Qi Zhongbin

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Qi Zhongbin (齐仲斌)
Alias(es)	Old Celestial Master; Celestial Master of Mystic Truth and Demon-Slaying 535 707
Species/Race	Human; later enters the Immortal Dao 310
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Qiankun Lineage; Great Yong Dynasty as Celestial Master 540 552 861
Occupation/Role	Immortal cultivator, demon-subduing sorcerer, fortune-teller, storyteller, and teacher 147 187 749 861
Master	Yi Shuyuan—initially as a nominal disciple, later as a direct disciple 120 310
Disciple	Yan Shouyun 861
Age	Over 120 when reappointed as Celestial Master 540
Origin	Identifies himself as a native of Tea Province 531
Status	Alive in his latest documented appearance 889

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Nominal disciple; begins true Immortal Dao instruction	120	Yi Shuyuan accepts him and entrusts him with the Mountain and River Immortal Furnace Diagram. Acceptance does not yet mean that he has formed an immortal foundation.
Inner-world and immortal-furnace training	123	Learns that entry into the Immortal Dao requires manifesting an internal heaven, earth, mountains, and rivers, then nurturing an immortal furnace. Yi creates an experiential lesson using the diagram, wind, and thunder.
Developed inner realm; furnace not yet manifested	187	Years of cultivation give him a youthful complexion. Yi lends him immortal magical power, which circulates through his body and inner realm, allowing him to perform his shared-dream technique more fully.
Improved perception against illusions	291	Discovers that certain illusion techniques can no longer easily deceive his eyes.
Dao-Transformed Immortal Furnace completed; enters the Immortal Dao	309 310	His understanding of collective flood and drought relief helps him subdue inner water and fire and transform yin and yang. The furnace settles within his inner mountains and rivers, produces immortal magical power, and enables thought-directed wind control.
Receives Heaven and Earth transformation teachings	328	With his furnace complete, he can perceive the transformations within Yi’s flight arts. Yi teaches him the principles and dangers of Earthly Fiend Transformation; successful personal transformation is not shown here.
Xiantian True Qi documented	341	Explicitly possesses xiantian true qi in martial practice, alongside spellcraft that has surpassed the mortal realm. The passage does not date his martial breakthrough.

History

Earlier Career

Qi Zhongbin spent decades traveling, slaying demons, and exorcising sinister entities. His spellbooks preserve both techniques and accounts of encounters from his younger years; Yi Shuyuan considers him a genuine master among sorcerers 147 308.

Emperor Lingzong granted him the title of Great Yong Celestial Master in his prime. He initially approached that office with ambitions to vanquish fiends and uphold the realm. Physician Hu Kuangming later recognizes him as the legendary figure associated with an earlier Lingdong epidemic and subsequent drought 298 535 537.

Defense of the Mo Residence

While protecting the Mo Household, Qi traces hostile paper figures to a western-district incense shop. Unable to determine the enemy’s full strength, he seeks Granny Yu’s assistance and establishes a defensive formation using Four Direction Venerable God statues and incense ash 113 114.

The attacker traps him in an illusion of an army of paper soldiers and horses. Rain disrupts his talismans, and his apparent battle leaves him wounded. Yi Shuyuan captures the creature hidden within the storm clouds, after which Qi realizes that the enemy never entered the courtyard and that he had been fighting under Illusion Magic 114 115 116.

Following the Mo child’s birth, Yi asks how much resolve Qi still has to pursue the Immortal Dao. Qi cannot answer, but the subsequent flight through Mingzhou and visits to its deities renew his hope. With Hui Mian’s encouragement, he becomes Yi’s nominal disciple and accepts the newborn Mo child as his senior brother 119 120.

Training and the Lingdong Calamities

Qi continues working as a fortune-teller while cultivating and caring for the Mo Household. He develops a method for entering Stoneborn’s dreams; with Yi’s borrowed power, the two disciples investigate the dream of an abducted girl. The dream inflicts real pain, forcing Yi to intervene and protect them 187.

Yi reviews and modifies Qi’s earlier spells, but warns him not to value techniques above cultivating truth and attaining the Dao. Recognizing that Qi already has a path of his own, he encourages him to travel and seek the experience needed to forge his immortal furnace 206 209.

During Lingdong’s disasters, Qi hunts Plague Ghosts with Chen Han, assists the afflicted, and receives instructions to use a Vital Essence Pill to sustain people through a spring-fed well. He later investigates the drought-causing creature and offers his long-carried Clear Abyss sword to Mai Lingfei 294 295 306.

A year spent pursuing the drought-bringing evil changes his understanding of his duties. Rather than seeing only individual monsters, he witnesses communities struggling together against calamity. This insight becomes the foundation for his inner water-and-fire transformation and the completion of his immortal furnace at Heavenly Battle Mountain 308 309 310.

After the breakthrough, Yi acknowledges him as a direct disciple and bestows the Heavenly Gang Mace, a treasure made specifically to accord with his Dao 310.

Return to the Capital

Returning to Heaven-Bearing Prefecture after years abroad, Qi investigates a nursery rhyme that appears to threaten Tan Yuanshang’s fortunes. He warns Tan indirectly and shares his lodging at Sky Void Temple, leaving open a way for Tan to seek help without pressing him 528 529 531.

When Fighter Monk heads toward the Tan Residence to steal a suspected treasure, Qi intercepts him and knocks him unconscious with one mace strike. Recognition of Qi’s historical identity leads Tan to inform the emperor of his presence 535 537.

At the autumn Grand Court Assembly, the emperor publicly honors Qi and reinstates him as Celestial Master. Qi initially declines, then accepts the title and gold token while refusing the robe, whisk, salary, and residence. His appearance accompanies the exposure of the Fifth Prince’s involvement in the sorcery plot 539 540.

Heavenly Affairs and Later Travels

Qi receives a divine invitation to the Starwoven Gathering. At the gathering, he watches the celestial refinement without joining the scramble for escaping pills 453 464 466.

He later rejoins Yi and Stoneborn for the investigation of the Untransformable Bone, recognizing it as a rare sinister zombie. He accompanies the party to the Demon-Subduing Palace, observes its eventual refinement into a Sword Pellet, and undertakes an errand to the Northern Celestial Court carrying the Beiming Azure Wolf’s fang as evidence of Yi’s earlier service 552 553 576 582.

Qi remains connected to the Demon-Subduing Palace’s gods. He brings Stoneborn news of Ya Ci’s dragon transformation and rumors that Yi possesses a Dragon-Transforming Immortal Elixir, while also attending Old Master Mo’s birthday banquet 707.

Storytelling and Yan Shouyun

During the capital’s Magic Appraisal Assembly period, Qi performs at a teahouse and quietly assesses the visiting practitioners. He also kills a protected mage whose practices exploit ordinary people, refusing to let an imperial summons excuse demonic conduct 748 749 756.

The Violet Star Spirit Lord briefly impersonates Qi to persuade Yan Shouyun to remain in the capital; this is not a divine identity belonging to Qi himself. Qi knows about the impersonation and independently takes an interest in Yan’s character 764 767.

Qi offers to teach Yan spells, and later passages confirm their master–disciple relationship. When Yi summons him, Qi decides it is time to introduce Yan to his grandmaster and the deeper heritage of the Qiankun Lineage 772 861.

Appearance

• White hair and beard: Both are snowy white, giving him the bearing of an elderly immortal 540.
• Youthful, ruddy complexion: His face becomes increasingly rosy during cultivation, despite his unchanged white hair 187 531 707.
• Plain clothing: His Rosy Cloud Feather Garment retains the appearance of an old, unadorned outfit rather than splendid robes 463.
• Practical traveling attire: Wears bound leggings and gathered sleeves; at times carries a bamboo hat behind his shoulders and a mace on his back 463 707.
• Fortune-teller’s belongings: Commonly travels with a banner and wooden carrying chest 187 453 605.

Personality

Qi is cautious without being unwilling to act. During the Mo Residence crisis, he openly fears an enemy he cannot understand and is prepared to kneel to obtain Granny Yu’s help. He nevertheless remains in the courtyard to fight when his spells fail 113 114.

His pursuit of immortality is persistent and deeply emotional. He approaches Yi’s instruction with anxious reverence, accepts Stoneborn’s seniority despite their age difference, and marks both his initial acceptance and later direct discipleship with nine bows or kowtows 120 310.

Worldly rewards hold little appeal for him. He declines Tan Yuanshang’s offer of accommodation and accepts only the title and token when reappointed as Celestial Master. His sense of duty centers on protecting people, not collecting honors 531 540.

Age and experience also make him shrewd. He can feign exhaustion during a martial exchange and eventually adopts some of Yi’s teasing habits, including briefly pretending not to know his own master 341 543.

His attitude toward supernatural beings becomes more discriminating. As Yan’s teacher, he stresses that ghosts, demons, and spirits can be either good or evil, and that discerning them is harder than killing them 867.

Abilities & Skills

Immortal Furnace and Magical Power

• His Dao-Transformed Immortal Furnace is patterned with water and fire and shines with starlight within his inner realm 310.
• It transforms inner spiritual energy into Immortal Dao power 310.
• After its completion, he senses spiritual currents more clearly and can perceive joy and anger in birdsong 310.

Wind Control and Flight

• Directs gentle breezes with a thought, without deliberate hand seals or incantations 310.
• Pursues Stoneborn through the air using magical power and the Heavenly Gang Mace 545.
• Merges into the wind to bypass Imperial Guards, enter a mansion, and leave without being stopped 756.
• Receives instruction in flight that involves transformation into wind, cloud, and rosy light rather than merely standing upon an air current 328.

Fire Control

• Draws threads of flame from an oil lamp and coils them around his sword-fingers 756.
• Expands those flames into a controlled horizontal Flame Tornado, killing a mage who has fallen into demonic practices 756.

Shadow-Cutting Paper Soldiers

• Identifies Shadow-Cutting Paper Soldiers as one of the sorcerer techniques he takes particular pride in 116.
• Animates small paper figures to fight larger hostile figures 114.
• His original paper soldiers are vulnerable to soaking rain 115.
• Later uses paper figures inscribed through sword-finger gestures while assisting Stoneborn’s journey 710.

Rituals and Defensive Formations

• Establishes a household defense by placing Four Direction Venerable God statues at the corners and linking them with incense ash 114.
• Uses talismans alongside sword attacks to mark and destroy apparent enemies, although rain can knock the talismans down 114.
• Devises the Spirit-Drawing Formation; Yi recognizes its technical ingenuity while noting serious flaws 209.

Shared-Dream Technique

• Draws a ritual diagram that allows him and Stoneborn to enter the same dream 187.
• Yi’s borrowed immortal power strengthens the method sufficiently for their investigation 187.
• The shared dream can transmit genuine injury and exhaustion; Qi cannot independently overcome its hostile forces 187.

Divination and Supernatural Perception

• Uses finger calculations, names, nursery rhymes, and copper coins to investigate fate and hidden threats 306 529.
• Forms copper coins into a hovering sword-like arrangement to trace the drought-causing evil 306.
• Can distinguish unusually conspicuous divine and dragon destinies among banquet guests 707.
• Acknowledges uncertainty when different divination inputs produce conflicting results 529.
• His perception eventually becomes resistant to some illusion techniques 291.

Martial Arts and Weapon Use

• Continues fighting with martial skill when weather disables his talismans 114.
• Possesses xiantian true qi and exceptional lightness skills 339 341.
• Defeats Fighter Monk with a single Heavenly Gang Mace strike before the monk can react 535.
• Advises Mai Lingfei on regulating demonic qi injuries and seeking a breakthrough through adversity 305 306.

Storytelling

• Performs multiple voices and expressive character roles, using a fan and sweeping sleeve movements 749 754.
• Tells a popular adaptation from the Four Seas and Mountains Record about the White Lord stirring the Southern Sea 748.
• Earns an invitation to perform regularly at a capital teahouse in exchange for tea 749.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Heavenly Gang Mace — A dark-gold, four-sided rigid whip with seven sections corresponding to the Northern Dipper. Forged by Yi and bestowed after Qi’s immortal breakthrough; it responds naturally to his intent 310.
• Clear Abyss sword — Forged from fine gold meteoric iron and bestowed by a former emperor. Qi carries it for nearly fifty years, primarily as a consecrated ritual sword, before offering it to Mai Lingfei and removing its seven ritual star markings 306.
• Seven-Star Sword — The name used for his sword during the Mo Residence defense 114.
• Rosy Cloud Feather Garment — Initially appears as underclothes because he cannot control its form. Later takes the appearance of plain, old clothing 206 463.
• Mountain and River Immortal Furnace Diagram — Entrusted to him for study at the beginning of his discipleship; he initially cannot understand its mysteries 120 123.
• Celestial Master gold token — An aged token associated with authority over the arts. He lends it to the emperor’s messenger and later accepts a token with his renewed appointment 539 540.
• Spellbooks and notes — Records of sorcerer arts, diagrams, and past encounters that Yi studies as material for developing lineage-specific immortal techniques 127 146 147.
• Fortune-telling banner and wooden chest — Portable working equipment; the closed chest also serves as his stall’s stool 187.

Relationships

• Yi Shuyuan — Master and guide. Tailors instruction to Qi’s experience, treats him with the same care as his other disciples, and eventually recognizes him as a direct disciple 120 309 310.
• Stoneborn / Mo Shisheng — Senior fellow disciple despite being much younger. Their relationship combines Qi’s respectful care with affectionate teasing, shared investigations, and travel 120 187 544 710.
• Hui Mian / Senior Gray — Senior, teacher, and frequent companion. Encourages Qi to seek discipleship and later helps secure Yi’s explicit acknowledgment; Qi publicly emphasizes Hui Mian’s seniority 120 310 537 543.
• Yan Shouyun — Disciple. Qi values his character, offers him spell instruction, and teaches him to distinguish harmful supernatural beings from harmless or virtuous ones 772 861 867.
• Granny Yu / Yu Fuying — Long-standing acquaintance and fellow defender of the Mo Household. Their complicated past includes wrongdoing for which Qi eventually accepts responsibility; she rejects his apology, though admitting fault eases his burden 114 120 454.
• Master Mo and the Mo Household — People he protects and maintains ties with across generations. The family warmly welcomes his later returns 114 119 544 707.
• Tan Yuanshang — A man Qi quietly warns and protects. Tan respects his boundaries and obtains permission before revealing his presence to the emperor 531 535 537.
• Emperor Yongming — Reinstates Qi as Great Yong’s Celestial Master after learning of his earlier service under Emperor Lingzong 537 540.
• Chu Hang — An old acquaintance from Lingdong. Their reunion at court recalls shared hardships nearly forty years earlier 540.
• Mai Lingfei — Martial expert whom Qi advises and offers the Clear Abyss sword during the drought investigation 305 306.
• Chen Han — Ally in the hunt for Plague Ghosts and the search for external causes of Lingdong’s calamities 294 295.

Notable Quotes

“Ghost demons and spirits, too, may be good or evil. Slaying demons is easy; discerning them is hard!” 867

“Rather than an honor, it is a responsibility owed to the way of the human world.”
— On the emperor’s designation as the Son of Heaven 823

“Sincerity matters most. A word of congratulations is my modest token of goodwill.”
— Arriving for Old Master Mo’s birthday 707