Lü Yinglong

Biodata

Power Progression

No formal cultivation realm is named for Lü Yinglong; his documented advancement concerns martial training and internal power.

Background / History

Early Life and the Chen Household

Lü Yinglong was born in Pear Blossom Province. His father died when he was ten, and his mother remarried. He survived by begging before finding work hauling sacks at the docks at thirteen. During a severe drought at sixteen, he joined others in robbing wealthy households and began learning martial arts 8.

At eighteen, he was arrested, but Chen Qingyuan recognized his talent and obtained his release. Chen supported his training and education, eventually marrying his daughter Chen Yuyin to him when Lü Yinglong was twenty-six. Lü entered the household as a married-in son-in-law 8.

Chen Qingyuan intended to use Lü Yinglong’s strength to help his son, Chen Yucheng, conquer the realm. Lü nevertheless remained excluded from the family’s private discussions and resented being treated as an outsider 15.

Rise to Emperor — Meng Yuan’s Second Lifetime

When Meng Yuan entered his service, Lü Yinglong commanded a rebel army of slightly more than ten thousand men. Despite six years of campaigning, he had no permanent base. His army’s comparatively strict discipline and restraint toward civilians initially convinced Meng Yuan that he had the makings of a worthy ruler 3.

Meng Yuan proposed establishing a base in Shu. Lü accepted the plan, captured Jing City and Jianmen Pass, and subdued Shu within roughly a year. Chen Yuyin supplied much of the administration and manpower, while Lü provided the battlefield strength 4.

Once secure in Shu, Lü increasingly preferred luxury to further conquest. King Zhang’s proclamation of emperorship prompted Meng Yuan to press him into action. With Chen managing supplies, Lü destroyed Commander Li’s forces within two years and subsequently forced the Yu ruler to surrender 5.

Meng Yuan and the officers dressed Lü in a dragon robe and pressed him onto the throne despite his protests. His descent from the Ancient Lü Kingdom supplied the new dynasty’s name. After another period of indulgence, Chen compelled him to campaign against King Zhang. Three years of fighting completed the realm’s unification 5.

Imperial Reign and Death

The new emperor rewarded his followers lavishly, but tensions developed over the Chen clan’s influence and the succession. Lü disliked the crown prince’s weakness and favored Consort Qi’s young son. Meng Yuan, anticipating conflict between emperor and empress, repeatedly sought to withdraw from court 6.

For roughly a decade, the court remained stable as the Chen family yielded ground and relinquished posts. Lü later promoted newcomers, suppressed veterans, and launched extensive purges. More than a dozen cases implicated tens of thousands of people; Chen Huaixian was imprisoned, and Chen Huaiyuan was executed 8.

At sixty, Lü fell gravely ill. He ordered Empress Chen imprisoned and her clan exterminated, but discovered during Meng Yuan’s final audience that she was instead acting as regent. Desperate, he offered Meng Yuan a kingship and a share of the realm in exchange for killing her. He died after accusing Chen of plotting against him, and Lü Chan succeeded him 9 10.

Chen later admitted that she had always intended to replace the Lü dynasty with her own family. She resented Lü for taking the Chen family’s treasure and had withheld medicine during his campaign against King Zhang. The great serpent’s gallbladder could have cured his condition 11.

Death at Twin Dragon Mountain — Meng Yuan’s Third Lifetime

Using knowledge from his previous life, Meng Yuan located the valley containing the Red Flame Fruit before Lü could claim it. Lü arrived after Chen Qingyuan’s death, having discovered the route in his father-in-law’s notes. He entered without knowing that the Black Serpent guarded the fruit 14 15.

Lü fought the serpent at close quarters and destroyed both its eyes. Meng Yuan then shot arrows at him, obstructing his escape until the serpent bit and constricted him. After shooting the serpent’s eyes, Meng Yuan confronted the exhausted Lü with the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art and defeated him through repeated palm strikes 15.

Lü answered questions about the Chen household and the fruit, then offered to serve Meng Yuan in exchange for his life. When he realized that Meng Yuan would kill him regardless, he sat cross-legged, laughed, and closed his eyes without fear. Meng Yuan stabbed him through the throat, left wine beside him, and later covered his body with stones 15 16.

Meng Yuan subsequently claimed that they had been sworn brothers and that Lü had died saving him from the serpent. This fabricated account helped him enter the Chen household 17.

In a later lifetime, Meng Yuan chose not to seize the fruit again, leaving Lü and Chen Yuyin’s relationship undisturbed; Lü’s subsequent fate in that timeline is not documented here 29.

Appearance

Lü Yinglong is powerfully built, appearing approximately thirty-five or thirty-six when Meng Yuan first meets him 3.

• Battle scars: His body bears numerous old wounds despite his exceptional martial ability 4.
• Final illness: At sixty, he has white hair, a deeply wrinkled face, and a withered appearance likened to a hundred-year-old man 9.
• Imperial presence: Even near death, his clouded eyes retain an oppressive authority acquired through years of conquest 9.

Personality

Lü combines extraordinary courage with laziness, indecision, and a strong appetite for wine, women, and comfort. Meng Yuan finds him approachable enough to drink and joke with, but considers him a poor ruler whose martial prowess greatly exceeds his strategic judgment. Success repeatedly makes him complacent, requiring Chen Yuyin or Meng Yuan to push him back into action 4 5.

He rewards followers generously and initially listens to his wife’s advice. Nevertheless, he resents his dependence on the Chen household and openly betrays his discomfort when its influence grows. His private contempt for Chen Qingyuan contrasts sharply with the support his father-in-law gave him 4 5 14.

Years on the throne make him more perceptive and suspicious. During his final audience, a slight change in Meng Yuan’s expression alerts him that something has gone wrong outside the hall. His late reign is marked by ruthless purges, yet his alternate death in the valley shows that his personal fearlessness survives defeat 8 9 15.

Abilities & Skills

Exceptional Martial Aptitude

Lü’s natural talent surpasses even Meng Yuan’s acquired Martial Arts Prodigy talent 24 29.

• Learns saber and sword techniques after seeing them once 24.
• Develops internal power slightly greater than Meng Yuan’s two years of diligent practice after, at most, two or three months studying the Pure Yang Art 15 24.
• Achieves this progress despite habitual laziness and time spent caring for Chen Qingyuan and arranging his funeral 24.

Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art

Lü practices the Chen household’s fierce internal art alongside external martial training 4 15.

• Can punch through solid rock, shatter a tiger’s skull, and leap thirty to fifty feet high 4.
• Recovers rapidly from injuries; Meng Yuan describes him as vigorous again the following day 4.
• Gains several decades of internal power from the Red Flame Fruit, but subsequently depends on treatment to regulate its effects 4 14.

Close-Quarters Combat

Lü relies on overwhelming aggression, agility, and endurance 15.

• Evades the stronger Black Serpent while clinging to its head and striking its eyes 15.
• Remains dangerous after severe wounds, constriction, and exhaustion, forcing Meng Yuan into several direct palm exchanges 15.
• Is not invulnerable: his accumulated battle wounds demonstrate the limits of martial strength against weapons and armies 4.

Battlefield Leadership

Lü personally leads charges and excels at breaking enemy formations 4 5.

• Wins repeated victories against Commander Li while Chen Yuyin maintains his supply lines 5.
• Remains Meng Yuan’s benchmark for ferocity and fearlessness even after Meng Yuan becomes a successful conqueror himself 23.
• Depends heavily on others for grand strategy, administration, and sustained political direction 4 5.

Equipment / Items

• Saber — Recovered by Meng Yuan from the Black Serpent’s eye after Lü’s death and subsequently worn by him 16.
• Banknotes and two bottles of pills — Found on his corpse; the pills’ effects are not specified 16.
• Red Flame Fruit — The Chen family treasure responsible for his great increase in internal power in Meng Yuan’s second lifetime 4 11 15.

Relationships

• Chen Yuyin / Empress Chen — Wife, political partner, and eventual enemy. Her resources and administration enable his rise, while her concealed objective is the Chen family’s accession to the throne 4 11.
• Chen Qingyuan — Father-in-law and benefactor who rescues, educates, and trains him. Lü privately disparages him and takes the route to the fruit from his notes 8 14 15.
• Chen Yucheng — Brother-in-law whom Chen Qingyuan originally intended Lü to support in conquering the realm 15.
• Meng Yuan — Strategic adviser and founding minister in one lifetime; killer and usurper of his fortuitous opportunity in another. Their supposed sworn brotherhood is Meng Yuan’s later fabrication 3 15 17 32.
• Lü Chan — Eldest biological son, born to a concubine who died after childbirth and adopted by Chen Yuyin. Becomes crown prince and later succeeds Lü Yinglong 5 10.
• Consort Qi and her son — Lü favors their child over the crown prince, contributing to succession tensions 6.
• Chen Huaixian and Chen Huaiyuan — His wife’s nephews. During his purges, he imprisons Huaixian and has Huaiyuan killed 8.

Notable Quotes

“Without you, sir, I would lose an arm!”
— Urging Meng Yuan to remain at court 6

“So long as you help Us kill the empress, We will make you a king! We will share the realm with you!”
— His final appeal to Meng Yuan 9

“Fuck! It’s gone back to the Chen Household again!”
— On realizing that Meng Yuan intends to kill him and take the fruit 15