Zhou Chen

Zhou Chen is the Coffin Altar Sect's Dao Child, a Northern Reaches Chosen who contests the central Ancient Dao Lake with nine bottle gourds and a withering field.

Biography

Claiming the Dao Lake's fortune

Zhou Chen arrives convinced that his sect's divination has identified a great fortune meant for him. When the central Dao Lake erupts, he advances invisibly and sets nine bottle gourds spinning around himself. Their formation creates a direct tunnel through the chaotic approach, letting him enter the race with the foremost experts from both regions. His declaration that the fortune cannot escape him captures the certainty expected of a Dao Child. (Chapter 720)

Within the contest, Zhou's passage warps the surroundings and causes what he passes to wither. Several cultivators challenge him for a golden halo; he drives them back, kills two, and takes the treasure. He nevertheless watches the other Northern Reaches and Southern Domain contenders carefully. His scorn toward some rivals coexists with caution, particularly when unfamiliar information connects Meng Hao to events in the Northern Reaches. (Chapters 721–722)

Humiliation by Meng Hao

When Meng Hao abruptly selects him as a target, Zhou is genuinely confused because the two have no personal enmity. He answers the incoming punch with surging energy, an incantation, and a palm strike, but the clash sends him tumbling backward while coughing blood. The defeat is public and crushing to his pride. Rather than renew the fight, he and the already injured Di Ye withdraw from the struggle for the True Immortal soul. His last recorded choice is therefore restraint after learning that his Dao Child standing does not place him among the strongest present. (Chapters 723–724)

Appearance and personality

Zhou Chen looks remarkably soft and feminine. He is proud and possessive about destined fortune, willing to kill competitors who challenge his claim. He is not wholly reckless: he studies threats seriously, becomes visibly shocked by Meng Hao's reputation and power, and retreats after a decisive defeat rather than sacrificing himself to preserve appearances.

Abilities and cultivation

Zhou Chen is a high-ranking Chosen whose techniques combine spatial passage, withering influence, and direct cultivation attacks.

Nine bottle-gourd passage

Nine bottle gourds orbit Zhou and create a tunnel leading toward the erupting Dao Lake. The formation allows him to cross a hazardous, contested space without following an ordinary path. The text demonstrates the transport effect but does not explain whether the gourds are independent artifacts, a sect formation, or how far the tunnel can extend. (Chapter 720)

Warping and withering field

Unlike Northern Reaches experts whose movement shatters the air, Zhou's surroundings twist and warp while everything he passes withers. The effect accompanies his advance and helps establish a zone others struggle to contest. It is powerful enough that multiple challengers for the golden halo are repelled and two die, but the corpus does not state its activation cost or whether the deaths come from the field alone. (Chapter 721)

Direct combat

Zhou can surge his cultivation base, perform rapid incantations, and meet Meng Hao's punch with a palm technique. The exchange also establishes his limit: Meng Hao's Dao Seeking aura and physical attack overwhelm the defense in one clash, injuring Zhou and destroying his confidence. No later scene shows him recovering or refining the technique. (Chapters 723–724)

Relationships

• Meng Hao: Unexpected opponent who defeats and humiliates him at the Dao Lake.
• Lu Bai: Fellow Northern Reaches leader whose reputation Zhou understands.
• Di Ye: Northern Reaches peer who retreats from the final contest alongside him.

Items

• No independently notable item within the finalized manifest is directly assigned to this character.