King Yan

King Yan is a distant member of the Grand Xia imperial clan who forces his way from ordinary talent to Celestial Immortality through extreme Dao-heart training. His only surviving relative is his granddaughter Yuchi Xiyue, and his protection of her brings him into a lasting relationship with Ji Ning.

Biography

A costly path to Celestial Immortality

Yan begins in a remote branch of the Xiamang clan with little institutional support. Reaching the Void-level earns him only the standard imperial gifts rather than influence or a secure place at court. Instead of accepting that limit, he deliberately intensifies the demonic mental attacks within the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations so each ordeal will temper his Dao-heart more severely. The method repeatedly risks corruption and death; on one occasion he succumbs and becomes a crazed demon before recovering. (Chapters 300–303)

His persistence eventually produces the rare result his ordinary initial talent did not promise: he survives the Celestial Tribulation and becomes the imperial clan's newest Celestial Immortal. The achievement raises his political standing and earns him the title and estate of a king. It comes too late to save his daughter, Yuchi Mount, or the rest of the Yuchi family's lost generation. By the time he finds Xiyue, she is grown and her parents are dead, leaving her his only family. (Chapters 300–303)

Yan brings Xiyue to the imperial capital, gives her command of Golden Imperials and an azure-phoenix carriage, and permits her to keep her Yuchi identity private. The large royal estate remains unusually quiet because he does not fill it with a sprawling replacement household. His care is protective rather than possessive: he gives Xiyue resources and safety while allowing her to pursue knowledge of her destroyed clan. (Chapters 293–303)

Receiving Ji Ning

When Xiyue identifies Ning as her cousin, Yan opens the royal estate to him, placing the authority of a Celestial Immortal between Ning and Youngflame assassins. He tests the thirty-year-old cultivator by allowing the accumulated baleful aura in his gaze to bear down on him. Ning stabilizes his sword-soul and recovers almost immediately, prompting the normally sparing king to praise him twice. (Chapter 303)

Yan's restraint matters as much as his power. When his coresense encounters the layered restrictions around Ning's mobile estate, he chooses not to force his perception through them even though the artifact is inside his territory. That respect convinces the estate spirit that Yan is trustworthy and establishes a relationship based on protection without intrusion. (Chapter 304)

Over later visits Yan treats Ning as family and a promising junior rather than a client. He intercepts Ning when the younger man tries to leave without greeting him, jokes about it, and shares information about the Three Realms and Daofather Crimsonbright's miniature reincarnation system. When Ning disappears into the Nihilum Zone, Yan obtains news from the Xia Emperor and personally brings it to the grief-stricken Xiyue as soon as Ning returns. (Chapters 399–434 and 482)

Investigation of Ning's parents

At Ning's earlier request, Yan investigates the reincarnations of Ji Yichuan and Yuchi Snow. He secures Netherworld bamboo records, travels to the Wusky world, and compiles a book tracing their new lives. When the evidence shows that both reincarnated parents have already died and their souls may have been destroyed, Yan does not ask Ning to accept a report he cannot trust. He leads him into Crimsonbright's miniature Netherworld and uses temporal inversion so Ning can witness both adjudications. (Chapters 482–484)

Yan then accompanies Ning to war-torn Wusky, suppresses entire occupied regions into sleep, and reverses local time to reconstruct the lives of Eastflow Snow and Willowriver Chuan. He warns Ning against reckless intervention in a world destabilized by the Seamless Gate, but continues helping when Ning needs to see the Ninesongs Sword Sect's destruction and confront the official responsible for enabling it. His presence gives Ning access and political protection without taking the decision away from him. (Chapters 484–486)

At the Flowermont Immortal School, Yan backs Ning's judgment and declares that Daoist Icebreak deserves death. After Patriarch Flowermont receives them, Yan formally offers thanks and returns with Ning to the Grand Xia. He is alive at this last confirmed appearance. (Chapter 486)

Appearance and personality

Yan is a tall, muscular man more than eight feet in height. He wears a long black robe and has extremely thick crow-black eyebrows. The baleful aura in his eyes records terrifying experiences rather than a consciously maintained intimidation technique. (Chapter 303)

He combines extremity toward himself with tenderness toward his granddaughter. The cultivator who magnifies demonic tribulations is also patient enough to preserve Xiyue's privacy, respect Ning's sealed estate, and accompany a grieving young man through repeated temporal reconstructions. His warnings are practical, but he does not confuse caution with indifference. (Chapters 301–304 and 482–486)

Abilities and cultivation

Yan is a Celestial Immortal whose most distinctive strengths are an exceptionally tempered Dao-heart, powerful coresense, spatial travel, and temporal inversion. The corpus does not show a named offensive art or enough direct combat to rank him among other Celestial Immortals by attack power. (Chapters 300–303 and 482–486)

Dao-heart and baleful aura

Yan uses evil demonic methods to strengthen the mental component of his recurring tribulations, deliberately giving the attacks more power so resisting them will temper his will. This method is dangerous rather than universally advantageous: he is once successfully seduced by the mental attack and nearly loses himself permanently. Repeated survival nevertheless produces a Dao-heart strong enough to help carry ordinary talent through the Celestial Tribulation. (Chapter 301)

The resulting baleful aura can momentarily trap Ning's perception even when Yan does not consciously attack. It reflects accumulated killing and terror rather than a named illusion, and Ning's strong soul and sword-soul allow him to break free quickly. (Chapter 303)

Coresense and mass suppression

Yan can sweep his royal estate with coresense and perceive that a carried Immortal estate contains layers of restrictions. He deliberately refrains from probing farther. In Wusky, he uses his power to make all humans and monsters across occupied local regions collapse into sleep before reconstructing the past, preventing interference without massacring them. (Chapters 304 and 484–485)

Temporal inversion

Yan can reverse the visible flow of events in a location, allowing observers to watch prior adjudications, childhoods, battles, and deaths. He can accelerate the replay through uneventful years and slow it at decisive scenes. The technique reconstructs the past for observation; it does not change events or restore the dead. It also requires him to visit the relevant court or location rather than retrieving any past event from anywhere. (Chapters 483–485)

Spatial teleportation and Netherworld authority

Yan carries Ning between the Grand Xia, the miniature Netherworld, and the Wusky world through spatial teleportation. Judges and demonic soldiers address him as Yama-King and obey his access to their courts. That authority provides records and entry, but the natural adjudications themselves remain governed by the Dao of the Heavens rather than rewritten at his whim. (Chapters 483–486)

Relationships

• Yuchi Xiyue: Xiyue is Yan's only surviving relative. He rescues her too late to save her parents, then gives her protection, status, and room to retain her Yuchi identity. (Chapters 293–303 and 482)
• Ji Ning: Yan shelters, tests, advises, and later assists Ning in reconstructing his parents' reincarnated lives. Their relationship develops from cautious evaluation into familial seniority. (Chapters 303–486)
• Xia Emperor: Yan belongs to the emperor's clan and receives information from him about Ning's return. His Celestial Immortal breakthrough elevates his position within the imperial order. (Chapters 300–303 and 482)
• Patriarch Flowermont: Yan and Ning visit Flowermont's school during the Wusky investigation. Yan thanks the patriarch after the responsible disciple is judged. (Chapter 486)

Items

• Netherworld bamboo scrolls: Yan obtains two official records covering the adjudications and reincarnations of Ning's parents and gives them to Ning. (Chapter 483)
• Investigation book: He compiles a separate account of Ji Yichuan and Yuchi Snow's reincarnated lives in Wusky. (Chapter 483)