Chen Yang

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Appointment and prior punishment

Chen Yang oversees the servants who clean pill furnaces, fetch water, prepare fuel, and assist visiting alchemists. Grand Elder Qin Xun places Lin Shisan in his care, and Chen Yang explains the sect’s rules before assigning him quarters and Pill Hall duties. His central instruction is to avoid mistakes rather than seek merit, warning that an angry immortal master might kill a servant for a failed task 1.

Before Lin Shisan’s arrival, Chen Yang had refused to pay a prostitute and was caught by Zhao Xun. Zhao Xun’s beating nearly crippled him, and he was subsequently demoted one rank to supervisor and placed on probation. Zhao Xun’s later secluded cultivation allowed him to escape further punishment for the time being 10.

Pill Hall conflict

Chen Yang distributes woodcutting assignments by lot, with Lin Shisan drawing the difficult black maple bamboo task. After Niu Shan’s death, he questions Lin Shisan about the missing tracking ring and assigns him one fifth of Niu Shan’s workload despite his injuries. Lin Shisan also notices that Chen Yang had remained hidden while an Outer Disciplinary Team member beat him 3 6.

When the pill-refining materials are not ready, Zhou Xiaotian lifts Chen Yang by the throat and throws him into a pillar, breaking his ribs. Chen Yang responds by shifting responsibility onto Lin Shisan and presenting the dangerous fire-tending assignment as a valuable opportunity to observe an alchemist 8 9 10.

The first furnace explodes. Chen Yang strikes Lin Shisan away, inadvertently taking the scalding contents in his place, then attempts to kill him with a sword. Zhao Xun stops the attack, breaks the blade, and acknowledges that the furnace itself may have been faulty 11.

After the subsequent batches succeed, Zhao Xun clears Chen Yang’s past offenses and reserves Lin Shisan as his future pill-refining “mascot,” obstructing Chen Yang’s plan to kill him. Chen Yang nevertheless withholds the servants’ reward money, tries to seize Lin Shisan’s cultivation manual, and later attempts to take a ruined Body Tempering Pill to satisfy his monthly quota 12 13.

Lin Shisan smashes the pill rather than surrender it. Chen Yang attacks with his broken sword, stopping only when Ning Hao claims that Zhao Xun has summoned Lin Shisan. He lets them leave but threatens Lin Shisan against reporting the incident 14.

Ning Hao and the false death report

Chen Yang and Feng Qiufeng later confront Ning Hao over the Body Tempering Liquid Lin Shisan gave him. Having learned that Zhao Xun never issued the supposed summons, Chen Yang accuses Ning Hao of helping Lin Shisan deceive him and pressures him to choose sides 20.

During Lin Shisan’s absence at Jade Maiden Peak, Chen Yang initiates a report declaring him dead. Upon his return, Lin Shisan learns that his courtyard has been reassigned and Ning Hao has died after being accused of stealing Body Tempering Liquid, crippled, and expelled. Feng Qiufeng privately suspects that Chen Yang arranged Ning Hao’s supposed death by demon beast, recalling similar incidents in which he had assisted Chen Yang 31 32 33 34.

Han Yansong promises to penalize Chen Yang for the unverified death report by withholding three months’ allowance and cancelling his monthly performance credit. Meanwhile, Chen Yang ignores Lin Shisan’s questions about his father’s memorial tablet and instead accuses him of instigating the theft. After an Inspector insults his father, Lin Shisan slaps Chen Yang in front of the witnesses 33.

Final confrontation and death

Enraged by the slap, Chen Yang attacks Lin Shisan with divine sense and tries to force him to kneel. He offers Feng Qiufeng the deputy steward position for killing Lin Shisan and secretly reinforces Feng’s club with his Divine Sense Blade. Under this assault, Lin Shisan’s jiaolong true spirit breaks free and his cultivation advances to the third layer of Body Tempering 34 35.

When Tiny Waist intervenes, Chen Yang uses a servant as a human shield, bribes other stewards to join him, and accuses her of disrespecting Han Yansong and being a Nine Nether Cavern spy. Lin Shisan retaliates by biting off his ears and severely mutilating his nose and mouth 36 37.

Chen Yang’s godfather, Tie Dan, arrives to support him, but Han Yansong subsequently reveals that Tiny Waist is his daughter. Han forces Chen Yang to kneel, and Tie Dan’s attempts to pull him upright only cause further agony 38 39.

Tiny Waist makes Chen Yang watch the punishment and deaths of his companions, while Han Yansong prevents him from escaping through unconsciousness. When Han aims the Green Snake Sword at Tie Dan, Chen Yang dies in Tie Dan’s place; Tie Dan survives 40.

Appearance

• Build and face: Lean, with small eyes, a large head, and a pointed mouth 1 10 17.
• Furnace injuries: The exploding pill furnace leaves his face covered in blisters 11.
• Final injuries: Tiny Waist knocks out two front teeth; Lin Shisan later tears away his ears, collapses part of his nose, and bites a chunk from his mouth 36 37.

Personality

Chen Yang is deferential toward powerful cultivators but coercive toward servants. He flatters Zhao Xun’s cultivation and alchemy while assigning any possible failure to the workers under him. When Zhao Xun intervenes against his sword attack, he immediately suppresses his anger and kowtows 10 11 12.

His apparent friendliness is conditional. He adopts a patient, brotherly manner when seeking Lin Shisan’s pill, then turns murderous when refused. Ning Hao describes him as routinely docking allowances, pocketing rewards, and assigning exhausting work 13 14 15.

Self-preservation outweighs loyalty: he sacrifices a servant as a shield and recruits allies with promises of pills and patronage. Public humiliation provokes especially vindictive behavior, including his attempt to break Lin Shisan’s resistance after being slapped 34 36.

Abilities & Skills

Divine Sense Manipulation

• Forms an ethereal sword capable of injuring Lin Shisan’s forehead 34.
• Reshapes the sword into two fists to strike both kneecaps 34.
• Imbues Feng Qiufeng’s wooden club with a Divine Sense Blade; Chen Yang judges the reinforced blow sufficient to knock down a third-layer Body Tempering cultivator 34 35.

Swordsmanship and Sword Qi

• Projects Sword Qi that causes pain in Lin Shisan’s chest before the blade reaches him 14.
• Retains a dangerous full-force thrust even after his sword is broken 14.
• Is decisively outmatched by Zhao Xun, who stops his attack and snaps his blade 11.

Servant Supervision

• Assigns furnace cleaning, water collection, woodcutting, and pill-refining support duties 1 2 3 10.
• Issues task-specific Locator Rings and warns that they can be tracked 3 10.
• Coordinates the servants’ opening of furnaces and preparation of ingredients; the provided passages do not show him personally refining pills 10.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Black-Iron Azure Edge — Black-iron longsword broken by Zhao Xun; Chen Yang continues carrying and using its remaining half 11 14.
• Locator Rings — Distributes these to servants for material-collection assignments and transfers five to Lin Shisan for fire-tending work 3 10.

Relationships

• Lin Shisan — Subordinate and principal target of his abuse. Their conflict escalates from dangerous assignments and confiscation attempts to repeated attempted killings 1 13 14 34.
• Ning Hao — Servant who saves Lin Shisan through a fabricated summons. Chen Yang later intimidates him; his involvement in Ning Hao’s death is suspected by Feng Qiufeng, not directly demonstrated 14 20 34.
• Feng Qiufeng — Longstanding follower who has helped with previous wrongdoing. Chen Yang promises him a deputy steward position to secure his attack on Lin Shisan 34.
• Zhao Xun — Powerful alchemist who previously punished him, later clears his offenses, and repeatedly obstructs his efforts to kill Lin Shisan 10 11 12.
• Zhou Xiaotian — Superior whom Chen Yang appeases after being severely beaten over missing materials 8 9.
• Tie Dan — Godfather, mentor, and chief Inspection Team steward whose backing gives Chen Yang influence 38.
• Chen San — Younger clansman and crony who helps restrain Lin Shisan and offers to carry out Chen Yang’s chosen punishment 36 37.
• Tiny Waist / Ling’er — Defends Lin Shisan, defeats Chen Yang, and demands that he witness his companions’ deaths 36 40.
• Han Yansong — Head servant steward who promises punishment for the false death report and later forcibly subdues Chen Yang 33 39.

Notable Quotes

“Don't seek merit; just avoid fault. You mustn't make even the slightest mistake.” 1

“If anything goes wrong, it will only be because these boys failed to do their jobs properly, not because your fortune was lacking.” 10

“Unless you ascend to heaven in a single step and leap over the Dragon Gate, you'll still be coming back to work in the Servant Hall. I'll still be your boss.” 14