Lin Bei

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Transmigration and the false immortal master

Lin Bei arrived in a world that revered martial artists after he had already passed the prime age for beginning martial training. With neither money nor land and facing starvation, he posed as a wandering expert. His only teaching material was the ordinary Tai Chi practiced by elderly people in parks, which he advertised as immortal cultivation 1.

The villagers believed him, built and furnished a house overnight, and set aside land for his teaching grounds. His comfortable arrangement became precarious when Zhang Teng, a former martial artist with a destroyed dantian, sought apprenticeship after hearing Niu Er’s exaggerated claims. Unable to refuse without undermining his reputation, Lin Bei accepted him as an inner disciple 1.

From bluffing to genuine cultivation

Zhang Teng’s rapid progress activated Lin Bei’s cheat: the disciple’s Beginner-level Tai Chi granted the master perfected mastery. Further breakthroughs let Lin Bei perceive spiritual energy and formulate an initially speculative breathing method 2 5 6.

When Zhang Teng turned that framework into the Breath-Absorbing Art, Lin Bei received a perfected version that genuinely tempered his body. He subsequently developed the three-part framework of Qi Refining and increasingly replaced empty mystification with informed instruction 7 8 9 49.

Conflict with the Six Harmonies Martial Hall

Niu Er’s boasting provoked Zhao Bao, who beat him and threatened Lin Bei’s sanctuary. Lin Bei authorized Zhang Teng to seek justice but wanted the dispute resolved without further trouble. Zhang Teng instead interpreted “winning people over with virtue” as beating Zhao Bao into submission, prompting Lin Bei to order him into seclusion 3 5.

When Cheng Lu and the Six Harmonies Martial Hall challenged the grounds, Lin Bei used repeated mental simulations to prepare. He intervened when the opposing martial artists threatened to attack together, then defeated Cheng Lu in one exchange by borrowing his force and targeting an old injury 11 12.

Protecting Zhang Teng and developing the grounds

After learning that the Nanyang Commandery Prince was pursuing Zhang Teng, Lin Bei refused to let his disciple leave. Although he privately considered escaping with him, he continued cultivating, encouraged Zhang Teng to confront his difficulties, and eventually decided that growing strength made flight unnecessary 16 17 18 33.

Lin Bei allowed Zhang Teng to settle his confrontation with Zhang Tao, rejected Zhang Xiaoxiao’s requests to placate the hostile clans, and defended the Martial Arts Grounds as Zhang Teng’s new home. He later stopped Zhang Teng from killing Zhang Yong and redirected him toward overcoming the Zhang Household and Nanyang Zhou Clan through cultivation 30 34 39 41.

Meanwhile, he recognized Tieniu’s physical gifts and devised an aperture-opening framework suited to them. Tieniu’s eventual breakthrough improved Lin Bei’s own cultivation art. The grounds also joined the martial hall alliance and received Central Hall certification as a second-rate force, opening the prospect of recruiting settlers to Nameless Village 22 27 34 43 46.

Appearance

• Youthful appearance: Zhang Yong is surprised by how young he looks 39.
• Grandmaster-like bearing: After receiving perfected Tai Chi, his light steps and sweeping sleeves give him the air of a master 2.
• Otherworldly presence: His fifth refinement leaves him with a visibly transcendent bearing 35.
• No detectable martial true qi: Zhang Yong cannot sense true qi in him and mistakenly judges him by conventional martial cultivation standards 39.

Personality

Lin Bei’s early composure is largely an act. Privately, he panics over exposure, resents troublemakers, and repeatedly considers fleeing. Publicly, he turns those anxieties into serene pronouncements about the Dao, often allowing his disciples to mistake improvised excuses for profound guidance 1 3 7 18.

He is pragmatic about his dependence on Zhang Teng: his cheat needs a perceptive disciple to establish the foundations of new methods. Nevertheless, he also defends Zhang Teng’s place at the grounds, reassures him after his family’s betrayal, and intervenes when revenge threatens to dominate his conduct 17 24 39 41.

As a teacher, Lin Bei deliberately balances criticism with encouragement. He calls Zhang Teng’s extraordinary aptitude “average” to discourage complacency, but praises genuine progress when excessive criticism might weaken his confidence. He is also willing to revise his judgment of Tieniu once the latter demonstrates talents outside conventional Tai Chi 6 27 29 35 49.

Abilities & Skills

Disciple-Driven Extrapolation

• Receives perfected understanding when a disciple comprehends a method he taught at Beginner level 2 7 8.
• Gains further limit breaks when disciples establish the necessary insights through Perfection and beyond 17 18.
• Uses disciples’ comprehension to complete broad frameworks and integrate existing methods 18 27 28 43.
• Limit: Cannot create valid methods from nothing. His attempt to independently combine Tai Chi and breath absorption fails because his comprehension is insufficient 9 27.
• Limit: Ordinary martial advancement does not automatically produce feedback; Zhang Teng’s attainment of indestructible vajra grants Lin Bei no corresponding reward 9.

Mirror-World Combat Deduction

• Simulates battles in a mental world that accurately reproduces the participants’ strength and the Martial Arts Grounds 11.
• Learns opponents’ fighting styles and improves combat skill even through simulated defeats 11.
• Conducts lengthy battles in what amounts to an instant outside the simulation 11.
• Uses tens of thousands of simulations to prepare against Cheng Lu’s group and thousands more before sparring with Zhang Teng 11 25.
• Limit: Successful preparation does not make him unbeatable; he ends the real spar after recognizing that Zhang Teng’s rapid improvement could cause him to lose 26.

Tai Chi

• Balances hardness and softness, movement and stillness, and yin and yang 2 5 27.
• Redirects an opponent’s strength against them, allowing victory despite inferior physical power 11.
• Uses Supreme Ultimate Pushing Palm and Arm-Severing Elbow Brace against Cheng Lu, rupturing his qi-gathering meridians 11 12.
• Adjusts his stance with small movements to close openings during his spar with Zhang Teng 25.
• Its second limit break enhances the body-tempering effect of the Breath-Absorbing Art 27.

Tai Chi Breath-Absorbing Art

• Draws heaven-and-earth spiritual power into the body to temper flesh and blood and develop the Dao Body 8 9 29.
• Integrates Tai Chi principles into breath absorption, producing a tenfold increase in cultivation speed upon formation 28.
• Incorporates acupoint breathing; after the fourth limit break, energy absorption and release become automatic 35 43.
• Sweeps away Zhang Yong’s manifested martial intent 39.
• Limit: Stronger refinements require more energy and time; after the fourth refinement, Lin Bei estimates at least three days for the next full tempering cycle despite his improved method 29.

Spirit Refining and Dao-Method Development

• The seventh refinement sharpens perception, thought, and reflexes by tempering the spirit through the head’s aperture points 38.
• Perceives interwoven laws beyond spiritual power and uses those observations to refine his proposed Dao-Method Wielding framework 38.
• Limit: Dao-Method Wielding remains under development; he plans to teach its framework once Zhang Teng reaches sufficient cultivation 38 45.
• Advises Zhang Teng to balance meditation with punch practice rather than rely exclusively on the apparently faster training method 49.

Individualized Instruction

• Directs Tieniu away from forcing yin-yang comprehension and toward maximizing his natural strength and physique 27 29.
• Teaches aperture opening through extreme physical training until the body can sense and absorb spiritual power 34.
• Warns that Tieniu’s training intensity depends on his unusual foundation and is unsuitable for ordinary apprentices 35.
• Recognizes the feasibility of Tieniu’s proposed Extreme Yang Fist Technique and Nine Yang Dao Art; the latter aims to store power in nine acupoint circuits and potentially release nine times normal combat strength 44.

Equipment / Items

• Spirit herb: Accepted from Zhang Teng as his apprenticeship gift 1.
• Central Hall certificate: Recognizes the Martial Arts Grounds as an affiliated second-rate force; its wording calls the institution the “Martial Arts Grounds Martial Arts Hall” 46.

Relationships

• Zhang Teng — Inner disciple and the principal source of his early cultivation breakthroughs. Lin Bei becomes both his protector and teacher, while Zhang Teng regards his improvised reassurances as evidence of extraordinary power 1 8 17 36.
• Tieniu — Disciple whose strength-focused talent leads Lin Bei to devise aperture-opening instruction. His breakthrough supplies the insight needed for Lin Bei’s fourth limit break 27 29 34 43.
• Xiao Liuzi — Apprentice who serves tea, reports developments, and supports the grounds’ affairs. Lin Bei cautions him against copying Tieniu’s extreme training 35 38 49.
• Niu Er — Villager whose boasting attracts Zhang Teng and provokes the Six Harmonies Martial Hall. Lin Bei resents the resulting trouble but authorizes action over his injuries 1 3.
• Mu Qingyue — Central Hall representative who offers protection, delivers official recognition, and stays as a notary. Lin Bei refuses relocation and considers her commitment to the martial path unsuitable for immortal cultivation 35 36 46 49.
• Zhang Xiaoxiao — Zhang Teng’s younger sister. Lin Bei distrusts her appeals on behalf of the Zhang Household and refuses to interfere with Zhang Teng’s decisions at her request 23 34.
• Cheng Lu — Hostile Six Harmonies Martial Hall master whom Lin Bei defeats with one counterattack 11 12.
• Zhang Yong — Zhang Teng’s grandfather. Lin Bei rejects his claim that taking Zhang Teng away is merely a family matter, dispels his martial intent, and later prevents Zhang Teng from killing him 39 41.

Notable Quotes

“If the sky falls, your master will hold it up for you.” 17

“Do not place your hopes in others. Your own strength is the foundation upon which you stand and build your life.” 22

“He is my disciple. The Martial Arts Grounds is his home now.” 39