Tan Shuchang

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Tan Shuchang (谭书常)
Alias(es)	Devil Master Tan; Lord Tan; Holy Lord; current master of the demonic sects in the Jia Five Realm; Langshou King candidate 91 108 122 157
Species/Race	Human; later able to manifest an Undying Blood Form and transform into golden-red blood 107 211
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Blackheart Mountain / Holy Sect; formerly Heavenly Wonder Pavilion; ruler of Langshou Ghost City; later associated with the Serpent Desire Realm 80 91 98 221
Occupation/Role	Sword-Appraising Dao General; city lord of Langshou Ghost City; master of the demonic sects in the Jia Five Realm 80 91 157
Status	Active; has traveled across realms and upstream through the River of Time 168 282 303
First Appearance	Chapter 8 8

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
15 years of cultivation power	15 15	Refined his first Fierce Ghost through Fierce Ghost Lifting Lotus, gaining twelve years of cultivation and corresponding insight into the Blood-Refined Lotus Art. His primary method began shifting from the Sevenfold Demon Body Scripture to the Blood-Refined Lotus Art.
51 years of cultivation power	58 58	Overwhelmed Long Zhangyuan, whose more than twenty years of cultivation were insignificant by comparison.
63 years of cultivation power	74 74	Could travel for ten days or more without rest while using the Heavenly Dragon Hairpin.
99 years of cultivation power	99 99	A distant Sword Qi strike cleaved the Zixuan Dynasty’s imperial palace in two.
207 years of cultivation power	103 103	Crossing two hundred years altered his perception: primordial energies began to reveal their distinct laws.
399 years of cultivation power	107 107	Refined the Life-Death Yin God, strengthening the Undying Blood Form with a powerful restoration and survival capability.
460 years of cultivation power	114 114	Reached this total through continued cultivation while his diary entries spread through the cultivation world.
508 years of cultivation power	118 118	Received the Heaven-bestowed divine abilities An Inch of Time, an Inch of Gold and Melting Stones and Flowing Gold.
568 years of cultivation power	119 119	Used Fierce Ghost Lifting Lotus five times in succession; then converted his remaining Fierce Ghosts into Calamity-Sighting Sword Qi.
736 years of cultivation power	124 124	Encountered a bottleneck and began seeking ways to continue advancing.
832 years of cultivation power	126 126	Obtained the qualification Twenty-Four Seasons, enabling him to comprehend the four seasons and twenty-four solar terms.
First Certification / immortality	140 140	Defied Heaven’s suppression and forcibly achieved immortality through one certification. He captured Sect Master Qian in a single exchange.
Two solar terms comprehended; 101 years stated	145 145	Comprehended two solar terms from Twenty-Four Seasons; his cultivation was stated as 101 years in this context.
500 years of Dao practice	157 157	Retrieved all Yin Gods from the Serpent Desire Realm, reaching five hundred years of Dao practice and touching the opportunity for Second Attestation Dao Union.
Ascension	168 168	Ascended to a new realm without using a pillar of ascension light.
Beholding Dragon stage	211 211	Completed the sixth volume of the Calamity-Crossing Immortal Scripture, Heart-Mountain Sea, and reached Beholding Dragon; failed to advance to Third Attainment.
Purple Qi from the East Stage	216 216	Passed through the Gate of Cultivation; his yin spirit power affinity advanced rapidly from red to violet.
3,400 years of cultivation	226 226	Cultivated for three thousand years within the transformed Companion Blood Pool’s Blood Spring, raising his cultivation from 1,600 to 3,400 years.
Eight thousand years of cultivation	242 242	Reached eight thousand years with the lotus dais’s aid.
Golden fortune	253 253	His fortune shifted from white to gold, accompanied by a major increase in cultivation and demonic fire that terrified nearby cultivators.
Heavenly Overseer-level power	275 275	After cultivating the realm of cultivation without end, manifested power normally possessed only by Heavenly Overseer True Immortals.
Cultivation converted into innate talent	282 282	After traveling back to his childhood, his cultivation was washed away and transformed into innate talent.
Heavenly Secretary Orthodox Law	293 293	Entered the Heavenly Secretary Orthodox Law realm and further elevated his Change-and-Const Immortal Art.

Background

Tan Shuchang was born as Chancellor Tan’s illegitimate son. His birth mother was murdered by men posing as bandits at the First Madam’s behest; Chancellor Tan tacitly accepted the arrangement. While at the Tan Estate, Tan was permitted to study literature and martial arts but forbidden from cultivating. After the Tan family was confiscated, a chief palace eunuch gave him a small sum of silver, disclosed the truth behind his mother’s death, and drove him from Capital Prefecture. 8 15

After transmigrating, Tan concealed his special nature for five years while living with his birth mother. He later entered the Tan family, then was abducted to Blackheart Mountain by Blackheart Elder. He neither attempted escape nor formed factions with his fellow disciples; instead, he cultivated and continually considered how to kill his benefactor-master. After three years, he killed the severely injured Blackheart Elder. 90 127

Tan subsequently pursued demonic cultivation through the Sevenfold Demon Body Scripture and Blood-Refined Lotus Art. His refinement of Fierce Ghosts rapidly accelerated his growth, while he eventually recast the Black Shadow Immortal-Saving Manual as his own Calamity-Crossing Immortal Scripture. 15 82

Much later, Tan traveled upstream through the River of Time and genuinely returned to his childhood. His former cultivation was converted into innate talent, allowing him to encounter his father, Blackheart Elder, and Dong Dong before the events of his original life. 282 283

Appearance

Tan Shuchang is described as a handsome young man with bright eyes, sword-like brows, and a face “warm and smooth as jade.” In his role as Sword-Appraising Dao General, he wears official robes that lend his appearance an imposing dignity. 80

• Can manifest as a blood-red humanoid figure towering through heaven and earth through the Calamity-Crossing Body Aspect. 82
• His king’s robe became marked by shifting faces of a hundred ghosts after inheriting Fierce Ghosts’ malicious-intent domains and killing rules. 104
• The Undying Blood Form allows him to become a puddle of golden-red blood. 211
• His demonic fire and aura can cause fear even before he acts. 253

Personality

Tan is habitually calm, polite, and controlled. Even after killing his benefactor-master and becoming feared across the cultivation world, he remains neither arrogant nor impetuous; he generally treats others courteously and observes propriety. 127

His courtesy does not indicate weakness. Tan is highly pragmatic, retaliates decisively against threats, and frequently uses his opponents’ assumptions against them. He refuses to be intimidated by rank, inherited status, or powerful treasures, but will retreat when circumstances make direct confrontation unwise. 39 104 140

He is deeply suspicious of unearned kindness and considers adult actions fundamentally motivated by profit. This caution makes him alert to manipulation, including the black shadow’s effort to place him in a Child of Destiny’s story as a stepping stone. 30

Tan is also strategic about influence. He turned the Weird Game’s Fierce Ghost economy into a currency system, spread cultivation methods to players, exploited the reach of his diary, and used the fame of his artifacts and alchemy puppets to obtain resources. 119 124 190

Abilities & Skills

Fierce Ghost Lifting Lotus

Tan’s core means of rapid advancement is refining Fierce Ghosts through the lotus dais. Each successful refinement grants cultivation power and practical insight into the cultivation method being used. 15

• Refined a Fierce Ghost incarnation of a Yin God for twelve years of cultivation power. 15
• Refined the Life-Death Yin God to improve his Undying Blood Form. 107
• Used repeated refinements to rise from 508 to 568 years of cultivation. 119
• Refined Yin Gods recovered from the Serpent Desire Realm to reach five hundred years of Dao practice. 157

Calamity-Crossing Immortal Scripture

Tan publicly claims to have created the Calamity-Crossing Immortal Scripture after obtaining incomplete demonic scriptures. Its foundation is the Black Shadow Immortal-Saving Manual, but the divine powers he developed exceed that manual’s original scope. 82

• Calamity-Sighting Sword Qi — Blood-colored Sword Qi containing Fierce Ghost killing rules and malicious-intent domains; it can kill cultivators and Fierce Ghosts alike. 58 104
• Calamity-Crossing Body Aspect — A towering blood-red Dharma Aspect, identified as the divine power of the scripture’s second volume. 82
• Heart-Mountain Sea — The completed sixth volume, which brought Tan to the Beholding Dragon stage. 211
• Tan does not consider himself a swordsman; Peach Lord noted that his Sword Qi contains no swordsmanship realm. 99

Undying Blood Form

The Undying Blood Form grants Tan extreme survivability and a growing range of blood-based powers. 107 126

• Can reconstruct his fleshly body and reabsorb separated blood. 107
• Size-and-Shape Mastery — Transfers the Body Aspect’s manifestation onto his true body. 126
• Blood Shadow Clone — Produces blood shadows with sixty percent of Tan’s cultivation; he can shift among them and transfer fatal injuries to a clone. 126
• Can refine ownerless magic treasures, including immortal treasures, by enveloping them in his Blood Form; limited to one treasure per day. 211
• Following later transformation, his remaining fundamental powers were organized into Dao-Action, Body-Action, and Form-Action Realms. 231
• Rebirth from lingering thoughts — So long as one thought remains unextinguished, he can be reborn. 231

Spatial and Movement Techniques

Tan possesses several methods for extreme mobility and evasion.

• Cloud Soaring and Mist Driving — Travels amid clouds and mist, often appearing before others within a few breaths. 120 122
• Shadow travel — After mastering all four volumes of the Black Shadow Immortal-Saving Manual, a cultivated black shadow can move through any shadow and cross a thousand li instantly. 94
• Position exchange — Within his perception range, can exchange the positions of objects if unimpeded. 94
• Traversing the void and shifting between reality and illusion became part of his blood-form powers. 126

Twenty-Four Seasons

The Twenty-Four Seasons is a Heaven-bestowed qualification through which Tan may merge into the seasons and comprehend the twenty-four solar terms. 126

• An Inch of Time, an Inch of Gold — Lets Tan transform into time for an instant; enemies’ lifespan can be condensed into gold and severed when it strikes the ground. 118
• Melting Stones and Flowing Gold — A Heaven-bestowed divine ability associated with his five-hundred-year breakthrough. 118
• Endless Snowfall — Acquired after comprehending solar terms. 157
• His later mastery of the Twenty-Four Seasons followed three thousand years of cultivation inside the Blood Spring. 226

Blood Pool and Serpent Desire Realm

Tan’s Companion Blood Pool functions as a refining ground, prison, and source of power. Its later transformation into a Blood Spring granted him control over time within the pool. 140 226

• Can suppress powerful cultivators, including Sect Master Qian and Sword Disciple Mountain patriarchs. 140 159
• Refinement within the pool can nourish his lotus platform and yield new powers. 126
• The Blood Spring’s accelerated time allows insights gained inside to transfer directly to the outside world. 226
• Established the Serpent Desire Realm, encompassing Skeleton City and nearby territories behind a border of law-power mist. 221

Ghost-Path Cultivation

Tan demonstrated exceptional affinity for yin spirit power upon entering a ghost-path cultivation system. 216

• His yin spirit power advanced from red to violet at the Gate of Cultivation, reaching Purple Qi from the East Stage. 216
• Can use the Voice-Speech Curse through his law domain. 146
• Possesses a Soul-Guideless Banner whose skeleton servants develop fires of consciousness rather than merely mindless movement. 179

Artifact Refinement and Alchemy

Tan is an effective artifact refiner and practical alchemy researcher despite disclaiming the identity of an alchemist. 96 189

• Created a magical-artifact diary to identify the thief repeatedly stealing his diaries. 56
• Refined a spirit-awakened long staff until it could nurture spirituality and recognize him as its true master. 30
• Quickly acquired artifact-grade furnaces and red lotus flowers from Azure Lotus Palace, then refined an artifact-grade alchemy furnace himself. 189
• Used a displayed pitch-black alchemy furnace to exchange access to his treasure for additional magic-treasure furnaces. 190

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Long staff — A Martial Gate artifact that underwent a qualitative transformation and could nurture spirituality; later destroyed by a Sword Disciple Mountain ancestor during Tan’s duel with Long Zhangyuan. 19 30 58
• Heavenly Dragon Hairpin — Spirit-linked Martial Gate artifact lent from the imperial treasury before Tan’s life-or-death duel with Long Zhangyuan. 51 74
• Silent Spirit Flying Sword — Used in Tan’s assault on the imperial palace and later worn at his waist on Sword Disciple Mountain. 98 140
• Chaos Fate Orb — A spirit treasure formerly connected to Blackheart Elder; Tan captured it but it refused to acknowledge him. 109
• Soul-Guideless Banner — A banner whose main soul is a skeleton Tan refined after destroying Blood Dao cultivators and ghosts. 180
• Square-tipped halberd — An ownerless immortal treasure Tan refined with the Undying Blood Form. 211
• Cultivation Diary — A record-keeping artifact whose entries spread widely and whose contents have repeatedly been stolen or scattered by mysterious spiritual treasures and forces. 63 144 174

Relationships

• Blackheart Elder — Benefactor-master who abducted Tan to Blackheart Mountain; Tan killed him after three years of cultivation. Blackheart later survived as a fire essence spirit and was taken by Tan for questioning. 90 107
• Dong Dong — A little girl who repeatedly seeks Tan out. Their relationship develops into a mentor-student dynamic; Tan gave her a spiritual treasure and later arranged a lightning-cultivation opportunity for her. 120 155 216 283
• Dai Huanzhen — Registered disciple who sought Tan out because of his Cultivation Diary. Dai was controlled by Dugu Jianyin and later died to hidden Sword Qi; Tan retrieved his soul. 123
• Ning Shuqi — Initially regarded Tan as an enemy of fate and denied any connection to the demonic path; after witnessing Tan’s growth, he began to doubt that enmity and later admired Tan’s achievement of longevity. 63 107 204
• Long Zhangyuan — Sword Disciple Mountain’s Child of Destiny, for whom Tan was intended to be a stepping stone. Tan overwhelmingly defeated him in their duel. 30 58
• Sect Master Qian — Sword Disciple Mountain leader and returned patriarch who refused to give Tan an explanation for the sect’s actions; Tan captured and suppressed him. 140
• Duan Wuya — Patriarch of Heavenly Sword Manor who offered Tan support, Inch-Jade Power Pills, and assistance in exchange for mutually beneficial cooperation. 120
• Black-Seeing King and Earth-Destroying King — Fellow kings in the Weird Game with whom Tan coordinated policy concerning players who returned to life by possessing corpses. 131
• Chancellor Tan — Tan’s biological father. Their relationship is distant; after returning to the past, Tan resurrected him and gave him an escape route but declined responsibility for the wider Tan family. 282 283

Story Role / Major Arcs

Blackheart Mountain and Early Cultivation

Tan begins as Blackheart Elder’s disciple on Blackheart Mountain, cultivating under severe constraints while planning to kill his master. After Blackheart Elder’s death, Tan develops the Blood-Refined Lotus Art through Fierce Ghost refinement and quickly reaches a level comparable to major sects’ younger disciples. 15 90

Heavenly Wonder Pavilion and Sword Disciple Mountain

The Zixuan Dynasty appoints Tan as a Sword-Appraising Dao General, bringing him into Heavenly Wonder Pavilion’s political conflicts. Sword Disciple Mountain identifies him as a disposable stepping stone for Long Zhangyuan, its designated Child of Destiny; Tan instead defeats Long and repeatedly kills or humiliates Sword Disciple Mountain cultivators. 28 30 58

Devil Master Tan and Langshou Ghost City

After his reputation spreads through diary entries and public victories, Tan becomes known throughout the Jia Five Realm as Devil Master Tan. He defeats the Fierce Ghosts of Langshou Ghost City, assumes its rulership, builds an economy based on Langshou Ghost Lord King Coins and Inch-Jade Power Pills, and organizes players to hunt Fierce Ghosts. 98 108 119

Defiance of the Righteous Path

Tan faces elder-generation cultivators, spirit treasures, and patriarchs from Sword Disciple Mountain, Upper Clarity Temple, and Western Tuo Mountain. He achieves First Certification despite Heaven’s suppression, captures Sect Master Qian, and forces the seven great immortal sects to submit. 82 140 157

Ascension and the Land of the Four Heavenly Pillars

After ascending without an ascension pillar, Tan adopts new identities to navigate unfamiliar power structures. He becomes a Mount Mang Mountain Patrol Envoy under an Ancient Buddha Pact, enters Book Mountain Academy, acquires resources through artifact refinement and alchemy, and expands the Companion Blood Pool’s power. 168 175 190 226

Time Travel and Reversed Causality

Tan later travels upstream through the River of Time, returning to his childhood. With his prior cultivation turned into innate talent, he meets younger versions of Blackheart Elder and Dong Dong, changes the circumstances around Chancellor Tan and the Tan family, and begins writing a new cultivation diary that attracts purple fortune. 282 283

Notable Quotes

“Before life and death, everyone is equal.” 131

“No, I’m a ghost.” 178

“Lie flat.” 266

Trivia

• Tan was forbidden from cultivating during his childhood at the Tan Estate, despite being allowed to study literature and martial arts. 15
• He writes cultivation diaries that became influential enough for readers to recognize him by a self-portrait included at the end. 63
• Tan openly considers Blackheart Elder’s “lifelong treasured collection” to have been himself. 91
• He has repeatedly insisted that he is not an alchemist, despite researching alchemy, obtaining furnaces, and refining artifact-grade alchemy equipment. 96 189
• He interprets the ultimate principle of devil cultivation as “lying flat,” reasoning that reckless pursuit of rapid advancement destroys one’s future. 266