Qi Yan

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Previous Life and the Qi Clan

Qi Yan was originally a man from modern Earth who built a small company before dying in a car accident. Reincarnation obscured his former memories, and he lived eighteen years as a native of the cultivation world before the threat of death awakened them 1.

His parents were prominent members of the declining Qi Clan. His father had been a contender for clan leadership, but both parents died in a conflict with other powers while Qi Yan was young. Thereafter, he grew up marginalized. When he reached the First Layer of Qi Refining, the main branch accused him of concealing an inherited secret and poisoned him with Seven-Day Heartbreak Powder 1. He suspected the main branch’s involvement in his parents’ deaths, but never established proof 49.

After recovering his memories, Qi Yan seized Qi Zhi and lured the clan chief’s forces into the ancestral tomb. He activated its Mutual Destruction Restriction, surviving in its single-person safe zone while his pursuers died. He later removed his poison by transferring it into Qi Zhi’s younger brother, whom he killed after escaping 1 2 3.

Clan Takeover and Departure

Qi Yan negotiated the Luo Household’s takeover of the Qi estate in exchange for protection of the weaker branch families, repairs to the ancestral graves, and help leaving Tianliang. Installed as clan head, he killed the remaining main-line members, rejected any ambition to rule the survivors, and helped restore the burial ground 4 5.

At the scripture library, he met Jiang Jinyue and learned that his ancestor’s inheritance preserved poorly understood ancient cultivation concepts. He memorized the ancestor’s three books before escaping an assassination attempt with a blood restriction. Although his alliance with the Luo Household began under mutual suspicion, Luo Chaoge later supplied him with cultivation resources and her storage ring for his journey 5 9 13.

Rumors subsequently portrayed him as having exterminated his entire clan, while the Extreme Dao Sect placed a bounty on him. These reports exaggerated his killings: the branch families had survived 4 13.

The Jade Pendant and Little Crybaby

Among the tomb’s remains, Qi Yan found an intact moon-white jade pendant that connected him to a distressed girl. He helped her retaliate against a disciple stealing her cultivation and later called her “Little Crybaby.” She introduced herself as Little Seven and addressed him as Brother A-Yan 2 6.

Their exchanges became reciprocal: Qi Yan advised her on hostile disciples and personal independence, while she explained witchcraft and helped him interpret his inheritance 6 10 11 20. The girl is Mu Xunzhen in her youth, but neither recognized the other when Qi Yan first met the Heavenly Evolution Sect’s present-day master. Mu Xunzhen later suspected a connection between him and the Brother A-Yan she remembered; the discrepancy remained unresolved 19 23 35.

Journey to the Heavenly Evolution Sect

Using the name Yue Jinjiang, Qi Yan obtained passage aboard the Yun Clan’s ship. During an attack, he protected Yun Ranyi from sword qi before a black dragon destroyed the vessel. The Yun Clan departed by airship, leaving him a prepared lifeboat 14 16.

Rather than turn back, he continued toward Heavenly Prefecture Continent. Jiang Jinyue joined him, protected the voyage, and shared the daily routine of meals, cultivation, and teasing. Qi Yan came to regard their time at sea as the closest thing to a home he had experienced since losing his parents 17 18 19.

Although he arrived below the usual cultivation standard, he attempted the Heavenly Evolution Sect’s entrance assessment. His comprehension, guarded cooperation with an apparent fellow disciple, and persistence under mental pressure impressed the examiners. Mu Xunzhen accepted him as her direct disciple, partly because his witchcraft aptitude offered a chance to preserve its legacy 21 22 23 24.

Sect Missions and Training

Qi Yan chose to continue witchcraft despite Mu Xunzhen’s warnings about its social, physical, and longevity costs. She gave him cultivation pills and the Heavenly Evolution Art, while Jiang Jinyue helped him settle into sect life 24 25.

His Ye Clan mission led to another encounter with Yun Ranyi and the discovery of the Illusory Dream Spirit Butterfly. After exposing Ye Jingshan’s manipulation of the investigation, Qi Yan returned the captive clan head to the sect. Yun Ranyi rewarded him with a phoenix flying treasure, and Mu Xunzhen supplied the blank for his first lifebound sword 29 32 33 34 35.

During a later tomb mission, Qi Yan cooperated with Wunian to repel a peak Foundation Establishment ambusher. The recovered formation core proved to be a Space-Chaos Pearl, raising his suspicion that additional sect members secretly practiced witchcraft. Mu Xunzhen then assigned Jiang Jinyue to train him; her lessons exposed weaknesses in his spell control but also prompted his independent understanding of the Thunder Method 43 45 47 48 49 51.

Appearance

• Build and features: Tall, upright posture, handsome features, and eyes compared to bright stars 17.
• Notable depiction: After the shipwreck, his windblown, disheveled hair gave him an unrestrained air as he stood aboard the lifeboat 17.

Personality

Qi Yan’s recovered memories mark a sharp change from his earlier submissiveness. Faced with death, he abandons deference to clan authority and retaliates decisively. He rejects the idea that family loyalty obliges him to accept murder or persecution, but still negotiates protection for uninvolved clansmen and repairs his parents’ graves 1 4 5.

He is cautious about power imbalances and reluctant to become entangled in stronger cultivators’ conflicts. That caution does not prevent calculated risks: he sails onward after the shipwreck and takes the sect assessment before meeting its normal cultivation threshold 6 17 21.

His experience of poverty makes him persistent about securing resources and payment, even after becoming a direct disciple. At the same time, he values reciprocal kindness: he asks Jiang Jinyue to protect Luo Chaoge to repay a meal, and tells Yun Ranyi he would not have contested the butterfly if she had honestly explained that a teammate needed it 9 32 33.

With people he trusts, Qi Yan is playful, teasing, and emotionally attentive. His banter with Jiang Jinyue develops into a genuine attraction, distinct from his admiration of Yun Ranyi’s beauty. He comforts Little Crybaby while repeatedly encouraging her to become capable of protecting herself 20 49.

Abilities & Skills

Witchcraft Cultivation

Qi Yan practices the Qi Family Cultivation Method and later receives the Heavenly Evolution Art from Mu Xunzhen 11 25.

• Self-cultivation: The family method strengthens muscles, qi, and blood alongside his magical power 11.
• Compatibility with Dao Arts: The ice-jade bed helps convert witchcraft power into Daoist qi. He later realizes that either cultivation approach can advance him, rather than requiring two separate sets of cultivation progress 26 39.
• Potential path: Mu Xunzhen considers his unusual fate especially suitable for becoming the Arbiter of Fate; this is an assessment of potential, not an attained rank 35.
• Incantation limitation: Witch incantations require complete recitation. Greater proficiency makes his chanting faster and more precise, but does not eliminate the incantation itself 37 41.

Witch Incantations

Lightning Arts

Lightning is Qi Yan’s principal offensive Dao Arts specialty 11 41.

• Lightning Attraction Technique: Used with the Blood-Chaos Curse to disable an Extreme Dao Sect follower 11.
• Orthodox Five Thunder Arts: Produces a broad lightning attack, amplified by Lightning Glow; initially suffers from poor accuracy and high power consumption 41.
• Thunder Method comprehension: By examining Fingertip Lightning and applying his understanding of physical principles, he learns to select where lightning originates rather than merely reproducing a prescribed spell 49 51.
• Training limitation: Jiang Jinyue initially evades all his attacks using less power than he does, demonstrating the gap between his raw output and precise control 48.

Sword Combat

Qi Yan combines a lifebound sword, witchcraft-enhanced physical strength, curses, and lightning rather than following orthodox sword cultivation 41.

• Alternates between close combat and remotely directed sword attacks 41.
• Uses the sword’s explosive energy discharge to punish opponents who attempt an ordinary parry 41 43.
• Defeats a ninth-layer sand demon illusion in one slash, largely through his weapon’s power 41.
• Remains vulnerable to stronger opponents: the peak Foundation Establishment ambusher injures him, and repelling that enemy requires Wunian’s assistance and nearly exhausts his magical power 43.

Other Skills

• Divine Movement Instruction: Enables rapid travel and evasive movement 3 19 22.
• Cultivation comprehension: Interprets an unfamiliar inner-alchemy manual well enough to impress the sect’s elders 22.
• Artifact refining: Studies refining and completes his first lifebound weapon using Mu Xunzhen’s sword blank and Thunder-Water Metal 37 39.
• Investigation: Identifies inconsistencies in Ye Jingshan’s conduct and deduces that he deliberately hastened the spirit butterfly’s emergence 32 33.
• Cooking: Prepares the seafood meals shared with Jiang Jinyue during their voyage 19.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Moon-white jade pendant — An intact, sun-carved pendant recovered from the ancestral tomb. Connects him to Little Crybaby and conceals him well enough that Jiang Jinyue cannot locate him after his escape. Communication consumes his magical power 2 3 9.
• Storage ring — Given to him by Luo Chaoge before his departure from Tianliang 13.
• Sect life token — Issued on registration; used for identification, communication, and teleportation within the sect 24 28 36.
• Ice-jade bed — Assists the conversion between witchcraft power and Daoist qi during his early cultivation 26.
• Phoenix earring — Yun Ranyi’s gift, transforming into a metal phoenix flying treasure. It consumes very little power, flies steadily, and provides a protective barrier, making it usable even at Qi Refining 33 34.
• Lightning Glow — His lifebound sword, made from Mu Xunzhen’s blank, coated with Thunder-Water Metal, and bonded with his blood. Amplifies lightning arts and carries an explosive energy attack capable of Foundation Establishment-level output 35 39 41.
• Illusory Dream Spirit Butterfly silk — Collected after the butterfly’s emergence. Can induce hallucinations when used as a binding rope; its existing toughness cannot restrain anyone above Golden Core, and Qi Yan cannot yet activate its dream-weaving potential 33 35.
• Space-Chaos Pearl — A witchcraft formation core recovered during the Wang Family mausoleum mission. Jiang Jinyue identifies it as likely artificially refined through witchcraft 45 51.

Relationships

• Mu Xunzhen / Little Crybaby — His master in the present and his pendant companion in her youth. Their support is reciprocal, but they do not recognize one another at their first face-to-face meeting. Present-day Mu Xunzhen later questions whether he is her remembered Brother A-Yan 10 23 24 35.
• Jiang Jinyue — His senior sister, traveling companion, and tutor. Their initial distrust gives way to closeness, flirtation, and Qi Yan’s growing romantic attraction; by Chapter 51, their teasing includes hand-holding and embarrassed physical proximity 18 19 24 48 49 51.
• Luo Chaoge — His childhood sweetheart and initially uneasy ally in the Qi Clan takeover. Her generosity changes his opinion of her, and she promises to look after his clansmen and ancestral graves 4 13 35.
• Yun Ranyi — A guarded ally whom he protects aboard her ship and later assists in capturing the spirit butterfly. He asks for greater honesty between them; she gives him the phoenix earring and subsequently agrees to join the Heavenly Evolution Sect 16 32 33 47.
• Xiao Yuan — Yun Ranyi’s powerful attendant. Qi Yan helps free her from the butterfly’s illusion, enabling her to capture Ye Jingshan 16 32.
• Jing Chuan — A sect friend who treats him as a brother rather than insisting on his senior generational titles. Introduces him to local commerce, the Furious Sand Illusion Realm, and the tomb mission 37 38 41.
• Wunian — A young nun and temporary combat partner. He protects her during the tomb ambush; she heals him and later stops Wuzheng from attacking him 43.
• Qi Zhi and the main branch — Persecutors responsible for his poisoning. Qi Yan kills Qi Zhi and the clan chief through the tomb restriction, then eliminates the remaining main-line members 1 2 4.

Notable Quotes

“If others won't give you justice, give it to yourself.” 2

“If someone wants to kill me, I'll take them down with me. I don't care who they are.” 4

“We can't always contact and help each other. Only your sword will always be at your side.” 20