Jiang Chen

Biodata

Power Progression

Jiang Chen advances through transformation-card tiers and permanently retained power, rather than a documented sequence of cultivation realms. Other characters’ D-rank assessments do not fully reflect his transformation capabilities 19 36 47.

Background / History

Jiang Chen died of cancer at twenty-six in his previous life. He awakened in an unfamiliar world in the body of his three-year-old self, alone on a snowy street. An elderly man later known as Old Zhang rescued him, took him home, and became his adoptive grandfather 1 5.

Old Zhang left two years before the opening events, shortly after Jiang Chen entered university. Jiang Chen used the seed money he left behind to establish several small campus shops, including a milk tea shop. By the time he began investigating ghosts, his net worth was around a million, with a steady income sufficient to rent an apartment for five thousand a month 1 7.

Jiang Chen initially regarded Old Zhang as an ordinary funeral-home corpse mover, not a supernatural expert. However, the old man had mentioned trouble involving his sect before disappearing. Jiang Chen later hesitated to report him missing because he feared that doing so might expose him if his faction belonged to the Dark Alliance 13 43.

Appearance

Jiang Chen is described as handsome and clean-cut; his transformations dramatically enlarge his physique 8 11.

• General Yin transformation: Grows to nearly two meters tall, with bulging, knotted muscles 3.
• Red Python Demon transformation: Develops steel-tough skin, swollen muscles, and furnace-like blood 8.
• Chaos-Dwelling Demon King transformation: Becomes taller and grotesquely muscular, with the presence of a humanoid beast 21.
• Death mark: A pale-red character meaning “death” appears on his left forearm after Steward Zhang’s Blood Talisman strikes him 37.

Personality

Normally quiet and reserved among his classmates, Jiang Chen becomes sharply retaliatory when provoked. He answers Zheng Shaoming’s public mockery with deliberately humiliating insults and later responds to Yang Chan’s condescension by teasing her rather than explaining himself 6 47.

His humor becomes a weapon after the system awakens. He stages false rescues, invents grotesque medical procedures, and terrorizes ghosts to maximize Ghost Qi. His brutality can unsettle allies as much as enemies: Chen Xue briefly fears that he might turn on her after watching him tear apart the Mirror Ghost 3 8 11.

Despite prioritizing his own strength, he repeatedly protects people close to him. He saved Lin Youwei from a trafficker as a child, avoids putting frightened dormmates in a difficult position, promises Li Jie protection, and agrees to help Gu Hongya’s family out of gratitude for her care 6 15 26 45.

His opportunism has limits when survival is at stake. Against the unfamiliar Patient No. 18, he chooses an immediate full-power kill rather than prolonging the fight for more Ghost Qi. He also keeps stronger cards in reserve so that exhausting his current transformation does not leave him helpless 22 37.

Abilities & Skills

Monster Transformation System

The system converts Ghost Qi into cards that temporarily grant portions of mythological monsters’ power 2 19.

• Ghost Qi acquisition: Earns points from ghosts’ fear, anger, confusion, pain, humiliation, and even romantic excitement; killing ghosts also yields rewards 2 3 11 36.
• Accumulating strength: Retained power makes later transformations stronger than their card identities alone suggest 24.
• Emergency recovery: Activating another card can return him to full fighting strength after his demonic power runs dry, at the cost of another card 37.
• Control limitation: Transformed strength can be difficult to restrain. He accidentally kills Steward Zhang while attempting to grab him 37.

Demonic Power

Demonic power supports Jiang Chen’s attacks, perception, and resistance to supernatural effects 3 7 22.

• Soul-damaging attacks: Infusing a blade or fist with demonic power can destroy a ghost’s soul rather than merely damage its body 9 28.
• Resentment perception: Concentrating power in his eyes reveals ghostly handprints, wounds, and lingering resentment 7 49.
• Recognizing harmful ghosts: Distinguishes black resentment associated with killing people from the pale-gray resentment of ghosts that have not harmed anyone 18.
• Mental resistance: Disperses Patient No. 18’s supernatural lure by gathering power between his brows 21.
• Curse removal: Expels the multiple illnesses inflicted by Patient No. 18’s death curse 22.
• Limits: Cannot reliably identify a disguised ghost merely by detecting resentment, activate conventional talismans, or erase the Blood Talisman death mark 10 24 37.

Azure Tiger Roar

A demonic-power-driven roar randomly granted by General Yin’s card 3.

• Disintegrates the already battered Knocking Ghost into ash 3.
• Remains a temporary ability; Jiang Chen explicitly fails to inherit it after the transformation ends 4.

Demonic Python Strength

Red Python Demon’s randomly granted ability concentrates demonic power into an enlarged arm, greatly increasing striking and gripping strength 8 11.

• Tears the Mirror Ghost’s arm and shoulder from her body after ordinary transformed strength proves only equal to hers 11.
• Crushes her head with a descending punch following a leap powerful enough to collapse the stairs beneath him 12.
• Permanent inheritance is not documented in the supplied chapters.

Chaos-Dwelling Heavenly Blade

A blade ability obtained through the Chaos-Dwelling Demon King transformation 21.

• Splits the doctor ghost’s body in two and kills Patient No. 18 with one all-out strike 21 22.
• Leaves a deep saber gouge in the hospital wall 22.
• Its blade intent destroys the resentment within his original Ghost Artifact knife, reducing it to scrap metal 24.
• Jiang Chen judges its raw power greater than Great Strength Bull Demon Fist’s 35.

Great Strength Bull Demon Fist

Jiang Chen’s first documented permanently inherited supernatural ability. Despite its name, it primarily produces a sudden burst of bodily explosive power rather than being limited to punches 35.

• Pulverizes the Gardening Ghost’s chest through its blocking shears 30.
• Can enhance knife attacks, slaps, and gripping force 35 40 50.
• Combines with water manipulation to create explosive compressed-water strikes 37.
• Offers greater versatility than Chaos-Dwelling Heavenly Blade, although its raw power is lower 35.

Minor Water Manipulation Technique

A temporary ability randomly granted by the Sea-Reliant Dragon card 36.

• Allows Jiang Chen to rise from the lake and stand on its surface 36.
• Forms streams of water that restrain Sun Meiling above the lake 36.
• Compresses water into spheres that detonate when driven by Great Strength Bull Demon Fist 37.
• Energy cost: The combined attack that cripples Sun Meiling consumes forty percent of his demonic power and leaves him panting; repeating it against the Ghost Infant nearly empties his reserves 37.

Investigation and Psychological Manipulation

Jiang Chen combines observation with staged conversations and ambushes rather than relying exclusively on strength 7 32 49.

• Infers that Zhang Meimei is connected to the murders from residents’ fear of her name and nearby cosmetic-surgery advertisements 7.
• Recognizes that the plotting ghosts avoid attacking when another person is nearby, then exploits their compulsive interest in overheard conversations 32 33.
• Uses a corpse-filled potted plant as moving camouflage to approach the Gardening Ghost 30.
• Baits Sun Zheming into attacking while Chen Xue and Yang Chan prepare an ambush 49.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Ghost Artifact knife — Taken from the Disfigured Ghost and used against hospital corpse ghosts. Later ruined by Chaos-Dwelling Heavenly Blade 8 18 24.
• Switchblade — Obtained from the plotting ghosts at the resort; barely qualifies as a graded artifact and serves as his replacement weapon 41.
• Evil-Repelling Talisman — A gift from Lin Youwei. Automatically emits protective golden light and burns the nurse ghost’s hand 6 20.
• Underworld App — Used to find missions, submit photographic evidence, receive rewards, research supernatural matters, and purchase supplies 12 13 22 24.
• Spirit-Gathering Pills — Buys a bottle for fifty points to test whether they can restore his demonic qi; their effectiveness on him is not established 41.
• Blood-Coagulating Powder — Purchases a bottle for one hundred points. Its description promises new flesh within two hours for blade wounds less than three centimeters deep 41.
• Jar of yin energy — Purchases for one hundred points, intending to heal ghosts between attacks and prolong Ghost Qi harvesting; this remains a proposed tactic 45.
• Black mask — Given by Chen Xue for his Black Market visit 43.

Relationships

• Old Zhang — Adoptive grandfather and childhood guardian. His disappearance worries Jiang Chen, while Chen Xue mistakenly interprets his secrecy as evidence of a prestigious supernatural background 1 13 43.
• Gu Hongya / Sister Hong — Landlady who warns him about the Knocking Ghost and cares for him through cooking, laundry, and cleaning. He agrees to help with her family’s haunting if their hired experts fail 1 23 45.
• Lin Youwei — Childhood acquaintance whom he rescued from a trafficker at eleven. She remembers the incident, gives him a protective talisman, and asks her father to intervene against Zheng Shaoming; Yang Chan identifies Jiang Chen as the person she likes 6 15 47.
• Chen Xue — Fellow supernatural investigator and guide to the Unusual Person community. Introduces him to missions, explains major factions, and protects him from a Black Market scam 12 13 43.
• Li Jie — Former dormmate and close friend who openly supports him against Zheng Shaoming. Jiang Chen promises to protect him after ghosts mark him for death 15 26.
• Zhao Erhu — Former dormmate, trusted combat partner, and Dragon Elephant Temple disciple. Fights beside him at the resort and explains the danger of his Blood Talisman mark 15 36 37 38.
• Zheng Shaoming — Hostile classmate and Zheng Group heir who targets him over Lin Youwei. Jiang Chen later suspects that Zheng killed Sun Meiling 6 37.
• Zhao Qian — Classmate rescued from the Gardening Ghost. Develops romantic interest in him and misreads his polite “Definitely next time!” as acceptance of a date 30 41.
• Yang Chan — Lin Youwei’s protective friend and later mission teammate. Initially belittles his prospects, but reluctantly accepts his leadership after their successful ambush 15 47 49.
• Xu Lei — Netherworld Messenger who takes custody of Sun Meiling and promises reward points to Jiang Chen and Zhao Erhu 40.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Knocking Ghost Encounter

• The ghost’s intrusion into Sister Hong’s apartment triggers his system awakening. Jiang Chen frightens her with her own reflection and blue lighting, stages a false rescue, and throws her from the balcony before finishing her with General Yin’s power 1 2 3.
• Afterward, he asks Sister Hong to attribute the exorcism to a passing expert, avoiding official attention until he understands how authorities treat unaffiliated supernatural users 4.

Tianfu Road Investigation

• Investigates the disfigurement murders, meets Chen Xue, and kills the Disfigured Ghost using Red Python Demon’s power 7 8 9.
• Uncovers the Mirror Ghost’s replacement of Yangyang’s mother and destroys her after a pursuit through the building. Chen Xue subsequently recognizes him as a notable talent among Jiangbei’s younger Unusual Persons 10 11 12.

Hospital Mission

• Selects the D+ solo incident “The Patient Who Died Long Ago,” clears the morgue, and unlocks two-star card draws 13 18 19.
• Survives the nurse and doctor ghosts, kills Patient No. 18, expels his death curse, and returns a bewitched elderly patient safely to his room 20 21 22.
• Clears the hospital without needing to expend his newly obtained Deer Power Immortal card 19 21 22 23.

Zheng Group Mountain Estate

• Protects classmates and investigates the resort’s killings, defeating the Gardening Ghost and the two plotting ghosts among other threats 26 28 30 32 33.
• Permanently inherits Great Strength Bull Demon Fist, subdues Sun Meiling, and helps Zhao Erhu eliminate the Ghost Infant 35 36 37.
• Accidentally kills Steward Zhang and receives the Blood Talisman mark. Zhao Erhu warns that the associated tenfold bounty could attract Dark Alliance attackers below B rank 37 38.
• Hands Sun Meiling over to Xu Lei and leaves with more than 3,200 Ghost Qi and 3,100 Underworld App points 40.

Black Market and Sunward Middle School

• Visits the Black Market with Chen Xue to seek equipment, avoids buying a fraudulent saber, and purchases yin energy 43 45.
• Joins Qin Ze’s D+ school mission alongside Chen Xue and Yang Chan. Helps arrange the ambush against Sun Zheming, then takes the lead in investigating the Equipment Room 45 47 49.
• In the latest documented encounter, uses Great Strength Bull Demon Fist against Zhang Hua, who retaliates with a curse before Chen Xue and Yang Chan intervene 50.

Notable Quotes

“Thank goodness, you're still alive! I forgot this was the twelfth floor.”
— To the Knocking Ghost after throwing her from the balcony 3.

“Theoretically, all it takes is a minor operation to remove the bodily tissue above your neck. Then no one will care about your appearance anymore!”
— His proposed “treatment” for the Disfigured Ghost 8.

Trivia

• His familiarity with myths and legends—particularly Journey to the West—helps him identify transformation-card monsters and estimate their relative strengths 2 4 19 24.
• The “definitely next time” meme does not exist in his new world, causing Zhao Qian and her mother to misunderstand his attempt at a gentle refusal 41.