Chen Hetian

Chen Hetian is a three-eyed deva patriarch of the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect, the father of Chen Yueshan, and the master of Zhao Tianjiao. He commands expeditions and military operations with immense authority, but repeatedly places his own interests and family above lower-ranking cultivators. His decision to use Bai Xiaochun as expendable bait creates a lasting enemy, and Bai later destroys his fleshly body during the Heavenspan war. (Chapters 443–505, 533–564, 882–904, and 996–999)

Biography

Command on the Ancient Battleship

Chen Hetian first appears as the deva commanding the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect's soul-hunting expedition. He orders the ancient battleship boarded and treats Zhao Tianjiao with the stern concern of a master responsible for a favored apprentice. Yet when a Heaven-Dao dragonfish appears, he and the expedition's Nascent Soul leaders leave the ship to pursue it, seeking the immense reward such prey represents. Their absence leaves the disciples exposed during the deaths and supernatural disturbances that follow. (Chapters 443–445)

At the Great Wall, Chen Hetian stands among the sect's highest military authorities and can fight Wildlands devas such as Mistress Red-Dust. He observes Bai's rapid rise, survives disasters caused by his medicine, and recognizes the transformation of Bai's frigid qi. These encounters teach him that Bai is unusually dangerous and useful, but not someone whose life he values on its own. (Chapters 461, 486–505)

Choosing Family Inside the Labyrinth

After a deva-soul labyrinth appears beyond the Great Wall, Chen Hetian personally investigates and sees enough to fear what lies inside. Chen Yueshan and Zhao Tianjiao are already trapped there, so he gathers a large rescue force. To draw the hostile Wildlanders away from them, he deliberately sends Bai into the labyrinth as bait, knowing the enemy's hatred and bounty make Bai the ideal target. (Chapters 533–536)

Chen Hetian's choice is not an accident of command. He knows Bai is important, but believes the sect is close to reproducing the Soul Convergence Pill and therefore no longer needs him. He regrets allowing his daughter and apprentice to enter the danger, then weighs their lives against Bai's and chooses them. When the labyrinth destabilizes, he helps organize cultivators from both sides against its barriers and eventually finds Chen Yueshan and Zhao Tianjiao, but he does not search for Bai. (Chapters 536–557 and 882)

Retaliation Against the River-Defying Sect

Years later, Patriarch Dao River appeals to Chen Hetian after Bai defeats the three Middle Reaches sects and seizes their resources. Chen dismisses those defeated devas as weaker Mortal-Dao cultivators and judges that his own Earth-Dao Deva foundation would let him reproduce Bai's victories. Enraged over his subordinate, lost tribute, and challenged authority, he coordinates with Bai Zhentian and Li Xiandao to punish Bai and the River-Defying Sect. He ignores Zhao Tianjiao and Chen Yueshan when they plead for their friend. (Chapters 882–883)

The attack fails when Bai achieves a Deva breakthrough and overwhelms the coalition. Chen retreats, and the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect's demigod recognizes Bai as another prime elder. Bai then comes to Chen's estate and publicly batters him over an unrelated kidnapping, exploiting his superior strength and their old grievance. Chen proves he was not responsible, but the humiliation reverses their former positions: the commander who once treated Bai as expendable now fears that Bai can use him as an answer to any future offense. (Chapters 884–889 and 900–903)

A Body Lost in the Final War

Chen Hetian nevertheless remains committed to the Celestial's war against the Wildlands. During the final campaign, he and Bai Zhentian pursue Mistress Red-Dust after years of slaughter, hoping her death will distract the Giant Ghost King. Bai returns at that moment and stops them with a single movement of one finger. Chen's blood, bones, and remaining flesh explode, leaving only his nascent divinity. (Chapters 996–997)

Bai intentionally spares his life but puts extra force into the blow against him. The loss of a fleshly body greatly reduces a deva's battle prowess and makes recovery extremely costly. Chen still accuses Bai of rebellion until Bai's threat silences him, then watches in terror as Bai demonstrates demigod-level power. This is Chen Hetian's last recorded condition: alive, but physically destroyed and substantially weakened. (Chapters 997–999)

Appearance and personality

Chen Hetian is an elderly man whose third eye is his most distinctive feature. His presence carries the pressure of a deva and the authority of a commander accustomed to obedience. At his clan estate he lives in an outwardly ordinary log cabin beside a clear lake, set within a much larger and more luxurious compound. After chapter 997 he has no fleshly appearance, because only his nascent divinity survives. (Chapters 443–445, 900–902, and 997)

He is proud, condescending, and intensely protective of his status. He can make quick command decisions and cooperate even with enemies during a shared disaster, but he regards those below the Deva Realm as expendable when they conflict with his family or institutional interests. His concern for Chen Yueshan and Zhao Tianjiao is real; the moral failure lies in how easily that loyalty becomes justification for sacrificing Bai and ignoring their later pleas. (Chapters 444–445, 533–557, and 882–903)

Abilities and cultivation

Earth-Dao Deva cultivation

Chen Hetian formed his Nascent Soul with deva beast souls and later advanced as an Earth-Dao Deva, a stronger foundation than the Mortal-Dao devas of the Middle Reaches. He reaches the middle Deva Realm and can merge his will with heaven and earth, impose pressure across a wide area, travel at extreme speed, and exchange attacks with other devas. His confidence in that foundation is justified against weaker peers but fails against Bai's exceptional battle prowess. (Chapters 443–505, 882–889, and 901–902)

Third eye, transport, and battlefield power

His third eye accompanies powerful perception and inspection, including his personal examination of the deva-soul labyrinth. He can carry or lead tens of thousands of cultivators through the sky on clouds and organize their combined attacks on large barriers. In combat, the corpus shows him contesting Mistress Red-Dust, producing immense deva pressure, wind blasts, a black defensive shield, and a blood-colored fist large enough to interfere in distant battles. It does not define a named cultivation system tying all of those manifestations together. (Chapters 443–445, 497, 533–557, 889, and 901–902)

His defenses remain those of a deva rather than a demigod. Bai can defeat him after first reaching the Deva Realm and later destroy his entire fleshly body with one restrained finger movement after gaining demigod-level battle prowess. The surviving nascent divinity preserves his life and cultivation identity, but leaves him much weaker and in need of an expensive replacement body. (Chapters 884–889, 901–902, and 997–999)

Relationships

Zhao Tianjiao and Chen Yueshan

Zhao Tianjiao is Chen Hetian's apprentice, while Chen Yueshan is his daughter and later Zhao's Daoist partner. He speaks sharply to Zhao but actively protects both of them, even sacrificing Bai's safety to improve their chances in the labyrinth. They do not return that political loyalty unquestioningly: both plead for the River-Defying Sect and later place friendship with Bai above obedience to Chen. (Chapters 444, 533–557, 882–883, and 901–902)

Bai Xiaochun

Chen first sees Bai as a subordinate whose unusual talents can serve the sect. Sending him as bait and abandoning him in the labyrinth turns that hierarchy into a personal grievance. Chen later attacks Bai's sect despite having been saved indirectly by his actions, after which their power relationship reverses completely. Bai humiliates him at his own estate, destroys his body during the war, and spares only his nascent divinity. (Chapters 486–557, 882–903, and 996–999)

Patriarch Dao River

Patriarch Dao River is the deva Chen has entrusted with the Dao River Court, the Middle Reaches extension of his influence. His defeat and the loss of tribute provoke Chen's attack on the River-Defying Sect. Chen's defense of that subordinate is therefore as much about the integrity of his own power base as personal loyalty. (Chapters 882–889)