Kong Cheng

Kong Cheng is a Yang Opening Realm member of the Immortal Temple’s extremist faction and the brother-in-law of the elder Ainsley. Sent to oversee Shi Mingfeng during the West Laina Castle expedition, he contributes little to the mission and instead pursues revenge against Su Chen. His misuse of factional protection ends with his expulsion, ambush, and death.

Biography

An unwanted overseer

Kong Cheng provokes Su Chen shortly after joining the expedition, accusing him of endangering a plan that Kong did not design. Shi Mingfeng explains that Kong is related to Ma Renze and protected by his sister’s husband, Scarlet Hand Ainsley, an Immortal Temple elder associated with mass killing. Kong’s presence therefore represents the extremist faction’s interest in Kapius’s legacy rather than operational competence. A Light Shaking cultivator, Qi Shenyuan, accompanies him solely as protection. (Chapter 508)

Yue Longsha also wants the long-distance communication crystal Kong carries, because it contains contacts for Ainsley and related extremists. This makes Kong simultaneously a political obstacle, an assassination target, and the unwitting holder of evidence that can be used against his own faction. While the expedition confronts West Laina Castle’s defenses, he repeatedly urges retreat and treats Su Chen’s efforts to rescue He Xu as pointless. (Chapters 508 and 516–517)

Revenge over the mission

Kong’s hostility becomes openly self-destructive after Shi Mingfeng seizes him by the throat, fractures his vertebrae, and embeds him in a wall for obstructing the operation. Rather than learning restraint, Kong summons Feng Xihuo through the communication crystal and orders an assassination. He later tells Qi that the Kapius mission belongs to Shi, not to him, and that he is willing to sacrifice its uncertain gains for revenge against Su Chen. (Chapters 527–529)

Once Shi identifies Feng Xihuo, he forces Kong and Qi to separate formally from the expedition. Kong signs the departure statement only after Shi threatens to kill him if he refuses. This removes the group’s responsibility for his safety and makes him easier to isolate. Shi and Su Chen then direct the Zhu Clan toward Kong’s location; Kong escapes that first attack only because Qi protects him. (Chapters 533 and 535)

The escape leads into the real ambush. Yue Longsha and her subordinates wait for the already exhausted pair, kill Kong and Qi, and recover the contact information they sought. Kong’s reliance on relatives and a single protector thus delays consequences but never supplies the judgment or strength needed to avoid them. (Chapter 536)

Appearance and personality

The corpus gives no stable physical description for Kong. He is addressed as “Prince Kong” or “Young Master Kong,” titles reflecting factional treatment rather than a confirmed noble office. His injuries after Shi’s attack include fractured vertebrae, but they are not described as permanent before his death. (Chapters 517, 527, and 533)

Kong is arrogant, vindictive, and strategically shortsighted. He mistakes borrowed authority for personal importance, insults allies during danger, and treats another branch’s mission as expendable once revenge becomes possible. Qi’s private assessment is that Kong has neither intelligence nor perception and attained his position through his sister. His one consistent motive is factional pride and resentment, not the successful completion of the expedition. (Chapters 508, 517, and 527–529)

Abilities and cultivation

Yang Opening cultivation

Kong is explicitly a Yang Opening Realm cultivator. The rank gives him physical resilience sufficient to survive Shi Mingfeng fracturing his vertebrae, but the attack also renders him immobile and leaves him needing days to recover. The corpus never isolates a successful named attack, defensive technique, bloodline, or notable victory for him. (Chapters 508 and 527)

His performance illustrates the limit of realm labels without skill or judgment. He depends on the Light Shaking Qi Shenyuan to survive the Zhu Clan’s larger force and still dies when attacked again after that flight. No progression beyond Yang Opening is stated. (Chapters 535–536)

Communication and factional reach

Kong can use a crystal sphere to contact distant designated members and display their portraits. The tool cannot be stored in an Origin Ring, apparently because of a spatial property, and also holds the contact list Yue Longsha seeks. This is equipment-mediated reach rather than an innate ability; once Kong dies, the information passes to his enemies. (Chapters 511, 527–528, and 536)

Relationships

• Shi Mingfeng: Kong’s nominal mission leader and bitter internal rival. Shi tolerates him for Ainsley’s sake, then humiliates and expels him when his obstruction becomes intolerable. (Chapters 508, 527, and 533)
• Su Chen: The target of Kong’s resentment and attempted assassination. Kong prioritizes killing him over the Kapius mission, allowing Su Chen to help arrange his isolation. (Chapters 508, 527–535)
• Qi Shenyuan: Kong’s Light Shaking protector. Qi repeatedly recognizes Kong’s incompetence but obeys him, saves him from the Zhu Clan, and dies beside him in Yue Longsha’s ambush. (Chapters 508, 527–536)
• Yue Longsha: Kong’s eventual killer and the investigator seeking the extremist contact list he carries. (Chapters 508 and 536)

Items

No finalized signature-item entry is assigned to Kong Cheng in the supplied catalog. His communication crystal is narratively important but is not a finalized item article and is recovered from him after his death.