Chen Manyao

Chen Manyao is a Pill Stream chosen, battlefield commander, and covert Wildlands agent whose assignment brings her into repeated alliance, uncertainty, and unresolved affection with Bai Xiaochun. (Chapters 290–354, 376–419, 674–745, and 1218–1220)

Biography

Pill Stream Chosen and Hidden Agent

Chen Manyao enters the story among the remnants of the defeated Pill Stream Sect during the war against the Profound Stream Sect. Although her people are bedraggled and divided by betrayal, she distinguishes herself through poison, illusion forms, strategy, and enough combat power to hold a prime elder in a prolonged fight. Her service makes her the remaining sect’s outstanding chosen rather than merely a celebrated beauty. At this stage, neither her comrades nor the reader is told that she also serves a power in the Wildlands, so her defense of the Pill Stream force appears to be her defining loyalty. (Chapters 290, 305, and 310)

After the four Lower Reaches sects unite, Chen Manyao converts personal prominence into command responsibility. She directs the Pill Stream Division during the assault on the Sky River Court, ordering toxic gas attacks while small squads alternate between poisoning enemies and healing allies. Her coordination keeps the division orderly under pressure and helps maintain a battlefield deadlock, making her an important enemy target. At the same time, the being presenting herself as Gongsun Wan’er—later identified as Ghostmother—repeatedly watches her with an inexplicably terrifying gaze. Chen Manyao reacts with instinctive fear, and when she begins to lift a hand during Bai Xiaochun’s Gold Core breakthrough, that scrutiny stops her; her intended action is never disclosed. (Chapters 323–338)

Within the new River-Defying Sect, Chen Manyao engineers a private meeting with Bai Xiaochun by publicly inviting him to her immortal’s cave and allowing the resulting romantic gossip to spread. She presents herself as flirtatious and vulnerable, but has prepared a spell formation, and Bai Xiaochun recognizes the performance as a trap. Once confronted, she reveals fragments connecting Nightcrypt, his mask, and the mysterious organization that has followed him. A black vortex then opens on her forehead so that her master can project himself through her, identifying her as his apprentice and an agent for a Wildlands alliance that wants a long-term exchange with Bai Xiaochun. (Chapters 351–354)

Her master seals Chen Manyao in a trance while using her as a medium, explicitly to protect her soul during the projection, and offers her hidden identity as proof of good faith. An agreement with the River-Defying leadership allows her to remain publicly a chosen even though Bai Xiaochun, Zheng Yuandong, and the patriarchs now know her origin. She later asks for the final place among Bai Xiaochun’s Dao Protectors when he is sent to the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect. Bai Xiaochun initially refuses, but her mention of Du Lingfei changes his decision; Chen Manyao has made herself both a path to information he cannot otherwise obtain and, as she later admits, a traveler moving closer to her home beyond the Great Wall. (Chapters 353–354, 376, 378, and 462)

A Cover in the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect

Chen Manyao arrives with more knowledge of the riversource sect than the other Dao Protectors. She explains its seven-colored hierarchy, cities, rainbows, and dangers, then identifies why the group’s cultivation is advancing while their bodies suffer severe hunger. When their money runs out, she leaves to find established contacts, accepting blame for having arrived without complete information. Months later she locates Bai Xiaochun’s Azure Dragon Society and gains entry by falsely announcing that she is “Madam Bai,” its leader’s Daoist partner. The claim is a useful cover rather than a formal relationship, and Bai Xiaochun reluctantly lets her remain. (Chapters 379–381 and 391)

Membership in the Azure Dragon Society gives Chen Manyao an institutional role beyond espionage. She sets rules requiring courteous treatment of customers, helps lead the group, and stays when a ban on Fantasy Pills reduces the society to a small loyal remnant. After promotion to Sky Quarter Rainbow, she uses her hidden contacts to try to place Bai Xiaochun in the Hall of Defenders and apologizes when Li Yuansheng’s interference sends him to the Hall of Devil Slayers instead. The failure demonstrates that her network is real but limited: it can acquire information and influence ordinary assignments, not reliably overcome a deva clan operating in its own sect. (Chapters 396–409)

With extensive preparations, abundant spiritual energy, and Azure Dragon Society merit points, Chen Manyao successfully reaches Core Formation. She then resumes the Wildlands alliance’s courtship of Bai Xiaochun, mixing flirtation with repeated invitations to change sides. He refuses, but she honors the intelligence bargain by investigating Du Lingfei and establishing that she is somewhere inside the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect. This phase makes Chen Manyao part of Bai Xiaochun’s accepted circle while preserving a second loyalty that he never shares. Her feelings and operational goals overlap so closely that the corpus does not define where calculated persuasion ends and personal attachment begins. (Chapters 407 and 417–419)

Chen Manyao accompanies Bai Xiaochun’s group on the battleship toward the Great Wall. She uses a pink mist hawk to help catch a huge fish, shares the group’s fear when unexplained killings repeat patterns from the River-Defying Sect, and remains close during the increasingly dangerous voyage. Once they reach East Sea City, however, she declines Bai Xiaochun’s appeal that his Dao Protectors stay together. She says that she does not want to abandon him but needs to go home, offers a meaningful farewell, and disappears into the city. The decision completes the practical purpose behind her journey and returns her from a Heavenspan cover identity to the Wildlands power structure she originally served. (Chapters 443–462)

The Grand Heavenmaster’s Apprentice

Back in the Wildlands, Chen Manyao occupies a very different public position. She is openly known as the Grand Heavenmaster’s apprentice and enjoys unusual standing in Arch-Emperor City. Her cultivation has advanced to a strong Nascent Soul aura by the time Bai Xiaochun next sees her, but the process and resources behind that breakthrough are not described. Years away have not erased her River-Defying experiences: when the Hell-Emperor Stele suggests Bai Xiaochun may be in danger, she reacts with anxiety, and the narrative says she has repeatedly remembered him and the companions she left behind. (Chapters 529, 674, and 688)

The Grand Heavenmaster sends Chen Manyao into the Necromancer Kettle to obtain the ghost king fruit, with orders to treat any successful rival as an enemy. She joins the second prince’s group but grows increasingly suspicious that the disguised “Bai Hao” fights like Bai Xiaochun. Rather than attack when he offers her a chance to leave, she probes the disguise: an ice mirror freezes the target area and stirs his suppressed frigid domain, then reverses into a sea of fire intended to provoke an instinctive response from someone accustomed to frigid qi. The test brings her closer to the truth but also lets Bai Xiaochun incapacitate and capture her. (Chapters 689–703)

Bai Xiaochun keeps Chen Manyao hidden after releasing his other captives because he fears that she can expose his identity. Her importance forces the issue: the Grand Heavenmaster personally asks why she has not been returned, prompting the Giant Ghost King to demand her release. Bai Xiaochun finally hands her over while hoping that either she has not recognized him or will remain silent for old times’ sake. She does not publicly expose him. That silence preserves his Wildlands life, but the corpus does not record whether it results from loyalty, strategy, uncertainty, obedience to her master, or some combination of those motives. (Chapters 706 and 710–712)

Recognition in Arch-Emperor City

Chen Manyao continues watching Bai Xiaochun after his arrival in Arch-Emperor City. His flame-conjuring skill initially makes her doubt that Bai Hao and Bai Xiaochun are the same man, but his habit of resolving enemies through borrowed organizational tactics confirms the identity for her. Joy accompanies the realization. Instead of confronting him, she visits his shop repeatedly, asks for services, helps receive customers, and enjoys watching him struggle to maintain the disguise. Her behavior resembles that of a partner closely enough to change his public reputation, yet neither she nor Bai Xiaochun makes such a relationship explicit. (Chapters 740–745)

Her presence creates a rivalry with Xu Shan, who also seeks Bai Hao’s attention. The women trade insults and claim separate territory in the shop, then turn the conflict into a sales competition that draws their personal networks and greatly increases the business’s profits. Public gossip transforms the competition into scandal, provoking their admirers and forcing both masters to intervene. The Grand Heavenmaster recalls Chen Manyao and confines her in secluded meditation. He later privately considers offering her hand to Bai Hao as a reward for service, but the source never says that Chen Manyao knows of, accepts, or rejects that proposed arrangement. (Chapters 745–747, 789, and 795)

When war finally erupts between the Wildlands and Heavenspan, Chen Manyao is among those who already know Bai Xiaochun’s true identity and think about him as the conflict approaches. She then rises to prominence through what the narrative calls a baptism of blood and fire. No scene details her command, opponents, injuries, cultivation advance, or final battlefield position, so the extent of her wartime achievements remains unclear. The last established development of this period is therefore personal hardening through lethal conflict, not a documented victory or new rank. (Chapters 983 and 989)

A Commoner Before the Arch-Emperor

Chen Manyao survives into the Eternal Immortal Domains and eventually reaches the new Arch-Emperor Dynasty, although the corpus does not describe where she first arrived, how she reunited with the Grand Heavenmaster, or when she joined the Heavenspan survivors there. Bai Xiaochun discovers her only after his household and imperial responsibilities are well established. Their reunion is restrained: she remembers the past, sighs, curtseys, and deliberately greets him as a humble commoner before the Arch-Emperor. The formality widens the distance between them and leaves their earlier affection or strategic intimacy unresolved. (Chapter 1218)

She later accompanies Xu Shan to offer gifts for the births of Bai Xiaochun’s children. Chen Manyao appears at ease, gives a respectful smile, and leaves without asking the emperor to change her place in his life. Bai Xiaochun cares enough to understand that he could command both women to remain but chooses not to impose his power on them. This is Chen Manyao’s final appearance in the supplied corpus. She is alive, but her later cultivation, occupation, relationship with the Grand Heavenmaster, romantic life, and ultimate residence are not stated. (Chapter 1220)

Appearance and personality

Chen Manyao appears to be about eighteen or nineteen when first described closely. She has large black eyes, plump rosy-red lips, fair skin, a slender but curvaceous figure, long legs, and long black hair. Her simple, elegant clothing accentuates a refined beauty compared to a secluded orchid, while earlier battle scenes place a white gauze veil over her face. She later wears close-fitting black clothing and the yellow robes of her Starry Sky rank; none of these garments is established as a permanent costume. The corpus does not give her height or describe visible scars, tattoos, or lasting changes from war. (Chapters 305, 310, 351–352, 376, 418, 503, 688, and 715)

Controlled, perceptive, and adaptable, Chen Manyao can move between battlefield command, covert negotiation, institutional administration, flirtation, and formal restraint. She often conceals purpose behind charm, but she is not emotionally detached: concern for Bai Xiaochun, pleasure at recognizing him, competitiveness with Xu Shan, and mixed emotion at their final reunion all break through her composure. She is capable of strategic manipulation and keeps divided loyalties for years, yet she also honors bargains, supports companions in danger, and protects a secret that could have destroyed Bai Xiaochun’s Wildlands identity. The precise balance of duty, affection, ambition, and self-preservation behind those choices remains intentionally ambiguous. (Chapters 290–354, 376–419, 674–747, 983–989, and 1218–1220)

Abilities and cultivation

Chen Manyao combines orthodox cultivation with poison, illusion forms, mixed elemental techniques, and battlefield command. Her recorded progression reaches Nascent Soul, while her best-explained capabilities belong to her Foundation Establishment and Core Formation periods.

Cultivation progression

Chen Manyao is a powerful Foundation Establishment chosen during the Lower Reaches wars. She can prolong a fight against a prime elder and later becomes important enough on the Sky River Court battlefield to draw concentrated enemy attention, although much of that threat comes from command and poison rather than individual force. Bai Xiaochun’s Heaven-Dao Gold Core pressure can make her knees tremble, establishing the limit between their stages. The corpus does not name her Foundation Establishment method, Tideflows, spiritual seas, cultivation scripture, or exact substage during these campaigns. (Chapters 290, 305, 310, 331, and 353)

At the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect, Chen Manyao prepares a Core Formation breakthrough with spell formations and medicinal pills. The sect’s abundant spiritual energy and Azure Dragon Society merit points also contribute, and she succeeds shortly after Song Que. The source does not identify her core type, quality, formation time, tribulation, or changes to her established abilities. She later returns to the Wildlands and next appears with a strong Nascent Soul aura, but the acquisition method, Nascent Soul tier, tribulation, and precise realm stage are likewise omitted. (Chapters 417–418, 674, and 688)

War against Heavenspan develops Chen Manyao into a more experienced chosen, but does not supply a later rank or a demonstrable new technique. Her final scenes in the Eternal Immortal Domains contain no cultivation assessment. Accordingly, Nascent Soul is her latest explicit realm, not proof that she remained permanently at that level; the corpus gives no basis for assigning her Deva, Demigod, Celestial, or sovereign cultivation. (Chapters 983, 989, 1218, and 1220)

Poison, illusion forms, and battlefield support

Chen Manyao’s earliest reputation rests on poison skill said to exceed Fang Lin’s and illusion-form ability said to surpass Zhao Rou’s. These are comparative narrative assessments, not fully demonstrated systems: no poison is named, no preparation method or antidote is given, and the corpus does not describe the appearance, activation, duration, or limitations of her illusion forms. Her prolonged fight with a prime elder and major wartime services confirm practical effectiveness, but do not isolate which art produced each result. (Chapters 290 and 305)

During the assault on the Sky River Court, Chen Manyao commands rather than fighting alone. At her order, Pill Stream cultivators spread toxic gases in coordinated squads, while other teams use healing power to support allies. An enormous cauldron simultaneously casts light that harms enemies, strengthens River-Defying cultivators, and heals wounds, but the source presents that as the division’s battlefield manifestation rather than Chen Manyao’s personal item or exclusive technique. Her contribution is the precise deployment of mixed poison and medical teams; their materials, range, friendly-target protections, and supply limits are not explained. (Chapters 329–331)

Her later abilities are less fully catalogued. While traveling across the Heavenspan Sea, Chen Manyao performs an incantation gesture and exhales a pink cloud that condenses into a mist hawk capable of diving on and helping restrain a huge fish. The scene establishes a ranged construct and cooperative application, but provides no name, origin, attack strength, duration, or later use. The corpus also never confirms whether this is one of her illusion forms, a poison-cloud variation, a magical technique, or an item-independent manifestation. (Chapter 446)

Ice-and-fire probing technique

In the Necromancer Kettle, Chen Manyao creates snowflakes and gathers them into an ice mirror with an incantation gesture. The mirror projects light that freezes its target area and releases frigid qi capable of stimulating Bai Xiaochun’s suppressed frigid domain. She then reverses the surrounding ice into a sea of flames. The sequence is not simply an attempt to overpower him; it is designed to make a long-term user of frigid qi react instinctively and thereby confirm whether Bai Hao is the disguised Bai Xiaochun. (Chapter 699)

Bai Xiaochun avoids the initial freezing light and suppresses his frigid response, so the technique does not conclusively expose him in that moment. Its fire stage pressures him further, but he remains stronger and captures her. The source gives no formal name, cultivation cost, elemental source, maximum area, duration, cooldown, or evidence that she uses both elements in ordinary battle. It is therefore established as an intelligent identity test with combat effects, not as proof of unrestricted control over fire and ice. (Chapters 699 and 703)

Covert communication and intelligence work

Chen Manyao works through an alliance that has agents in sects along all four branches of the Heavenspan River. She uses prepared meetings, coded knowledge, existing contacts, and social cover to approach targets and gather information. Her network lets her explain the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect before formal orientation, attempt to influence hall placement, and investigate Du Lingfei’s location. Its reach is broad but not absolute: she arrives without key survival information, cannot counter Li Yuansheng’s intervention, and finds only Du Lingfei’s general location rather than her complete identity or purpose. (Chapters 353–354, 376–381, 407–419, and 462)

Her master can project through a black vortex on her forehead, with strands of energy strong enough to halt Bai Xiaochun’s precious treasure. During this contact he places Chen Manyao in a trance and seals her to protect her soul, indicating that she is a living medium rather than necessarily the technique’s controller. The corpus does not explain how the link is established, its distance limit, whether Chen Manyao can initiate or refuse it, what danger it poses, or whether she retains access after returning to the Wildlands. The demonstrated power belongs at least partly to her master and should not be treated as her own combat strength. (Chapters 353–354)

Power progression

Relationships

• Bai Xiaochun: Chen Manyao approaches him as a covert contact, becomes his Dao Protector and ally, tries to recruit him to the Wildlands, investigates Du Lingfei for him, and later protects his disguised identity. Their mutual concern and her behavior in Arch-Emperor City suggest affection, but they never establish a formal partnership and ultimately separate.
• Grand Heavenmaster: Chen Manyao’s master and the leader behind her covert mission in Heavenspan. He uses her as a projection medium, publicly elevates her in the Wildlands, orders her return from Bai Hao’s shop, and privately considers her marriage as a political reward without any recorded consultation with her.
• Xu Shan: A romantic and commercial rival in Arch-Emperor City. Their hostility nearly becomes physical, then turns into a competition for customers; in the Eternal Immortal Domains they approach Bai Xiaochun together and leave on peaceful terms.
• Ghostmother: While presenting herself as Gongsun Wan’er, Ghostmother fills Chen Manyao with instinctive terror and interrupts unexplained actions during Bai Xiaochun’s rise. The corpus never explains exactly what Chen Manyao senses or what Ghostmother knows about her master.
• Du Lingfei: The subject of an intelligence bargain between Chen Manyao’s network and Bai Xiaochun. Chen Manyao investigates her and narrows her location to the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect, but the two women have no directly depicted personal relationship.
• Second Prince: A Wildlands royal whom Chen Manyao accompanies into the Necromancer Kettle. He distrusts her connection to the Grand Heavenmaster, and although they travel with the same group, her orders and interest in Bai Hao remain separate from his ambitions.