Yi Shuyuan

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Yi Shuyuan (易书元)
Alias(es)	Yi Daozi, his literary name; Long Feiyang, his martial-world identity; Mili, his female Sword Immortal form; White Crane; Ao Po, a dragon identity 93 122 166 630 790.
Species/Race	Human immortal cultivator capable of genuine bodily transformation 107 122.
Gender	Male; some transformations take female forms 157 166.
Affiliation	Yi family of West River Village; Yuanjiang County Office, formerly; Heavenly Realm 9 425 518.
Occupation/Role	Wandering storyteller, author, calligrapher, immortal cultivator, and teacher; formerly a library clerk and compiler of the Yuanjiang County Gazetteer 53 98 425 887.
Divine Titles	Immortal Venerable Yi; True Lord of Luminous Spirit, Calamity’s Bane, and Manifest Sanctity, also called the Manifest Holiness True Lord; appointed one of the Four Imperial Emperors 209 288 553 518.
Home	West River Village, Yuanjiang County, northern Moon Province 9 12.
Cultivation Path	A self-deduced Immortal Dao centered on the transformations of heaven and earth 119 328.
Status	Alive; remains in Fishmulberry Village for a time after Zhuo Qing enters reincarnation 890.

Power Progression

The named realms below are distinguished from breakthroughs in techniques and physical power; those developments do not necessarily constitute an increase in his Immortal Dao realm.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Entry into the Dao; Inner Scenery formed	30	While unconscious in wind and rain on South Hill Ridge, thunder manifests inside his body and soul, and an Inner Scenery emerges from chaos.
Early martial application: Chasing the Moon	32	Reproduces a forceful punch that shakes the library and scatters dust. His aching muscles reveal that his physical conditioning still lags behind his understanding.
Martial and spiritual cultivation integrated	40	Adapts Instructor Lu’s twelve standing stances, discovers a thirteenth, and uses spiritual energy instead of nourishment from food or medicine to develop his body and internal energy.
Xiantian / Innate Realm confirmed	42 44	Initially recognizes that his internal cultivation resembles the rumored Xiantian Realm. His first serious palm strike subsequently reveals Xiantian True Qi, confirming his standing among legendary martial experts.
Insight into the immortal foundation	72	Directly perceives the Diagram’s five elements, their generation of yin and yang, and the Golden Bridge connecting illusion with reality.
Immortal furnace and genuine magical power	73	Combines kidney water and heart fire into yin and yang, forms a rotating taiji and inner alchemical furnace, and begins refining spiritual energy into responsive immortal magical power.
Five-Element Control and Storage Concealment developed	94	After months of study, uses both arts with ease, though neither is completely mastered. Applies them to papermaking and the creation of Dust Chant.
True Person	107	Identified as a True Person under the Five Elements Wonder Art. His own account of cultivation now includes forging the immortal foundation and accumulating the five elements’ energies.
First Heavenly Gang transformation	120 122	Advances beyond the foundation of Earthly Fiend Transformation. Long Feiyang becomes a genuine transformation of muscles, bones, and True Qi rather than an illusory appearance. Initial use consumes considerable magical power.
Freedom-inspired sword intent	157	Joins his understanding of the Dao with Zhuo Qing’s yearning for freedom, producing a flexible sword intent that harmonizes hardness and softness.
Music and sword intent unified	166	In Mili’s form, directs his flying sword through pipa music until melody and sword intent become inseparable. The performance nearly exhausts his spiritual power.
Heavenly Gang transformation extended through the Mountain and River State Map	194	Absorbs eleven distinct magical auras into his fan for a transformation involving mountains and rivers. Brief contact with the combined auras imposes crushing mental strain.
Swordsmanship refined against Beiming	196 197 198	Develops his swordsmanship under mortal danger, then uses “Ambush from Ten Sides” in Mili’s form to kill Beiming. The battle yields lasting insight despite injured fingers and exhausted magical power.
Divine transformation manifested	288	Golden light and power converge upon his divine-thought body. The Emperor’s Sword merges into his fan as his divine form takes shape.
Heavenly Battle Pill fully refined — no Immortal Dao realm breakthrough	548	Several years of refinement greatly strengthen his physique, Primordial Spirit, and magical power. He explicitly distinguishes these gains from advancement in his Immortal Dao realm.
Divine cultivation reassessed	553	On resuming divine transformation, finds that the Manifest Holiness True Lord’s immense divine power likely exceeds his pill-strengthened original immortal body.

Background / History

Early life and uncertain identity

A county gazetteer records Yi Shuyuan as a childhood prodigy who could write at four, compose essays at six, and remember everything he read. A severe illness subsequently left him described as witless 19.

His present consciousness retains memories of a previous world, while memories attached to his current body remain incomplete. At his parents’ graves, he questions whether he has inherited another person’s memories or become someone else. His younger brother, Yi Baokang, recognizes him when he returns to West River Village after disappearing for more than twenty years 9 11.

Rebuilding a life in Yuanjiang County

Yi Shuyuan accepts his family’s financial difficulties and doubts about his identity without resentment. His father’s old writing tools revive a childhood memory and reveal a practical means of supporting himself. After shaving and dressing as a scholar, he travels to Yuanjiang County with his nephew, Yi Yong’an, to seek work 11 12.

His calligraphy earns County Registrar Wu Minggao’s attention. He becomes a library clerk and takes responsibility for compiling the county gazetteer. He also helps stage the “trial of a ghost,” reproducing He Xin’s testimony in a feminine voice so her account can be heard in court 18 21 53 425.

Moon Province Martial Arts Gathering

In Moon Province, Yi secretly tracks a fighter seeking the Mountain and River Immortal Furnace Diagram and disables him with his own steel needle. Although the painting captivates him, Yi refuses to steal it 59 60.

As Long Feiyang, he encourages Mai Lingfei to aim for first place and establishes mutual respect with Duan Silie over food and wine. He later gives Duan his refined martial arts manual. Once he has grasped the painting’s essential insight, he leaves before the tournament ends rather than remain attached to its prize 60 61 71 73.

Xuan Ji and the Sword Immortal identity

Yi defeats a powerful cat demon by feigning the limitations of an ordinary martial hero and launching a concealed sword from his mouth. Her escaping spirit forces him into a strained long-range pursuit 103.

When he suspects that the Nine-Lives Cat Demon Xuan Ji has returned, he investigates without treating resemblance as proof. With Zhuo Qing’s help, he takes her appearance, learns her pipa repertoire, and infiltrates Cloud Fragrance Pavilion. He captures Xuan Ji when she emerges to feed on a couple’s desire 150 157 158.

His later questioning of Xuan Ji reveals a harsher side: he condemns her killings, refuses release, and burns her demonic soul inside his gourd while investigating how her return to life works 166.

Disciples, rescues, and calamity

Yi teaches Qi Zhongbin and Mo Shisheng, commonly called Stoneborn. Though reluctant to say goodbye directly, he is moved when they pursue him and call their farewells from outside Mingzhou 129.

With Jiang Lang, he helps rescue Du Xiaolin and remove restrictions placed upon her. He later fights Beiming alongside Shi Wei, kills the demon through Mili’s String-Sound Sword Art, and insists that Xiaolin should visit the family waiting for her regardless of whether she remains at Taiyin Palace 191 196 197 200.

At Longwind, Yi recognizes that a flood exceeds even a Flood Dragon’s ability to contain it and that he is the only available cultivator capable of helping. His later use of the Mountain and River State Map against calamity requires him to replenish primordial essence and suppress forces of fate; successful mortal relief efforts help turn that struggle in his favor 177 281.

Family, reputation, and long obligations

Yi repeatedly returns home to relatives who have aged while he appears almost unchanged. He rejects an official career, explaining that he prefers wandering, good food, and storytelling. Despite his growing reputation, he remains approachable to family, villagers, scholars, and local gods 237 238 413 414.

Refining the Heaven-Turning Furnace commits him to an undertaking whose outcome will take nine years to determine. Concerned about breaking his promise to Baokang, he has a message sent home. After nearly ten years away, he returns with an aged appearance and reconciles with his brother 452 467.

Emperor Xiang Yi later travels incognito to West River Village to meet him, accepting an ordinary family feast rather than summoning him to court 468.

Pill refinement and divine office

Yi completes a five-year pill refinement at Heavenly Battle Mountain under a powerful five-element lightning tribulation. He uses his gourd, white-crane transformation, sword, and Three-Pointed, Two-Edged Blade to protect the furnace and finish the pills 511.

After recuperating in seclusion, he learns that Hui Mian accepted a decree naming him one of the Four Imperial Emperors while he was absent. He subsequently visits his mortal relatives unseen to avoid disturbing their routines 518.

Later farewells and continued wandering

Returning with a youthful appearance, Yi acknowledges the elderly Yong’an as his nephew despite the household’s disbelief. Their shared memories briefly restore Yong’an’s clarity. Yi stays through his nephew’s final months, attends his funeral, and then parts gently but firmly from Yi A Bao 619 620 629 630.

In his later travels, he accepts Daoist Xue as his third disciple and continues recording the lives he witnesses. His writing becomes intertwined with fate, and he decides that the transformed Heavenly Battle Pill should be left alone as a spiritual being rather than reclaimed as an elixir 887 888 889.

When Zhuo Qing prepares to enter reincarnation, Yi recognizes that he may have avoided her feelings. He promises to find her in a future life when spiritual intuition permits, keeps her Gold Hairpin, and remains in Fishmulberry Village for a time 890.

Appearance

• Original appearance: Youthful and handsome despite having disappeared for more than twenty years. Villagers initially assume he is Baokang’s son rather than his elder brother 9 11.
• Scholar’s dress: A scholar’s robe and headcloth transform his appearance after he shaves; his family barely recognizes him 12.
• Hair and bearing: Later appearances include long, half-white hair, a blue-green straight-hemmed robe, and a calm expression 248.
• White Crane identity: A handsome face, sharp eyes, a diamond-shaped red forehead mark, long eyebrow hairs, and spotless white robes with black feather patterns at the cuffs and hem 492.
• Aged appearance: Returns from the furnace undertaking looking substantially older; later appears fully white-haired and weathered, though not stooped 467 474.
• Youth restored in appearance: During his reunion with the elderly Yong’an, looks like a young Confucian scholar with dark hair streaked with white—an appearance incompatible with the family’s old portrait of him 619 620 622.

Personality

Yi Shuyuan values freedom over rank. He prefers wandering, food, wine, and storytelling to official ambition and political maneuvering. His refusal to steal the Immortal Furnace Diagram shows that even a major cultivation opportunity does not automatically override his principles 60 238.

He respects abilities wherever he finds them. Ordinary constables’ martial skills fascinate him, and he recognizes that even an unremarkable person has something worth learning from. His affection toward Hui Mian is similarly free of aversion to spirits 40 94.

His easygoing manner conceals strong attachment. He avoids repeated or face-to-face farewells, yet is moved by his disciples’ calls and worries about the mortal years his family spends waiting for him. Humor is a frequent outlet, including teasing disciples with a false report of his death 98 129 199 452.

He combines curiosity with restraint. He listens to Zheng Ying before judging her, lets many mortal affairs unfold without intervention, and treats destined opportunities as carrying obligations of gratitude rather than entitlement. Against predatory enemies, however, he can be cold and experimental, as his treatment of Xuan Ji demonstrates 166 248 370 615.

Despite extraordinary achievements, Yi does not equate strength with attaining the Dao. Refining the Heavenly Battle Pill reinforces his belief that cultivation has no shortcut to genuine spiritual advancement 475 548.

Abilities & Skills

Heaven and Earth Transformation

Yi’s central cultivation art changes more than outward appearance: complete transformations alter his body, energy, and perspective 120 122.

Form / Identity	Documented applications
Long Feiyang	A genuine martial identity with different muscles and bones and more vigorous Xiantian True Qi. Initially his most reliable complete transformation 122.
Zhuo Qing’s appearance	Impersonates Zhuo at Cloud Fragrance Pavilion while learning her music and emotional perspective 157 158.
Sword Immortal Mili	Clarifies the relationship between music and sword intent. Enables swordsmanship his original form cannot yet reproduce with the same effortless perfection 166 197.
Hwamei bird	Explores Heavenly Battle Mountain through heightened avian senses and evades an eagle 272.
White crane	Travels with Hui Mian and withstands lightning during pill refinement 491 511.
Ao Po	Shifts between dragon and human forms; carries the vast realm beneath the North Sea as a painting 790.
Divine form	Manifests as the Manifest Holiness True Lord and draws upon immense divine power 288 553.
Old man	Changes appearance without attracting notice while avoiding recognition in a crowd 792.

• His transformations also support adaptation to unfamiliar language and surroundings 634.
• Early complete transformations are imperfect and costly in magical power 122.
• Clothing that accommodates changing forms remains a separate practical problem he wants to solve himself 199.

Innate Martial Arts

Yi cultivates Xiantian True Qi and develops techniques through observation, intent, and experimentation rather than formal martial schooling 40 42 44.

• Lightness skills: Crosses rooftops, ascends walls, and moves with seemingly weightless grace without using immortal arts 57 63 228.
• Acupoint strikes: Disarms and immobilizes armed tavern fighters with precise, nearly invisible movements 71.
• Teaching through sparring: Restrains his power while pushing Mai Lingfei to improve his movement, resolve, and use of terrain 63 340.
• Improvised weapons: Uses a dead branch against Mai Lingfei’s treasured sword and turns a falling fir tree into “Mist-Snow Pierces the Fir” 340.
• Heavenly Dragon Tail Sweep: Recreates a terrifying dragon-like strike to expose Xiao Yong’s lingering psychological wound 272.
• Restraint after victory: Disperses dangerous heat from Monk Wufa’s body after defeating him, preventing lasting physical injury 229.

Swordsmanship and String-Sound Sword Art

Yi’s swordsmanship joins intent, transformation, and artistic expression 157 166.

• Concealed sword: Launches a sword from his mouth at close range, then directs it in pursuit of a fleeing demonic spirit 103.
• Emotion-shaped intent: Incorporates Zhuo Qing’s desire for freedom into a sword intent balancing strength and softness 157.
• “Ambush from Ten Sides”: Turns pipa movements, floodwaters, and moonlight into escalating sword-energy formations that corner and kill Beiming 197.
• Material-independent sword intent: Forms a longsword from flowing light and rippling water after the Beiming battle 197.
• Limits: Long-range sword control can shake his consciousness; demanding musical sword techniques can injure his fingers and exhaust his magical power 103 166 197.

Five Elements and Movement Arts

Yi studies the Five Elements Wonder Art and supplements it with insight from other practitioners 106.

• Wind: His strongest early elemental specialty; travels as a breeze or upon wind and mist 74 106 634.
• Water: Learns from Hui Mian and water-observation teachings, overcoming an early limitation that prevented pursuit of a river escapee 44 106.
• Wood and thunder: His entry into the Dao through Awakening of Insects thunder, together with Jade Startle, gives him a profound grasp of wood’s meaning 30 106.
• Metal and earth: Receives insights from the Broad South Mountain God 106.
• Storage Concealment: Uses the art comfortably after months of practice, though without complete mastery 94.
• Harmony with natural forces: Travels through Astral Wind by moving with it rather than overpowering it 790.

Painting Realms and Calamity Suppression

Yi uses the Mountain and River State Map as more than a storage space 281 452.

• Suppresses calamity and contending forces of fate within the map, at the cost of primordial essence 281.
• Combines the map with the Celestial River’s star power and 108 divine beings during furnace refinement 452.
• Enters a painting realm while simultaneously maintaining awareness outside it 248.
• Presents landscapes, flourishing lives, and changes resembling vast spans of space and time while demonstrating the Immortal Dao 887.

Alchemy and Treasure Refinement

Yi applies his cultivation to furnaces, elixirs, paper, and magical objects 94 452 511.

• Produces exceptionally even paper using controlled pulp, wind, and sunlight, then makes and empowers Dust Chant 94.
• Undertakes the Heaven-Turning Furnace’s nine-year refinement 452.
• Completes pills under a five-element lightning tribulation after five years of refinement 511.
• Repairs a cracked furnace in the Kaiyang River but leaves it submerged so its remaining fire can recover and mature naturally 790.
• Treats powerful elixirs as demanding trials, not effortless routes to Dao advancement 548.

Spiritual Perception and Fate

Yi’s spiritual awareness combines senses and reveals auras, fortune, and hidden connections 148 150.

• Detects demonic scents, concealed forms, and discrepancies between outward appearance and true nature 61 190 514.
• Reads changing fortunes above people, including a gambler’s worsening ill fortune 129 148.
• Recognizes a profound connection between Xu Zichang and Gongsun Yin; thunder from his mind dispels an attempted heart-demon intrusion 236.
• Anticipates approaching guests and senses changes in destiny around a stolen book 351 468.
• His writing can resemble divination, tracing events and possible futures; he wonders whether his arrival has turned some stories into fixed fates 888 889.
• Perception is not infallible: he explicitly allows that his initial suspicion about Xuan Ji’s return may be mistaken 150.

Storytelling, Scholarship, and Music

Yi’s mortal profession remains central to his identity even after gaining divine status 140 518.

• Calligraphy and scholarship: Compiles the Yuanjiang County Gazetteer and is identified as the author of Heaven and Earth Transformation 53 236 237.
• Vocal imitation: Reproduces He Xin’s courtroom testimony in a feminine voice 21.
• Storytelling: Uses expressive voices, his fan, and Jade Startle to hold family and village audiences in suspense 238 419.
• Music: Learns Zhuo Qing’s pipa repertoire by listening and sensing her feelings; plays pieces remembered from his previous life 157 166.
• Recording experience: Keeps a manuscript of the people, events, and stories encountered during his travels 414 634 887.

Healing and Practical Skills

• Nature-infused remedy: Channels spring birth qi into a rice seedling for Mai Ake to take to her afflicted brother, using it as both possible treatment and a test of supernatural interference 76.
• Diagnosis and injury care: Examines Du Xiaolin through magical power and treats a martial artist’s displaced bones, tendons, swelling, and pain 199 291.
• Childbirth: In Mili’s form, helps deliver a baby and teaches Guan Xinghua a skill she can later use to earn a living 500.
• Farmwork: Transplants rice seedlings smoothly enough to impress Baokang and Yong’an 76.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Dust Chant / Chanting Dust — A folding fan crafted from Yi’s paper and prepared ribs without paste, bearing Broad South Mountain on one side and the town on the other. Produces powerful gusts, later displays awareness, and shelters Lu Yuwei in its painted pool. It can also transform into a sword or brush 94 140 166 191 634.
• Jade Startle — His storyteller’s block or Ritual Ruler, associated with thunder and wood. Commands an audience’s attention and can be used defensively in combat 106 196 419.
• Heaven and Earth Gourd — Carries wine, confines Xuan Ji, contains a furnace capable of burning her demonic soul, and channels tribulation lightning into an alchemical furnace 158 166 197 511.
• Mountain and River Immortal Furnace Diagram — A cultivation catalyst whose artistic realm helps him understand the immortal foundation. Later entrusted to Qi Zhongbin for study 72 73 120.
• Mountain and River State Map — A painting realm used in combat, calamity suppression, and large-scale furnace refinement 197 281 452.
• Yin Bamboo slips — Sixty-five densely engraved slips apparently left by the underworld administration. Their divine and immortal teachings become readable through focused thought 73.
• Martial arts manual — Instructor Lu’s personally annotated booklet, which Yi adapts and later passes in refined form to Duan Silie 40 71.
• Heaven-Turning Furnace — The central furnace in the undertaking involving the Celestial River, State Map, and 108 divine beings 452.
• Three-Pointed, Two-Edged Blade — Used alongside his sword to counter the final lightning strike during pill completion 511.
• Spirit pearls — A Taiyin Palace pearl can conceal demonic aura and obscure heavenly secrets; Yi considers whether it can alter aura. He later accepts the possibility of refining another precious Spirit Pearl given by Xia Linglan 199 518.
• Golden Shuttle / Golden Shuttle Sword / Gold Hairpin — A treasure Yi gives Zhuo Qing that can become a sword, hair ornament, or embroidery needle. He keeps her Gold Hairpin after her departure into reincarnation 440 634 890.

Relationships

Family

• Yi Baokang — Younger brother and the first family member to recognize him after his long disappearance. Their affection persists through Baokang’s repeated frustration at Yi’s abrupt departures 9 238 426 467.
• Zhao — Sister-in-law. Initially doubts his identity and resents the expense of supporting him; later welcomes him warmly and acknowledges his contribution to the family’s prosperity 11 237 238.
• Yi Yong’an — Nephew, early companion on trips to the county town, and fishing partner. Yi returns to comfort him in old age, stays through his final months, and attends his funeral 12 416 619 629 630.
• Yi A Bao — Grandnephew and scholar. Deeply attached to Yi, protects his privacy, and later seeks reassurance about his own eventual death after losing Yong’an 236 413 622 630.
• Lu Junling and Yi Xuan — Later-generation relatives whose uncertainty about Yi’s youthful appearance gives way to acceptance through the family’s emotional reunions 619 622.

Disciples and Companions

• Hui Mian — Longstanding spirit companion, assistant, messenger, and affectionate source of teasing. Yi treats him without prejudice, trusts his growth in battle, and praises him after his clash with a Sword Immortal 94 129 810.
• Qi Zhongbin — Disciple. Yi entrusts him with the Immortal Furnace Diagram, values his resolve to support the others, and later travels and writes in his company 120 199 887.
• Mo Shisheng / Stoneborn — Disciple. Their relationship combines mentorship, pranks, concern, and loyalty; Stoneborn carries a reassuring explanation of Yi’s long furnace undertaking to the family 129 199 237 452.
• Daoist Xue — Accepted as Yi’s third disciple and given cultivation texts and a pearl containing the original Pill Canon 887.
• Jiang Lang — Close friend and frequent collaborator. Calls him “Old Yi,” assists in rescues and demon conflicts, and maintains easy banter with him 191 196 199 520.
• Mai Lingfei / A Fei — Junior martial artist whom Yi guides and challenges rather than merely reassures. A Fei retains a special attachment to him and later spars with him as a fellow Innate expert 9 60 63 333 340.
• Duan Silie — Respected martial acquaintance. Yi admires his determination to win, shares food and wine with him, and gives him a refined martial manual 61 71.

Spiritual and Mortal Connections

• Zhuo Qing — Musical collaborator and trusted friend whose longing for freedom helps shape Mili’s sword intent. Her attachment eventually prompts Yi to confront his own avoidance; he promises to seek her after reincarnation 157 440 634 890.
• Du Xiaolin / He Xin — Protected junior with connections to Yi’s earlier courtroom work. Yi helps rescue her, comforts her, welcomes her into his family’s New Year, and supports her search for past-life understanding 21 191 425 437 634.
• Shi Wei — Taiyin Palace cultivator and ally against Beiming. Yi respects Xiaolin’s wishes when discussing her future with Shi Wei 196 197 200.
• Lu Yuwei — Rescued traveler whom Yi shelters in his fan and invites along his voyage. Her family history interests him as a storyteller 140.
• Xia Linglan — Lu Yuwei’s mother. Seeks Yi’s aid concerning her husband, later shares her personal history with him, and gives him a precious Spirit Pearl 476 518.
• Emperor Xiang Yi — An admirer and old acquaintance who wishes Yi would serve in office. Ultimately visits him incognito in West River Village rather than demand a difficult journey to court 162 467 468 480.
• Wu Minggao and Lin Xiu — Former county-office colleagues who value his calligraphy and scholarship. Wu personally guides him through the office; Lin praises his work and later corresponds with him 18 87 484 485.
• Chu Hang — Scholar, later Duke Chu, and enduring acquaintance. Exchanges letters with Yi and meets him briefly during their later travels 172 485 601 890.
• Huang Hongchuan and Song Chao / Old Pine — Broad South Mountain associates. The Mountain God supplies elemental insights; Old Pine later thanks Yi for helping him reach transformation 106 238 623.
• Xie Qing / General Crab — Kaiyang Water God who consults Yi about Zhuo Qing’s immortal silk and later receives custody of a repaired furnace 438 790.
• Xuan Ji — Nine-Lives Cat Demon and recurring enemy. Yi investigates her return, captures her, and studies her rebirth while condemning her predatory killings 151 158 166.
• Beiming — Powerful demon opponent killed by Yi’s performance of “Ambush from Ten Sides” 196 197.

Notable Quotes

“I am but a storyteller in the mortal world. Nothing interests me more than all its wondrous tales!” 140

“You see? I told you I knew martial arts.” 71

“Yet the road of cultivation on the Immortal Dao stretches on and on. I, too, am merely one who walks it!” 475