Xie Changsheng

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Childhood and sect upbringing

Xie Changsheng was born with Dao Eyes that revealed patterns in cultivation arts and treasures that others could not perceive. His father brought him to the Mysterious One Dao Gate at three years old, where the sect master immediately accepted him as a direct disciple. His rapid progress earned him the title of Dao Son and made him the presumed future sect leader 537.

While traveling through the Eastern Region, he became acquainted with Zhou Yan, Song Chi, and Luo Qingyin through secret-realm expeditions and sect gatherings. Their rivalry, underhanded tricks, and repeated clashes gradually developed into friendship 537.

At twelve or thirteen, he encountered a gray donkey on a barren mountain and initially considered eating it. The donkey's contemptuous reaction provoked a fight, but its cultivation was already approaching the third tier. Neither gained the upper hand, and the abandoned meal instead became his temperamental mount, Gray Gray 537.

Connection to Shi Yin

Xie Changsheng is the reincarnation of Shi Yin, an ancient Demon Sovereign who commanded time. Time Amber contains fragments of Shi Yin's shattered Dao Foundation, explaining both its compatibility with Xie Changsheng and its importance to his cultivation 538 539 541.

Shi Yin sought to merge their memories and awaken their reincarnated comrades. Xie Changsheng rejected that plan, insisting that he and his friends were their present selves rather than continuations of ancient identities 538.

Appearance

Xie Changsheng is a black-haired young man whose eyes normally appear black but shine silver when he activates the Law of Time. His usual bearing is relaxed and unrestrained, often accompanied by a faint, languid smile 203 281 470.

• Dao Eyes: After becoming a True Immortal, his eyes acquire a silver radiance resembling a slowly flowing river of years 205.
• Blood-red eyes: During the mine-loop crisis, his eyes become blood-red as his reason deteriorates 203 204.
• Cold emanations: Si Chen's later enhancement causes wisps of cold to emerge around his silver eyes 435.
• Recurring scorched hairstyle: Tribulation lightning repeatedly leaves him with charred, explosive curls, which his friends openly mock 205 540 576.

Personality

Xie Changsheng is easygoing, irreverent, and fond of provoking his friends. He encourages trouble at Zhou Yan's expense, needles Song Chi until he is chased with a broom, and proposes the deliberately humiliating “Crotch-Guard Grand Formation” as a name for Song Chi's sword formation 214 296 485. His affection is equally direct: after Mistveil Valley, he fusses over Gray Gray and checks whether the donkey has been injured 115.

His composure initially survives imprisonment in the Immortal Realm, where he treats mining as another opportunity to cultivate. Endless death loops eventually erode that stability: he becomes numb to slaughter, begins treating death as a cultivation method, and questions whether he is still himself 180 200 201.

Freedom and personal identity remain central to him. Although he accepts power inherited from Shi Yin, he refuses to surrender his present self for a higher realm. He likewise defends his friends' right to exist independently of their past lives 538 540 576.

He can also set aside personal slights when larger matters are at stake. In the Ancient Netherworld, he persuades Ao Lie to release Sang Luo despite the lion demon's prejudice against him, arguing that internal hostility is pointless while a common enemy remains 465.

Abilities & Skills

Dao Eyes

His innate Dao Eyes perceive illusions, anomalies, and the aspects of different cultivation paths 97.

• Dao perception: Can distinguish paths such as Sword Dao and the Dao of Alchemy, and later accurately observes Si Chen's actual cultivation changes 97 155.
• Mark detection: Sees the marks Si Chen places on his companions, giving him confidence that they will eventually reunite 180.
• Dao Eyes: Soul Shatter: A Divine Soul-targeting attack developed through countless mine loops; it fails against Si Chen 204.
• Limitation: Looking at Si Chen with his Dao Eyes initially produces blinding light, severe pain, and temporary loss of vision 97.

Law of Time

Initially lodged in his Dao Eyes as an uncontrolled protective power, the Law of Time becomes his own after his True Immortal tribulation 204 205.

• Automatic resets: The original power returns him to the moment after Fatty Wang's death whenever he dies. Memories and cultivation gains persist, while his spiritual power recovers completely 199 200.
• Combat slowing: Slows the surroundings while allowing him to move freely, giving him a major advantage in close combat 235 361.
• Time freezing: Immobilizes large Filth Demons to protect allied soldiers; after reaching Immortal King, he can freeze his surroundings while exempting his companions 465 543.
• Time acceleration: Accelerates allies and gives Zhou Yan additional working time for urgent formation construction 615 628.
• Temporal formations: At Immortal King, can establish a formation providing one year inside for each day outside. He subsequently rewrites the River Chart World's time flow with Zhou Yan's assistance 543 544.
• Temporal perception: Notices two auras belonging to Si Chen fighting during a momentary collapse of heaven and earth 464.
• Limits: The uncontrolled loops severely damage his mental state. Si Chen also demonstrates that a superior understanding of time can stop Xie Changsheng's own time despite his resistance 200 482.

Travel Through the River of Time

Contact between his Law of Time and Time Amber accidentally carries him upstream to the Mining Star's past 468.

• Self-caused opportunity: A fragment from the shattered amber remains near his past self, becoming the very Law of Time that originally saved him in the mine 468 485.
• Karmic backlash: Approaching his past self causes his laws to collapse and nearly destroys him; the temporal vortex ejects him before direct contact 468 469.
• Working theories: He concludes that travel requires an anchor near his past or future self and suspects that an Immortal King's body is needed to withstand contact. Travel into the future remains a conjecture at that point 469.
• Later use: Returns to the River of Time to consult Shi Yin about reincarnation and brings Zhou Yan with him 580 581 582 584.

Sword Dao and Close Combat

Xie Changsheng can kill opponents above his cultivation realm and combines swordsmanship with strong movement skills and combat instincts 96 199.

• Dao Slash: A fast sword technique whose early use produces Sword Qi comparable to a Spirit Transformation cultivator's full-power strike 113.
• Sword-body unity: Combines with his black longsword into a streak of sword-light during his duel with Si Chen 204.
• Improvised weapons: Uses pickaxes, captured artifacts, broken swords, fists, and blunt weapons throughout the mine loops 199 201.
• Immortal Essence pickaxe: Manifests a pickaxe-shaped attack that breaks a True Immortal bandit's saber 220.
• Temporal swordplay: Slows Other Race warriors before decapitating them 394.

Myriad Laws Spell

A spell system supporting both restraint and multi-element attacks 201 319.

• Bind: Produces pale golden threads that immobilize an enemy's limbs 201.
• Heavenly Fall of Myriad Phenomena: Manifests an eight-armed deity controlling metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, lightning, and ice 319.
• Immortal Lord Dharma Form: At Immortal Lord, the eight-armed manifestation rises ten thousand zhang high, with each arm forming a different seal 603.
• Time-accelerated elemental storm: Combines eight laws into an eight-colored storm that reduces numerous high-ranking Filth Demons to ash 604.

Additional Law Enhancement

Si Chen places an unnamed law learned from Shuijing into Xie Changsheng's Dao Eyes 435.

• The enhancement produces cold around his eyes 435.
• Si Chen suggests that combining it with the Law of Time may yield unexpected results; its precise independent effects are not specified 435.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Black longsword: An Immortal Artifact seized from a True Immortal and used against Si Chen 204.
• Mining pickaxe: His work tool and initial weapon against Fatty Wang and the overseers; the original shatters during his escape attempts 199.
• Time Amber: Fragments of Shi Yin's Dao Foundation used to study and absorb temporal laws. One piece enables his accidental journey into the past; a later collection fuels his breakthrough to Immortal King 468 527 539.
• Storage Ring: Holds supplies, Time Amber, and a Communication Talisman 470 527.
• Communication Talisman: Receives Zhou Yan's voice while they are operating across different planes 470.
• “Eighty Thousand” face covering: Worn to conceal his identity during Song Chi's rampage, inadvertently inspiring his public title 234 235.

Relationships

• Si Chen — Close friend and benefactor. Rescues him from the death loop, helps him become a True Immortal, teaches him a deeper approach to time, and arranges assistance collecting Time Amber 205 482 485.
• Gray Gray — Longtime mount and cherished companion. Their relationship begins with a fight on a barren mountain; thoughts of the donkey help sustain Xie Changsheng during imprisonment 115 180 537.
• Zhou Yan — Old friend and fellow prankster. Assists with the River Chart World's time formation and later accompanies him into the River of Time 537 544 581 584.
• Song Chi — Competitive friend and frequent target of teasing. Repeatedly seeks a contest with him, but also reassures him—through insults—that his past incarnation does not change their friendship 115 235 296 542.
• Luo Qingyin / Luo Hongyi — Fellow Eastern Region prodigy and longtime companion. Witnesses his breakdown on the Mining Star; he later helps defend her while she operates the Eye of Reincarnation 203 537 603 608.
• Shi Yin — His past incarnation. Their shared soul enables exceptional inheritance compatibility, but Xie Changsheng resists memory fusion and the loss of his independent identity 538 539 576.
• Ao Lie — Demon army commander and battlefield comrade. Protects him from local prejudice, supports his search for Time Amber, and guards him during his breakthrough 465 466 470.
• Si Kai, Si Che, and Si Shuo — Si Chen's elders, whom he comes to address as Uncle, Second Uncle, and Third Uncle after sharing life-and-death experiences with their family 526.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Mistveil Valley and Great Yin

Xie Changsheng arrives at Mistveil Valley as the Azure Profound Ranking's first-ranked cultivator. His attempt to examine Si Chen with his Dao Eyes immediately reveals that the newcomer is beyond his understanding. Inside the valley, he learns of Hui Ming's betrayal and later attacks Hui Ming's taotie form, only to have his Sword Qi swallowed 96 97 109 113.

After the group's escape, Song Chi arrives to challenge him. Xie Changsheng enthusiastically offers to hand over first place without a fight, but Si Chen knocks Song Chi unconscious before a duel begins 115.

In Great Yin's secret realm, Xie Changsheng proposes a Storage Ring collection contest, establishes its hundred-mile boundary and two-day deadline, and pairs with Gray Gray. He later joins the companions rallying to defend Si Chen during Ye Hong's interrupted coronation 136 149.

Ascension and the Mining Star

Before leaving the Lower Realm, Xie Changsheng joins his friends in promising that they will ascend together. Separation after ascension instead leaves him stranded in a mining district, where guards reject his claim to be an ascender because he is only at Spirit Transformation 168 180.

Unpaid labor leads to his confrontation with Fatty Wang and a fatal escape attempt. The Law of Time repeatedly revives him, allowing him to master the tunnels and grow stronger but gradually destroying his sense of consequence. By the time Si Chen finds him, he believes the dead will return tomorrow and challenges his friend amid the devastated city 199 200 201 203.

Si Chen defeats him, identifies the temporal power in his eyes as both protector and prison, and helps him refine it through tribulation. With the loop broken, Xie Changsheng takes Si Chen's offered hand and rejoins his companions 204 205.

Reunion and Undying Mountain

During the rescue of a corrupted Song Chi, Xie Changsheng unsuccessfully hides behind a mask and the name “Xie Duansheng.” At Si Chen's request, he fights Song Chi for hours to expend the Demon Venerable's power before Little Lei purges the corruption 234 235.

He subsequently appears among the reunited companions at Undying Mountain and joins their journey back to the Lower Realm. At the Mysterious One Dao Gate, he bids farewell to his sect before leaving with the group again 263 296 313.

His Law of Time draws the Demon Race's attention because of its association with the Shi dragons. Although he later battles an Immortal Emperor, the group's ability to contest those opponents depends on Si Chen's support, not an equivalent cultivation realm of their own 345 361 376 385.

The Thousand-Year Deadline

Shi Yin's lingering image demands that Xie Changsheng reach Immortal King within a thousand years. During the campaign in the Ancient Netherworld, Xie Changsheng seeks Time Amber as a possible way to overcome that deadline 444 465.

The local Ancestral Court's amber is nearly depleted, but attempting to absorb it throws him into the past. There he discovers that his original mine-loop opportunity came from his own future actions. The journey injures him yet deepens his understanding enough to reach late Mystic Immortal 467 468 469.

After he explains the experience, Si Chen mobilizes allies to help collect more amber. Xie Changsheng and his friends resume campaigning rather than remain sheltered while Si Chen bears the burden of supporting the heavens 485 490.

Reclaiming Power Without Surrendering Himself

Absorbing the gathered Time Amber brings Xie Changsheng face-to-face with Shi Yin in the River of Time. He rejects complete memory fusion, and Shi Yin briefly takes control of his body to see their reincarnated companions before withdrawing 527 537 538.

The compatible Dao Foundation fragments nevertheless propel him to Immortal King. He subsequently establishes the River Chart World's altered time flow, creating cultivation time for Undying Mountain's members 539 543 544.

At his Immortal Lord tribulation, he again refuses Shi Yin's offer to reclaim ancient power. He survives the final strike and returns to the courtyard to celebrate, only for his friends to laugh at his scorched appearance 576.

Reincarnation and the Battle Against Luo Hou

To help establish reincarnation, Xie Changsheng agrees to revisit the past he had resisted and consult Shi Yin. He contributes the Law of Time alongside the laws wielded by Zhou Yan, Luo Hongyi, and Murong Li 580 582 585.

He leads the defense while Luo Hongyi prepares the Eye of Reincarnation, using his Immortal Lord Dharma Form to clear waves of Filth Demons. He later lends her power against the Eye's backlash, while the fading phantoms of Shi Yin and Yu Jiutian provide further assistance 603 604 608.

During the attempt to merge the Underworld with the River Chart World, he accelerates formation work and participates in the fate-linked group sustaining the fusion. Murong Li distributes power from seven Immortal Emperor Origin Sources among them when their own strength runs out 615 621.

Against Luo Hou, he accelerates his allies and severs one of the enemy's arms, only to see it regenerate without weakening Luo Hou. He is later among those witnessing Li Tiezhu's decisive assault and the homesickness revealed through his poem 628 632.

Notable Quotes

“I am me, and you are you!”
“I, Xie Changsheng, am not anyone's continuation!!” 538

“I admit that your power is great, and your grand design is magnificent.”
“But I'm sorry.”
“I'll walk my own path.” 576