Chen Guan

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Chen Guan (陈贯)
Alias(es)	Zhao Ling / the Zhao Family's Fifth Young Master; Young Hero Chen; Severed-Hand Chen Guan; Young Hero Lin; Master Feng; South Sea Demon King; Lord Thunder Lord 23 29 72 77 81 100 171
Species/Race	Reincarnating cultivator; has existed as a human, Black Bear Spirit, Flood Dragon, and bearer of multiple inherited bloodlines 3 81 198
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Zhao Family; associated with Qi Yan and the Mountain-Roaming Daoist 23 115 195
Occupation/Role	Cultivator, martial artist, legacy seeker, and teacher of martial arts 73 90
Status	Active; later invites his old companions and reincarnated grandson to leave the Heavenly Origin Continent 231
First Appearance	Chapter 3: “Ghosts!”

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Strength Proficiency: 127/1000	3	Increased while fleeing pursuit as a Black Bear Spirit.
Houtian Great Success	29	At seventeen, his internal energy and one-strike kill of the Bamboo Swordsman establish him as one of Little Liuzi Town’s foremost experts.
Four Legacy Talents	44	Obtains Bear-Type Strength, Basic Fire Spirit Root, Basic Blade Technique, and Basic Fist and Foot Technique.
Intermediate Bear	53	After reincarnating two years after the tavern battle, his Bear-Type Strength advances.
Bear Demon Proficiency: 1/3000	54	Reaches the first point after ten days; the increase doubles his strength. His Bear-Type Strength alone reaches 2,300 jin, contributing to roughly 8,000 jin of total force.
Xiantian Realm	77	Possesses at least fifty years of cultivation and a body strong enough to meet the Xiantian threshold.
Foundation Establishment: 600 years	139	Conceals his true six-hundred-year cultivation while posing as a four-hundred-year cultivator; reveals a powerful Candle Dragon bloodline.
Foundation Establishment: 657 years	169	A realization concerning calamity and causality raises his cultivation ceiling by fifty years.
Golden Core Realm	203	Condenses a Golden Core and middle dantian, multiplying his spiritual sense twelvefold and increasing combat power by at least twenty times.

Background / History

Black Bear Spirit

Chen Guan first appears while fleeing the Head Constable’s pursuit as a Black Bear Spirit. Sheltering from a storm in a dilapidated temple, he encounters the ghost Xiao Qing. By smearing Thunder-Struck Locust Wood slime over his face, he gains the ability to see her and notices gray mist in the air, which he suspects may be yin energy or sha qi 3 4.

Unable to communicate through speech or gestures, Chen Guan writes his name in the dirt for Xiao Qing. His willingness to remain non-threatening allows the timid ghost to overcome some of her fear of him 4.

He fails to sense qi through human cultivation methods and instead resolves to seek a path suited to a demonic body. While training and leading a group of beasts to forage, he saves an old man and his grandson from a White-Browed Tiger. This act brings him into contact with Constable Yan and other martial artists, from whom he seeks manuals and cultivation knowledge 8 9.

Zhao Family Life

In a later human reincarnation, Chen Guan is born into the Zhao Family with the inherited Bear-Type Strength attribute. His mother, the Third Mistress, dies when he is half a month old, leaving him in the care of a wet nurse 14.

As a child, he is unusually hairy, broad, and round-eared. By age five, he stands about 1.3 meters tall—comparable to an ordinary child of eight or nine—and becomes an isolated, neglected Fifth Young Master within the manor 14 15.

After spending years away, he returns to Little Liuzi Town as a formidable martial artist. His family initially fails to recognize the towering, rugged man until Patriarch Zhao notices his distinctive ears. Chen Guan brings captured bandits and warns the family that more bandits intend to attack them 22 23.

He destroys three bandit dens and eliminates the remaining robbers, earning widespread recognition as the Zhao Family’s “Qilin Prodigy.” His later extermination of the Liu Family divides public opinion between those who view it as justified vengeance and those disturbed by his ruthlessness 25 29.

Wandering Martial Artist

Chen Guan later becomes known as “Severed-Hand Chen Guan” after killing numerous martial experts in a tavern battle at the cost of his right hand and the use of one leg. Though physically maimed, he continues cultivating, raises his Bear Demon Proficiency, and endures the fear his reputation inspires in strangers 53 54.

While traveling under the identity Young Hero Lin, he recovers treasures from an earlier life and spends more than half a year teaching the Mountain Seeker and his companions. Under his instruction, the Mountain Seeker approaches a Great Accomplishment breakthrough, while several others begin sensing qi 72 73.

Demon King and Bloodline Cultivator

After gaining Flood Dragon-related inheritance, Chen Guan becomes associated with the South Sea and is called the South Sea Demon King. He cultivates on a South Sea island containing a natural lightning formation and kills Fellow Daoist Li with a Five Thunder Curse when Li attempts to deceive him 81 82 100.

He continues gathering bloodlines, spirit roots, treasures, and cultivation methods across multiple lives. After dismantling the Spirit-Seeking Furnace’s formation alongside the Fire Fox, Leopard Spirit, and Scorpion Spirit, Chen Guan reveals his concealed strength, kills all three, and refines their heart-blood 139.

Later Reincarnations

Chen Guan repeatedly treats death as part of a deliberate cultivation strategy, choosing inheritances and preserving treasures for future lives. He ultimately gains a Legendary Yang Spirit Body in a lower realm and reveals his abilities to cure his grieving father, Lin Yehang 198 201.

After reaching the Golden Core realm, he steals the Mountain and River Map from three True Immortals and prepares to confront enemies from earlier lives, including Zhang Linyan and the Elephant Demon Immortal 203 206.

In a later modern, spiritless world, Chen Guan cultivates by absorbing electricity near a power plant. After exposing his abilities, he is publicly recognized as an immortal and receives unrestricted access across the Xia Dynasty 222 224.

Appearance

Chen Guan’s appearance changes dramatically across his reincarnations and transformations, though unusual ears, an imposing build, and an unsettling presence recur frequently.

• Black Bear Spirit — A massive black bear with a blood-red maw large enough to engulf a human head and thumb-thick teeth 4.
• Zhao Family childhood — Thick body hair, high-set rounded ears, a chubby build, and an unusually large frame 14 15.
• Young adult martial artist — More than two meters tall, rugged, and commonly dressed in a Hundred Beast Garment; his appearance is initially so changed that the Zhao household does not recognize him 22 23.
• Severed-Hand Chen Guan — Walks with a limp and an empty right sleeve after losing his hand in battle 54.
• Master Feng — Assumes the appearance of a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old youth with a hooked nose and gloomy demeanor 171 184.
• Divine-eye appearance — His eyes can become one black and one white when using his supernatural vision 108 148.

Personality

Chen Guan is cautious, analytical, and intensely focused on survival. He avoids unnecessary attention, hides his strength when possible, and treats cultivation, inheritance, and karmic ties as problems to be planned around rather than left to chance 50 67 175.

He remembers kindness and intends to repay it when he has the power to do so. He shares manuals with those who help him, teaches weaker martial artists, gives Fellow Daoist Li a Thunder-Clap Fruit before Li’s betrayal, and remains grateful to friends such as Qi Yan and the Mountain-Roaming Daoist 10 73 82 195.

His compassion has strict limits. Chen Guan protects civilians and family members, but he is merciless toward bandits, deceivers, and cultivators he considers future threats. His willingness to eradicate enemies has made him feared as a ruthless martial expert and “star of slaughter” 9 24 40 72.

Abilities & Skills

Reincarnation and Legacy Inheritance

Chen Guan’s central advantage is his ability to reincarnate, retain cultivation experience, and select or inherit talents from prior lives.

• Selects inheritances after death, including bloodlines and special physiques 198 201 210.
• Possesses thirteen recorded legacy talents, including spirit roots, divine eyes, beast forms, and inherited techniques 198.
• Understands talent inheritance and Spirit Root synthesis, allowing him to improve or combine compatible traits 124.
• Uses reincarnation strategically to escape karmic dead ends, preserve gains, and prepare stronger future bodies 162 195.

Physical Strength and Martial Arts

Chen Guan’s Bear-Type Strength creates a foundation of overwhelming physical power.

• Reaches approximately 8,000 jin of force while injured and one-handed 54.
• Can lift an adult martial artist as easily as a toy when his strength reaches 6,000 jin 51.
• Defeats White Mountain Palm in a single move despite the bandit’s profound palm techniques 70.
• Develops exceptional saber, sword, fist, and foot combat through inherited talents and extensive practice 17 44.
• Evolves his Technique talent into All Techniques, granting perfect control and adaptability with any weapon 155.

Bloodlines and Transformations

Chen Guan accumulates multiple beast and Heavenly Kind bloodlines, giving him unusual physical resilience, elemental affinity, and transformation potential.

• Can assume a Flood Dragon form, a transformation powerful enough that only a small number of cultivators in the dynasty could defeat him 100.
• Possesses a Candle Dragon / Heavenly Dragon Kind bloodline that exceeds the ordinary bloodlines of the spirits he kills 139.
• Inherits the Fire Wind Falcon, Flood Dragon, Spirit Earth Turtle, Black Bear Spirit, and other powerful constitutions 198.
• Uses bloodline intuition to locate the Black Tortoise Secret Treasure 195.

Lightning and Elemental Arts

Lightning is Chen Guan’s most prominent offensive element.

• Uses Lightning Arts to defeat Houtian experts while concealing his true identity 71.
• Kills Fellow Daoist Li instantly with the Five Thunder Curse and destroys Li’s soul to prevent future retaliation 82.
• Receives the Fire-Thunder Combined Strike Technique from Qi Yan 83.
• Practices the Flood Dragon’s innate Rain Prayer Technique, also known as Wind and Rain Summoning 81.
• Can form and control elemental techniques with precision far beyond his apparent cultivation level 179.

Divine Senses and Karmic Perception

Chen Guan’s perception abilities allow him to track enemies, examine distant locations, and sense danger.

• Gains temporary Yin-Yang Eyes by applying Thunder-Struck Locust Wood slime, allowing him to see ghosts and gray yin-like mist 4.
• Acquires the Thousand-Mile Eye, which can lock onto distant areas and overlap with Yin-Yang Eye perception 124 125.
• Uses the Impulse of the Heart to sense distant killing intent 108.
• Employs the Nine-Fold Mind Technique to perceive karmic threads and investigate the mysteries surrounding the Black Tortoise Continent 175.
• Possesses the Flat Elephant Eagle Nose and Spirit-Seeking Furnace, enabling him to track targets and infer the functions of treasures 155 164.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Scroll of Karma — Records Chen Guan’s karmic ties, reincarnation-related information, and legacy options 61 213.
• Hundred-Refined Blade — A heavy personal weapon recovered from an earlier life 72 78.
• Hundred Beast Garment — Distinctive armor or clothing associated with Chen Guan’s rugged martial-artist appearance 22 72.
• Demon-Reflecting Mirror — A recovered legacy treasure used for observing nearby areas and detecting targets 109 125.
• Spirit-Seeking Furnace — A powerful artifact Chen Guan uses in conjunction with his knowledge of weapons and treasures 139 155.
• Mountain and River Treasure Robe — Conceals his aura from cultivators below the Golden Core stage and assists his calculations 168 188.
• Mountain and River Map — A major treasure Chen Guan steals from three True Immortals 206.

Relationships

• Xiao Qing — Ghost companion who calls Chen Guan “Big Brother Black Bear.” She gradually trusts him, makes him a winter garment, and continues missing him long after their separation 4 12 172.
• Patriarch Zhao — Chen Guan’s father during his Zhao Family life. Their relationship is strained but not devoid of concern; Chen Guan acknowledges that Patriarch Zhao provided for him as a child 23.
• Chen Changhong — Chen Guan’s grandson. Changhong recognizes him across reincarnation, kneels in apology for past unfilial conduct, and later keeps their relationship secret for Chen Guan’s safety 42 44 100.
• Constable Yan — An old acquaintance from Chen Guan’s Black Bear Spirit life. Chen Guan later meets him as a human and offers insight into the Cloud Treading Skill 9 36.
• Qi Yan — Chen Guan’s Dao Brother and a Foundation Establishment body cultivator. Qi Yan gives him the Fire-Thunder Combined Strike Technique and entrusts Qi Lei’s future instruction to him 83 90 115.
• Qi Lei — Qi Yan’s foster son and Chen Guan’s intended student 90.
• Mountain-Roaming Daoist — Chen Guan’s Dao Brother and trusted ally in karmic matters. They refine Black Tortoise bloodline together, and Chen Guan later gives him the Black Tortoise Secret Treasure to help him evade a killing tribulation 191 195.
• Lin Yiqing — Chen Guan’s nephew, a Xiantian cultivator and physician. Chen Guan provides him with medical texts and removes a hostile threat from his path 124.
• Li the Chess Eccentric — Chen Guan’s old chess companion. They play six final games before Li dies peacefully; Chen Guan sends Li’s soul onward while preserving his chess memories 195.
• Grand Prince of Lin — Treats Chen Guan as Master Feng and seeks his favor. Chen Guan accepts his jade pendant, saves him from assassins, but remains difficult to influence 171 175.

Notable Quotes

“My name is... Chen Guan.” 4

“Better to avoid trouble than to invite it.” 67

“A great man born between heaven and earth, how can he live long under the thumb of others?” 205

Trivia

• Chen Guan’s feared “Severed-Hand Chen Guan” reputation becomes so widespread that treasure seekers commonly use his name as a cover story 72.
• He favors opening chess games by placing the first black stone on the Heavenly Origin, a forceful imperial-style move he learned from the Grand Prince 175.