Yang Chan

Biodata

Background / History

Yang Chan is the deity worshipped in Mount Hua Town. She grants requests within her power and particularly enjoys blessing newborn children. Her temple contains a compassionate-looking statue standing on a lotus and holding a treasured lamp 27 37.

After she healed an injured scholar, others began seeking treatment for wounds supposedly received while helping local residents. Some had only minor injuries but refused to leave without her attention, remaining in the temple to read. Yang Chan eventually stopped appearing before them. Jiang Zhe relieved her of one such petitioner by healing his tiger wound and removing him from the temple 26 30.

Unknown to her, Dingguang Joyful Buddha had spent over a thousand years preparing a scheme against her, weaving karma, romantic attachments, and fate around her soul. The old yellow ox regarded the scheme against Weaver Girl as an experiment preceding the larger operation at Mount Hua 4. Joyful Boy’s role was to approach Yang Chan across successive reincarnations, using Joyful Buddha Power to cultivate her affection until he could take her fortune through the Joyful Chan Method 36 37 38.

Appearance

• Clothing: An elegant woman wearing a plain white dress when she receives Jiang Zhe and Weaver Girl 39.
• Expression: Described as having a kindly face 30.
• Spiritual manifestation: Lotus-shaped spiritual light flashes in her eyes when she observes a distant Buddhist presence 30.
• Signature item: Carries a green lotus lantern—the Precious Lotus Lantern 30.

Personality

Yang Chan is compassionate toward her worshippers, especially children. Blessing babies is her favorite duty, and she responds tenderly to the newborn presented to her in Liu Family Village. After the infant’s destruction, she puts aside her own confusion to calm the villagers and reassure the bereaved village chief 37 38.

Her kindness does not prevent frustration or anger. The scholars’ persistent demands exhaust her patience, and she reacts fiercely to the possibility that someone is harming people within her domain 30 39.

She is reluctant to trouble her elder brother, initially withholding news of Buddhist activity because she does not want him to worry or rush over unnecessarily. Once she recognizes a possible threat directed at herself, however, she decides to seek his help 30 34 39. She also worries about Weaver Girl’s attachment to Jiang Zhe, recalling her mother’s descent from heaven and the suffering associated with love between immortals and mortals 40.

Abilities & Skills

Divine Blessings

Yang Chan exercises divine authority over Mount Hua and its inhabitants 37 38.

• Blesses newborn children through her temple statue 37.
• Can grant a child to Village Chief Liu; she considers this no great difficulty within her domain 38.
• Can bless the region with favorable fortunes and a flourishing population 38.

Healing

Yang Chan treats injuries through divine power and can use the Precious Lotus Lantern for healing 30.

• Previously healed a scholar, prompting further requests from similarly injured petitioners 30.
• Considers the lantern unnecessary for trivial wounds, some of which nearly heal while their owners wait 30.

Incense-Wish Manifestation

Yang Chan can act through a statue and form a divine body using incense offerings and wishes 37 38.

• Channels golden light through the statue’s eyes and forms an arm to touch a newborn 37.
• Manifests an incense divine body to address the villagers directly 38.
• Limit: Jiang Zhe judges this manifestation to possess no more than one-thousandth of her true strength. He relies on its reduced perception to conceal his intervention 38.

Spiritual Perception

Yang Chan can distinguish supernatural presences and observe celestial phenomena 30 34.

• Detects Spirit Mountain’s power roughly a thousand li from Mount Hua 30.
• Recognizes the strong Yaochi presence accompanying Weaver Girl 30.
• Identifies Samadhi True Fire and Buddhist power during Jiang Zhe’s battle with Tiger-Taming’s avatar 34.
• Recognizes the intertwined stars as evidence of Weaver Girl’s heaven-ordained romance 40 41.
• Limit: She does not detect Joyful Boy’s concealed Buddhist power until Jiang Zhe’s fire exposes it 39.

Equipment / Items

• Precious Lotus Lantern — A green lotus lantern used for healing and protection. Yang Chan repeatedly cites it as the reason she is safe from harm; it also glows when she senses the nearby clash involving Buddhist power 30 34 48.

Relationships

• Yang Jian / Erlang Shen — Her elder brother and principal protector. He answers her call for help, guards Mount Hua, and attacks Tiger-Taming when the Arhat approaches. Yang Chan also worries about his responsibilities in Guanjiangkou and encourages him to return there 40 48 49.
• Heavenly Emperor / Jade Emperor — Her uncle and Weaver Girl’s father. Yang Chan worries about his reaction to Weaver Girl’s destined romance 4 41.
• Weaver Girl — Her cousin. Yang Chan urges her to leave the mortal world for her safety, but also distracts Yang Jian to keep him from investigating Weaver Girl’s unusual star activity 39 40.
• Chang’e — A friend who visits her by moonlight. They discuss the troublesome scholars, Weaver Girl, and Buddhist activity near Mount Hua. Chang’e urges her to seek help if anything goes wrong 30.
• Jiang Zhe — A cultivator she initially regards favorably for resolving the scholar problem at her temple. She finds him handsome and doubts he is a bad person, although his cultivation makes him a suspect in the infant-burning incident 38 39.
• Joyful Boy — The reincarnating agent used to manipulate her affections. His attempt to transfer Joyful Buddha Power through physical contact is interrupted before he can establish the intended attachment 37 38.
• Dingguang Joyful Buddha — The architect of the long-running scheme to exploit her fortune through a manufactured romantic relationship 4 37.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Buddhist Activity Near Mount Hua

• Yang Chan notices a distant Buddhist presence while speaking with Chang’e. She chooses to watch rather than immediately notify Yang Jian 30.
• She later senses Jiang Zhe’s battle with Tiger-Taming’s avatar, but cannot determine why Samadhi True Fire and Buddhist power are clashing. She again decides against summoning her brother 34.

Liu Family Village Incident

• During a newborn blessing, Joyful Boy attempts to expose Yang Chan to affection-inducing Buddhist power through contact with her manifestation 37.
• Jiang Zhe’s concealed fire serpent destroys Joyful Boy’s reincarnated body and exposes the Buddhist power within it. Yang Chan realizes that the apparent newborn retained memories from a previous life 38.
• She promises an investigation, reassures Village Chief Liu that he can still have a son, and privately summons Weaver Girl 38.
• Recognizing that the Buddhist power may have been meant to transfer onto her, she resolves to involve Yang Jian. Jiang Zhe does not disclose his fuller knowledge of the scheme, fearing retaliation from Spirit Mountain 39.

Yang Jian’s Protection

• Yang Chan reports the incident to her brother while urging Weaver Girl to leave Mount Hua. When the stars reveal her cousin’s developing romance, she diverts Yang Jian’s attention 40 41.
• Yang Jian searches Mount Hua and agrees to remain for three more days before returning to deal with the wicked dragon in Guanjiangkou. He advises Yang Chan to show fewer miracles, warning that excessive familiarity will diminish the people’s reverence 48.
• When Tiger-Taming approaches, Yang Jian intercepts and gravely wounds him, ordering him away from Mount Hua 49.

Trivia

• Jiang Zhe obtains an item identified as Yang Chan’s bellyband through a system lottery. He questions whether such rewards are copies or stolen originals; its origin is not established in the provided chapters 34.