• Reaches Heaven Rank, adding four moves designed to combine with Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi 212.
• Gains exceptional sharpness from the Divine Seat’s golden light and Metal Spirit enhancement 222 322.
• Pierces Yan Fusha’s hidden black snake and protective True Qi 222.
• At Extreme Realm, far surpasses his own Perfection-level Spear Dao; he estimates that it could instantly defeat ten versions of his former spear-wielding self 429.
• Requires adequate cultivation to sustain its power. At Eighth Rank, he can initially draw out only a tenth of the art’s strength 83.

Fist, Palm, Movement, Saber, and Sword

Medical Dao

• Practices the Four Diagnostic Methods and acupuncture 83.
• Uses silver needles and True Essence to expel poisonous insects from Yuan Hao, then identifies contaminated candy as the source of the Epidemic Poison 326.
• Diagnoses and treats patients while answering other physicians’ questions and developing plans for a Medical Dao Academy 193 233 430.
• At Perfection, creates Medicine Formations using medicinal stones, insects, herbs, and environmental conditions 430.
• Can adjust local yin and yang or calm Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi fluctuations; later uses a Medicine Formation to trap intruders 430 533.

Chess Dao and Illusion Realms

• Cultivates his own spiritual intent rather than merely the Divine Seats of the Four Symbols Technique 322.
• Manifests landscapes and enclosed worlds through the Chess Dao Illusion Realm 322 429.
• Uses the realm for concealed cultivation and unrestricted technique practice, although powerful spear attacks can strain it 412 429.
• After reaching Second Grade, develops a more elaborate illusory world containing responsive human figures and manifestations of his various true intentions 575.

Calligraphy, Painting, Qin, and Poetry

• Calligraphy: Becomes a celebrated teacher whose copybook attracts Shuzhou’s aristocratic youths. He encourages students to develop styles reflecting their own temperaments 68 174.
• Perfection calligraphy: Converts written characters into intent expressing the calligrapher’s true heart 322.
• Painting: Can make painted objects appear convincingly real; uses an illusory self-portrait as a substitute at a physician’s seat 322 429.
• Qin: Develops from an early weakness into a Perfection-level discipline 1 535.
• Poetry: Draws confidence from remembered poetry of his former world. Works associated with him, including Feelings After Rain and Prelude to Water Melody, contribute to his reputation 1 228.

Yi Dao

• Studies the changes of heaven and earth to investigate past and future and turn calamity toward good fortune 524.
• Uses copper coins in his divination practice 564.
• Applies Yi Dao talisman characters within an illusion to produce lightning and wind against Liu Lang 585.
• Reaches Perfection later than his other Daos because he has studied it for less time and finds its mysteries less readily interchangeable with his other disciplines 524 590.

Inner Heaven and Earth

• Develops an embryonic Inner Heaven and Earth before reaching the cultivation realm normally associated with it, supported by simultaneous cultivation of multiple Daos 575.
• Fills this inner world with the intents of his disciplines and gradually strengthens it through cultivation 575.
• By his later assessment, can use it to mobilize Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi within five hundred li 593.
• Limit: Despite matching Barbarian Great Grandmasters, he still judges himself inferior to a true Earthly Immortal. His Dao attainments exceed what his available True Essence, Gang Qi, and cultivation base can fully sustain 524 529 575 593.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Five-Fold Spear — A sectional spear concealed in his sleeve and assembled for combat; used against Yan Fusha and Du Cang 222 300.
• Disguise masks and rattan chest — Includes the Chen Yu and Liu Wu masks, disguise tools, and implements for lockpicking and thievery originating from Zhang Dabao’s training lineage 272.
• Scent-concealing sachet — Part of the precautions used for his Chen Yu persona 175.
• Silver needles — Used with True Essence for medical treatment and poison removal 326.
• Immortal’s Draught — Used to render Asutai and Lü Jiunan unconscious 263.
• Thousand Hands Chess Manual — The text through which he first learns chess before advancing his Chess Dao 96.

Relationships

• Xiao Jinghong — Wife. Their early estrangement gives way to a private reconciliation and renewed introduction as husband and wife. He later helps her pursue a breakthrough through a demanding spar 44 421.
• Xiao Wan’er — Elder sister-in-law and frequent partner in household, commercial, and educational affairs. His Chen Yu disguise negotiates with her while concealing his identity 175 193.
• Xiao Wuge — Young brother-in-law and regular fishing companion. Deeply attached to Chen Yi and asks him to accompany him to Jinling 68 109 245.
• Xiao Die — Dedicated maid and early minder. Initially watches for another escape attempt; later assists with his clothes, meals, and daily arrangements 2 4 146.
• Pei Guanli — Training partner who calls him brother-in-law. Shares secret practice sessions with him and receives his martial guidance; he later protects Pei Yonglin specifically for her sake 33 34 435.
• Chen Xuanji — Father of his present body and head of the Jiangnan Chen Family. Chen Yi distrusts his concealed cultivation and involvement in arranging the Xiao marriage 1 564.
• Cui Yu — His father’s first wife and nominal mother. Confined his predecessor, obstructed his education, and arranged the matrilocal marriage 1.
• Chen Yunfan — Elder brother. Their initially suspicious relationship softens as Yunfan comes to understand Chen Yi’s concealment and loyalty to the Xiao Family 48 243 280.
• Wang Ji — Commercial subordinate entrusted with medicinal supplies, acquisitions, and the expansion of Hundred Herbs Hall 174 353.
• Liu Lang — Subordinate and martial student. Carries out covert assignments and receives guidance extending his Blade Dao into the movement technique Ghost Step 177 585.
• Yuan Liu’er — Grandstudent whose exceptional martial talent attracts Chen Yi’s attention. He arranges instruction and expects substantial growth from her at the Medical Dao Academy 352 385 430.
• Shui Hetong — Martial rival and ally. Spars with Chen Yi, assists in investigations, and agrees to protect the Xiao Family during his absence 371 380 382 435.
• Ye Guxian — Senior who secures his agreement to a junior contest by invoking Xiao Jinghong. Later intervenes against Yu Yueren 353 514.
• Chu Xiudao — Blade Ghost and senior ally. Fights beside Chen Yi in Barbarian territory and later becomes the subject of intelligence predicting his Earthly Immortal breakthrough 514 585.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Confinement and Secret Training

After fifty days in confinement, Chen Yi gains permission to leave the Wooden Tower but must remain within Chunhe Garden pending Xiao Jinghong’s reply. The Xiao Family also requires him to train in martial arts. He conceals his diligence from Wang Lixing and begins investigating opportunities revealed by Daily Intelligence 4 7 10.

His investigation of coded messages exposes Xiao Dongchen as a Hidden Guard. Believing himself to be their “Fledgling,” Chen Yi constructs several layers of protection: an idle son-in-law and pharmacy shopkeeper in public, intermediaries and alternate identities beneath that, and concealed martial strength as his final safeguard 33 75 81.

Hundred Herbs Hall and the Shuzhou Conflicts

Chen Yi’s commercial and medical work becomes closely tied to the Xiao Family’s recovery. Hundred Herbs Hall supplies profits, cooperates with the family’s medicine business, and becomes the foundation of a planned province-wide expansion. As Chen Yu, he negotiates directly with Xiao Wan’er without revealing that he is her brother-in-law 150 175 353.

Conflict with the Liu Family leads to Liu Jing’s fatal ambush. Chen Yi subsequently investigates rising grain prices, political interference, and links between merchants and Barbarian interests. His resources eventually include approximately 500,000 shi of stored grain and two million taels obtained from General Star 123 233 346.

Five Poisons Sect

The Five Poisons Sect repeatedly threatens Chen Yi’s associates and businesses. His battle with Yan Fusha forces him to expose several martial disciplines and becomes the occasion for his Spear Dao epiphany 109 222 223 229.

When the sect spreads Epidemic Poison through candy distributed to disaster victims, Chen Yi saves Yuan Hao and brings evidence to the Mountain Tribe. Intelligence then alerts him to an impending attack on Liu Lang, Lin Zhenghong, and their companions 326.

Martial Recognition and the Barbarian Journey

Chen Yi’s concealed attainments draw the attention of White Immortal, Ye Guxian, and Shui Hetong. He eventually reveals multiple Dao masteries in a spar intended to help Xiao Jinghong break through, then enters Third Grade and prepares to travel to Barbarian territory 353 371 421 430.

Earlier testimony from Asutai identifies the captive Wei teacher Fu Wanqing as his likely mother-in-law. Chen Yi later enters the Black Bear Tribe under Song Jin Jian’s name and learns that both Fu Wanqing and Xiao Fengchun are confined near Left King Muhage’s main tent 263 486.

The journey culminates in conflict with Yu Yueren, an Earthly Immortal acting on Great Asa’s orders. Chen Yi is badly injured but continues resisting alongside Xiao Jinghong and Chu Xiudao until Ye Guxian intervenes 514.

Defending the Xiao Family

Back in Shuzhou, Chen Yi captures Bright Moon Tower agents investigating Xiao Fengchun and Fu Wanqing. He destroys their cultivation but spares their lives so they can carry his warning: outsiders spying on the Xiao Family or Hundred Herbs Hall must leave 533.

He continues strengthening his Inner Heaven and Earth, reaches Second Grade, and raises Yi Dao to Perfection. Although his command of multiple Daos gives him extraordinary reach, he still distinguishes his power from that of genuine Earthly Immortals 575 590 593.

Notable Quotes

“Everyone is afraid.”
— Answering Yan Fusha’s question about whether he fears death 220

“Marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog. What’s wrong with that?”
— Rejecting shame over marrying into the Xiao Family 243

“Senior, I am in the Xiao Family now. Naturally, my heart is with them.”
— Stating where his loyalty lies 528