Lin Yuan

Biodata

Power Progression

Appearance

Lin Yuan is exceptionally handsome, with a tall, slender build, broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and long, straight legs. Gu Yi finds his appearance especially attractive 2 8 11.

• Facial features: Delicate features, long eyelashes, and beautiful eyes 3 11.
• Blindness: Initially has vacant eyes after Chu Ping’s attack; his sight has recovered by his return to the sect, though he does not know what healed it 3 13.
• Demonic corruption: Black energy appears between his brows and around his Golden Core before his inner demon is removed 11 13 37.
• Original-novel appearance: Remains blind and wears a white silk ribbon over his eyes for protection 2 11.

Personality

Lin Yuan is proud, sharp-tongued, and resistant to pity. During his confinement, he rejects Gu Yi’s sympathy and insists that he can escape through his own cultivation. His concern often contradicts his words: he tells Gu Yi to stay away, then shelters him from the cold and exhausts himself keeping him alive 2 3 4 7.

His attachment to Gu Yi becomes possessive and obsessive. He initially claims that dual cultivation is merely a means of increasing his strength, but privately plans to bring Gu Yi home and keep him beside him permanently. He later refuses to destroy an inner demon because it allows him to encounter an image of Gu Yi, even at the cost of his cultivation 9 10 21.

His protectiveness coexists with coercion and brutality. He threatens to force Gu Yi to continue dual cultivation after Gu Yi refuses, mutilates Chu Ping in revenge, and breaks an admirer’s arm for touching his robe. Nevertheless, he remains affectionate toward his sister and risks grievous injury to rescue Gu Yi in the guise of Ye Yiyi 9 15 21 41 45.

History

Betrayal and confinement

Lin Yuan grew up alongside his older sister, Lin Ning, and senior brother, Xiao Cheng. His grandfather, Lin Hai, led the Qingling Sword Sect. After Lin Yuan injured Chu Jing during a sect tournament, Chu Jing’s father—the third elder, Chu Ping—ambushed him, blinded him, and pushed him from Heaven-Reaching Peak. An invisible barrier stopped his fall and saved his life, but also trapped him below the peak 2 12 13.

He spent three years alone before Gu Yi arrived. The barrier contained too little spiritual energy for him to reach Golden Core quickly, leaving him unable to escape despite his talent 3.

Life with Gu Yi

Gu Yi fell into the barrier after being poisoned and wounded by He Yan. Although Lin Yuan initially resisted his company, he became frightened when Gu Yi approached death and entered his Sea of Consciousness to save him. Their contact became soul cultivation, a practice Lin Yuan initially mistook for ordinary spiritual-energy transfer 2 3 4.

After Gu Yi explained what had happened, Lin Yuan demanded to learn dual cultivation. Their practice repaired Gu Yi’s meridians, extended his lifespan, and accelerated Lin Yuan’s progress. Lin Yuan promised not to kill him after their escape and later offered to bring him home as his Dao Companion, unaware that Gu Yi had fallen asleep during the proposal 7 9 10.

After a year together, Lin Yuan underwent his Golden Core tribulation. Gu Yi initially fled through the damaged barrier but returned to help take the final lightning strike. He then carried the unconscious Lin Yuan to a cave and departed, believing that they no longer owed one another anything. A thread of black energy had already formed around Lin Yuan’s new Golden Core 11.

Return and search

Upon returning to the sect, Lin Yuan discovered that his eyesight had recovered. He also learned enough about the supposedly dead Demon Venerable to connect him with the Gu Yi he had known. His attempt to find a portrait proved frustrating: the Beauty Rankings depicted Gu Yi wearing a mask 12 13.

Lin Yuan searched the Illusory Demon Sect, then confronted He Yan at the Blood Demon Sect to determine whether Gu Yi had been captured. He could not defeat He Yan, but their exchange allowed him to confirm that He Yan carried no trace of Gu Yi’s aura. Back home, Lin Yuan blinded Chu Ping, severed his legs, and ordered the destruction of Chu Ping’s and Chu Jing’s meridians and their expulsion from the sect 14 15.

He continued searching secretly with Lin Ning and Xiao Cheng. Over three years, his travels took him to the far north and the Overseas Immortal Island. His fixation produced an inner demon resembling Gu Yi, which he preserved despite repeated failed attempts to reach Nascent Soul 16 21.

The Ye Yiyi investigation

Lin Yuan attended the Orthodox-Demonic Friendship Conference after seeing a Beauty Rankings portrait of Ye Yiyi that resembled Gu Yi. Ye Yiyi was actually Gu Yi disguised as a female Tianmu Sect disciple. Familiar gestures and a distinctive grass-and-trees scent sustained Lin Yuan’s suspicions, but Gu Yi’s cultivation technique and aura-masking jade pendant prevented confirmation 22 25 26.

Yezi gave him a Chaos Spirit Herb that would bloom when supplied with blood from two people who had practiced dual cultivation together. Gu Yi secretly substituted Lin Yuan’s blood for his own, causing the test to fail. Lin Yuan accepted the result and withdrew his romantic interest in Ye Yiyi, while continuing his search for Gu Yi’s Life Lamp 30 31 32 35.

Illusory Beast Purgatory

During the secret-realm massacre, Lin Yuan released his inner demon to hold off Chu Jing while Lin Ning escaped with the wounded Xiao Cheng. The resulting power surge left him unstable, and Chu Jing temporarily blinded him with One Leaf Obscures the Eyes. Gu Yi intervened; damage to his aura-concealing pendant enabled Lin Yuan to recognize him 37 38.

Gu Yi entered Lin Yuan’s Sea of Consciousness and removed the inner demon. After they cultivated together, Gu Yi fled again. Lin Yuan awakened at peak Golden Core and returned to the disciples’ camp, convinced that Gu Yi was hiding among them 39 41.

Lin Yuan subsequently accompanied Ye Yiyi while searching for Xie Wenyun and Jiang Lingzhou. He suffered a chest wound and deep cuts rescuing Gu Yi from Love Vines, whose poison caused him to hallucinate Gu Yi’s undisguised presence. Later, he defeated a vine demoness and obtained the flower needed to neutralize Gu Yi’s poison. Still unable to confirm Ye Yiyi’s identity, he renewed his plan to locate Gu Yi’s Life Lamp 44 45 46 49.

Original-novel fate

In the novel known to Gu Yi, Lin Yuan remains blind after leaving the barrier. Yezi saves him on the Overseas Immortal Island, and he falls in love with her. When she chooses Mu Yang, Lin Yuan mistakenly attributes her rejection to his blindness. His attempts to restore his sight lead to cultivation deviation and increasingly violent behavior 7 20.

He ultimately becomes Mu Yang’s enemy over Yezi and dies by Mu Yang’s sword before reaching thirty. This is his original-novel fate, not his status in the unfolding story: his eyesight recovers, his romantic fixation centers on Gu Yi, and Gu Yi removes his inner demon 2 11 13 30 39.

Abilities & Skills

Swordsmanship

• Wields a longsword and projects sword energy in combat 11 15.
• Uses a powerful technique that produces interwoven sword shadows to sever the Love Vines surrounding Gu Yi 45.
• Strikes the ground beneath a vine demoness to release a shock wave and defeat her 49.
• Cannot overcome the much higher-ranked He Yan through direct combat 15.

Soul and Dual Cultivation

• Enters Gu Yi’s Sea of Consciousness and transfers spiritual energy to stabilize his failing condition 3 4 6.
• Helps repair Gu Yi’s damaged meridians and extend his lifespan through cultivation together 4 9.
• Gains cultivation faster through dual cultivation than through solitary practice inside the barrier 7 9.
• His divine sense can pursue and entangle Gu Yi’s within his Sea of Consciousness 39.

Spiritual Perception and Movement

• Senses Gu Yi’s weakening heartbeat and condition despite being blind 3.
• Uses familiarity with Gu Yi’s spiritual aura to search for him after their separation 14 15.
• Practices Sword Flight for rapid travel 14.
• Tracks footprints and deduces that Xie Wenyun is carrying the injured Jiang Lingzhou 44.
• Can be misled by aura-concealing treasures and altered cultivation techniques; Gu Yi’s familiar scent raises suspicion without proving his identity 26 30.

Inner Demon — Former Condition

• Originated during his Golden Core breakthrough and took Gu Yi’s form 21 38.
• Allowed him to encounter an image of Gu Yi, giving him a reason to preserve it 21.
• Prevented successful advancement to Nascent Soul and eroded his body and mind 21.
• Could be released for a temporary increase in combat power, at the cost of spiritual instability and exhaustion 37 38.
• Was removed by Gu Yi 39.

Equipment / Items

• Black-and-gold longsword — Summoned during his Golden Core tribulation and used to withstand the lightning 11.
• Ink Sea — A named aid credited with enabling him to hold his own against Chu Jing while at early Golden Core 37.
• Qiankun Ring — Storage artifact used to carry items, including the potted Chaos Spirit Herb 30.
• Chaos Spirit Herb / Chaos Immortal Grass — Yezi’s gift for identifying a dual-cultivation partner through paired blood samples; Gu Yi sabotages its test 30 31.
• Gu Yi’s portrait — Enlarged from a masked illustration and hung in his bedroom during his search 16.

Relationships

• Gu Yi — His cultivation partner and the man he considers his Dao Companion. Each saves the other’s life, but Gu Yi repeatedly leaves because he fears Lin Yuan’s original-novel fate and possible retaliation. Lin Yuan’s central goal becomes finding him and bringing him back 10 11 21 28 30 41.
• Lin Hai — Grandfather and sect leader. Protects Lin Yuan, seizes Chu Ping after learning of the betrayal, and later urges him to abandon his search for Gu Yi and find another partner 13 15 16 22.
• Lin Ning — Older sister and childhood companion. Searches for him during his disappearance, helps him look for Gu Yi, and supports him after failed breakthroughs 13 16 21.
• Xiao Cheng — Senior brother and childhood companion. Accompanies his searches, restrains his reckless confrontations, and offers help with his cultivation difficulties 13 14 15 21.
• Yezi — Rescues him on the Overseas Immortal Island and becomes one of his few female friends. She supplies the Chaos Spirit Herb after learning that he is searching for a male Dao Companion 28 30 46.
• Chu Ping — Former third elder and the perpetrator of his blinding and attempted murder. Lin Yuan later exacts revenge 12 13 15.
• Chu Jing — Sect-tournament opponent and later enemy. Returns after expulsion with sinister cultivation methods and attacks Lin Yuan in the secret realm 13 15 37.
• He Yan — Gu Yi’s betrayer and a hostile rival whom Lin Yuan confronts while searching for Gu Yi 14 15.
• Mu Yang — Yezi’s chosen partner and Lin Yuan’s eventual killer in the original novel; that outcome has not occurred in the supplied story 2 7 20.

Notable Quotes

“I don't need your sympathy. There may not be enough spiritual energy here, and cultivation may be slow, but I'll get out sooner or later. Once I do, I'll make everyone who harmed me pay!” 3

“If you want an official place by my side, once we get out, I'll take you home and become your Dao Companion.” 10

“Everything connected to him has to be kept safe.” 21

“I'm not treating him as a substitute. If he isn't Gu Yi, I won't pursue him.” 26