Chen Ji

Biodata

Power Progression

Background

Original Life

Chen Ji was frail and frequently ill as a child, hearing battle cries in his dreams. His father repeatedly took him to the capital for treatment, sometimes traveling on standing-room train tickets. He recovered at twelve, around the time his father’s business prospered and the family bought a villa 3.

His interests centered on military science, mysteries, espionage, deduction, and cryptography. Before his hospitalization, he had gained special-recruitment admission to the Army Foreign Languages Institute 2 46.

After his parents died in a hit-and-run, his second uncle Chen Shuo and aunt Wang Huiling bribed Doctor Liu to commit him to Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital. They intended to have him declared legally incapable and seize his inheritance 1.

Chen Ji anticipated their scheme and mortgaged his house to the underworld figure Brother Pao, arranging circumstances that would bring Pao into conflict with his relatives. At the hospital, he killed Wang Long—the driver responsible for his parents’ deaths—but suffered fatal stab wounds. Before dying, he asked Brother Pao to distribute the recorded evidence against Doctor Liu and his uncle 2 3.

Li Qingniao, who had predicted his journey to another world, covered Chen Ji’s eyes as he died. Chen Ji subsequently awakened in a recently deceased body at Zhou Chengyi’s residence, without the knife wounds from his original death 1 3 4.

The Body’s Previous Identity

The body Chen Ji occupies belonged to a neglected, illegitimate son of Luo City’s assistant prefect. His legal mother had placed him at Taiping Medical Hall rather than pay Eastern Grove Academy’s monthly tuition of ten taels. His legitimate elder brothers, Chen Wenzong and Chen Wenxiao, enjoyed the household’s recognition and wealth 23 24 37.

The original owner was also a “sparrow”-rank spy for the Jing Dynasty’s Military Intelligence Directorate. His biological mother had entered the Ning Dynasty undercover and married into the Chen household, while his maternal uncle established the Directorate’s southern intelligence network 32 33.

Chen Ji inherits neither a clear account of these connections nor the memories needed to navigate them. He reconstructs his identity from other people’s remarks, discovering that the previous owner also owed seven gambling houses a total of 1,231 taels 32 46.

Appearance

• Original body: Fairly handsome, with clear skin and clear, sincere eyes; his complexion is attributed to rarely going outside 1.
• Transmigrated body: Thin, and seventeen years old 7 22.
• Usual clothing: A mended gray cloth robe, coarse sash, and worn cloth shoes sharply contrast with his wealthy brothers’ dress 37.
• Gifted outfit: Xibing supplies a dark navy, stand-collared robe with silver-adorned collar buttons. Without matching boots or a belt, he wears it with his old shoes and hemp sash 23.

Personality

Chen Ji is calculating, observant, and willing to exploit an opponent’s assumptions. His quiet, apparently shy manner initially deceives Brother Pao, while his hospital scheme turns his relatives’ forged diagnosis against them. Under interrogation, he withholds useful information despite severe pain to preserve his bargaining position 2 5.

His determination does not make him fearless. During his first revenge killing, he trembles with terror but refuses to release Wang Long. Later, the deaths surrounding him leave him unsettled rather than indifferent 3 22.

He values independence over official standing. He declines Lin Chaoqing’s recruitment, has no desire to serve imperial power, and openly tells Consort Jing that he assists the Secret Intelligence Directorate for money. His expensive cultivation makes payment a practical necessity 21 30 46.

Chen Ji remains capable of empathy and attachment. He understands Liu Quxing’s anxiety about securing a future, protects She Dengke’s private confession despite his betrayal, and comes to regard the medical hall as home. His bond with Dark Cloud gives him renewed hope after he had stopped looking forward to life 14 15 46 47.

Little Monk describes him as having a gambler’s nature—not because he wagers money, but because he wagers his life 48.

Abilities & Skills

Mountain Lord / Dragon Swallowing Cultivation

Chen Ji follows the same cultivation path as Old Yao, using the Stone-Bearing Stake-Embracing Technique and the molten energy received from Dark Cloud 15 31.

• Stance-based circulation: Correct posture produces warmth and directs the molten current toward his acupoints 7 15.
• Furnace fires: Strengthen and invigorate his body while helping contain the cold within his dantian 15 21.
• Shared-path limitation: Old Yao explains that cultivators on the same path divide access to its limited Dao, reducing their cultivation speed and creating incentives for betrayal 30 31.
• Xingguan potential: Dream Rooster identifies this talent in Chen Ji, but does not establish that he has attained a named xingguan rank 25.

Icy-Current Perception and Conversion

Chen Ji can perceive and absorb gray-white icy currents that others around him do not visibly notice 5 28.

• Observed source: His examination of prison records links the currents to dead officials; dead jianghu figures and itinerant officials do not produce the same effect in his investigation 28.
• Ginseng conversion: Contact with old ginseng draws out the cold and forms transparent beads 9 15.
• Dark Cloud’s role: After eating these beads, Dark Cloud returns molten energy that Chen Ji can control 14 15.
• Danger: Accumulated cold can overwhelm his furnace fires and freeze his body. The inner prison contains enough to threaten the enclosure around his dantian 15 28.
• Temporary protection: Holding an oil lamp bearing an eight-trigrams formation makes nearby currents recede 28.

During a near-fatal freezing episode, Chen Ji hears an unknown being demand its Divine Dao, Sword Seed, and Green Mountain. It then declares that it can use his body to return to the world. Chen Ji suspects possession, but does not know the speaker’s identity or its connection to his childhood dreams 3 15.

Communication with Dark Cloud

Chen Ji understands Dark Cloud’s speech, while other people hear ordinary meowing. He realizes that he is understanding cat language rather than hearing a cat speak human words 15.

• Receives warnings and information about Prince Jing’s Estate through Dark Cloud 24 35.
• Coordinates ambushes through gestures and shared timing 21.
• Depends on Dark Cloud for emergency ginseng retrieval and energy conversion 15 30.

Investigation and Cryptography

Chen Ji applies his original-world interests to intelligence work and criminal investigation 2 46.

• Reveals an alum-based hidden message using vinegar 5.
• Identifies altered characters in copied books as an intelligence channel 17 20.
• Decodes a message connecting Liu Shiyu to an important figure inside Prince Jing’s Estate 25.
• Demonstrates a codebook cipher to convince a Jing intelligence officer of his usefulness 33.
• Detects evidence that Liu Shiyu’s apparent hanging was staged and questions the circumstances of Old Master Liu’s supposed death 28.

Resistance to Dream Interrogation

His furnace fires help him recover awareness and movement inside Dream Rooster’s layered dream 24 25.

• Molten currents lift him back through successive dream layers 25.
• He regains enough control of his hands to rustle a medical book in the waking world 25.
• Limit: He does not escape unaided; Liu Quxing’s voice finally breaks the dream 25.

Combat

Chen Ji initially relies on resolve, improvisation, and cooperation rather than formal technique 4 21.

• Uses a concealed dagger, porcelain shards, and a medicine-cutting knife when threatened 3 4 40.
• Prevents an assassin from drawing his saber, then restrains him long enough for Dark Cloud to strike 21.
• Can evade and counterattack an ordinary ambusher, but is caught by a much faster intelligence officer 31.
• Liang Gou’er judges his instinct for exploiting openings better suited to the sword than the Liang Family’s direct, dominating saber style 43.
• Liang recommends the Sword Seed at the Jing Dynasty’s Martial Temple; Chen Ji has not obtained it in the documented chapters 43.

Scientific and Medical Knowledge

Chen Ji’s scientific knowledge is much stronger than his medical training or literary recall 13 46.

• Identifies Consort Jing’s glass cup as the source of chronic lead poisoning 11.
• Studies medical texts to conceal his unfamiliarity with the original apprentice’s identity, concentrating initially on external injuries 13 15.
• Dispenses medicine from prescriptions but declines diagnoses when working alone 13.
• Knows how to make gunpowder and successfully produces purified saltpeter crystals during his preparations; a completed explosive is not yet demonstrated 46 50.

Equipment & Items

• Old ginseng: Essential to drawing out the icy current and producing beads; its cost places a substantial financial burden on his cultivation 15 30.
• Buddhist Sect Circulating Treasure bracelet: Received from Bright Rabbit as payment; redeemable for one hundred taels at Dharani Temple 30.
• General Outline of Medicine: A study text that also serves as his means of attracting Liu Quxing’s attention during dream interrogation 13 25.
• Medicine-cutting knife: Taken from behind the clinic counter when he believes assassins are approaching 40.
• Saltpeter, refined sugar, and liquor: Materials gathered for his secret gunpowder project 50.

Relationships

• Dark Cloud — Closest companion and cultivation partner. The cat saves him from freezing, gathers intelligence, and fights beside him. After finding Dark Cloud’s mother’s home empty, Chen Ji promises that they will depend on each other 15 21 23.
• Old Yao — Medical and cultivation master. Gives him shelter and stance training, reveals the Mountain Lord path, and arranges an opportunity to learn from Liang Gou’er. His crow has secretly observed Chen Ji 7 30 31 43.
• Liu Quxing — Senior apprentice whose rivalry gradually coexists with support. Initially urges Chen Ji to leave the clinic, later inadvertently rescues him from Dream Rooster and defends him at the literary gathering 15 25 46.
• She Dengke — Fellow apprentice who helps Chunhua’s attempt to frame him, then apologizes and admits his hope of marrying her. Chen Ji accepts compensation but says She Dengke owes him a life 40 47.
• Cloud Goat and Bright Rabbit — Dangerous employers within the Secret Intelligence Directorate. They pay for his investigative work but also interrogate him and later plot to have him killed through another party 5 20 30 35.
• Lin Chaoqing — Bureau of Punishments officer who respects his ability and offers him employment. Chen Ji declines 20 21.
• Consort Jing — Patient turned enemy and prospective employer. After attempts to lure and frame him, she offers him two thousand taels to kill Liu Mingxian 11 35 39 46.
• Consort Yun — Patron who supplies clothing through Xibing and later privately questions him about a missed Military Intelligence Directorate delivery 11 23 37.
• Zhu Baili — Commandery princess who treats him and his companions to noodles and defends him against pressure to produce more poetry 47 48.
• Zhu Yunxi — Prince Jing’s heir. Pays to use the clinic as a secret passage and purchases a poetic half-line from Chen Ji 41 47.
• Little Monk — Reincarnated Buddhist child interested in Chen Ji’s inner nature. Recognizes his willingness to gamble with his own life 41 48.
• Liang Gou’er — Martial adviser who redirects Chen Ji’s interest from saber techniques toward the Sword Seed 43.
• Chen Wenzong and Chen Wenxiao — Legitimate elder brothers of his host body. Chen Ji refuses Wenzong’s invitation to return home after Wenxiao publicly attacks his character 45 46.
• Li Qingniao — Mysterious hospital patient who predicts his passage to another world and sends him onward at death 1 3.
• Brother Pao / Chen Chong — Underworld figure used in Chen Ji’s inheritance scheme. Respects his resolve and agrees to help expose the evidence against his relatives and Doctor Liu 2 3.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Zhou Chengyi and the Liu Family

Immediately after transmigrating, Chen Ji must make himself useful to Cloud Goat and Bright Rabbit to survive. His discovery of Zhou Chengyi’s hidden message draws him into the investigation of a Jing Dynasty intelligence network 4 5.

He subsequently exposes the copied-book correspondence between Zhou Chengyi and Liu Shiyu. Further investigation reveals that Liu Shiyu’s apparent suicide was murder and that Old Master Liu’s coffin is empty. His deductions earn payment and recruitment offers, but also make his identity valuable to—and endangered by—multiple factions 20 21 28 30 35.

A Home at Taiping Medical Hall

Chen Ji initially remains at the clinic because it offers his best available protection. After discovering how the wealthy Chen household treats him, he returns its three hundred copper coins and brings his purchased provisions to Old Yao instead 7 23.

His partnership with Dark Cloud becomes central to both survival and cultivation. By the time his elder brother invites him back to the Chen household, he has already accepted the medical hall as his home and has no intention of returning 15 23 46.

Inherited Espionage

An ambush at Hundred Deer Pavilion confirms that his host body belonged to the Jing Dynasty’s intelligence network. Chen Ji survives questioning by demonstrating a codebook cipher and claiming that his mother taught it to him. The officer accepts the explanation and promises to request promotion from “sparrow” to “pheasant” rank 31 32 33.

He is ordered to approach Cloud Goat and Bright Rabbit while maintaining contact with an important figure inside Prince Jing’s Estate. Because he lacks the original owner’s knowledge, even identifying that contact becomes a dangerous problem 33 34.

Prince Jing’s Estate and the Gunpowder Project

Chen Ji’s discovery of Consort Jing’s lead poisoning does not secure her goodwill. She later attempts to lure him into a trap and has him framed for stealing a valuable pearl. When the accusation fails, he redirects her anger toward the Liu Family and eventually accepts her contract against Liu Mingxian 11 35 39 40 46.

Meanwhile, the heir, Bai Li, and Little Monk begin using the clinic to sneak out of the estate, expanding Chen Ji’s circle beyond intelligence officers and hostile patrons 40 41.

After the literary gathering, he secretly prepares gunpowder. Old Yao discovers the work, recognizes its dangerous potential through divination, and demands six taels to remain silent and keep watch. Chen Ji’s successful crystallization experiment marks the latest documented step in the project 46 50.

Notable Quotes

“Not for sale.”
— Refusing Li Qingniao’s offer to buy the cicadas from his twelfth year 3.

“For money. They give me fifty taels of silver each time I help them find a clue.”
— Explaining why he works with the Secret Intelligence Directorate 46.

“As the heir and a commandery princess, they didn't get angry when I blocked their way, and they never once used their status to pressure me. They really are very good people.”
— Assessing Zhu Yunxi and Zhu Baili after charging them passage through the clinic 41.