Zhao Yan

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Origins and the Sign-In System

Zhao Yan was an orphan who nearly starved to death beneath a bridge. The Sign-In System appeared and rewarded him with the Sunflower Manual, giving him the means to survive. After undertaking the manual’s cultivation and becoming a eunuch, he adopted the name Zhao Yan 232 238.

He maintained an ordinary daytime life while dressing in black to rob martial arts schools at night. His system frequently supplied disappointing or dangerous rewards: body-tempering powder, a foot wrap during a crisis, and a supposedly peerless weapon that was actually another school’s prized treasure. Possessing that weapon made him a target of pursuit 232.

Meeting Lin Yu

After Zhao Yan’s furious complaints triggered a Supreme Lottery Ticket, the draw brought Lin Yu’s twelfth clone into an abandoned factory. Zhao Yan regarded the apparently ordinary man as a useless prize and initially spared him only because killing him seemed wasteful 232 233.

When Golden Bull Martial Arts School fighters arrived, Zhao Yan used Lin Yu to divert their attention. After Lin Yu unexpectedly defeated one attacker, Zhao Yan ambushed the Grandmaster leading the pursuit and killed the remaining fighters. He then accepted Lin Yu as a potentially useful companion 233.

Old Man Black Wind’s Inheritance

Zhao Yan brought Lin Yu to an abandoned Jiangcheng hospital to search for Spirit Jade. There, Golden Bull Martial Arts School disciples and two Great Grandmasters were attempting to seize Old Man Black Wind’s inheritance 235 236.

After breaking the weakened protective barrier, Zhao Yan exploited the two Great Grandmasters’ entrapment by Bone-Eroding Yin Fire. He prevented them from amputating their burning arms, repeatedly wounded them, and finally killed them. He secured a wooden box and a Martial Venerable’s manual before returning home with Lin Yu 236 237 238.

Despite his earlier threats to abandon Lin Yu if trouble arose, Zhao Yan guarded him for a full day and night while he studied the Primordial Unity Ki Technique. Zhao Yan examined the technique himself but rejected switching to it because doing so would require sacrificing his existing cultivation 235 238.

Assault on the Golden Bull Martial Arts School

Zhao Yan enlisted Lin Yu to create a distraction while he infiltrated the Golden Bull Martial Arts School, whose treasured saber he had stolen. The assault escalated into a battle against the school’s experts and defensive energy shield 244 245.

During the fighting, he exchanged Spirit Jade for system-assisted advancement to Great Grandmaster. After Lin Yu destroyed a power station, Zhao Yan tore open the weakened shield and carried him out. Both suffered severe injuries, and Zhao Yan acknowledged that Lin Yu had opened their path to survival 247 248.

Upper-Realm Pursuit and the Spirit Vein

The school summoned upper-realm assistance. At Nightscape KTV, Zhao Yan and Lin Yu encountered the envoys Bai Xuan and Tie Kuang alongside Jin Potian and Feng Tao. Zhao Yan mocked and attacked Bai Xuan, but the envoy shattered his blade and overwhelmed both companions 249 250 251.

Zhao Yan nevertheless escaped with the gravely injured Lin Yu and dragged him into the wilderness. Lin Yu suspected that the system had supplied a temporary burst of power, though the escape’s precise mechanism was not confirmed. Zhao Yan brought them to a cave near a mass grave and shared stolen pills that kept both alive 252 253 254.

After nearly a month of slow recovery, Zhao Yan explored the cave’s icy pool and discovered a submerged passage. He and Lin Yu followed it into a vast underground spirit vein, where abundant Spirit Jade allowed them to heal and advance rapidly 254 255 256.

Final Battle and Disappearance

After reaching Peak Martial Venerable, Zhao Yan resumed his revenge. He slaughtered a Golden Bull branch’s defenders, plundered its stores, and left a bloody “Zhao” on the wall. During the subsequent ambush, Lin Yu crippled Jin Potian, and Zhao Yan killed him 258.

Zhao Yan then baited Tie Kuang and Bai Xuan into the underground cavern, where the Two Realms Barrier suppressed the upper-realm cultivators. Even with that advantage and Lin Yu’s formation support, the pair could not defeat them 259 260 261.

Zhao Yan forced two breakthroughs during the battle, ultimately consuming Spirit Jade raw despite the damage to his body. At his limit, he seized both enemies and dragged them into the barrier, calling on Lin Yu to avenge him. His survival remained unresolved; Lin Yu recovered his broken, bloodied blade and pledged to seek revenge 261 262.

Appearance

• Build and face: Lean, with sinister-looking eyes and brows and a pale complexion 232 233.
• Eyes: Frequently described as scarlet or crimson 248 251 258.
• Throat: Flat, without a visible Adam’s apple 232.
• Clothing: Wears a fitted black outfit during his nighttime activities 232.
• Voice: Hoarse or raspy 233 252.

Personality

Zhao Yan believes strength is the only dependable foundation of survival and that absolute power would let him control everything. His experiences with starvation, violence, and the system’s frustrating rewards leave him hostile, suspicious, and prone to manic outbursts 232. Lin Yu later discovers that the system has been embezzling Zhao Yan’s rewards and deliberately making survival harder, and blames much of his instability on that treatment 262.

He is exceptionally cruel toward enemies. Rather than immediately killing the Great Grandmasters trapped by Yin Fire, he prolongs their suffering and takes pleasure in humiliating men who once held power over Jiangcheng 237. His recklessness nevertheless has limits: after learning more about his upper-realm enemies, he postpones revenge to cultivate rather than knowingly enter a hopeless fight 257.

His conduct toward Lin Yu reveals loyalty beneath his abrasive manner. He guards Lin Yu during cultivation, rescues him while severely injured himself, and supplies medicine to keep him alive, while dismissing concern or gratitude with insults and practical excuses 238 252 253 254. Lin Yu’s extraordinary cultivation speed also makes Zhao Yan privately envious and drives him to train harder 256 257.

Abilities & Skills

Sunflower Manual

The system-given technique that establishes Zhao Yan’s martial foundation emphasizes exceptional speed and an eerie, chilling presence 232 237 256.

• Enables movement fast enough that the two Great Grandmasters at the hospital could not have caught him even at their best 237.
• Produces distinctive orange-yellow True Qi 257.
• Its cultivation leaves his body incomplete, severely obstructing normal advancement to Great Grandmaster 248.

Saber Combat and Blood Moon Slash

Zhao Yan combines rapid movement with deceptive blade angles, precision strikes, and ambushes 233 258.

• Channels True Qi into his blade to attack barriers and defenses 236 247.
• Throws his saber accurately enough to intercept a weapon aimed at destroying the inheritance manual 237.
• Blood Moon Slash: Coats the blade in blood-red ice crystals and delivers an upward slash. It partially deflects Tie Kuang’s axe, allowing Zhao Yan to use the impact to retreat 259.
• His agility frustrates Tie Kuang, but it does not erase the upper-realm fighter’s advantage in direct combat 258.

Sign-In System

Zhao Yan’s system supplies rewards, lottery opportunities, cultivation resources, and information 232 248 257 258.

• Grants the Sunflower Manual and an upper-realm cultivation technique 232 258.
• Offers breakthrough empowerment in exchange for Spirit Jade 248.
• Identifies the Upper Realm beyond the cavern barrier and explains restrictions on travel 257.
• Secretly withholds rewards and increases Zhao Yan’s hardships, claiming that this develops his potential 262.

Forced Breakthroughs

Zhao Yan can push beyond his established limits through desperate cultivation and overwhelming resource consumption 261.

• Breaks beyond Martial Venerable during combat 261.
• Restores and further increases his strength by swallowing top-grade Spirit Jade 261.
• Limit: The resulting power is unstable; raw Spirit Jade tears through his meridians and cannot prevent his body from failing 261.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Treasured saber: Stolen from the Golden Bull Martial Arts School, provoking its pursuit. Bai Xuan later shatters Zhao Yan’s blade at Nightscape 244 251.
• Later cold saber: Used during his revenge campaign; cracks against Tie Kuang’s axe and is reduced to half a blade by the final battle. Lin Yu retrieves the bloodied remnant 259 261 262.
• Old Man Black Wind’s inheritance: A wooden box associated with Spirit Jade and a Martial Venerable’s secret manual, seized at the abandoned hospital 235 237 238.
• Stolen medicinal pills: Include medicine for sustaining life, stopping bleeding, regrowing flesh, and restoring Internal Force. Zhao Yan shares them with Lin Yu during their cave recovery 254.
• Spirit Jade: Used for system trades, cultivation, and his final, destructive power increases 248 256 261.
• Turtle Breathing Pills and luminous pearls: Prepared for exploring the submerged passage beneath the cave pool 255.

Relationships

• Lin Yu — Twelfth Clone — Initially a disappointing lottery prize and expendable distraction; becomes Zhao Yan’s companion in treasure hunting and revenge. Their repeated rescues develop into genuine loyalty, and Lin Yu vows to avenge him 232 233 238 252 261 262.
• Sign-In System — His benefactor and exploiter: grants the technique that saves his life but embezzles rewards and engineers hardship 232 248 262.
• Golden Bull Martial Arts School — Principal enemy, first pursuing him over its stolen saber and later suffering repeated attacks 244 248 258.
• Jin Potian — Enemy school master whom Zhao Yan repeatedly humiliates and ultimately kills after Lin Yu cripples him 251 258.
• Bai Xuan — Upper-realm envoy who overwhelmingly defeats Zhao Yan at Nightscape; later dragged into the Two Realms Barrier with him 251 261.
• Tie Kuang — Bai Xuan’s axe-wielding junior brother and Zhao Yan’s direct opponent during the revenge operation; dragged into the barrier alongside Bai Xuan 258 259 261.

Notable Quotes

“A Martial Venerable can't beat someone above the Martial Venerable realm? … Simple. I'll just break through!” 260

“Kid! … Remember, avenge me!” 261