Chen Xiuzhu

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Chen Xiuzhu (陈修竹)
Alias(es)	Captain Chen; Old Chen 2 3
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Dust-Returning Courtyard, Thousand Chimes Commandery City 3
Occupation/Role	Corpse-collector captain; formerly a teacher and hired writer 2 11
Status	Deceased; cremated and buried beside his wife, Meng Ping 31
First Appearance	Chapter 2, “Starved Ghost · Gluttonous Stomach” 2

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Tortoise-Snake Fist — beginner level; unranked	10	Retrospectively states that he needed almost six months of hard practice to reach the beginner level. No further advancement is documented; he later explains that forcing himself to train worsened his already depleted body 11 29.

Background / History

Teaching and displacement

Chen was originally a teacher in a county town near Thousand Chimes Commandery City. His parents died young, leaving him and his wife dependent on each other. After the Heavenly Calamity brought strange incidents to their hometown, he took her to Thousand Chimes City. They rented a small courtyard in the outer city, and he supported them by writing for paying customers 11.

Half a month later, he returned home to find his wife missing. With the city descending into chaos and the authorities unable to help, he searched through the night. The following morning, he found her dead by suicide. Her final letter revealed that a gang had abducted and abused her 11.

Chen spent years seeking revenge against Black Snake Gang leader Yin Qianlang, but his limited martial talent and resources prevented him from becoming strong enough to act himself 11.

Corpse collection and the bargain with Lu Mian

As a captain in the Dust-Returning Courtyard, Chen recruited Lu Mian simply because his understaffed team needed another worker. He introduced Lu to corpse-burning duties, the city's institutional hierarchy, and the danger of bodies transforming into undead 2 3.

His assessment changed after Lu calmly suppressed a transforming scholar's corpse and later helped him fight a Sickness-Death Wraith. Recognizing Lu's rapid progress in Tortoise-Snake Fist, Chen offered all his savings—783 taels—and the Five Tigers Soul-Chasing Blade manual in exchange for eventual revenge. He imposed no deadline. Lu accepted after confirming that Yin Qianlang had reached only blood-qi perfection, not a cultivation realm 7 10 11.

Chen delivered the money and manual, then used most of the silver to obtain blood- and vitality-restoring medicine at Lu's request. He also reduced Lu's duties so that he could prepare for the Guard Hall trials. After Lu qualified among the top ten, Chen congratulated him, warned him about the Hall's factions, and agreed to search for his missing relatives 12 14 17.

Illness, revenge, and death

Following the Sickness-Death Wraith encounter, Chen developed a persistent cough despite drinking talisman water. When Lu later visited him, he was bedridden and gravely ill. Chen explained that accumulated death and yin aura from corpse handling, compounded by forced martial training, had already exhausted his body; a trace of plague miasma caused its final collapse 17 29.

Learning that Lu had reached blood-qi perfection renewed his hope. He supplied information about Yin Qianlang's residence, the Black Snake Gang's Tian Family backing, and its three senior leaders, while still urging Lu not to overextend himself 29.

Lu killed Yin and brought the body to Chen. Chen insisted on personally lighting the fire that reduced his enemy to ash, repeatedly thanking Lu as his strength faded. He died after seeing his revenge fulfilled. Lu cremated him near Meng Ping's grave and buried his ashes beside hers, honoring his final wish 31.

Appearance

• Gaunt face: His expression briefly becomes complicated when Lu asks whether martial training can lead to the Guard Hall 4.
• Corpse-collector clothing: He puts on his work clothes for the final journey to burn Yin Qianlang's body 31.
• Severe decline: Near death, he is pale, with sunken eyes, hollow cheeks, and withered arms 29.
• Refugee-like appearance: Lu later considers Chen's likeness suitable for an inconspicuous refugee disguise 125.

Personality

Chen initially appears cold, listless, and resigned. He accepts both the danger of corpse collection and the social contempt directed at its workers as ordinary facts of life. His pessimism about martial advancement reflects his own experience: he regards perfection as practically unreachable for people without talent or resources 2 3 4.

His detachment conceals intense grief and devotion to his wife. Once he recognizes Lu's potential, he stakes everything on securing revenge and becomes an active supporter of Lu's advancement. Even while dying, he cautions Lu against taking unnecessary risks rather than demanding an immediate attack 11 12 29.

Abilities & Skills

Tortoise-Snake Fist

Chen reaches the beginner level through prolonged practice, but never demonstrates higher mastery 10.

• Recognizes Lu's minor mastery from the strength of his blood-qi burst 10.
• Understands that perfecting the art can qualify a worker for the Guard Hall 4.
• Cannot sustain intensive training safely because corpse exposure has already damaged his constitution 29.

Corpse Handling and Supernatural Precautions

Chen is an experienced captain who organizes collection assignments and oversees the thorough burning of bodies 3 5 6.

• Teaches Lu to use pain to regain focus against corpse-induced mental disturbance 6.
• Requisitions replacement talisman water after Lu expends his supply 7.
• Uses stronger, Guard Hall-grade talisman water to help defeat a Sickness-Death Wraith 10.
• Escapes the Shed Quarantine Zone when unrest breaks out, drawing on his experience of its dangers 13.

Institutional Knowledge and Contacts

Chen provides practical guidance about opportunities beyond the refugee district 3 12.

• Explains the Lower Three Institutes, Middle Three Halls, and Upper Three Palaces 3.
• Outlines Guard Hall recruitment and warns about its supernatural threats and entrenched factions 12 17.
• Obtains medicinal tonics through an acquaintance in the Agriculture Office 12.
• Knows the Black Snake Gang's leadership, outpost, and relationship with the Tian Family 29.
• His cultivation knowledge is explicitly secondhand; he knows the names of only the first three of the nine realms 11.

Equipment / Items

• Jade pendant — Examines it with a look of longing while the corpse collectors rest; its significance is not explained 5.
• Stronger talisman water — Purchased at considerable expense through private channels. Its one-thirtieth concentration exceeds the Courtyard's usual one-percent dilution 10.
• Five Tigers Soul-Chasing Blade manual — A fierce, lethal blade art given to Lu as part of their revenge bargain 11 12.
• Savings — Offers 783 taels; Lu retains 100 taels and asks Chen to spend the remainder on restorative tonics 11 12.
• Agriculture Office clothing — Collected clothing that Lu uses to move through the refugee district without attracting the attention associated with corpse collectors 29.

Relationships

• Meng Ping — Wife. Her abduction, abuse, and suicide drive his pursuit of revenge. His final wish is to be buried beside her 11 31.
• Lu Mian — Subordinate, revenge partner, and trusted friend. Chen finances and facilitates Lu's training; Lu fulfills their bargain and handles his burial. Lu later confides in Chen's memory at his grave 11 12 17 31 84.
• Yin Qianlang — Enemy and Black Snake Gang leader whom Chen holds responsible for Meng Ping's suffering. Chen witnesses the burning of Yin's body before dying 11 29 31.
• Zhuang Shen — Patrol captain from whom Chen specifically requests Lu as an additional corpse collector 2.

Posthumous Legacy

Chen remains an important confidant in Lu's memory. Before leaving Thousand Chimes City, Lu visits his grave with incense, candles, spirit money, and wine, recounting his recent experiences at greater length than he normally speaks to the living 84.

Later appearances under Chen's name are Lu Mian's disguises or clones, not Chen's resurrection.

Chapter	Use of Chen's identity
67	Lu tests Mirror Nightmare by briefly reproducing Chen's appearance, then reminds himself that the figure is only a copy.
89 130	Lu introduces himself to Monk Fa Zang as Chen Xiuzhu and continues using that identity in their dealings.
125 126	A Mirror Nightmare Clone resembling Chen infiltrates Black Leaf Temple as an exhausted refugee; it later changes into Zhao Chong's likeness.
214	Lu gives Yang Jun the name Chen Xiuzhu while offering elixirs and a conditional recommendation to the Sunflame Daoist Grounds.

Notable Quotes

“Once you're caught in the martial world, you don't always have a choice.” 17

“I haven't taken my revenge yet. I'm not ready to die.” 17

“Ping... you've finally been avenged!!!” 31