Wu Chen

Wu Chen is Luo Ruoxin's guardian and the original Sovereign Chen Yong encountered in the story. The youthful human servant and the crowned ruler of the Spirit Tribe are not separate people: Luo Ruoxin's disguise art conceals his appearance, aura, bloodline, and Zhenqi of Slaughter until the battle in the Temple of Confucius forces him to reveal his true form. The sovereign name is an office as well as an identity. Wu Chen relinquishes its crown and inheritance to Liu Yang, who becomes the new Sovereign Chen Yong; Liu Yang's later inauguration, peace program, and abdication are therefore not Wu Chen's deeds. (Chapters 1,582–1,583, 1,772–1,774, 1,841–1,844)

As ruler, Wu Chen is a military leader from the people humanity has fought for millennia, and the corpus does not erase the human lives lost under his command. At the same time, he opposes the invasion ordered by the other sovereigns, obeys the Spirit God even when doing so costs him political control, and eventually risks both throne and life to end the internal coup. After Zhang Xuan spends a divine favor to preserve his soul, Wu Chen is given a new body in the Azure and advances to Semi-Divinity. His latest appearance leaves him alive there, carrying Zhang Xuan's gifts and messages to cultivators preparing to ascend. (Chapters 1,678, 1,773–1,779, 1,843–1,844, 2,062–2,063, 2,221–2,222)

Biography

A youthful guardian at White Creek Mountain

Wu Chen first appears as an adolescent attendant beside Luo Ruoxin at White Creek Mountain. His apparent age is misleading: a peculiar bloodline makes him look thirteen or fourteen, while his knowledge and bearing belong to an old expert. When Zhang Xuan needs to enter the ancient domain, Wu Chen uses a saint beast's bloodline and his own comprehension of space to locate an inherent wormhole and perform a Spatial Leap, a feat normally associated with Ancient Sages. Luo Ruoxin then asks him to exchange insights with Zhang Xuan, and he supplies spatial-law manuals while explaining that Macrocosm Ascendancy requires both sufficient energy and genuine spatial comprehension. (Chapters 1,582–1,583)

Inside the ancient domain, Wu Chen acts as guide, analyst, and combatant rather than a decorative servant. He recognizes dangerous environments and old mechanisms, helps navigate the Netherworld's Boat and Yellow Water, and counters a Golden Warrior by concentrating a revolving sphere of energy on one fingertip, diverting its spear into spatial turbulence before striking back. At the Harvest Valley Seer Guild, his understanding of divination lets him identify how the enemy has concealed Ancient Sage auras and infer that a highly placed traitor within the Master Teacher Pavilion is coordinating the attack. (Chapters 1,585–1,605, 1,626–1,628)

His conduct around Zhang Xuan's group already shows the restraint that later defines him. Sun Qiang treats him as a low-ranking servant and even manhandles him, yet Wu Chen absorbs the indignity rather than expose Luo Ruoxin or disrupt her plans. His first loyalty is to her safety and mission, not to the status that would compel everyone present to kneel if they knew who he was. (Chapters 1,626–1,628)

The servant whose commands reached an enemy army

Wu Chen's concealed authority becomes visible before his identity does. During the attempted Otherworldly invasion, an envoy presents an edict from Sovereign Chen Yong ordering the army to retreat, directly contradicting Sovereign Chen Ling's command to attack. The messenger describes Chen Yong as the Spirit God's oracle and the highest emperor of the Spirit Tribe. The order demonstrates that Wu Chen is not merely absent from the war: while traveling in disguise with Luo Ruoxin, he is actively using his office to prevent a campaign he did not authorize. (Chapters 1,678)

On the road to the Temple of Confucius, he also becomes one of Zhang Xuan's most useful guides to Ancient Sage cultivation. Wu Chen stresses that Soul Depth cannot be raised as a number alone; the state of mind must be tempered into something resilient and whole enough to cross the final threshold. He admits that both he and Luo Ruoxin face their own bottlenecks, making his instruction observational rather than a claim of effortless mastery. That combination of expertise and acknowledged limitation distinguishes the real expert beneath the servant disguise. (Chapters 1,693–1,697)

The concealed role has a political cost. At White Creek Mountain, Wu Chen had left Luo Ruoxin briefly to investigate a suspicious Otherworldly presence and discovered that Sovereign Chen Ling and Sovereign Chen Xing were moving armies without him. He issued the retreat order, but by the time of the Temple expedition the rival sovereigns had already decided to remove him. His outwardly quiet service to Luo Ruoxin and his formal command of the tribe are therefore two fronts of the same crisis. (Chapters 1,678, 1,773–1,777)

The sovereign beneath the disguise

The disguise fails by necessity in the Prime Hall. After Luo Ruoxin assimilates the Great Codex of Spring and Autumn, multiple Ancient Sages attack her, and Wu Chen holds them back with a saber. The Heavenly Palace Constellation Blueprint seals the surrounding space and drops star-like attacks upon him; he feeds blood into the saber to cut through one but visibly overexerts himself. He then produces two skeletal arms belonging to Vicious, whose power destroys another star. Old Geezer Bo Yu recognizes the authority over those remains and exposes Wu Chen as Sovereign Chen Yong. (Chapters 1,771–1,773)

Wu Chen abandons the adolescent body and resumes the form of a regal Otherworldly Demon in crown and dragon robes. The transformation restores access to his Zhenqi of Slaughter and raises his combat power sharply, confirming that the disguise did more than alter his face: it also restricted the kind of strength he could display. With his true aura released, he uses saber technique, spatial control, and battlefield judgment to hold off numerous Ancient Sages. The human experts identify him as the Spirit Tribe's foremost ruler and military strategist, and some want him dead for the wars and deaths associated with his reign. (Chapters 1,773–1,774)

Sovereign Chen Ling and Sovereign Chen Xing exploit his exhaustion and reveal their betrayal. At less than a tenth of his strength, Wu Chen still executes Herald of the Celestial Flame, a saber art that merges an exceptionally sharp edge with destructive heavenly flame, but the weakened strike cannot overcome their prepared assault. He had nevertheless anticipated treachery after the Spirit God's warning. He cleansed his own controlling will from Vicious's arms, pretended that a straw garment was suppressing them, and uses the resulting misdirection to pierce both traitors' hearts. They escape, while he collapses with his foundations in ruins. (Chapters 1,774–1,777)

The human Ancient Sages then try to execute him before he can recover. Zhang Xuan stops them partly because Wu Chen is a lead to Luo Ruoxin and partly because killing a fallen prisoner would waste a chance to end the wider war. Their fear is rational: restored to his peak, Wu Chen would know human defenses and possess the strategic ability to become an even greater threat. Zhang Xuan therefore plants Heaven's Path zhenqi throughout his blood as both treatment and restraint, requiring him not to attack humanity. Wu Chen accepts the condition and transfers Vicious's arms and the straw garment to Zhang Xuan. He also reveals that Vicious is his grandfather, explaining both the lineage and his unusual authority over the remains. (Chapters 1,779–1,780)

Returning to a throne declared vacant

Near the Spirit Tribe capital, Wu Chen proves that his rulership rests on calculation as much as force. He refuses to fly openly into uncertain territory, uses disguise, and arranges a covert meeting with the successor he has trained. That successor is Liu Yang, traveling under the reversed name Yang Liu and unknown to Wu Chen as Zhang Xuan's disciple. Wu Chen introduces Zhang Xuan as his own Young Master and orders Liu Yang to follow him if the sovereign dies, placing continuity of command above personal pride. (Chapters 1,791–1,792)

Liu Yang reports that the rival sovereigns have announced Wu Chen's death, killed his loyal commanders, seized his armies, and gathered ten Ancient Sages. Wu Chen reacts with anger but does not charge the capital. Knowing his injuries make direct battle suicidal, he seeks Ancient Sage Hao Xun at Primal Lodestone Mountain and helps build a coalition that includes Ancient Sage Allfire and Ancient Sage Mo Ling. The campaign combines his legitimacy and knowledge of the tribe with Zhang Xuan's infiltration and persuasion, allowing the deposed sovereign to reach the palace without treating his title as a substitute for actual support. (Chapters 1,792–1,814)

When Sovereign Chen Ling summons a higher-world deity, Wu Chen joins the other Ancient Sages in attacking it and retreats on Zhang Xuan's order when their combined force proves inadequate. After Zhang Xuan kills the deity, he leaves Chen Ling's fate to Wu Chen. Despite accumulated wounds and a direct strike from the deity, Wu Chen insists on a fair duel: he wants to settle the legitimacy struggle personally and demonstrate that Chen Ling never surpassed him. His will and saber carry him through the contest, and he beheads the rival sovereign even as his own remaining cultivation begins to collapse. (Chapters 1,839–1,841)

Passing the crown and offering his life

Wu Chen chooses succession before his damaged body can fail. He performs Cultivation Impartation on Liu Yang, a dangerous transfer that requires matching lineage energy, precise control, and a donor fully resolved to die. Liu Yang's simplified Heaven's Path cultivation can imitate Wu Chen's lineage closely enough to receive the power. The transfer raises Liu Yang to Ancient Sage, leaves Wu Chen a frail old man, and is followed by the formal bestowal of the sovereign's crown. Wu Chen explicitly explains that Sovereign Chen Yong is a title and names Liu Yang as its new holder. (Chapters 1,841)

He tests the new sovereign by asking how Sovereign Chen Xing should be judged and accepts Liu Yang's decision that the betrayal requires death. Wu Chen then asks Zhang Xuan to spare the Spirit Tribe and directs his successor toward peaceful coexistence with humanity. These are his final acts in office; the subsequent inauguration, ceasefire, trade policy, and eventual transfer to Chen Xiao belong to Liu Yang's reign, not Wu Chen's. (Chapters 1,842–1,844, 1,852–1,853, 2,077)

To contact Luo Ruoxin, Wu Chen leads the group to Thousandleaf Mountain and presides over a ritual fed by the aligned faith of the Eight Genesis Temples. Only his surviving authority can rally worshippers across all eight sites at once. The ritual's price is his life: he identifies himself as Wu Chen and enters the flames as an offering for an audience with the Spirit God. When a higher-world projection responds, Zhang Xuan uses the single favor owed to him to save Wu Chen instead of seeking power or information. The body cannot be preserved, but the visitor seals Wu Chen's soul and carries it to the Azure. The choice converts Wu Chen's formal submission to Zhang Xuan into sincere personal loyalty. (Chapters 1,843–1,844)

A new body in the Azure

Du Qingyuan, the Starchaser Palace master who answered the ritual, reconstructs Wu Chen's body with a rare artifact and gives him a droplet of divine blood shed by Luo Ruoxin during her descent. Wu Chen recovers not merely to his former Ancient Sage level but to Semi-Divinity. His old disguise technique remains effective enough that even Azure experts cannot perceive that cultivation unless he deliberately releases it. He reunites with Zhang Xuan as the same adolescent-looking guardian and resumes addressing him as Young Master. (Chapters 2,062–2,063, 2,103)

Wu Chen's value in the Azure remains grounded in the knowledge he developed below. He explains how rituals can link two altars across otherwise impassable space, identifies the Spirit Tribe altar as a way to return to the Master Teacher Continent, and helps Zhang Xuan locate the reopened passage by coordinating a summons with Liu Yang's successor. He also fights in the attempt to purify corrupted Aura of Divinity: with Du Qingyuan he feeds blood into the altar, stabilizes it against Kong shi's clone, and channels the aligned faith of one hundred thousand True Immortals. The ritual requires all wills to open and align before its flame becomes golden, so Wu Chen cannot complete it through power alone. (Chapters 2,074–2,077, 2,096)

Wu Chen does not accompany Zhang Xuan permanently into the Firmament. Ten Azure years later, he and Du Qingyuan conduct the coordinate ritual that receives Zhang Xuan, Luo Qiqi, and Little Chick on their return. His latest individual act is that of a trusted intermediary: he delivers Zhang Xuan's divine-blood gifts and “See you in the Firmament” message to Yu Fei-er and Hu Yaoyao, then passes Luo Qiqi's keepsake and a challenge onward to Luo Xuanqing. He remains alive at Semi-Divinity in the Azure, connected to both the Starchaser Palace and the people preparing to follow Zhang Xuan upward. (Chapters 2,221–2,222)

Appearance and personality

Wu Chen ordinarily presents himself as a boy of roughly thirteen or fourteen. The youthful build is connected to his bloodline, but Luo Ruoxin's art supplies the comprehensive disguise that conceals his species, aura, and cultivation. In his revealed Spirit Tribe form he becomes a tall, regal Otherworldly Demon dressed in dragon robes and a crown, surrounded by concentrated killing intent. After imparting his cultivation, his body rapidly ages into that of a frail old man; the body reconstructed in the Azure restores the adolescent appearance. (Chapters 1,582, 1,773–1,774, 1,841–1,844, 2,062)

His defining trait is disciplined loyalty. He tolerates humiliation while undercover, subordinates a sovereign's pride to Luo Ruoxin's instructions, and offers his life to contact her even after losing throne and cultivation. That loyalty is not mindless. He questions suspicious movements, anticipates betrayal, embeds contingencies in dangerous artifacts, and advises retreat when the political or military balance is unfavorable. His service is therefore active guardianship built on judgment, not passive obedience. (Chapters 1,626–1,628, 1,678, 1,773–1,792, 1,843)

Wu Chen is also proud, severe, and shaped by command. He refuses to let Chen Ling's rivalry be settled entirely by allies, supports Liu Yang's uncompromising judgment of Chen Xing, and has led armies that killed humans. Yet he is capable of revising allegiance on moral evidence: Zhang Xuan's refusal to sacrifice him for personal advancement wins a depth of loyalty that rank and the Spirit God's order alone had not produced. His later work beside Du Qingyuan is quieter, but it preserves the same habits of responsibility, discretion, and follow-through. (Chapters 1,774–1,844, 2,062–2,222)

Abilities and cultivation

Spatial comprehension and concealment

Wu Chen possesses exceptional spatial insight. He can detect natural wormholes, use a saint beast's bloodline to initiate Spatial Leap below the level ordinarily required, reinforce or disrupt space in combat, and redirect a weapon into spatial turbulence with a precisely controlled revolving force. In the Azure, his knowledge of cross-world ritual geometry helps identify and traverse the route back to the Master Teacher Continent. These feats rely on comprehension, suitable spatial conditions, and in some cases a beast, altar, or responding ritual on the far side; they are not unrestricted teleportation. (Chapters 1,582–1,583, 1,593, 2,074–2,077)

Luo Ruoxin's disguise method can hide Wu Chen's appearance, soul aura, bloodline, and cultivation from ordinary experts and even deceive the lower world's heavens after he reaches Semi-Divinity. The concealment lets him pass as a human youth, but it also constrains the strength and Zhenqi of Slaughter he can reveal without breaking the identity. It is most reliable when he suppresses himself voluntarily; forced full-power combat exposes the sovereign beneath it. (Chapters 1,773–1,774, 2,062, 2,077)

Zhenqi of Slaughter and saber arts

In his true form, Wu Chen releases concentrated Zhenqi of Slaughter and fights primarily with a saber. His style combines raw sovereign-level cultivation with control of space and calm battlefield assessment. Herald of the Celestial Flame concentrates a saber flash with both extreme sharpness and destructive heavenly fire, making it his clearest named finishing art. Its failure against the two traitor sovereigns is explicitly conditional: Wu Chen is already below a tenth of his strength, exhausted by the Temple battle, and unable to reproduce the technique's peak force. (Chapters 1,773–1,777)

Before his fall, Wu Chen is an Ancient Sage 3-dan Blood Reincarnation expert and is described as the strongest of the Three Sovereigns. That realm gives him extreme vitality, but it does not make damage meaningless: repeated overexertion ruins his foundations, the divine strike leaves him internally depleted, and giving all of his cultivation to Liu Yang reduces the remaining body to imminent death. His recovered soul begins again in a constructed body, and Luo Ruoxin's blood raises him to Semi-Divinity. He is still at that realm at his latest direct appearance; the corpus does not place him in the Firmament or grant him a God-tier breakthrough. (Chapters 1,773–1,844, 2,062–2,063, 2,221–2,222)

Leadership, ritual, and inherited remains

Wu Chen's strategic ability is as important as his personal force. He can issue commands across an invading army, identify institutional infiltration, maintain agents and successors, judge when ten Ancient Sages make direct action impossible, and rally the Eight Genesis Temples for a world-crossing ritual. Rituals amplify collective faith and establish coordinates or communication links, but demand altars, offerings, compatible procedures, and willing participants; even Wu Chen and Du Qingyuan cannot turn them into effortless travel. (Chapters 1,626–1,628, 1,678, 1,791–1,814, 1,843, 2,074–2,096)

As Vicious's descendant, Wu Chen temporarily commands two of his grandfather's skeletal arms and uses the straw garment in a deception surrounding them. Their power is not Wu Chen's intrinsic cultivation. Luo Ruoxin first purges the dangerous consciousness in the remains, Wu Chen removes his own controlling will before the Temple betrayal, and he later gives both the arms and garment to Zhang Xuan. The episode demonstrates preparation and lineage authority, but not a permanent extra set of abilities. (Chapters 1,772–1,780)

Power progression

Relationships

• Luo Ruoxin: Luo Ruoxin is the Spirit God whom Wu Chen serves as guardian, oracle, and lower-world subordinate. She gives him the disguise art, directs his actions on the Master Teacher Continent, cleanses Vicious's remains, and is the authority behind his attempt to prevent invasion. His willingness to sacrifice himself for a chance to contact her is the clearest measure of his devotion. (Chapters 1,582–1,583, 1,772–1,774, and 1,843–1,844)
• Zhang Xuan: Wu Chen initially addresses Zhang Xuan as Young Master because of Luo Ruoxin and accepts Heaven's Path zhenqi as a restraint after the Temple conflict. Shared danger, Zhang Xuan's help in reclaiming the capital, and especially the choice to spend a divine favor preserving Wu Chen's soul turn formal service into heartfelt loyalty. In the Azure, Wu Chen continues to advise him and carry messages on his behalf. (Chapters 1,779–1,844, 2,062–2,103, and 2,221–2,222)
• Liu Yang: Wu Chen finds Liu Yang after the youth produces Zhenqi of Slaughter and takes him as heir without knowing that he is Zhang Xuan's disciple. He imparts his entire cultivation, tests Liu Yang's judgment, bestows the crown, and transfers the title Sovereign Chen Yong to him. The succession ends Wu Chen's reign and begins Liu Yang's separate rule. (Chapters 1,791–1,792 and 1,841–1,844)
• Vicious: Vicious is Wu Chen's grandfather and the source of the skeletal arms he brings into the Temple. Wu Chen's connection gives him temporary authority over those remains, but he ultimately transfers them to Zhang Xuan. Their kinship also places Wu Chen within the Spirit Tribe lineage that once challenged Kong shi. (Chapters 1,772–1,780)
• Sovereign Chen Ling and Sovereign Chen Xing: The two rival sovereigns resent Wu Chen's dominance, ignore his retreat order, ambush him in the Temple, announce his death, and purge his loyalists. Wu Chen returns to end the coup, personally kills Chen Ling in a final duel, and accepts his successor's judgment that Chen Xing must also die. (Chapters 1,678, 1,774–1,814, and 1,839–1,842)
• Du Qingyuan: Du Qingyuan answers the Thousandleaf Mountain ritual, carries Wu Chen's soul to the Azure, reconstructs his body, and gives him the divine blood that produces his Semi-Divinity breakthrough. They later work together as ritual specialists and remain at Starchaser Palace after Zhang Xuan ascends. (Chapters 1,843–1,844, 2,062–2,103, and 2,221–2,222)

Items

No scoped items are associated with Wu Chen.