Zhao Cheng

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Zhao Cheng (赵诚)
Alias(es)	Blood Butcher; Blood Butcher Yama 94 196
Species/Race	Human cultivator
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Great Qin; Blood-Clad Army; Blood Garment Tower; Mohist Pavilion 80 123 384
Occupation/Role	Great General for the Destruction of Han; commander of the Blood-Clad Army; cultivator; Qin lord and later marquis 56 204 567
Status	Alive 597
Origin	Huaiyang Village, Yang City County; born to humble circumstances and has an unknown father 39 50
Age	Sixteen during the Han campaign 39
First Appearance	Chapter 3

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Flesh Refining: Minor Success	3	Initial recorded cultivation of the Basic Body Refining Technique.
Tendon Refining	3	Invested eighty years of lifespan; gained greatly strengthened musculature, tendons, and precise control over his physical power.
Flesh Refining: Great Completion	11 15	Reached the peak of Flesh Refining before the assault on Fang City.
Skin Refining	16	His refined skin withstands ordinary blades while he leads the first ascent of Fang City’s wall.
Qi Body Refining	23	Learned to absorb Heaven-and-Earth Qi into his flesh, reinforcing his skin and strength; a bronze sword could not leave a mark on him.
Body Refining Perfection	34	Completed the Basic Body Refining Technique, filled the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and gained deliberate control over Qi flow.
Primordial Qi / Meridian Opening	33 34	Used a Marrow Cleansing Pill to open his meridians, expand Qi absorption and storage, and rebirth his body.
Aperture Realm / True Essence	49 50	Condensed Primordial Qi, formed vortices in the ten major acupoints of the Thoroughfare Vessel, and filled them with jade-like True Essence.
Golden Core	234 247	His Heavenly Star Constellation True Technique reached early Golden Core; his core supplied vast True Essence for high-speed aerial pursuit.
Nascent Soul	282 283	Shattered his Golden Core and formed a Nascent Soul bearing 365 Star Apertures, each linked to a divine ability.
Heavenly Immortal	573	Broke through to the Heavenly Immortal realm in one continuous advance and unlocked the ability to use One Breath Transforms into Three Purities.

Background

Zhao Cheng grew up as a commoner in Huaiyang Village, Yang City County. His father was unknown, while his early life was marked by farm labor, wilderness travel, and hardship rather than formal martial instruction 39 50.

When Qin’s conscription order required all village males aged fifteen and above to register, Zhao Cheng departed with the other youths for the county office. During that journey, he used his system to invest eighty years of lifespan into the Basic Body Refining Technique and broke through from Flesh Refining into Tendon Refining 3.

He rejected the safer prospect of serving as a personal guard, declaring that he wanted battlefield merit, rank, and a title instead. His physical trials earned him placement among Qin’s central elite forces and gave him the first opportunity to fight on the front lines 4.

Appearance

Zhao Cheng is exceptionally tall and powerfully built. At enlistment, he stood a full head above other youths; later descriptions place him at over eight feet tall, with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and a frame compared to an iron beam 3 80.

• A muscular but proportionate physique, with defined, naturally flowing muscle lines rather than excessive bulk 3.
• Broad shoulders, ape-like arms, and a spear-straight bearing 80.
• Sharp cheekbones, a stern jawline, blade-like brows, and eyes marked by intense killing intent 70 80.
• A heroic face repeatedly noted for its resemblance to Ying Zheng, unsettling ministers and drawing the king’s attention 39 70.
• A palpable baleful aura that intimidates soldiers, officials, and opponents before he acts 23 80.

Personality

Zhao Cheng is direct, ambitious, and intensely action-oriented. He seeks merit through battle rather than comfort or status, and he repeatedly pushes Qin to expand its campaigns rather than remain idle 4 105.

Despite his fearsome reputation, he is not reckless for empty fame. Meng Wu considers him capable of restraint, patience, and adapting his methods so enemies cannot easily predict him 44. He studies military history seriously, rapidly grasps strategic principles, and recognizes that personal strength alone cannot always break an organized army 11 49.

He is fiercely protective of soldiers who follow him. He takes difficult assignments himself to reduce casualties, rewards merit, shares cultivation methods with his troops, and promises to support the families of fallen comrades 17 79 80. His mercy has limits: enemies who ambush him, corrupt officials, and those who refuse useful service are treated with ruthless severity 222 384.

Abilities & Skills

Lifespan System

Zhao Cheng possesses a system that converts lifespan into cultivation, deductions, pills, weapons, and storage space.

• Invested lifespan to cultivate and deduce martial arts, allowing advances that would otherwise require decades or centuries 3 23.
• Can condense pills, including the Marrow Cleansing Pill that opened his meridians 33.
• Can forge weapons ranging from crude arms to Divine Weapons through Lifespan Weapon Forging 32 33.
• Unlocked Lifespan Void Condensation, creating a personal storage space for items 55.
• Seizes lifespan from slain enemies; cultivators yield vastly more than ordinary soldiers 260.
• Major deductions and forgeries consume enormous amounts of lifespan, limiting what he can create at any given time 33 259.

Body Refinement and True Essence

His cultivation began with physical refinement and developed into an overwhelmingly durable body reinforced by vast reserves of Qi and True Essence.

• Ordinary weapons fail to harm his Qi-reinforced skin 23.
• A coordinated assassination involving a flying sword, blades, poison, and close-range attacks could not pierce his body; his erupting True Essence shattered the weapons around him 64.
• His physical strength enables immense leaps, aerial pursuit, and halberd strikes powerful enough to overwhelm higher-realm cultivators 154 222.
• His body withstood Yun Miao’s sword formation even after his protective True Essence was cut apart 222.
• He recognizes that refined movement techniques and specialized arts can threaten him when he relies too heavily on offense 226 251.

Heavenly Star Constellation True Technique

Zhao Cheng’s primary cultivation art develops True Essence through stellar acupoints and celestial resonance.

• Opened the ten major acupoints of the Thoroughfare Vessel, each forming an autonomous Primordial Qi vortex 50.
• Resonated with 361 acupoints corresponding to primary stars and saturated them with True Essence 91.
• His Nascent Soul possesses 365 Star Apertures, each associated with a distinct divine ability 282.
• Enables enormous reserves of True Essence, rapid recovery, and the ability to draw on Heaven-and-Earth spiritual energy 50 283.

Astrology and Foresight

His stellar cultivation supports divination, danger sensing, and highly accurate intelligence work.

• Perceived the deadly omen over Fusu and intervened in time to stop an assassin 91.
• Supplies Liu Zhi with exceptionally accurate intelligence, allowing the Blood Garment Tower to unravel enemy plots efficiently 123.
• His existence disrupts divination; Beimingzi’s attempt to calculate his origins dissolved into chaos 308.
• Powerful formations and heavenly secrets can still obscure threats from his astrology and Illusion-Breaking sight 348.

Martial Arts and Halberd Techniques

Zhao Cheng’s preferred weapon is the great halberd, which he combines with overwhelming physical force, True Essence, and rapidly deduced techniques.

• Cloud-Severing Heaven — A heavy halberd art capable of severing clouds and clashing with refined sword intent 250.
• Sky-Splitting Moon-Shattering — Derived from observing Heart-Condensing Moon-Piercing; combines extreme sharpness and speed with halberd weight and dominance 240.
• Vast Sea Raging Tide — A forceful attack style used in conjunction with his other halberd arts against Beimingzi 311.
• Inverted Coiling Azure Dragon Striking Blazing Sun — A technique created by improving upon the Sword Hut art Sleeve Coiling Cloud Snake Swallowing Bright Moon 241.
• Throat-Sealing Sword Technique — Allowed him to rout two thousand Han soldiers alone 32.
• Can rapidly analyze observed techniques with the aid of Clarity and Illusion-Breaking, then use lifespan to reproduce or improve them 236 240 254.

Mobility

Zhao Cheng possesses extraordinary speed on foot, horseback, and in the air.

• His horsemanship is so advanced that Meng Wei initially believes he understands horse language 6.
• Could clear obstacles, trenches, and stone-lock trials without slowing during military assessment 9.
• Wind-Riding Divine Mobility allows aerial movement and pursuit at speeds far beyond sword-riding cultivators 236.
• Uses bodily strength alone to leap into the sky and pursue airborne opponents even when out of True Essence 154.

Ten Thousand Peaks Returning to Void

A defensive and suppressive art that manifests as an immovable mountain-like domain.

• Prevented Xie Qingmian from moving, using True Essence, or wielding sword intent 252.
• Withstood the combined attacks of the Sword Hut elders while Zhao Cheng deduced their techniques 253 254.
• Resisted Beimingzi’s Ten Thousand Rivers Autumn Water Sword Formation 311.
• His later law domain can suppress multiple opponents at once, seal their True Essence, and force them helplessly to the ground 382.

Military Command and Strategy

Zhao Cheng is not solely a frontline fighter; he is an exceptionally fast learner of battlefield strategy and a commander trusted with independent campaigns.

• Mastered mounted combat, archery, scouting, infiltration, and night raids 10 13 44.
• Studied classic battles with Meng Tian and quickly connected historical examples to formal principles of war 49.
• Uses small infiltration teams, disguises, ambushes, terrain, and rapid cavalry movement rather than relying only on direct assault 26 37 44.
• Trains the Blood-Clad Army through shared body-refining manuals, medicinal rewards, and merit-based advancement 79 80.
• Planned the thorough subjugation of Donghu by dividing forces to eliminate scattered tribes and strongholds 435.

Equipment

• Painted Halberd — A Divine Weapon forged for one hundred thousand years of lifespan. It is twelve feet long, channels True Essence perfectly, and amplifies Zhao Cheng’s power 59.
• Treasure Halberd — An earlier lifespan-forged halberd created after his Precision Cast Great Halberd shattered under the force of his True Essence 50.
• Heaven-Overturning Seal — A Dharma treasure seized from Yin Jiao; Zhao Cheng later retains it as a counter to the Demon-Subduing Pestle 382 575.
• Black Armor — Hundred-refined black scale armor bestowed with his appointment as Great General for the Destruction of Han 56.
• General’s Seal, Tiger Tally, Yak-tail Staff, banners, and precious command sword — Symbols and instruments of his authority over Qin’s armies 56.
• Lifespan Void — Personal storage space created through Lifespan Void Condensation 55.

Ranks and Honors

Rank / Title	Chapter	Notes
Squad Leader	13	Appointed after joining the Assault Cavalry Battalion; Feng Quan served as temporary Wuzhang to assist him.
Assault Cavalry Commandant	20 21	Promoted after taking Fang City’s southern foothills and capturing Han Ming.
Fifth Rank Grandee	20	Received alongside a fief of three hundred households.
Middle Geng	56	Peerage decree delivered to Yang City.
Great General for the Destruction of Han	56	Granted authority over Qin’s other generals and ordered to conquer Han’s capital.
Da Liangzao	73	Formally invested by Ying Zheng with a gold-and-jade tally.
Da Shuzhang	148	Enfeoffed after the Zhao campaign.
Lord Wuwei	204 206	A lordly title associated with his military merit and industrial contributions.
Marquis	567	Elevated to marquis rank and awarded a golden seal and purple ribbon.

Relationships

• Ying Zheng — King of Qin and Zhao Cheng’s principal patron. Ying Zheng investigates Zhao Cheng’s origins, notes his resemblance to himself, repeatedly promotes him, and comes to regard him as a pillar of Qin 40 50 196.
• Meng Wu — Senior general, sponsor, and strategic mentor. He recognizes Zhao Cheng’s potential, promotes him, assigns decisive operations, and advocates for his rewards at court 20 44 49.
• Meng Wei — Early mentor who recognizes Zhao Cheng’s horsemanship, provides him equipment, and helps place him in the elite cavalry 6 12.
• Meng Tian — Brother-in-arms, lieutenant, and later deputy general. He teaches Zhao Cheng military theory and chooses to continue fighting under him 13 49 86.
• Feng Quan and Feng Ruo — Formerly skeptical cavalrymen who become Zhao Cheng’s personal guards and trusted field subordinates 12 22 32.
• Chai Lie — Defeated enemy warrior who defects and becomes Zhao Cheng’s personal attendant 38 40.
• Fusu — Qin prince whose benevolent ideals initially clash with Zhao Cheng’s martial severity. Zhao Cheng later saves him from assassination 80 91.
• Ji Xue’er — Zhao State’s foremost dancer, who offers allegiance and aid against Zhao after switching sides 123.
• Yun Miao — Former enemy cultivator whose sword formation pushes Zhao Cheng to improve his cultivation; she later questions the nature of his power 222 311.
• Yunxiao — Jie Sect cultivator and ally. Zhao Cheng gives her the Yin-Yang Mirror and Soul-Falling Bell to strengthen their alliance 389.
• Zhao Gongming and Qiongxiao — Jie Sect allies who initially test Zhao Cheng’s intentions but later acknowledge his strength and accept his goodwill toward their sect 382 389.

Story Role and Major Arcs

Rise in the Assault Cavalry

Zhao Cheng enters Qin service through conscription, passes elite assessment through extraordinary strength, archery, and horsemanship, then joins the Central Army’s Assault Cavalry Battalion 3 10 12. He defeats Feng Quan to establish authority, becomes a Squad Leader, and earns his first battlefield merits by killing Han scouts 12 13.

Fang City and Ye County Campaigns

At Fang City, Zhao Cheng leads the first ascent of the southern foothills, personally takes 227 heads, holds the position until reinforcement, breaks the Han formation, and captures Han Ming alive 21. He later infiltrates Ye County disguised as a hunter, kills its commander, seizes the city wall, and helps Qin take the city with minimal casualties 37 38.

Destruction of Han

After routing Chu reinforcements and killing Xiang Tuo, Zhao Cheng conducts a night raid on Chou City and takes it before dawn 43 49. Appointed Great General for the Destruction of Han, he leads eight thousand cavalry toward Xinzheng and is later credited with breaking the Han capital in eight days and killing the King of Han on the battlefield 56 204.

Blood-Clad Army and Court Recognition

Zhao Cheng defeats Lord Changping’s eight hundred retainers before the Qin court, consolidating his reputation as Qin’s Blood Butcher 70 93. He reorganizes elite troops into the Blood-Clad Army, distributes the first volume of his body-refining method, and ties further advancement to military merit 79 80.

Conquest of Zhao

After political opposition leads to his demotion, Zhao Cheng continues demonstrating loyalty and military value by moving toward Handan 145. He takes Handan in three days, captures the King of Zhao, captures Li Mu, and completes Zhao’s destruction within ten days 160 196.

Cultivator and Sect Conflicts

Zhao Cheng defeats Fangshi, Daoists, Mohist mechanism masters, Sword Hut cultivators, and Chan Sect disciples as his cultivation rises from True Essence to Golden Core and beyond 58 141 252 382. His suppression of the Chan Sect’s combined attack establishes him as a disruptive force in the coming Investiture Calamity 382.

Qin Industry and Expansion

Using Mohist labor and his own ideas, Zhao Cheng introduces saddles, steam-powered manufacturing, transport systems, improved weapons, repeating crossbows, and firearms to Qin 148 201 204 569 575. He also plans campaigns beyond the central states, including the systematic subjugation of Donghu 435.

Notable Quotes

“I will not be a personal guard. I want to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy, achieve merit, and earn a title and rank!” 4

“I was just warming up.” 44

“That’s it?” 382

“You won't be taking anyone away. If you don't believe me, go ahead and try.” 399