Chen Yuyin

Biodata

Background / History

Family origins and the Immortal Mausoleum

Chen Yuyin belonged to a small branch of the wealthy Chen clan in Spring Radiance Prefecture. The wider clan descended from the Ancient Chen Kingdom’s royal family and maintained clinics and medicinal gardens throughout Pear Blossom Province. Her father, Chen Qingyuan, worked as a physician rather than entering official service 13.

Her branch’s private identity was Mysterious Valley Chen, one of three hereditary lineages responsible for guarding the Immortal Mausoleum. Alongside the Pei clan of Mount Xiyi and the Bai clan of Snow Mountain, it preserved martial arts and secrets associated with the Peach Blossom Immortal. Much of this inheritance was transmitted orally; Chen Qingyuan entrusted it to Yuyin and her elder brother, Chen Yucheng 12 22 26.

After generations of deaths inside the mausoleum, Chen Qingyuan forbade further exploration and forced Yuyin to marry Lü Yinglong, hoping she would settle down. She secretly returned to the mausoleum anyway. Yucheng followed her and died inside, leaving two young sons 22.

Earlier lifetime: the Lü dynasty

As Lü Yinglong’s wife, Madam Chen supplied the wealth, manpower, and administrative support behind his rise. She established policies enforcing military discipline and protecting civilians. After the conquest of Shu, Chen clansmen governed its regions and accounted for half the army’s officers; Lü Yinglong also consulted her on difficult decisions 4.

She subsequently became empress and then empress dowager. Her support for the Lü dynasty concealed a plan to replace it with Chen rule. She told Meng Yuan that winning the throne had been her father’s and brother’s wish, and that she had relied on Lü Yinglong only because Yucheng died and the clan lacked another suitable leader. She also resented Lü Yinglong for taking the Chen family’s precious treasure 11.

Before Meng Yuan’s execution, she acknowledged his past contribution and promised that his son would eventually inherit his title after the Chen clan cleared his name. She permitted him to read a newly written copy of the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art, but withheld the family’s deeper immortal secrets 11 12.

Third lifetime: marriage to Meng Yuan

In Meng Yuan’s third lifetime, he killed Lü Yinglong before the latter could claim the Red Flame Fruit, leaving Yuyin widowed. Meng Yuan then entered the Chen household under the pretense of delivering Lü Yinglong’s final wishes and repaying his debt to the family 15 16.

Yuyin returned home at twenty-three with news of Yucheng’s death, only to learn that her father and husband had also died. She tested Meng Yuan with a palm strike and discovered that his internal power greatly exceeded hers. Accepting his account of Lü Yinglong’s death, she recognized his potential value to the family and began restoring order to its medicine shops and estates 17.

Initially, she tried to bind Meng Yuan to the clan by proposing a marriage to her younger cousin. He instead declared his interest in Yuyin herself. After prolonged hesitation and opposition from her clansmen, she married him at twenty-five. Both entered the marriage with concealed objectives: she wanted his strength to secure Chen rule, while he wanted access to the immortals’ secrets 17 18.

Building the Chen dynasty

When rebellion threatened Spring Radiance Prefecture, Yuyin urged Meng Yuan to lead the clan’s followers. She placed its clansmen and estate retainers under his command after he distinguished himself defending the city. When continued defense became impossible, she supported evacuation and gave away the family fortune to help persuade people to leave 18 19.

After Meng Yuan conquered Shu, he deliberately stopped advancing. His refusal threatened her dynastic ambitions, while his military prestige left her unable to replace him. Their dispute culminated in his demand for the truth about the Black Serpent, Red Flame Fruit, and the Chen clan’s connections to the Pei and Bai families 19 20.

Yuyin initially offered partial explanations before revealing the mausoleum and the circumstances of Yucheng’s death. They negotiated an agreement: Meng Yuan would adopt Huaixian and Huaiyuan, designate Huaixian as his successor, and continue the campaign; Yuyin would help him pursue the immortal realm once the undertaking succeeded 22.

During the northern campaign, she remained behind to organize provisions and supplies. After Meng Yuan founded the Chen dynasty, she questioned whether his lavish distribution of titles would leave their successors able to control the nobility. She also arranged contact with the Pei and Bai clans, fulfilling her side of their agreement 23.

Return to the mausoleum

Yuyin accompanied Meng Yuan south and vouched for him when Pei Huasheng considered admitting him to the mausoleum. Despite their persistent distrust, Meng Yuan emphasized that they were spouses rather than enemies and had spent years supporting one another’s goals 24 25.

Inside the mausoleum, Yuyin explained the guardians’ history and the Sword Qi Bottle’s defenses. Her attempt to cross its formation nearly killed her: invisible Sword Qi severed her hairpin, and she prepared to sacrifice a foot before Meng Yuan caught her and carried her to safety. The group could not overcome the Bronze Candle Stand beyond it 27.

Years later, after a prolonged estrangement, she and Meng Yuan renewed their relationship. When he attempted the candle’s trial at fifty-two, she tied a rope around his waist and received instructions to try drastic measures if he became unresponsive. His apparent discovery of immortal cultivation proved to be an illusion; at the end of that lifetime, he heard Yuyin declare him dead 28 29.

Fourth lifetime

Meng Yuan chose not to pursue another partnership with Yuyin, remembering her relief at his death and their decades of mutual calculation. He encountered her again in Peach Valley shortly after Yucheng’s death 29 30.

Yuyin helped Pei Liuguang and Bai Xingshuang overpower him, after which he took their medicine and remained in the valley. Meng Yuan deliberately concealed his competence around her to avoid being recruited. She consequently dismissed him as a handsome but boastful and frivolous Daoist 30.

Before she departed, Pei Huasheng instructed her to select one of Yucheng’s sons, train him in internal cultivation, give him the Red Flame Fruit, and return. Yuyin also warned Pei Liuguang not to trust Meng Yuan merely because he could make her laugh 30.

Appearance

• Youthful beauty: At twenty-three, she looked about twenty and was described as exceedingly beautiful. On returning after her brother’s death, she wore a blue cloak and showed visible exhaustion, grief, and numbness 17.
• Black hair: Her hair fell loose when the Sword Qi formation cut away her hairpin 27.
• Later life: Meng Yuan remembered her at thirty as possessing a more mature charm. In the earlier timeline, she appeared as an elderly woman during her tenure as empress dowager 11 17.

Personality

Yuyin is patient, calculating, and skilled at concealing her intentions behind courteous behavior. Meng Yuan regards her as particularly difficult to coerce because she can endure setbacks, assess competing interests, and maintain an outwardly gentle manner while pursuing long-term plans 16 17 20.

Her father’s and brother’s ambitions dominate her decisions. She commits her wealth, marriage, and clan’s future to securing the throne, then recognizes that this commitment has made her dependent on Meng Yuan. Rather than openly breaking with him when he exposes her secrets, she negotiates 19 20 22.

She takes pride in her lineage and privately looks down on Meng Yuan’s humble origins. Nevertheless, she acknowledges his abilities and considers him superior to Lü Yinglong in every respect except natural martial talent 18 22 24.

Her reserve does not preclude attachment. She personally instructs her nephews and strongly protects them, notably refusing Bai Xingshuang’s request to see Huaiyuan. Her relationship with Meng Yuan combines suspicion with familiarity, practical loyalty, and intermittent reconciliation 22 24 25 28.

Abilities & Skills

Internal Martial Arts

Yuyin is an internal martial artist entrusted with her family’s inherited teachings 4 12.

• Uses a light, elusive palm strike to test Meng Yuan’s strength 17.
• Preserves knowledge of the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art and later writes it down from memory for her descendants 12.
• Has less internal power than Meng Yuan after he consumes the Red Flame Fruit, and less power and agility than Bai Xingshuang during the Sword Qi trial 17 27.
• No named cultivation realm or documented breakthrough is given for her.

Medicine

She is an accomplished physician from a family of physicians and apothecaries 4 13.

• Is locally known for expertise in gynecology 13.
• Understands that the Black Serpent’s gallbladder is needed to counter the Red Flame Fruit’s dangerous potency 20.
• Has Pan Shi drugged during Meng Yuan’s southern journey 24.

Administration and Political Organization

Yuyin’s practical strengths lie in managing people, property, and political alliances rather than personally directing battlefield strategy 4 17.

• Reorganizes the household’s medicine shops and medicinal estates after returning home 17.
• Mobilizes Chen wealth, retainers, and family connections for military campaigns 4 19.
• Oversees rear-area provisions and supplies during Meng Yuan’s northern expedition 23.
• Maintains the relationships needed to arrange meetings with the secluded Pei and Bai clans 23 24.

Mausoleum Knowledge

As a hereditary guardian, she knows the mausoleum’s location, history, and several defenses 22 26 27.

• Identifies the family’s Black Serpent as a descendant of the mausoleum’s Snake Lord 27.
• Explains that the Sword Qi Bottle reacts to living things and that its surrounding resistance prevents ordinary flying creatures from crossing freely 27.
• Cannot safely cross the Sword Qi formation unaided or resolve the Bronze Candle Stand’s mystery 27.

Relationships

• Chen Qingyuan — Father and transmitter of the clan’s secrets. He prohibited her further exploration of the mausoleum and arranged her marriage to Lü Yinglong 12 22.
• Chen Yucheng — Elder brother, originally intended to lead the family’s bid for the throne. His death while searching for her becomes a central burden behind her later ambitions 17 22.
• Chen Huaixian and Chen Huaiyuan — Nephews whom she personally educates. Securing their future is central to her agreement with Meng Yuan; Huaixian is designated his successor 16 22.
• Wang — Sister-in-law and mother of her nephews. Wang manages the household during Yuyin’s absence and later attempts to mediate her marital difficulties 16 19.
• Lü Yinglong — First husband, chosen by her father for his martial potential. She keeps family secrets from him and later openly expresses her resentment toward him 11 15 17.
• Meng Yuan — Second husband in his third lifetime. Their marriage begins as mutual exploitation but develops into a lasting, distrustful partnership that fulfills both the Chen dynastic project and his search for the mausoleum 18 22 25.
• Pei Huasheng — Senior fellow guardian who watched Yuyin grow up, advises her, and helps negotiate Meng Yuan’s admission to the mausoleum 25.
• Bai Xingshuang — Fellow guardian and Yucheng’s former lover. Yuyin firmly refuses his request to meet Huaiyuan, who resembles his father 24.
• Pei Liuguang — Younger member of the allied Pei family. In the fourth lifetime, Yuyin warns her against trusting Meng Yuan’s charm 30.

Notable Quotes

“If you are the green mountain, I shall be its pines and cypresses.” 18

“If that day truly comes, I wish to explore the immortal realm with you!” 22

“Be wary of anyone who can make you cry, and warier still of anyone who can make you laugh.” 30