Chen Ye

Biodata

Power Progression

Chen Ye’s panel supports multiple simultaneous professions. Reaching a profession’s maximum level can unlock branching class changes, while practical work suited to that profession often provides greater gains than isolated training 1 5 13 48.

Background / History

Transmigration and Blackwater Lake

Before transmigrating, Chen Ye was an overworked company employee. He awakened in the body of a youth with the same name, whose Yin-Dispelling Talisman had failed during a dive in Blackwater Lake. The original youth escaped the water but died after developing a severe fever 1.

The body’s former owner belonged to the fallen Chen Lineage. The Liu Lineage, once a family ally, had joined its enemies rather than helping it. Liu Chan, the former owner’s childhood sweetheart, was among those Chen Ye later encountered after the Liu Lineage was also exiled 48.

For three months, Chen Ye survived as a convict pearl diver under the Blood Lotus Sect. His Boat Dweller profession helped him locate spirit clams and obtain consistent harvests, earning promotion to fourth-level convict. That success also attracted Zhao Qiu and two accomplices, who wanted his pearl-finding method 1.

After sensing an unusual craving upon seeing a ninth-grade spirit pearl, Chen Ye suspected it could activate the Boat of the Other Shore. He ventured into the lake’s central waters, fought off a strange fish, and obtained a pearl that unlocked the boat 1 2.

Great Zhao: From Servant to Vigilante

His first journey placed him in the body of a Lin Family study attendant who had been beaten to death after Lin Yan accused him of stealing a jeweled hairpin. The predecessor had actually discovered her secret meeting with a man; Chen Ye suspected the accusation was intended to silence him 3.

Assigned the Petty Thief profession, Chen Ye stole a drunkard’s purse to buy food. Fang Tao subsequently recruited him into the Rong Character Gate, providing lodging and instruction. Chen Ye trained diligently while concealing the full extent of his progress 3 4.

After seeing Lin Yan meet her lover at Fayuan Temple, Chen Ye learned she was about to marry Lu Jingcheng. Suspecting the hurried marriage concealed a pregnancy, he infiltrated the Lu residence and delivered an anonymous warning. Lu Jingcheng believed the allegations and demanded that the engagement be broken 6 10 11.

War, famine, rising taxes, and grain speculation eventually shifted Chen Ye’s attention beyond personal revenge. As a Nightwalker, he forced the Lin Family’s Granary Full of Fortune to distribute its rice to starving refugees. The operation made his masked identity famous while leaving his companions unaware that he was the celebrated hero 14 16 18.

Under the name Treading the Moon, he publicly threatened to kill Li Chunfeng, a nobleman notorious for abusing and killing women. He used wind-driven fires to disrupt the Duke Anguo residence’s defenses before infiltrating it. Li Chunfeng’s death brought public celebration and an unsuccessful official manhunt 20 24 28.

Chen Ye also intercepted a letter proving Lin Hong’s contact with the invading steppe forces. He killed the courier A De and delivered the evidence to Lu Ying, intending to turn the court and the great families’ competing interests against the Lin Family 30.

Replacing the Emperor

After becoming a Thousand-Faced Thief Saint, Chen Ye infiltrated the palace. He killed a powerful eunuch and copied his appearance to deceive the Imperial Guards. He later killed Xuanjizi and Emperor Yang Zhao, concealed their bodies, and impersonated the emperor 35 37.

As Yang Zhao, he secured the Imperial Guard’s loyalty through money, food, and personal attention. When Wang Yuanzhi and Cui Lang arranged an ambush during the winter solstice sacrifice, Chen Ye accepted the invitation with his own plan to eliminate their influence 39 40.

Following the confrontation, he purged corrupt officials, confiscated clan wealth, released women being held for pill refinement, and funded grain relief and military preparations. He reinforced the capital’s defenses as Yelü Boyang’s steppe army approached 42.

Saving and Reforming Great Zhao

During the siege, Chen Ye alternated between governing, organizing the defense, and scouting the enemy camp. He infiltrated the steppe army in a dead soldier’s appearance; Yelü Boyang was subsequently killed, and the invading force collapsed. Tong Lei led the pursuit while Chen Ye returned to the city and resumed his imperial identity 43 45.

Although the Boat of the Other Shore offered him a return journey, Chen Ye stayed to repair the dynasty. Over the next three years, he punished corruption, dismantled entrenched aristocratic interests, centralized military authority, reduced taxes, encouraged agriculture and sericulture, and opposed land consolidation so displaced people could regain land 45 46.

Before departing, he entrusted his remaining self-awareness to continue ruling. His return to Blackwater Lake occurred at the same instant he had originally left, despite the years he had experienced in Great Zhao 46.

Return and Second Journey

Back at Blackwater Lake, Chen Ye retained Nightwalker lv3 alongside Boat Dweller lv2. Zhao Qiu and his accomplices confronted him in secluded waters; their subsequent disappearance caused no disturbance among the convicts 46 47 48.

When Liu Chan begged him to take her in, Chen Ye refused. He felt neither satisfaction nor distress at the Liu Lineage’s downfall and instead concentrated on finding a better spirit pearl for his next journey 48.

He obtained an eighth-grade pearl and escaped an encounter with White Calamity Qi by merging into the underwater darkness. Consuming the pearl sent him to a stronger martial-arts world as a Green Bamboo Mountain patrol leader with more than a dozen subordinates 49.

After a month of patrols and saber training, Chen Ye was still searching for a method to cultivate internal force. By his latest documented appearance, he had reached Pingyang Town, where a martial arts school rejected him because of his age, unknown background, and lack of three local guarantors 49 50.

Appearance

• Great Zhao body: Initially thin and weakened by injuries and hunger. Six months of regular meals and training made him taller, with mature, handsome features and a scholarly air 3 4.
• Public bearing: Described as tall, delicate-featured, and composed, contrasting with the rougher men of the jianghu. A scholar’s robe allowed him to pass convincingly as a young scholar 8 10.
• Second destination-world body: Appears to be in his early twenties, with an ordinary, honest-looking face and a tall, muscular build that gives him a fierce presence 49.
• Disguises: As a Thousand-Faced Thief Saint, he can reproduce another person’s face, build, voice, and bearing, including a woman’s appearance 33.

Personality

Chen Ye is cautious, pragmatic, and strongly motivated by survival. He prepares escape plans, scouts targets, conceals his true ability, and avoids exposing valuable possessions. Even when staging a public challenge, he prepares a complete operation rather than relying on bravado 2 4 10 22 48.

His concern for others grows as his strength increases. He refuses to steal from the poor, targets wealthy bullies, distributes grain during famine, and remains in Great Zhao after earning the right to leave because he considers its recovery unfinished work 5 16 45.

He is also capable of calculated violence and indirect revenge. Rather than immediately killing Lin Hong, he chooses to expose the family’s treason and exploit its rivals’ self-interest. His compassion does not extend indiscriminately to former enemies: he rejects Liu Chan’s appeal without anger or pleasure 30 48.

Discipline is central to his progress. He supplements instruction with private nightly practice and later works almost without rest while governing Great Zhao. As ruler, he favors tangible rewards for soldiers over grand speeches 4 40 42 46.

Abilities & Skills

Profession Panel

His private panel records professions, talents, skills, and advancement opportunities 1.

• Unlimited profession capacity: Boat Dweller and Nightwalker coexist without overwriting one another 47 48.
• Profession acquisition: Practicing an occupation and gaining recognition can awaken it; destination worlds can also assign starting professions 1 3 49.
• Branching advancement: Maximum-level professions offer several possible successor classes 5 14 33.
• Practice and application: Skills are retained once learned, while relevant operations and public demonstrations can accelerate growth 5 8 13.
• Increasing difficulty: An easy bank robbery eventually provides no meaningful advancement, prompting him to seek more demanding operations 20.

Boat of the Other Shore

The boat transports Chen Ye’s consciousness between worlds and can carry some of his accumulated gains back to Blackwater Lake 2 46.

• Fuel: Absorbs spiritual essence from graded spirit pearls through Devour 2 49.
• Starting identity: The quality of the sacrificed pearl determines the rank of his destination-world starting identity 48.
• Carryover capacity: His impact on a world strengthens the boat and determines how much of his classes, skills, and insights it can transport 46.
• Time difference: His years in Great Zhao consume only an instant in the original world 46.
• Limit: Reaching Thief Ancestor does not guarantee retaining it; his first return carries back only Nightwalker lv3 and selected skill levels 46.

Pearl Diving and Physical Talents

Boat Dweller provides the abilities that sustain his livelihood in Blackwater Lake 1 48.

• Diving lv2: Extends breath-holding and improves adaptation to water pressure 1.
• Spirit Clam Sensing lv2: Detects clams within five meters and offers a preliminary judgment of whether they contain pearls 1.
• Yin Cold Resistance: A Boat Dweller talent; he still uses talismans and ginger soup to survive the lake’s cold 1 2.
• Ox and Horse Physique: Maximizes nourishment absorbed from food, including coarse grains 2.
• Ferocious Physique: His Bandit talent strengthens the body and slightly improves endurance and resistance to blows 49.

Dexterity and Blade Techniques

His thief training develops precise hand movements, rapid cuts, and effective ranged attacks 4 28.

• Lingering Fragrance on the Hands: Makes his hands exceptionally nimble and harder to notice during certain activities 3.
• Deft Hands: Supports pickpocketing and feats such as retrieving coins from boiling water or oil without injury 4 6 8.
• Swift Blade: A knife skill developed through sustained practice; used in assassination and later as a foundation for saber training 4 35 49.
• Throwing: Improves projectile accuracy, force, and range. Its stated coverage includes knives, archery, and concealed weapons 28.
• Wind-Cleaving Saber Technique: A basic external martial art. It reaches lv2, but does not provide the internal-force cultivation Chen Ye seeks 49.

Movement and Shadow Concealment

Cat Burglar and Nightwalker give him exceptional access to rooftops, walls, and guarded compounds 5 14.

• Light as a Swallow: Improves jumping and balance while allowing silent landings. During testing, he jumps more than three meters and scales a wall over ten meters high through successive footholds 5.
• Running on Eaves and Walls: Enables rapid climbing along walls and eaves 5.
• Child of Shadow: Greatly conceals his form, sounds, and presence in darkness 14.
• Shadow Concealment: Actively hides his form and presence for a limited duration; higher levels increase duration and reduce flaws 18.
• Limits: Even with maximum-level stealth, he considers escape from a surrounded enemy headquarters difficult and chooses less heavily defended targets 43.

Identity Imitation

Thousand-Faced Thief Saint allows him to infiltrate organizations by becoming someone their members recognize 33 35.

• Soul Seizing and Shadow Stealing: Copies a contacted target’s appearance, voice, build, mannerisms, and distinctive bearing 33.
• Bone Alteration: Adjusts skeletal structure, height, and build 33.
• Sound Mimicry: Reproduces previously heard voices and animal calls 33.
• Accuracy: Familiarity improves imitation; ordinary targets require less time to copy convincingly 33.
• Demonstrated identities: Fang Tao, Little Bell, a palace eunuch, Yang Zhao, and a steppe soldier 33 35 37 43.
• Transparent Thief’s Heart: The Thief Ancestor talent brings all thief skills to perfection in his hands, but is not retained after his first return 45 46.

Planning and Governance

Chen Ye combines reconnaissance, deception, and logistical management rather than relying solely on combat 10 24 42.

• Maps patrol routes and blind spots before infiltrating a residence 10.
• Uses a favorable wind and incendiary jars to force defenders away from their posts 24.
• Exploits political rivalries by anonymously delivering evidence against enemies 11 30.
• Organizes city defenses, supply replenishment, reserve rotations, and military recruitment 42 43.
• Implements administrative, military, taxation, and agricultural reforms during his rule 46.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Pearl-diving boat — His working vessel on Blackwater Lake, distinct from the Boat of the Other Shore 1 2.
• Yin-Dispelling Talisman — Sect-issued protection against the lake’s cold. Its unreliable duration killed his predecessor; White Calamity Qi later shatters one in under five seconds 1 49.
• Spirit shovel — A magical clam-opening tool whose spiritual power also repels the strange fish that attacks him 1 2.
• Ginger soup — Prepared before diving to help dispel accumulated cold afterward 1 2.
• Thin-bladed knife — A three-inch knife used for dexterity and blade training 4.
• Flying knives — Used for ranged practice, assassination, and delivering a letter into Lu Ying’s study 30 33.
• Sling and incendiary jars — Concealable equipment used to set fires at Duke Anguo’s residence from roughly a hundred paces away 24.
• Spirit pearls — Ninth- and eighth-grade pearls fuel his first two journeys 2 49.
• Wind-Cleaving Saber Technique manual — His study material while serving as a Green Bamboo Mountain patrol leader 49.

Relationships

• Fang Tao — Recruiter, instructor, and supportive senior in the Rong Character Gate. Gives Chen Ye shelter and later travel money, without knowing he is the masked hero he admires 4 18 37.
• Wu Xiaorui — A personal acquaintance who visits him and worries about his safety. Chen Ye checks that she is safe among the palace captives; she later recognizes that he has quietly accomplished something extraordinary 23 39 40 45.
• Lin Yan — Enemy responsible for framing his Great Zhao predecessor. Chen Ye exposes her secret affair and suspected pregnancy to her intended husband 3 6 11.
• Lin Hong — An enemy whose collusion with the steppe forces Chen Ye exposes through an intercepted letter 30.
• Lu Jingcheng and Lu Ying — Recipients of his anonymous warnings and evidence; their household becomes an indirect channel for his moves against the Lin Family 11 30.
• Cheng Zhiwei — Investigator and adversary. Chen Ye respects her ability to anticipate his escape route, though he also avoids traps arranged against him 18 22.
• Tong Lei — Military collaborator during Chen Ye’s imperial impersonation. Helps remove hostile ministers and leads the pursuit of the defeated steppe army 40 42 45.
• Yang Zhao — Emperor whom Chen Ye kills and impersonates, using the identity to take control of Great Zhao 37 42.
• Little Bell — Cai Character Gate performer who volunteers to assist his knife demonstration. He later tests his disguise talent by copying her appearance 9 33.
• Zhao Qiu — Predatory fellow convict who targets his pearl-finding ability and demands his pearls. Zhao Qiu and his two companions disappear after confronting him 1 47 48.
• Liu Chan — Childhood sweetheart of his original-world body’s former owner. Chen Ye refuses her request for protection after her family, which betrayed the Chen Lineage, is exiled 48.