Chen Jian

Biodata

Power Progression

Chen Jian’s documented cultivation changes are revelations of concealed strength, not witnessed breakthroughs.

Background

Chen Jian’s unnamed master failed a breakthrough and became a marginal figure within the Ghost-Controlling Sect. With his master secluded for years and unable to provide meaningful support, Chen Jian had to compete for resources himself. He attributes his extreme caution to the danger of becoming someone else’s stepping stone 81.

Within the sect, he developed an unfavorable reputation for avoiding dangerous missions. His journey into the Sola Desert was originally intended to gather materials for ghost refinement, not to participate in the region’s demon spirit crisis 24.

Appearance

• Build: Slender, with a thin back, but physically immovable when Zhao Changfeng tries to push him aside 10 26.
• Face: Exceptionally handsome, usually cold and expressionless, with paper-thin lips 24 26 81.
• Clothing: Initially wears white robes; later removes his sect’s distinctive clothing to pass as a rogue cultivator 10 24.
• Ghost transformation: His lips turn ghastly white, and his appearance becomes that of a sinister yin ghost 45.

Personality

Chen Jian treats secrecy as a survival strategy. He avoids conspicuous purchases, disguises his affiliation, and deliberately understates his cultivation so that potential enemies will misjudge him. He is willing to let Cui Pinyuan appear to be the stronger member of their partnership, intervening only when necessary 24 46 71.

His caution does not prevent decisive or ruthless action. He investigates Song Zejun and Zhou Jin when he judges the danger of ignoring them greater than the risk of confrontation. Later, he proposes killing the Primal Demon Temple disciples and eliminating witnesses to prevent retaliation 25 37. His priorities are stark: he would rather allow Tamu Town to fall than expose his true cultivation 46.

He takes promises seriously, regarding a broken word as a future stain on his standing in the Demon Dao. This makes his half-year oath not to kill Zhao Changfeng a meaningful restraint, despite his considerable resentment toward him 34 49 71.

His attitude toward Zhao gradually softens. After surviving their encounter with a powerful evil spirit, he offers an unusually candid explanation of his decisions, accepts Zhao’s companionship, and begins sharing his cultivation knowledge 81.

Abilities & Skills

Yin Ghost Refinement and Control

Chen Jian refines souls into yin ghosts and directs them through his Primordial Spirit 46 76.

• Creates four new yin ghosts from the corpses of Feng Mu and her companions 76.
• Uses the Earth Yin Cold Spring to strengthen his ghosts; he estimates that refining all of them once requires at least half a month 34.
• Harvests the evil souls of fourth-rank fiends to refine high-rank ghosts 71 78.
• Combines numerous ghosts into several powerful entities capable of fighting Three Calamities Realm cultivators 83.
• Kills Wu Qingfeng through sustained ghost attacks and converts him into another yin ghost 83.

Ghost Constructs and Battlefield Control

Through the Yin Ghost Spirit-Seizing Banner, Chen Jian manifests powerful ghostly combat forms 26 45.

• Deploys a three-headed, six-armed fiend against Song Zejun and Zhou Jin 26.
• Forms a One-Eyed Evil Ghost supported by overlapping burial mounds 45 46.
• Spreads an icy, haunted domain across several miles when revealing his strength 45.
• Uses the One-Eyed Evil Ghost to catch Wu Qingfeng’s fourth-rank Corpse-Transforming Pillar and tear apart a fourth-rank evil spirit 74 77.
• Defeats three fourth-rank Many-Armed Clan evil spirits single-handedly 82.

Scouting and Remote Communication

Chen Jian uses his ghosts as remote eyes and messengers 40 44 46.

• Scouts Heavenly Shield City before the group enters it 44.
• Sends a fox-shaped yin ghost near Demon Mountain to warn Teng Kun about the Soul-Pacifying Bead 46.
• Watches battles and tracks nearby travelers through dispersed ghosts 74 77.
• Cannot reliably locate deliberately concealed evil entities through divine sense or ghost scouting; Zhao Changfeng’s detection ability fills this gap 74 76 77.

Ghostlike Transformation and Concealment

Chen Jian can draw his flesh-and-blood aura inward, causing his body to fade until he resembles an incorporeal yin ghost 76.

• Travels close to the ground in ghost form rather than accompanying the others aboard their boat 76.
• Conceals his Three Calamities Realm cultivation behind the appearance of a Primordial Spirit Realm cultivator 46 74.
• Feigns a serious injury during Wu Qingfeng’s attack to maintain that deception 74.

Cultivation Knowledge and Technical Skills

Chen Jian’s experience extends beyond his own ghost techniques 71 81 85.

• Resolves Cui Pinyuan’s Blazing Sun Demon Art problem, allowing him to overcome a longstanding cultivation bottleneck 71.
• Identifies killing obsession as the catalyst needed to fuse the God-Slaying Spear’s three divine-sense spearheads 81.
• Explains how harmful desires produced by demonic cultivation can become components of other secret arts 81.
• Repairs Wu Qingfeng’s damaged Heaven-Crossing Boat, restoring approximately seventy to eighty percent of its original speed 76.
• Recognizes how the Insect and Grass Demonic Cultivation Art can nourish and accelerate the Yanfutuantian Demonic Cultivation Art 85.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Yin Ghost Spirit-Seizing Banner — His principal combat artifact, used to release yin ghosts and form powerful merged entities 26 45 83.
• Corpse-Eating Vulture — A scouting asset through which he observes Zhao Changfeng and Ruan Meizhen before their later encounters 10 24.
• Transmission-blocking treasure — Prevents the use of message-transmitting artifacts and voice transmissions nearby 40 74.
• Echo Stone — Allows him to hear Tong Yi’s plan to leave no witnesses in Tamu Town 37.
• Boundary Ring — Stores the repaired Heaven-Crossing Boat 76.
• Heaven-Crossing Boat — Acquired from Wu Qingfeng’s damaged vessel and repaired by Chen Jian; he had previously avoided owning one because it would draw attention to his cultivation 71 76.

Relationships

• Zhao Changfeng — Initially his robbery victim, then an unwilling collaborator and increasingly trusted hunting partner. Zhao repeatedly drags him into danger, but his fiend-detection ability and God-Slaying Spear become indispensable to Chen Jian’s plans 10 24 74 81 82.
• Cui Pinyuan — Traveling companion and beneficiary of his cultivation treatment. Chen Jian exchanges help with Cui’s demonic backlash for assistance hunting evil spirits, while using Cui’s openly displayed cultivation to obscure his own strength 38 44 71.
• Ruan Meizhen — Reluctant ally who exposes his sect identity and forces him to join Tamu Town’s defense. She is furious when she learns how much strength he has concealed 24 46.
• Unnamed master — A Ghost-Controlling Sect cultivator whose failed breakthrough left Chen Jian without effective patronage. Chen Jian keeps his own advancement secret even from him 46 81.
• Teng Kun — Recipient of his warning about the Soul-Pacifying Bead. Teng later emphasizes Chen Jian’s contribution to the Ghost-Controlling Sect, securing him substantial merit 46 71.
• Song Zejun and Zhou Jin — Enemies whom he attacks in Tamu Town and later forces to retreat in Heavenly Shield City 26 45 46.
• Wu Qingfeng — Initially an opponent Chen Jian refuses to kill merely for Zhao’s benefit; later slain and refined into a yin ghost when he attacks again 75 76 83.
• Chen Chong — Fellow clansman cultivating in the Ghost-Controlling Sect. Chen Jian claims they are close, but Cui Pinyuan suspects he is setting Chen Chong up to suffer retaliation 75.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Sola Desert Encounter

Chen Jian encounters Zhao Changfeng immediately after his failed Yuanqi breakthrough and takes his spirit stones and implements. He spares Zhao because the failed breakthrough leaves him unsuitable as ghost-refining material, making a killing an unnecessary expenditure of time and spiritual power 10 11.

Tamu Town Crisis

Chen Jian hides among Tamu Town’s rogue cultivators until Zhao reveals his presence to Ruan Meizhen. Once exposed as a great-sect disciple, he can no longer easily evade the obligation to resist the demon spirits. Despite the town leaders’ doubts, he decides to test Zhao’s accusations against Song Zejun and Zhou Jin by attacking their shelter 24 25 26.

Before the Primal Demon Temple’s arrival, he arranges for Zhao to claim Cui Pinyuan’s stored beasts and Earth Yin Cold Spring, using Zhao’s sect affiliation and connection to Teng Kun to discourage confiscation. In exchange for access to the spring, Chen Jian swears not to kill Zhao for half a year, accepting inner-demon backlash and death as the penalty for breaking the oath 34.

After learning that Tong Yi intends to sacrifice the town and leave no witnesses, Chen Jian organizes a counterplot. He and Cui are to attack the Temple disciples, while Zhao handles the rogue cultivators and City Guard Army. The intended survivors are Chen Jian, Cui, Zhao, and Ruan Meizhen; Tong Yi nevertheless survives the crisis 37 41 44.

Heavenly Shield City

After discovering that Heavenly Shield City has been overrun, Chen Jian leads the group inside to warn Teng Kun about the suspected Soul-Pacifying Bead trap. Confronted by Song Zejun and Zhou Jin, he reveals his Three Calamities Realm cultivation and drives them back 44 45 46.

His fox-shaped yin ghost delivers the warning to Teng Kun. Although he initially believes his efforts have gone poorly rewarded, he later receives substantial sect merit because Teng specifically reports his contribution 46 49 71.

Dim Swamp Forest Hunt

Chen Jian enters the forest to gather evil souls and strengthen his ghosts. Zhao draws him into another confrontation with Wu Qingfeng, then recruits him with the prospect of gathering eight fourth-rank fiend crystals for a fourth-rank Tribulation-Crossing Pill 71 74 76 78.

After surviving an encounter with a powerful armored evil spirit, Chen Jian returns injured and chooses only Zhao to accompany him deeper into the forest. He helps Zhao master the God-Slaying Spear, transforming their partnership from scouting support into an effective combat team 78 80 81 82.

Chen Jian subsequently kills Wu Qingfeng and reaches the final battlefield. Still one fourth-rank fiend crystal short of his goal, he enters the War Beast with Zhao. Inside its chest cavity, they encounter a red lynx that reveals itself as a Demon Race creature and begins slaughtering the human cultivators 83 85.

Notable Quotes

“What future could people like you and me possibly have?” 10

“Only by concealing my cultivation can I easily deal with enemies who come to kill me and misjudge my strength.” 46

“With no patron left to rely on, I could only fight for everything myself. If I weren't a little more careful, I could become someone else's stepping stone at any moment.” 81