Xuan Cheng

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Xuan Cheng (玄诚)
Alias(es)	True Person Xuan Cheng; later True Lord Xuan Cheng. Also appears through Guan Xu and Si Yun as dream-based disguises or projections 97 144 280 334.
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Duo’e Sect; Hezhen Society, also called the Harmony Truth Lineage 97 110 355.
Occupation/Role	Senior cultivator based at Clearlight Peak; patron of Chu Mo; commander of the Southern Li Continent campaign 144 201 353.
Cultivation Path	Dream Dao approached through Falsehood, emphasizing the truth and falsehood of dreams 318 352.
Status	Trapped in a dream in his last documented appearance; his apparent victories and Spirit Transformation breakthrough are illusory 425.
First Appearance	Chapter 97, the earliest appearance documented in the supplied material 97.

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Golden Core — level 40	97	Identified by Chu Mo’s panel as a level-40 True Person while overseeing the Hezhen Society’s dispute over the Profound Sun Realm.
Nascent Soul	143 144	Credits Rosy Glow Stabilizing Origin with helping him capture a “Spirit” and transform it into the Prefecture Lord of his Dao Mansion. Subsequently addressed as a True Lord.
Early Nascent Soul — level 44	322 349 378	His level is explicitly displayed as 44. By Chapter 378, he has spent years stalled at early-stage perfection because Fuli resists the external manifestation of his dream Inner Landscape.
Middle Nascent Soul — temporary	381 384	His attempted permanent breakthrough is interrupted. Having nearly manifested his Inner Landscape, he uses his divine ability to briefly dream himself into middle-stage cultivation during battle.
Nascent Soul Peak → Spirit Transformation — dream only	425	Experiences advancement, victory over Changle, and recognition as Lord of the Dream Dao inside a dream. These events do not establish a real breakthrough.

Personality

Xuan Cheng is calculating, composed, and selective about protecting his juniors. After the Hezhen Society loses its contest, he refuses to blame Chu Mo and Yuan Bai for failing against Jiqing’s concealed Golden Core intervention. His private reasoning emphasizes their value to the society: killing promising disciples merely to vent anger would undermine his own faction 97.

His assistance often comes with concealed obligations. He threatens Chu Mo into accepting the Profound Sun Realm mission, conceals the reporting function of an investigative talisman, and frames an invasion as liberation from an oppressive Heavenly Dao. He supplies useful rewards, but bargains closely over fortune and withholds a promised talisman until Chu Mo fulfills his side of their agreement 99 131 334 353 380.

He initially accepts the loss of a pawn and a valuable avatar as ordinary risks. What unsettles him is the prospect of being blamed for sabotaging his own association—especially when even Zhou Huan begins to suspect him 348.

Abilities & Skills

Great Dream of the Mortal World

Xuan Cheng’s first Life-bound Divine Ability creates dreamscapes that blur the distinction between reality and illusion 280.

• Remote projection: Projects a dreamscape through Si Yun’s dream, using his appearance to confront Jiqing from afar 280.
• Distorted time: Makes opposing cultivators experience years within moments 353.
• Dream-realm transformation: Turns his entire being into a vast realm of mortal scenes to evade Chu Mo’s lifespan-cutting attack 349.
• Concealment: Works with Chu Mo’s Great Black Heaven to obscure heaven’s perceptions and weaken Fuli’s resistance to his breakthrough 379 381.
• Combined attacks: Traps enemies in dreams while Chu Mo accelerates their aging with Cutting Human Lifespans 353 354.

One-Dream Body and Dream Self

Xuan Cheng can employ a body within dreams and temporarily alter his apparent cultivation through dream-based power 380 384.

• Embeds One-Dream Body and Great Dream of the Mortal World into a treasure talisman that briefly grants its user a dream body 380.
• Briefly reaches middle Nascent Soul through his dream self after his actual breakthrough fails 384.
• This temporary increase does not overcome Qin Moyin’s superior cultivation and specialized anti-demonic lightning 384.

Dream Butterfly Avatar

A colorful butterfly serves as an avatar composed of five percent of a Spirit-Communing Treasure’s source essence 342 344 348.

• Emerges from a flower basket carried by Guan Xu and communicates with him 342.
• Manifests an inverted dreamscape in which fish fly and birds walk on the ground 344.
• Its unusual nature allows it to contend temporarily with Changle’s clay vessel despite Xuan Cheng’s inferior cultivation 344.
• Its share of source essence is lost during the Profound Li operation 348.

Dharma Form and Demonic Soul Techniques

Xuan Cheng combines large-scale manifestations with soul-based treasures 132 280.

• A palm strike simulated by his Dharma Form forces Red Rosy Clouds to answer with a Life-bound Divine Ability 132.
• A manifestation hand breaks Lady Red Phoenix’s crimson cords, allowing a bubble to capture her 280.
• The principal White Tiger soul of his Myriad Demons Banner has refined a Law and can devour life and steal lifespan 132.

Cultivation Knowledge

Xuan Cheng instructs Chu Mo on otherworldly cultivation and the relationship between cultivated paths and cosmic Authorities 97 201 352.

• Explains that Heavenly Register holders act as vanguards for Fuli’s expansion, using their Dao Mansions to anchor and eventually fuse other worlds 97.
• Advises that thirty-six third-tier principal souls and suitable materials could raise Chu Mo’s Profound Banner to a third-tier Dharmic Treasure, while distinguishing that from a true Cave-Truth treasure 201.
• Explains that his practice of Falsehood and dream-deciphering draws him toward the Authority of Dreams; he is not shown successfully claiming that Authority 352.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Myriad Demons Banner — Contains a Law-refining White Tiger principal soul capable of consuming life and lifespan 132.
• Three-Legged Cauldron — Collects the rosy-glowing contents of Red Rosy Clouds’s Golden Vault after his death 133.
• Rosy Glow Stabilizing Origin — Seized from Red Rosy Clouds; increases Xuan Cheng’s prospects of subduing the Spirit needed for his Nascent Soul breakthrough 133 143.
• Demon-Refining Bottle — Teaches Chu Mo a method for using it to adopt a demonic aura; the bottle later returns to Xuan Cheng after the Profound Sun Realm operation 99 110.
• Peering Origin Talisman — Given to Chu Mo to investigate Red Rosy Clouds’s Dao injury and vitality. Its undisclosed secondary function transmits information outward 121 131.
• One-Dream Body treasure talisman — A pale-golden talisman containing two of Xuan Cheng’s divine abilities, offered as payment for breakthrough assistance 380.
• Counterfeit treasures — Several are destroyed during the fight with Qin Moyin 384.
• Three unnamed treasures — Taken by Chu Mo during the dream incident; later help Chu Mo escape the illusions of his Earth Tribulation, although all three sustain damage 425 430.

Relationships

• Chu Mo / Youxuan — Initially a protected junior and valuable Heavenly Register cultivator. Their relationship becomes adversarial over the Red Silk Realm grievance, then shifts into paid cooperation. Chu Mo eventually surpasses him in cultivation and exploits a life-saving debt; by Chapter 416, he regards Xuan Cheng as already “one of his own” 97 121 334 378 387 416.
• Yuan Bai — A valued Foundation Establishment mainstay of the Hezhen Society. Xuan Cheng absolves him of responsibility for the contest’s defeat 97.
• Jiqing — Junior martial brother and factional rival. They have fought repeatedly; Xuan Cheng circumvents their settled contest and enjoys securing Profound Sun Realm resources at Jiqing’s expense 100 110 280.
• Changle / Chang Le — Senior martial sister and principal Dream Dao rival. Her threat drives his cultivation and alliance proposals, while the Blissful Immortal Garden seeks to exploit him as material connected to a Source 352 364 425.
• Guan Xu — Subordinate used as a disguise, observer, and carrier for a dream-based contingency. Xuan Cheng treats his reported death as the loss of a replaceable pawn 334 342 348.
• Zhou Huan — Junior who reports the failed Profound Li operation. His growing suspicion makes Xuan Cheng realize how damaging the apparent evidence against him has become 348.
• Ming Su — Senior martial brother who imposes the fortune penalty and assigns him a continent in the subsequent invasion 349 352 353.
• Yun Qing — Fellow Harmony Truth cultivator and expedition companion. She later traps the weakened Xuan Cheng inside a painting and draws him into a Light-and-Color Desire Stele 353 361.
• Red Rosy Clouds — Target of a covert health investigation and subsequent attack. Xuan Cheng kills him and takes Rosy Glow Stabilizing Origin for his own advancement 121 132 133.
• Qin Moyin — Heaven’s Will Sect enemy whose violet-gold lightning interrupts his breakthrough attempt and forces him to seek Chu Mo’s help 384.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Profound Sun Realm Dispute

After Jiqing admits using a Golden Core Life-bound Magical Treasure to influence the factional contest, Xuan Cheng leaves in anger but spares his defeated juniors from punishment. He privately reveals the obligations attached to Chu Mo’s Heavenly Register, then coerces him into another Profound Sun Realm mission, supplying a compatible divine ability and operational intelligence 97 99.

Despite the contest’s settled terms, Xuan Cheng intervenes through arrangements involving Ming He and the Sect Master Lineage. The Hezhen Society ultimately obtains three complete Laws; Xuan Cheng withdraws from the remaining dispute rather than surrender any of those gains 100 110.

Chen Household and Nascent Soul Breakthrough

Xuan Cheng sends Chu Mo to Red Rosy Clouds’s thousandth-birthday celebration under cover of courtesy. The real priority is to inspect the patriarch’s old Dao injury and declining vitality, with the talisman secretly reporting the results 121 131.

He subsequently attacks Red Rosy Clouds, kills him, and extracts Rosy Glow Stabilizing Origin. The resource helps him capture the Spirit that becomes his Dao Mansion’s Prefecture Lord. Afterward, he proposes a joint expedition into Chu Mo’s linked world and opens Clearlight Peak’s archives and supplies to support the junior’s cultivation 132 133 143 144.

Red Silk Realm Grievance

Xuan Cheng visits Youxuan Peak through Guan Xu’s appearance to seek reconciliation over an earlier conflict in the Red Silk Realm. Chu Mo states that Xuan Cheng’s attempt to place blame on him nearly cost his life and demands fortune quotas as compensation. Xuan Cheng refuses to part with enough, and the meeting ends without a settlement 334.

Profound Li Losses and Invasion

Xuan Cheng operates through Guan Xu and a butterfly avatar while pursuing resources in the Profound Li Treasure Realm. The operation ends with Guan Xu reported dead, the avatar’s source essence missing, and stolen Mother Qi apparently implicating Xuan Cheng. The association deducts ten thousand strands from his fortune allotment pending investigation 342 344 348 349.

His later conversation with Chu Mo escalates into a duel, then returns to negotiation. He recruits Chu Mo for the realm’s conquest by conceding an additional ten percent of his own gains. Their dream and lifespan-cutting techniques prove effective together during the Southern Li campaign 349 351 352 353 354.

The expedition also exposes his vulnerability to larger factional schemes. After suffering damage to his Dharma Form and losing several identities, he is captured by Yun Qing. Chu Mo later learns that the Hezhen Society had sent Xuan Cheng as a hostage, while the Blissful Immortal Garden intended to turn him into material for wielding a Source 361 364.

Failed Middle-Stage Breakthrough

Stalled at early Nascent Soul perfection, Xuan Cheng seeks Chu Mo’s Great Black Heaven to conceal his breakthrough from heaven and earth. They travel to the Azure Hidden Grotto-Heaven, where the overlapping darkness and dreamscape weaken Fuli’s rejection of his Inner Landscape 378 379 380 381.

Qin Moyin interrupts the attempt with violet-gold lightning. Xuan Cheng temporarily dreams himself into middle-stage cultivation, but he and Chu Mo remain at a disadvantage against her late-stage Nascent Soul lightning arts. The resulting life-saving debt gives Chu Mo leverage over his fate 384 387.

Dream Entrapment

Under pressure from Changle, Xuan Cheng resumes secluded cultivation. He experiences reaching Nascent Soul Peak, defeating his enemies, and advancing to Spirit Transformation—but the triumph unfolds inside a dream. Changle uses the Light-and-Color Desire Stele to draw him in, seeking Dream Dao interpretations useful for claiming the dream origin 425.

Chu Mo intervenes through the encounter’s entangled other-self identities and takes Xuan Cheng’s three treasures. Xuan Cheng’s release is not shown; the narrative only notes that the cultivation insights gained within the dream could remain valuable if he escapes 425.

Notable Quotes

“I use Falsehood to decipher dreams, while the Immortal Garden uses thoughts to shape dreams. Both are ways of drawing closer to the Authority of [Dreams].” 352

“White Tiger, the main soul of my [Myriad Demons Banner], once refined a law. He can devour life and steal lifespan.” 132

Trivia

• The “Cheng” in his Daoist name means sincerity. Chu Mo privately remarks that none of his actions fit the name and suggests Xuan Yin would suit him better 99.
• Chu Mo notices that Xuan Cheng habitually receives him lying or half-reclining on a Cloud Bed, often with his face partly obscured by clouds and mist 201.
• After Chu Mo surpasses him, sect rules require Xuan Cheng to address his former junior as Senior Brother Youxuan: precedence follows cultivation achievement rather than age or time in the sect 378 379.