Ye Tianming

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Upbringing and Cultivation Research

The unranked Ye Family found and raised Ye Tianming. Little Pagoda and his mysterious sword had accompanied him since childhood, but Little Pagoda refused to explain his origins. He began writing his own cultivation technique at nine, seeking a way to absorb freely available Spiritual Qi without depending on expensive cultivation resources 1 2 3.

He also read extensively and discussed inequality and reform with An Yan at the Great Dao Book House. His reading informed his political judgment, although he had little access to books about cultivation 8 10 26.

Qingzhou Admission Dispute

After earning special admission to Guanxuan Academy, Ye Tianming became a target of the Zhao Family, which wanted his place and sought to seize his family’s property. He stabbed Zhao Xiu during the confrontation, and Ye Nan killed him. Before leaving Qingzhou, Ye Tianming also parted ways with An Qi, his childhood friend whom he had once saved 1.

At the academy, Xiao Nu attempted to purchase his admission slot for fifteen Qi Drawing Pills and threatened his family when he refused. Fang Xiao defended him, but academy officials protected the Xiao Family and removed Fang Xiao from his Inspectorate position. With ordinary channels blocked, Ye Tianming entered the Guanxuan Dao to appeal directly to the Guanxuan Sword Master 5.

He survived its combat trial and passed Sister Sang’s examination of his beliefs about authority, privilege, and reform. His success nevertheless failed to secure justice: academy officials sought a settlement, and the Xiao Family continued threatening the Ye Family 7 8 10 12.

Failed Petition and Exile

Nanling Zhao stopped Ye Tianming from sacrificing himself and escorted him toward the Guanxuan Realm to petition the throne. During the pursuit, she arranged protection for his family and suffered a severe spear wound while helping him escape. Ye Tianming treated her injury after they reached a mountain range 12 14.

Although officials initially assembled to protect them, higher intervention ended the investigation. Nanling Zhao was suspended, the Sword Sect reclaimed Ye Tianming’s newly issued disciple token, and Qingzhou Academy revoked his admission. He resolved to win the Myriad Provinces Grand Competition so that he could meet the Guanxuan Sword Master and question the existing order 16 17.

Several provincial academies refused to shelter him for fear of the Xiao Family. Nanling Zhao eventually had to return to her clan, leaving him her Inspector’s Seal. With no safe route home, Ye Tianming turned to Little Pagoda for guidance 18 20.

Central Divine Province Academy

With Nanling Zhao and her father’s assistance, Ye Tianming entered Song Shi’s struggling Guanxuan Academy in the Central Divine Province. Mu Guanchen became his teacher and chose to continue teaching him despite the danger and the academy’s limited resources 23 24.

Under Mu Guanchen’s guidance, he corrected flaws in his cultivation method, explored earth-vein power, and strengthened his body. He also attempted the Future Method, unexpectedly summoning the Future True Body of a plain-skirted woman who destroyed the Guanxuan Universe’s Heavenly Dao when it came to punish him 25 26 27 32.

Transcendent Dao Field

Song Shi sent Ye Tianming and Fu Zang into the Transcendent Dao Field to prepare for the competition. There, Ye Tianming killed the disguised Xiao Xue, rescued Mu Yong from an Immortal Realm beast, and used Mu Yong’s Dao Star Art to develop his Earth Dharma Aspect 34 35 36 37 38.

The two reached the Transcendent Sacred Hall, where an inheritance announcement drew competing factions toward them. Ye Tianming diverted attention so Mu Yong could obtain the inheritance, then negotiated the Transcendent Civilization Development Alliance and secured support against the Xiao Family 39 44 45.

The civilization’s guardian ultimately named Ye Tianming its inheritor. Its ancestor later clarified that he was unsuitable to carry on the legacy himself, entrusting him instead with preserving the civilization and finding a true inheritor among his closest kin 45 47.

Return and Xiao Bei’s Challenge

Returning toward his academy in disguise, Ye Tianming encountered another Xiao Family ambush at the mountain’s foot. He overpowered the first attacker with an enlarged Earth Dharma Aspect, but Xiao Bei intervened before he could finish the fight 48 49.

Xiao Bei, a sixteen-year-old Time Immortal six realms above him, attacked with time power. Ye Tianming used the Transcendent Divine Seal to survive the first exchange despite severe injuries, then committed his remaining strength to a sword-drawing attack performed by his Dharma Aspect. The supplied account ends before its outcome 49 50.

Personality

Ye Tianming is fiercely protective of the Ye Family and refuses to treat threats against them as negotiable. His resistance can become self-destructive: when he believes submission will only delay his family’s destruction, he is willing to burn his flesh and soul rather than surrender 5 12 14.

His defiance is accompanied by calculation. He discards incriminating storage rings before questioning, anticipates pressure against Fang Xiao’s family, and avoids using Xiao Xue’s ring to spare his teachers further trouble. He also recognizes when negotiation and shared interests can accomplish more than direct confrontation 3 10 36 44.

He is inventive and willing to test unconventional ideas, from stacking sword strikes to building a cultivation system around external power. Experience also teaches him restraint: he suppresses unstable breakthroughs and reserves his exceptional sword for emergencies rather than mistaking its strength for his own 7 20 27 32 33.

Despite his anger at institutional corruption, he remains responsive to kindness. He remembers assistance, worries about endangering his benefactors, and offers Li Zheng an unopened reward ring to repay his help. His stated rule is to act according to his conscience and not harm those who have not harmed him 10 17 45 46.

Abilities & Skills

Heavenly Mandate Art

Ye Tianming’s self-created technique absorbs and mobilizes external energy. With Little Pagoda’s assistance, he temporarily names an improved version the Heavenly Mandate Pagoda Ancestor Art 2 12.

• Energy sources: Uses Spiritual Qi, heavenly lightning, and earth-vein power 2 6 27.
• Impurity filtering: His initial method lacks a filter; he later develops one that removes sixty percent of Spiritual Qi impurities 24 25.
• Direct mobilization: Commands earth-vein energy outside his body, bypassing his physique’s capacity to contain it 28.
• Family application: Shares the technique with his family, hoping it will let Ye Nan cultivate despite his shattered dantian 28.
• Limitation: External energy may be plentiful, but controlling it still taxes his mental strength 28 30 38.

Heaven-Slaying Sword-Drawing Technique

A sword technique taught by Little Pagoda, which Ye Tianming independently learns to stack for greater force 7.

• Stacked strikes: Combining two uses defeats the Guanxuan Dao’s remaining Minor Tribulation Realm phantoms 7.
• Earth-power enhancement: Can reinforce the technique with earth-vein energy 26 27.
• Dharma Aspect execution: His Earth Dharma Aspect can form a sword and scabbard and perform the technique itself 47 50.
• Limitation: Powerful stacks can destroy ordinary swords and injure his arm; stronger body tempering raises his usable capacity 7 16 32.

Sword Control and Mental Power

Little Pagoda’s Sword Control Technique allows Ye Tianming to control a sword as naturally as part of his body. A separate mental cultivation method lets him condense mental power into tangible threads 22 30.

• Sword flight: Travels through the starry sky and uses flying swords for escape 22 37.
• Multiple swords: Controls nine earth-vein swords simultaneously 30 33.
• Perception: Detects slight movements in his surroundings with sensitivity beyond an ordinary Major Tribulation Realm cultivator 34.
• Limitation: Earth-vein swords do not consume his internal Profound Qi, but they still expend mental strength 33.

Earth Dharma Aspect

Ye Tianming combines his own technique with the Dharma Aspect principles of Mu Yong’s Dao Star Art, creating an aspect from earth-vein power rather than ordinary Spiritual Qi 38.

• Cross-realm combat: Gravely wounds an Immortal Realm beast while remaining in the Major Tribulation Realm 38.
• Scalable size: Expands as he supplies more earth-vein power, eventually exceeding two thousand zhang with Divine Seal amplification 49 50.
• Airborne use: Can draw earth power while flying if his mental reach extends underground 48.
• Limitation: Its early use nearly renders him unconscious; even after improvement, fighting Xiao Bei leaves him close to collapse 38 50.

Future Method

After studying the Book of Time, Ye Tianming attempts to borrow power from his future. The Sword of Upholding the Dao disperses probing temporal laws as he moves through the future timeline 25.

• Recorded result: Summons the Future True Body of a plain-skirted woman, who destroys the Heavenly Dao 25.
• Unresolved identity: Ye Tianming initially mistakes her for his future self; the supplied passages do not establish her identity or relationship to him 25.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Sword of Upholding the Dao — Also introduced as Walking the Dao. Accompanied him from childhood and previously enabled him to kill a beast three realms above him. He reserves it for critical situations to avoid dependence and unwanted attention 2 3 27.
• Little Pagoda / Tower Ancestor — Sentient companion and cultivation adviser who knows more about his origins than he reveals. Teaches sword techniques and mental cultivation 2 7 22 30 38.
• Transcendent Divine Seal — Contains Transcendent Dao Fire that tempers spiritual power and the divine soul. Can temporarily amplify both; its use against Xiao Bei produces an increase of more than tenfold 47 50.
• Transcendent Sacred Hall — Entrusted to him alongside the Divine Seal as part of his responsibility for preserving the Transcendent Civilization 47.
• Nanling Zhao’s Inspector’s Seal — Given to him when she is recalled by her family; he uses it to obtain an audience at the Milky Way Sect 20 22.
• Golden “God” Seal — Awarded by Sister Sang after he passes her Guanxuan Dao examination 8.
• Blood-Healing Pills — Recovery supplies he conserves carefully, initially sharing only half a pill with the injured Mu Yong 37 38.

Relationships

• Ye Nan — Adoptive elder brother and Ye Family heir. Supports his advancement without jealousy; Ye Tianming develops his cultivation method partly to help him overcome his shattered dantian 2 28.
• Li E — Sister-in-law. Gives him travel and cultivation funds and assures him that the family will help if he needs more 2.
• Ye Zong — Fellow young member of the Ye Family who enthusiastically supports him during the Guanxuan Dao trials; one of the first intended recipients of his completed technique 6 28.
• Little Pagoda — Longtime companion, teacher, and keeper of secrets about his birth 2 3 38.
• Nanling Zhao — Inspector, protector, and friend. Rescues him, protects his family, searches for an academy willing to accept him, and helps secure his eventual placement 12 14 20 23.
• Fang Xiao — Official who defends his admission rights at considerable personal cost. Ye Tianming feels guilty when Fang Xiao loses his position 5 17.
• Mu Guanchen — Teacher who improves his cultivation foundations, guides his earth-power research, and urges him not to abandon hope or reject kindness 24 26 31.
• Song Shi — Academy head who shelters him despite Xiao Family pressure and arranges his practical training 24 29 34.
• Fu Zang — Fellow academy student who claims seniority over him and accompanies him into the Transcendent Dao Field 31 34.
• An Qi — Childhood friend whose life he once saved. Ends their bond after concluding that he has no promising future 1.
• An Yan — Reading companion who discusses social inequality with him and warns the An Clan against mistreating him 1 8.
• Mu Yong — Fellow cultivator he rescues; shares the Dao Star Art that helps him create his Earth Dharma Aspect 37 38.
• Gu Qi — Challenger turned ally. Accepts defeat after lowering his realm and later helps protect him from the Xiao Family 42 44 45.
• Li Zheng — Negotiating partner who supports him against the Xiao Family in exchange for promised benefits, then returns the inheritance ring Ye Tianming offers him 44 45.
• Xiao Family — Principal hostile clan. Its attempted seizure of his admission slot escalates into threats against his family and repeated assassination attempts 5 14 35 49.
• Xiao Bei — Same-age Time Immortal opponent who recognizes Ye Tianming’s future danger to the Xiao Family after failing to kill him with his opening attack 49 50.

Notable Quotes

“First build a career, then chase women!” 2

“To establish a cultivation system of my own!” 33

“All I know is that no one is a fool. If they don't harm me, I won't harm them. I act according to my conscience.” 46