Chen Xianhe

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Chen Xianhe (陈仙贺)
Alias(es)	Thirteenth Uncle; Old Clan Leader; Fifth Patriarch of the Chen Clan
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Chen Family of Twin Lakes Island / Cangzhou Chen Family
Occupation/Role	Former Chen Family Patriarch; Minister of Education; sword-arts instructor; manager of the Rainbow Sound Flying Sword Shop
Status	Alive; former patriarch and the Chen Family’s only remaining “Immortal” generation ancestor 514
First Appearance	Chapter 1

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Qi Refining Layer Six	1	One of the Chen Family’s only two remaining cultivators on Twin Lakes Island; had required roughly eighty years to reach this level. 1 6
Qi Refining Layer Nine	362	Reaches the end of his natural lifespan with ninth-layer Qi Refining cultivation; injuries sustained at Zhennan Pass had damaged his foundation. 362
Foundation Establishment	366–367	Chen Daoxuan provides Taiyi Divine Water, a Foundation Establishment Pill, a Blood Essence Pill, a White Lotus of Creation, and abundant spiritual energy. Chen Xianhe succeeds and regains a middle-aged appearance, though his hair remains silver-white. 366 367

Background / History

Chen Xianhe brought the young Chen Daoxuan from Changping County to Red Copper Mountain, gave him the Dao-generation name “Chen Daoxuan,” and entrusted him with the Chen Family’s most precious artifact-forging inheritance. He became Daoxuan’s guardian, teacher, and closest elder relative. 347

He served as a soldier at Zhennan Pass. During its fall, his elder brother marched to his death and his Seventh Brother shielded Chen Xianhe at the cost of his life; Chen Xianhe survived while the Chen Family lost twelve Immortal-generation cultivators in the wider Cloud Country war. The battle left him with lasting injuries and a hatred of the Ye Family’s abandonment of the pass. 9 50 78 319

Following the deaths of his generation, Chen Xianhe carried the declining Chen Family for fifty years. Though he had only mediocre aptitude and limited talent for administration, he preserved more than eight thousand Spirit Stones in clan assets, protected the family’s remaining members, and yielded cultivation resources to later generations rather than abandoning the clan. 46

When Chen Daoxuan reached the third layer of Qi Refining, Chen Xianhe gave him sole access to the family’s Spirit Eye, accepting that it could no longer support both of their cultivation. He also rejected spending three centuries of ancestral accumulation on advancing his own cultivation, believing those resources should secure the family’s future. 1 10

Appearance

Chen Xianhe was initially an elderly cultivator with white hair tied in a topknot, a gray-and-white robe, and a youthful complexion despite his age. His long years of hardship gradually left him bent-backed, frail, and visibly worn. 1 9 347

• White or silver-white hair.
• Wore a gray-and-white robe in his early appearances. 1
• Retained a youthful complexion despite white hair before old age overtook him. 1
• Became thin, wrinkled, and weak as his lifespan neared its end. 319 363
• Regained a middle-aged appearance after Foundation Establishment, while retaining silver-white hair. 367

Personality

Chen Xianhe is defined by loyalty to the Chen Family and a willingness to sacrifice his personal advancement for its survival. He regards the family’s continuity as more important than his own life, cultivation, or comfort; even when facing death, he refuses to waste clan resources merely to prolong his lifespan. 10 172

He is cautious about expansion and financial risk, often tempering Chen Daoxuan’s ambitions with practical concerns about resources, political consequences, and the family’s still-fragile position. Even when overruled, he supports Daoxuan’s decisions once convinced they serve the clan. 46 112 187

Despite his reserved and weathered demeanor, Chen Xianhe has a wry sense of humor and an unexpectedly persuasive theatrical side. He can perform grief convincingly, manipulate public perception, and use connections with calculated precision when the family requires protection. 77 79

Abilities & Skills

Chasing Wind Sword Art

Chen Xianhe spent a lifetime practicing the Chasing Wind Sword Art and reached its pinnacle, making him qualified to teach its fundamentals to the Chen Family’s younger generation. 172

• Demonstrates the art’s emphasis on speed with a Crimson Shadow Flying Sword. 172
• Teaches that sufficient sword speed can overwhelm an opponent’s Divine Sense reaction time. 172
• Fills in as the clan school’s sword-arts instructor when Chen Daoxuan is unavailable. 172

Clan Leadership

For decades, Chen Xianhe maintained the Chen Family through decline, safeguarding its remaining wealth and directing its early recovery. 46

• Publicly announced and backed Chen Daoxuan’s family development plan through the Clan Leader’s authority. 11
• Entrusted Chen Daoxuan with the Clan Leader’s Seal and remaining family assets as the younger man assumed day-to-day leadership. 25
• Supported the replacement of the Elder Council with the Department Management System after initially questioning it. 112
• Served concurrently as Minister of Education after the departmental system was established. 221
• Formally passed the patriarchal position to Chen Daoxuan, making him the Sixth Patriarch. 368

Commerce and Market Strategy

Chen Xianhe managed the Rainbow Sound Flying Sword Shop and turned its limited supply into demand through controlled sales.

• Introduced a lottery system for the shop’s flying swords and progressively lengthened the interval between drawings to preserve inventory and customer anticipation. 44
• Personally drew the lots and announced winning customers, becoming the public face of the shop’s sales strategy. 44
• Later opened a West Block branch and drove the final competing magic-artifact shop from the market, establishing a monopoly. 96
• Favored steady sales over immediate profit to avoid provoking rival clans and shops. 69

Political Maneuvering

Chen Xianhe understood that a weak family required patrons, reputation, and deterrence as much as raw strength.

• Cultivated Zhou Siliang’s favor to secure a meeting with Zhou Mucheng, steward of the Zhou Family patrol team. 77
• Presented the Chen Family as a clan whose low-aptitude cultivators sacrificed their Dao paths to forge flying swords, winning Zhou Mucheng’s sympathy and protection. 77
• Used his shared history as a Zhennan Pass soldier to turn Zhou Mucheng into an ally against the Mo Family. 78
• Helped set a trap for the Mo Family and used the Zhou Family connection as a deterrent against future competitors. 78 83

Story Role / Major Arcs

Revival of the Chen Family

Chen Xianhe recognizes the transformative potential of Chen Daoxuan’s Spirit-Melding Furnace, which can refine spirit ore without direct cultivator operation. He places his confidence in Daoxuan’s artifact-forging plans and the restoration of the Chen Family’s prosperity. 9

He oversees the family’s transition from guarding its remaining reserves to investing in production, a Spirit Vein, artifact shops, and new cultivators. His emotional response to the prospect of nurturing the clan’s Spirit Vein reflects how long he had endured the family’s decline alone. 46

Rainbow Sound Flying Sword Shop

As shopkeeper, Chen Xianhe builds demand for the Chen Family’s flying swords through lotteries and restricted sales. His management keeps the shop operating until new stock arrives and later helps the family dominate the Rogue Cultivator Market’s magic-artifact trade. 44 96

He begins training Chen Daochuan as a successor for the Guang’an Prefecture business when his own age and shrinking lifespan become impossible to ignore. 92

Zhennan Pass and the Mo Family Conflict

Chen Xianhe reveals the truth of Zhennan Pass to Chen Daoxuan, deepening Daoxuan’s hostility toward the Ye Family and giving personal weight to the Chen Family’s pursuit of justice. 50

Against the Mo Family, he combines staged vulnerability, social connections, and the Zhou Family’s authority to protect the Chen Family’s shipping route and market position. His planning enables the Chen Family to lure the Mo Family into a trap. 77 78 83

Education and Institutional Reform

As Chen Daoxuan’s responsibilities expand, Chen Xianhe becomes the clan school’s permanent teacher, instructing Fu-generation disciples in sword arts and helping preserve the family’s knowledge for later generations. 172

He accepts the Education Ministry portfolio after the Chen Family formalizes its departmental administration, continuing his lifelong role of cultivating successors rather than pursuing personal gain. 221

Decline, Abduction, and Foundation Establishment

Old age and Zhennan Pass injuries eventually leave Chen Xianhe near death despite the life-extending Thousand Year Vermillion Fruit gifted by Chen Daoxuan. He clings to life to see Zhennan Pass reclaimed and the family’s enemies answered for their crimes. 172 319

Old Ancestor Jiang abducts Chen Xianhe as leverage against the Chen Family. Though vastly outmatched, Chen Xianhe threatens to take his own life rather than be taken by force, placing the clan’s safety above his own survival. 348

After Chen Daoxuan defeats Jiang Taiyuan, he rescues Chen Xianhe and uses Taiyi Divine Water and other resources to give him a chance at Foundation Establishment. Chen Xianhe succeeds, gains renewed life, and finally relinquishes the patriarchal position to Chen Daoxuan. 366 368

Relationships

• Chen Daoxuan — Nephew, disciple, and eventual successor. Chen Xianhe brought him into cultivation, protected him through the Chen Family’s decline, and entrusted the family’s future to him. 1 25 347 368
• Chen Daochuan — Student and successor in the Rainbow Sound Flying Sword Shop’s operations; Chen Xianhe took him to Guang’an Prefecture for training. 92 179
• Chen Daolian — Clan member and later acting clan leader who attended Chen Xianhe in his final decline and received his final message for Chen Daoxuan. 319 347
• Zhou Mucheng — Fellow survivor of Zhennan Pass and Zhou Family patrol-team steward. Their shared military past becomes the basis for an alliance against the Mo Family. 78
• The Ye Family — Enemy tied to the fall of Zhennan Pass; Chen Xianhe holds them responsible for cowardice and the suffering inflicted on the Chen Family. 50
• Old Ancestor Jiang / Jiang Family — Jiang abducts Chen Xianhe to pressure the Chen Family; Chen Xianhe defies him despite his failing health. 348

Notable Quotes

“To waste three hundred years of my Chen Clan ancestors’ accumulation on a low-talent clansman like me—how unwise would that be!” 10

“As long as I haven’t seen Daoxuan standing atop the walls of Zhennan Pass, I won’t die.” 319

“The thing I am most proud and boastful of in my life is bringing him back from Changping County to cultivate at Red Copper Mountain.” 347

Trivia

• Chen Xianhe was one of only two remaining Chen Family cultivators on Twin Lakes Island at the beginning of the story. 1
• He spent roughly eighty years reaching the sixth layer of Qi Refining. 6
• His ability to feign grief before Zhou Mucheng leaves Chen Daoxuan genuinely stunned by his acting skill. 77
• Before Foundation Establishment, Chen Xianhe regarded Escape Light as incomparably faster than the Wind Riding Technique, describing the difference as that between running and crawling. 367