Chen Long

Chen Long is Sword Saint Ling Tianhou's beloved disciple and the head senior brother of the Da Lou Sword Sect's Twelve Swords. Cunning enough to conceal his early Ascendant cultivation, he leads his fellow disciples through Greed's century-long trap in Tide Abyss and becomes the only one of the Twelve Swords known to survive Wang Lin's violence against the group. (Chapters 615 and 631–974)

Biography

A concealed leader in Tide Abyss

Chen Long leads the Da Lou disciples who follow Greed into Tide Abyss. Although his surface cultivation appears to be late Soul Transformation, he is secretly at early Ascendant, and even the stronger Chou Nu treats him with great respect. Chen questions the unfamiliar mosquito beasts and never fully trusts Greed's explanations. That caution is justified: Greed has used the group to draw the mosquitos away from a treasure and then allows them to remain trapped around the purple mist for one hundred years. Chen suspects betrayal but delays open rebellion because Greed knows about Ling Tianhou's sword energy and because a failed confrontation could kill every junior under his care. (Chapters 631–643)

Bargaining with Wang Lin and abandoning the trap

Wang Lin's arrival offers a possible way through the trap. Chen restrains Wu Ma when the exhausted disciple attacks their visitor, rescues him from Wang's slaughter energy with a sword-finger technique, and accepts the loss of Wu Ma's sword rather than ruin negotiations. He also introduces Greed in language that quietly tells Wang every crucial fact: Greed is injured, limited to peak late Ascendant power, and has been trapped with them for a century. When the purple mist closes, Chen finally activates the life sword energy placed in his soul by Ling Tianhou. It opens a passage just large enough for him alone. He leaves his four juniors behind because taking even one would collapse the escape, a choice born from survival and his earlier failure to act before the crisis became absolute. (Chapters 644–645)

The sole surviving Sword

Chen is later recovered with Greed and accuses him before Ling Tianhou of causing the other disciples' deaths. Greed counters that Wang delivered the killing blows, and Chen becomes the witness tying Wang to the loss. During the Alliance battle, Chen claims a damaged wood carving for the Da Lou Sword Sect and launches Ling Tianhou's sword energy at Wang, only to have it blocked. Recognizing the opponent who once left him barely able to escape, he withdraws rather than turn the dispute into a suicidal fight. Ling Tianhou later states that Chen is the sole survivor among the Twelve Swords. Wang remembers meeting him in the northern battle but does not find him at the sect in Chapter 974, leaving his later whereabouts unstated. (Chapters 659, 931, 958, and 974)

Appearance and personality

The corpus does not provide a sustained facial or clothing description for Chen Long. His position is visible in the formation around him: the other disciples instinctively sit with him at the center and obey when he tells them to stand down. He is patient, secretive, and difficult to provoke into revealing his intentions. That restraint helps him survive, but it has a moral cost. His century of hesitation protects the group from an uncertain confrontation with Greed, then ends with Chen using the one escape that cannot carry his juniors. (Chapters 631–645)

Abilities and cultivation

• Hidden early Ascendant cultivation: Chen suppresses his apparent realm to late Soul Transformation so effectively that Greed must examine him carefully to see through it. Concealment lets opponents underestimate him and separates his real strength from his public standing. (Chapter 631)
• Da Lou sword cultivation: Chen can turn his finger into a sword-like strike and insert it into Wang's slaughter energy to pull Wu Ma free. The technique is precise enough to rescue his junior without escalating into a full attack on Wang. (Chapter 644)
• Mental concealment: His guarded mind and disciplined reactions prevent others from easily reading his actual plan. Even when Wang deliberately provokes the trapped group, Chen endures the insult and loss of a sword because he needs Wang's possible assistance. (Chapters 643–644)
• Ling Tianhou's life sword energy: Unlike the weaker strands casually granted to the other Swords, Chen carries a life sword energy refined from the four small worlds and embedded in Ling Tianhou's soul. It is several times stronger than his juniors' versions, protects Chen through the corrosive mist, and opens the narrow route by which he escapes. He later projects sword energy across a battlefield to contest a treasure. (Chapters 645 and 931)
• Command and threat assessment: Chen keeps stronger and weaker disciples aligned through personal authority, recognizes that Greed has prepared counters for their master’s power, and changes course when Wang proves too dangerous to challenge casually. His recorded successes rely as much on this judgment as on sword force. (Chapters 631–645 and 931)

Relationships

• Greed: Chen distrusts Greed but postpones rebellion for a century because the risks to his juniors appear too high. After escaping, he publicly holds Greed responsible for engineering the trap that ends in their deaths. (Chapters 631–645 and 659)
• Wang Lin: Chen negotiates with Wang when trapped, later blames him for killing the remaining disciples, and contests a battlefield treasure with him. Each meeting reinforces that direct confrontation is more dangerous than Chen first expects. (Chapters 644–659 and 931–974)
• Ling Tianhou: Chen is the Sword Saint's beloved disciple and carries an exceptional strand of his life sword energy. Ling Tianhou's later demand for vengeance rests partly on Chen's survival and testimony. (Chapters 631, 645, 659, and 958)

Items

• Ling Tianhou's life sword energy: Embedded within Chen rather than carried as an ordinary sword, this inheritance is his decisive protection and the means by which he escapes the Tide Abyss trap. (Chapters 645 and 931)