Daoist Chongyun

Biodata

Background / History

Li Household and Exile

According to Chongyun’s account, he originally belonged to the Li Household in Liang Province of the Wu Kingdom, tens of thousands of miles from Yellowstone City. He offended a powerful enemy over a treasure used for Foundation Establishment. That enemy arranged plots against him which greatly diminished his cultivation, forcing him to flee to the Yellowstone City region 15.

He founded White Cloud Abbey, one of the region’s few Immortal Cultivator factions. Despite its religious establishment and novice membership, Chongyun considered it barely a cultivation sect: Qingfeng and Wang Yu were his only true disciples 10 15.

Taking in Wang Yu

Chongyun admitted Ding Yu as a novice after the boy’s grandfather obtained something he urgently needed. To protect the child from spirit labor, he registered him as Wang Yu, gave him the Daoist name Autumn Leaf, and instructed Dongyue to tell outsiders that the newcomer had joined half a year earlier 4.

After discovering that Wang Yu could see the White Cloud Scripture’s Cloud Pattern, Chongyun recognized his Spiritual Perception and allowed him to keep the scripture. He initially taught the boy martial arts, choosing the Wind-Splitting Sword Technique because Wang Yu’s weak physique was unsuitable for his heavier techniques 5 6.

When Qingfeng reported Wang Yu’s bloodline awakening, Chongyun accepted him as his second direct disciple. He identified the bloodline as that of the Iron-Eater Crocodile, implanted a Spirit Seed, and began teaching him the Yin Water Art 8 9 10.

Chongyun personally prepared Blood-Refining Soup to assist Wang Yu’s bloodline awakening. He instructed him to take it every three days, limit daily cultivation to an incense stick while his divine sense remained weak, and temporarily stop contemplating the Cloud Pattern so that he could concentrate on the Yin Water Art 10 11.

Attack and Final Stand

Chongyun refused repeated invitations to join the Huang Household, saying that he preferred an unfettered life. After examining Wang Yu’s slow initial progress, he urged him to reach the Yin Water Art’s second level within six months so that he could protect himself, and supplied purified Yin Spirit energy to accelerate his cultivation 11 12.

An emerald bird’s arrival prompted Chongyun and Qingfeng to leave the abbey. During the outing, Chongyun was badly poisoned and then besieged by several powerful enemies. Qingfeng was killed, while attackers assaulted White Cloud Abbey and pursued its remaining residents 12 14.

Despite his condition, Chongyun found Wang Yu using a Sky-Dancing Talisman and flew him to a concealed cavern. There he revealed his approaching death and entrusted Wang Yu with his cultivation notes, a gourd he said contained the remaining Clear Spirit Liquid, and a Li Household token 14 15.

The cavern was a hidden site Chongyun had discovered by chance rather than constructed himself. He had stored dry rations there and knew of a nearby stream. He also showed Wang Yu the Four Beast Diagram left by its former occupant, explaining that he had been unable to comprehend it beyond recognizing the Wolf-Running Diagram as its starting point 14.

Uncle-Master Huang followed them into the cavern and admitted that the Huang Household had sided with Chongyun’s enemy. Chongyun first frightened him away with an apparent Spirit Sword, then killed him upon his return by releasing Shadow-Splitting Sword Light from a battered sheath. Chongyun died immediately afterward, smiling after witnessing its power 15.

Wang Yu checked both Chongyun’s breathing and pulse and found neither, confirming his apparent death before arranging his burial 15 16.

Burial and Legacy

Wang Yu buried Chongyun in a flowered meadow. Their formal master–disciple relationship had lasted only a little over ten days; Wang Yu remembered him as an elder who had treated him well, though their brief acquaintance left him saddened rather than deeply grief-stricken 16.

After the burial, an emerald little bird landed near the grave, chirped for a time, and departed. Wang Yu thought it looked familiar but did not investigate it 16.

Chongyun’s Black Leather Booklet became Wang Yu’s principal early reference for cultivation. Its complete Yin Water Art instructions and medicinal recipes allowed him to continue training independently, while Chongyun’s final wishes directed him toward the Li Household 16 21.

Wang Yu successfully reproduced Chongyun’s Blood-Refining Soup from the booklet’s recipe and continued using it alongside body-tempering practice. Chongyun’s explanation of cultivation bottlenecks also guided him through his first breakthrough into the Yin Water Art’s second level 21.

Later Suspicions

While preparing resources for Foundation Establishment, Wang Yu investigated Chongyun’s warning that Clear Spirit Liquid dissipated upon exposure to air. He learned that, although the warning about air was correct, the gourd could safely be opened for inspection with suitable precautions. Opening it inside a sealed, airless barrier, he discovered that its contents were only ordinary water 297.

This discovery led Wang Yu to suspect that Chongyun might have deceived him. He considered returning to Yellowstone City and opening his master’s grave to check whether the corpse remained inside, but postponed the investigation to concentrate on his strength and the True Disciple assessment. The reason for the gourd’s contents, and whether it indicated anything unusual about Chongyun’s death, remained unresolved 297.

Appearance

• Face: Thick eyebrows, a square face, and an imposing expression 4.
• Clothing: Daoist robes; changes into a short, fitted martial outfit for instruction 4 5.
• After the ambush: Exceptionally pale, with heavily charred robes and clotted blood across his chest. White clouds surrounded him while he used the Sky-Dancing Talisman 14.

Personality

Chongyun usually speaks slowly and deliberately, maintaining a calm manner even when concealing Wang Yu’s identity or refusing the Huang Household’s recruitment. He values his independence, explicitly preferring an unfettered life to joining the household 4 11.

As a teacher, he is demanding and practical. He sharply reprimands Dongyue’s laziness, refuses to teach him another technique before he masters his existing one, and selects Wang Yu’s training according to his physical condition. After accepting Wang Yu as a true disciple, he rejects Qingfeng’s proposed shortcut in favor of a solid cultivation foundation 5 6 9.

His final actions combine concern for his disciple with tactical deception. Mortally wounded, he still rescues Wang Yu, provides shelter and supplies, passes on his inheritance, and uses Huang’s fear of a Spirit Sword to prepare a lethal counterattack 14 15.

The later discovery of ordinary water in the Clear Spirit Gourd casts doubt on the reliability of part of his final account. Wang Yu suspects deception, but Chongyun’s intentions are not established by the discovery alone 297.

Abilities & Skills

Cultivation and Yin Water Art

• Identifies himself as an Immortal Cultivator, not an immortal. His exact cultivation level is never disclosed to Wang Yu 10 11.
• Teaches the Yin Water Art, White Cloud Abbey’s foundational breathing method; his notes preserve all twelve levels 10 16.
• Checks Wang Yu’s Spirit Seed by sending cool energy through his dantian 11.
• Projects white, freezing mist from his palm to force Huang out of hiding 15.
• His cultivation had been greatly diminished before his flight to Yellowstone City; no subsequent breakthrough is documented 15.
• Explains that drawing in spiritual energy consumes divine sense and advises Wang Yu to stop cultivating when his mental reserves are exhausted 11.
• Teaches that cultivation bottlenecks must be overcome by honing dharma power or other means. He describes the Yin Water Art’s first six levels as comparatively accessible with sufficient resources, while advancement through the latter six depends more heavily on talent 21.

Martial Arts

• Bare-handed combat: His strongest martial specialty, followed by staff techniques. A deep palm impression in a hard stone weight demonstrates his striking power 4 6.
• Iron Refining Hand: A technique he declines to teach Wang Yu because of the boy’s initial physical condition 6.
• Vajra Staff Technique: Teaches force application and breathing rhythm, requiring Dongyue to develop a guard that even splashed water cannot penetrate before receiving further instruction 5.
• Wind-Splitting Sword Technique: Demonstrates rapid movement and enough thrusting power to drive a wooden sword halfway through a tree trunk 6.
• Released Sword: The sword technique’s final move throws away the weapon in a desperate attack; Chongyun warns that failure leaves its user defenseless 6.
• Swordsmanship instruction: Explains that the Wind-Splitting Sword Technique’s thirteen moves derive their power primarily from speed. Performing all thirteen in one breath without panting marks beginner proficiency, while piercing a wooden post with a wooden sword demonstrates minor mastery 6.

Bloodline Examination

• Recognizes partially awakened bodily bloodlines by the gathering and distribution of blood energy 9.
• Uses silver needles to stimulate blood flow and a talisman to draw out a visible bloodmark 9.
• Identifies Wang Yu’s incomplete Iron-Eater Crocodile bloodmark by comparing it with the Bloodmark Compendium 9.
• Explains medicine and body-tempering as two possible means of completing the awakening; his examination does not itself fully awaken Wang Yu’s bloodline 9 10.
• Favors Copper Skin and Iron Bones or Stone Armor as potential awakened abilities, regarding Blood Frenzy as dangerous to the user’s reason and Metal-Dowsing Art as of limited practical value 9.

Spirit Seed Implantation

• Implants a Spirit Seed using freezing yin energy, enabling Wang Yu to begin the Yin Water Art 10.
• Uses the Meridian-Sealing Method to immobilize Wang Yu and reduce the implantation pain 10.
• Requires the recipient to remain conscious; losing consciousness would cause implantation to fail 10.
• Had previously performed implantation on Qingfeng, whose pain was severe enough that he nearly bit off his tongue 10.

Yin Spirit Handling

• Captured Yin Spirits alongside Qingfeng over the two years preceding Wang Yu’s arrival 8.
• Demonstrates how purified Yin Spirit energy assists Yin Water Art cultivation and gives Wang Yu a Yin Marrow Bottle 12.

Medicinal and Cultivation Knowledge

• Personally prepares Blood-Refining Soup to aid bloodline awakening 10.
• Preserves recipes for Blood-Refining Soup, Wood Essence Powder, and Bone-Corroding Water. Wood Essence Powder treats disordered dharma power, while Bone-Corroding Water is a poison capable of dissolving flesh and ordinary clothing 16.
• Records information about spirit veins, cultivation resources, spirit inscriptions, and spatial Storage Bags in his notes 16 17.
• Recognizes that the Four Beast Diagram contains a profound cultivation method but cannot decipher its postures. Wang Yu later uses Overclocked Synchronization to comprehend and practice it 14 18.

Shadow-Splitting Sword Light

• Releases a stored strand of sword light from a battered sheath after spitting blood onto it 15.
• The released light takes the form of a small misty-white sword before becoming a three-foot silver streak 15.
• Kills Huang despite his Golden Light Talisman and defensive Magical Artifact. Chongyun possesses a strand of a Spirit Sword’s power, rather than the complete Spirit Sword Huang initially fears 15.
• States that acquiring this strand consumed most of his wealth 15.

Power Progression

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• White Cloud Scripture — A handwritten copy containing the Cloud Pattern, visible to those with Spiritual Perception. Chongyun gives it to Wang Yu and initially limits contemplation to once daily 5.
• Silver needles — Used to stimulate blood energy during bloodline examination 9.
• Bloodmark Compendium — Reference tome used to identify the Iron-Eater Crocodile bloodline 9.
• Sky-Dancing Talisman — Enables the cloud-wreathed flight used to rescue Wang Yu and reach the hidden cavern 14.
• Clear Spirit Gourd — Chongyun claims it holds the unused half of his Clear Spirit Liquid, a Foundation Establishment aid, and warns Wang Yu that the liquid dissipates upon contact with air. When Wang Yu eventually opens it under airless conditions, it contains only ordinary water; the discrepancy remains unexplained 15 297.
• Black Leather Booklet — Contains cultivation insights, travel records, all twelve levels of the Yin Water Art, and recipes for Blood-Refining Soup, Wood Essence Powder, and Bone-Corroding Water. It contains no Parlor Trick Arts 16.
• Li Household jade pendant — Lineage token bearing the characters for “Li” and “lineage”; later found to repel dust 15 16.
• Void-Iron Box and battered sword sheath — The talisman-sealed box conceals the sheath holding Shadow-Splitting Sword Light. Wang Yu later sells the iron-essence box for fourteen spirit stones 15 16 19.
• Storage Bag ownership — His notes state that he never had sufficient spare funds to purchase a Storage Bag because he devoted his resources to cultivation 17.

Relationships

• Wang Yu / Autumn Leaf — Second direct disciple and recipient of his final inheritance. Chongyun shelters him from spirit labor, introduces him to cultivation, and rescues him after the abbey’s destruction. Wang Yu later suspects him of deception after discovering ordinary water in the Clear Spirit Gourd, but postpones investigating his grave 4 9 10 14 15 297.
• Qingfeng — Eldest direct disciple, who helped him capture Yin Spirits and advocated accepting Wang Yu. Chongyun expresses responsibility for Qingfeng’s death during the ambush 8 14.
• Dongyue — Abbey novice and martial arts student, not one of Chongyun’s two true disciples. Chongyun criticizes his laziness but believes his ordinary status and influential family will protect him after the attack. Wang Yu later discovers that Dongyue survived and returned home 5 14 15 21.
• Wang Yu’s maternal grandfather — Obtained an urgently needed item for Chongyun; that favor secured Wang Yu’s exceptional admission to the abbey 4.
• Uncle-Master Huang — Former associate and Yellowstone City lord. Their relationship ends when Huang demands the Clear Spirit Liquid and Chongyun kills him 11 15.
• Li Household — Chongyun’s original lineage. He leaves its token to Wang Yu and wishes for his disciple to seek it out 15 16.
• Unnamed powerful enemy — According to Chongyun, arranged the plots that diminished his cultivation, tracked him to Yellowstone City, and enlisted local cultivators against him 15.

Notable Quotes

“Let us forget about joining the Huang Household. I have grown accustomed to an unfettered life. All I wish to do now is cultivate my body and nurture my nature here.” 11

“Good, good, good! To witness the might of a Spirit Sword with my own eyes, even if it was only a strand of Shadow-Splitting Sword Light, means I didn't squander most of my wealth after all! Hahaha...” 15

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