Biodata
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Chehou Yan (车侯焱) 6 |
| Alias(es) | Lin Yan 2 6 |
| Gender | Male 14 |
| Affiliation | Chehou Family; married into Black Soil Fortress 6 14 |
| Occupation/Role | Cultivator and practitioner of the Chehou Family’s artifact-refining methods 6 16 |
| First Appearance | Chapter 2, as the red-faced youth Lin Yan; identified as Chehou Yan in Chapter 6 2 6 |
Background / History
Chehou Yan first encounters Shen Yue during Black Soil Fortress’s attack on the Wu Family. Calling himself Lin Yan, he helps Shen Yue avoid Black Qiu’s suspicion, then asks for a share of a Wu Family storage bag. He survives Black Qiu’s subsequent attack with a Life-Replacing Golden Cicada supplied by his family 2 6.
Shen Yue later finds him at a Chehou Family spiritual-artifact shop in Linjiang Immortal City. Chehou Yan wants the Wu Family’s alchemy methods and offers Shen Yue an introductory portion of his family’s artifact-refining scripture in exchange for help entering Black Soil Fortress. He secretly makes the jade slip explosive and intends to use Shen Yue as bait. Shen Yue instead draws the fortress’s defenders onto Chehou Yan; when the jade slip fails to detonate, Black Qiu captures him 6 7.
To survive, Chehou Yan is forced to marry Black Qiu’s daughter Black Longyu. A year later, he spends twenty years of his lifespan calculating where to intercept Shen Yue, whom he blames for his captivity. His second attempt to detonate the jade slip also fails. He then leads Shen Yue to Fallen Leaf Valley, hoping to make him marry Longyu’s sister Long Ying—but becomes attracted to Long Ying himself when he sees her 14 15.
Chehou Yan tries to exchange his marriage and fate with Shen Yue’s through a fortune-shifting technique. He cannot clearly perceive Shen Yue’s fate, and his scheme does not proceed as planned. During the ensuing upheaval in Fallen Leaf Valley, he behaves erratically, mistakes Granny Withered Grass for Long Ying, and rushes to protect her 16 17.
Appearance
Chehou Yan is a red-faced youth with tightly bunched facial features; Shen Yue likens his face to a monkey’s backside 2 6.
- Red face — conspicuous enough that Black Qiu questions whether he is a Wu Family spy 2.
- Bunched features — contribute to his distinctive, monkey-faced appearance 2 6.
Personality
Chehou Yan is calculating and willing to betray an apparent ally. He offers Shen Yue a restricted jade slip while planning to use him as bait, then later disguises another attack as a friendly invitation to Fallen Leaf Valley 6 15. He takes pride in his family’s artifact-refining scripture, which took him two and a half years to study before he could attempt forging 16.
His ambitions shift readily toward beauty and power. After discovering Long Ying’s appearance, he tries to replace Shen Yue as her prospective partner, despite being married to Black Longyu 15 16.
Abilities & Skills
Artifact Refining
Chehou Yan has studied the Chehou Family’s Heavenly Cauldron True Fire Hundred Refinement Scripture and worked toward forging artifacts 6 16.
- He provides Shen Yue with an introductory portion of the scripture, forging materials, and his own notes 6 16.
- It took him two and a half years of study to reach the point of attempting to forge artifacts 16.
Fate and Fortune Techniques
Chehou Yan uses divination and attempts to alter another person’s fate 14 16.
- He expends twenty years of lifespan to calculate the time and place of Shen Yue’s arrival near Linjiang Immortal City 14.
- His Wife-Swapping Life-Borrowing technique requires a glimpse of the target’s fate; it cannot clearly read Shen Yue’s 16.
- He hides his life-qi in forging materials intended to siphon Shen Yue’s life-qi, then plans to swap their fates 16.
Equipment / Weapons / Items
- Life-Replacing Golden Cicada — a family-supplied, single-use means of surviving Black Qiu’s attack 6 7.
- Chehou Family artifact-refining jade slip — contains an introductory portion of the family method and a hidden detonation restriction; Chehou Yan’s attempts to trigger it fail 6 7 15.
- Formation disk — used while pretending to scout Black Soil Fortress before sending Shen Yue in as bait 6.
- Feather Cloak and Golden Light Rosy Crown — powerful treasures he gives to Granny Withered Grass while mistaking her for Long Ying; Shen Yue retrieves them after she throws them away 17.
Relationships
- Shen Yue — former temporary ally and later enemy. Chehou Yan tries to use him as bait, blames him for his forced marriage, and subsequently attempts to alter his fate 6 7 14 16.
- Black Longyu — his wife, whom he was forced to marry after his capture at Black Soil Fortress 7 14.
- Long Ying — Black Longyu’s younger sister. Chehou Yan initially tries to pair her with Shen Yue, then seeks her for himself 15 16.
- Black Qiu — master of Black Soil Fortress and Black Longyu’s father; captures Chehou Yan after their second confrontation 2 7.