Chen Yong

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Chen Yong comes from an ordinary hunter’s family. Childhood poverty often drove him into the mountains alone to find food, and he accompanied his elders on hunts from a young age to help support the household. The city lord’s estate paid his Shrek Academy application fee and the cost of his small storage soul tool 15 33.

He passes Shrek Academy’s entrance assessment despite being unable to withstand Jiang Hai’s punch. Jiang Hai nevertheless notices that Chen Yong is the only candidate he struck who escaped injury. Afterward, Chen Yong introduces himself and asks how to fight opponents faster than himself, beginning their friendship 12 13.

The two become roommates in Room 109. Chen Yong accepts Jiang Hai’s habit of cultivating inside his coffin martial soul, explaining that the coffin does not feel sinister to him and that cultivation matters most 13 14.

Appearance

• Build: Tall, broad, and unusually sturdy for his age, with an honest-looking face rather than fierce features 13.
• Voice: Deep and rumbling 15 20.
• Martial Soul Possession: Enlarges his already burly frame, thickens his arms, raises his back, and produces five long, blunt claws on his hands 15 33.
• Black Iron Body: Gives his bronze skin a dark sheen and makes his body swell further 33.

Personality

Chen Yong is good-natured, grateful, and willing to learn. When asking Jiang Hai for combat advice, he immediately offers to withdraw the question if it concerns a secret. He later offers Jiang Hai spare bedding and half his challenge earnings in appreciation for his help 13 15 20.

His straightforward appearance conceals a mischievous streak. He readily adopts Jiang Hai’s provocative money-making scheme and learns to flatter defeated opponents while keeping their fees. After one apparently exhausting match, his breathlessness disappears as soon as the challenger leaves, prompting Mu En to recognize that he is not as simple as he looks 15.

Money matters to him partly because he wants to improve his parents’ lives. Despite charging challengers, he returns the fees of poor students wearing ordinary clothes 15 16.

His admiration for Jiang Hai can become overconfidence in their team’s prospects, requiring reminders not to underestimate opponents. His loyalty is equally strong: he supports Jiang Hai after an exhausting fight and later refuses to let Xiao Xiao pass him because he does not want Jiang Hai to shoulder the pressure alone again 19 30 49.

Abilities & Skills

Brown Bear Martial Soul

A beast martial soul combining tremendous strength with strong defense. Its demonstrated aptitude is repeatedly distinguished from that of an ordinary bear martial soul, although no alternative species is identified 33 34 36.

• Martial Soul Possession: Enhances his physique for close-range punches, palm strikes, and grappling 15 33.
• Exceptional strength: Slightly surpasses Wu Feng in their direct clash and matches Huang Chutian’s Great Strength Divine Ape in an initial exchange 33 40.
• Limited speed: Fast opponents are a persistent difficulty; Liu Gang’s thrust and Zhu Lu’s agility expose this weakness 37 43.
• Endurance: His hunting background helps him tolerate pain and continue attacking through Wu Feng’s flames 33.

First Soul Skill: Black Iron Body

A hundred-year soul skill that reinforces his body, increases resistance, and produces a black-iron sheen 33.

• Allows him to strike through Wu Feng’s flames, though sustained exposure to Dragon’s Fire still reddens his arm 33.
• Helps him withstand Liu Gang’s scattered sword energy, but does not prevent cuts 36.
• Cannot reliably stop Wang Cheng’s concentrated lance thrust 37.
• Does not fully protect him from Cui Yajie’s Fox-Tail Needles, which leave numerous small red marks 43.

Second Soul Skill: Bear Dominates the World

A hundred-year soul skill released through a deafening roar. It projects sound waves and mental intimidation while raising Chen Yong’s fighting spirit, strength, and speed 37.

• Disruption: Briefly stuns or slows nearby targets unless their soul power far exceeds his own 37.
• Area effect: Its debut disturbs students fighting on neighboring platforms; Jiang Hai and Sun Yunhai cover their ears in advance 37.
• Charm resistance: Provides strong resistance to Cui Yajie’s Charm while active 42.
• Shock-wave counter: Cancels the shock wave of Xiao Xiao’s Cauldron’s Tremor in the final 48.
• Limit: Its brief interruption is insufficient to stop Huang Chutian’s empowered punch while Chen Yong is bound by the Lan sisters’ hair 40.

Attack Anticipation

Chen Yong learns to read attack trajectories from Jiang Hai, then develops timing that academy observers recognize as exceptional combat talent. His predictions rely more on bodily instinct than Jiang Hai’s experience and calculation 13 47.

• Seizes Liu Yun’s staff during an opening and disarms him 15.
• Interrupts Wu Feng’s next attack with a precisely timed palm strike 33.
• Waits out Wang Cheng’s sweeping lance before closing in, stopping his winning punch short of his friend’s face 37.

Team Combat

Chen Yong serves as the frontline attacker while Sun Yunhai’s Seven-Colored Cloud Illusion conceals his position and attacks 36 38.

• Uses false bodies and disguised fists to misdirect opponents 36 37.
• Appears weak or harmless under illusion while delivering powerful blows 38.
• Loses substantial tactical protection when opponents restrain Sun Yunhai and disrupt the illusions 37.

Equipment / Items

• Storage soul tool — Holds one cubic meter of storage space; funded by the city lord’s estate 15.
• Challenge sign — Supplied by Jiang Hai; insults the freshmen to provoke one-gold-coin matches 15.
• Iron locks — Worn during weighted running with Jiang Hai; described as appearing to weigh over a hundred jin 20.

Relationships

• Jiang Hai — Friend, roommate, teammate, and combat mentor. Chen Yong calls him “Boss” after earning money through his scheme; Jiang Hai describes Chen Yong as his brother 13 20 22.
• Sun Yunhai — Teammate and regular training companion. His illusions complement Chen Yong’s close-range power 29 36 37.
• Zhou Yi — Homeroom teacher. Assigns him to Jiang Hai’s team and registers their chosen support specializations 21 29.
• Mu En — Gives him advice on allowing defeated challengers to save face and tacitly permits the challenge scheme 14 15.
• Ma Xiaotao — Entrance examiner and sparring partner; gives him the nickname “Little Dumb Bear” 12 31.
• Liu Gang and Wang Cheng — Friends and frequent sparring companions who become his opponents in the first knockout round 36 37.
• Wu Feng — Assessment opponent whom he initially finds attractive. Their evenly matched fight precedes her surprise at his stronger knockout-round performance 32 33 37.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Paid Challenges and Freshman Training

• Charges freshmen one gold coin per fight using Jiang Hai’s deliberately insulting sign 15.
• Reports earning twenty-eight gold coins in just over two hours; earns another fifty-odd during the following night 20 21.
• Improves his practical combat skills through repeated matches and Jiang Hai’s guidance 21.
• Joins Jiang Hai in weighted running and cultivates immediately after reaching physical exhaustion, finding that his soul power improves faster 20.

Freshman Assessment

Notable Quotes

“If they're like you, not even one!” — When Jiang Hai asks how many freshmen he could defeat 15.

“If you want to help them, you'll have to get past me first!” — To Xiao Xiao during the final 49.