Chen Donghe

Chen Donghe is a farmer’s son who becomes one of the Li Family’s most trusted retainers. His service begins under Li Xiangping, and marriage to Li Jingtian gives him both a household within the clan and a lasting personal attachment. He combines authentic water cultivation with military and administrative experience, continuing to serve long after younger relatives surpass his cultivation. (Chapters 57, 111, 158, 583, and 1729)

Biography

From Farmer’s Son to Xiangping’s Officer

Donghe grows up as the youngest son of Chen Erniu, with a spiritual orifice offering a future beyond ordinary farming. Brought into the Li household, he receives his name from Han Wenxu and enters the service of Xiangping. The Mount Yue war tests that loyalty before his cultivation becomes impressive: he guards the commander’s tent, follows military instructions and controls information that could undermine the army’s morale. When Xiangping is dying, Donghe helps preserve the retreat and returns the force safely. He subsequently delivers the crystal bead entrusted to him, kneeling before Li Tongya. His position rests on dependable action in a crisis, rather than inherited authority. (Chapters 66, 89, 103, and 111)

Marriage, Oath and an Outsider’s Limits

Li Xuanxuan seeks to bind this reliable young retainer’s future to the family through marriage. Donghe is drawn to Jingtian but approaches the prospect nervously, consulting his father rather than assuming that service entitles him to a family daughter. Their marriage makes his descendants part of the household’s future. When he reaches the peak of Embryonic Breathing, he petitions for a proper cultivation method and takes the Profound Scenery Spiritual Oath before learning the River One Qi Technique. These opportunities raise his standing, but do not give an outside-surname cultivator equal authority over clan decisions. (Chapters 112, 115, 156–158, and 171)

He becomes an authentic Qi cultivator and discusses the household’s growing external cultivator population with his wife. The distinction between personal respect and political power remains important throughout his career: leaders can trust him to guard exposed territory and carry sensitive responsibilities without inviting him into every decision. He builds influence through useful service and family ties, accepting obligations that make him increasingly integral to the Lis. (Chapters 171, 174, and 181)

Combat, Diplomacy and a Daughter’s Happiness

Donghe’s authentic cultivation makes him a reliable fighter against opponents relying on unrefined qi. He holds off four enemies while Shamoli confronts the principal threat, and later overcomes Li Xuanling’s surprise attack during a sparring exchange. He also acts as an intermediary: carrying news of Tongya’s Foundation Establishment and helping secure Fei support during the conflict with the Yu Family. These roles turn military competence into trust across household and clan boundaries. (Chapters 194, 228, and 268)

His domestic priorities remain more modest than the ambitions attached to such alliances. Donghe is eager to see his daughter Li Qingxiao, uses mana to relieve her discomfort and listens to the question of her marriage without demanding a prestigious cultivation outcome. He considers Xiao Xian sincere and supports the match if it suits her wishes. For him, her happiness matters more than making a son-in-law reach Foundation Establishment. That restraint distinguishes his concern as a father from the calculations governing many family marriages. (Chapters 290, 292, and 315)

The Desert Task and Jingtian’s Death

The need for Golden Yang Radiant Origin takes Donghe far from the lake. He accepts the distant desert assignment and travels with Jingtian, whose mortal life has offered few opportunities to see the wider world. The posting requires more than waiting for suitable qi: he helps defend Smoke Valley Temple, suffers wounds and continues gathering resources for years in a dry environment poorly suited to his water method. His cultivation stagnates, but he does not make that sacrifice a reason to abandon the duty. The successful qi supply strengthens the family while its collector remains far from home. (Chapters 361, 418, and 430)

The assignment also exposes the unequal lifespans within his marriage. While Donghe is away seeking qi at sunset, Jingtian dies alone. He brings her body home and receives Li Yuanjiao’s solemn welcome. Yuanjiao insists on rewarding his long service with a Barrier Breaking Pill, but advancement cannot repair the loss. Years afterward, his quiet devotion and occasional visits to Mount Xiping remain bound to grief. Li Qiuyang becomes a companion who can speak to him about that continuing absence rather than treating his bereavement as finished. (Chapters 491–492 and 668–670)

An Elder’s Administration and the Passing of His Generation

At the ninth Qi layer, Donghe no longer trusts himself to attempt Foundation Establishment and devotes more time to clan affairs. When Chen Mufeng is demoted, he takes charge of the Jade Court Guard because he has both the reputation and experience needed to manage it. Later leaders value his law-abiding steadiness in the increasingly complicated administration of Milin and the central household. He stands alongside An Siwei in inquiries and reforms, offering continuity as authority passes through younger generations. (Chapters 583, 1128, 1200, and 1236)

His age does not extinguish the willingness to act. He rashly challenges a murderous devil cultivator before stronger allies intervene, showing that loyalty can still carry him beyond his personal combat limits. By Qiuyang’s final illness, Donghe belongs to a generation whose shared service is becoming a memory. He fights back tears at his friend’s bedside and withdraws when asked, leaving Xuanxuan with the dying man. The former farmer’s child remains within the household through its losses and transformations, even as the people who shaped his earliest life disappear. (Chapters 1438 and 1729)

Appearance and personality

Donghe wears leather armor and carries a sword during his early service. Authentic cultivation preserves a younger appearance than his age, but by Jingtian’s funeral he looks like a man in his early fifties despite being seventy. His later hair is entirely white, and he wears jade armor or an elder’s robes. (Chapters 86, 226, 492, and 583)

He is dutiful, controlled and uncomfortable with excessive deference from others. His affection for his wife and daughter tempers the household’s pursuit of status, while bereavement makes him quieter without ending his service. His reliability does not mean infallible judgment: the willingness to confront a much stronger enemy can expose him to needless danger. (Chapters 156, 315, 668–670, and 1438)

Abilities and cultivation

Authentic River One Qi

Donghe cultivates proper Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth through the River One Qi Technique. Its pure true essence and deep reserves make him effective at holding a position against several weaker opponents: at the second Qi layer he sustains the pressure of four unrefined-qi cultivators. This endurance does not mean he can kill all of them. The method’s affinity also limits where he progresses comfortably, and years spent gathering qi in the desert slow his own water cultivation. (Chapters 174, 194, and 430)

He reaches the ninth heavenly layer but remains a Qi cultivator, lacking confidence in a Foundation breakthrough. His increasing value to the family therefore comes from experience and trust as well as mana. Receiving an offered Barrier Breaking Pill is distinct from the eventual confirmation of the ninth layer, which he has already held for years when he takes charge of the guards. (Chapters 492 and 583)

Profound Water Sword Technique

Marriage into the family gives Donghe access to the Profound Water Sword Technique. He combines its forms with authentic qi to dominate poorly trained opponents and uses stronger foundations to regain the initiative when Xuanling surprises him during a spar. His blade displays a pale gray aura, but he is explicitly unable to produce sword qi during the earlier four-opponent battle. Disciplined sword use should therefore be distinguished from the separate formal attainments achieved by the family’s greatest swordsmen. (Chapters 194 and 228)

Travel, Protection and Qi Gathering

Donghe uses mana to keep rain from his body and spirit-wind movement to travel and assist companions. When Qiuyang’s flight becomes unstable, he supports him safely to shore. His desert work depends on collecting the required celestial qi at appropriate times, including sunset; it demands years of effort rather than an instant extraction. Cultivation extends his usefulness and physical life but cannot prevent his mortal wife’s aging, making the cost of this service personal as well as material. (Chapters 228, 430, 491, and 670)

Power progression

Relationships

• Li Xiangping: His early patron and commander, whose dying instructions help shape Donghe’s lasting trust within the family. (Chapters 89 and 111)
• Li Jingtian: His wife and desert companion; her death leaves enduring grief. (Chapters 115, 361, and 491–492)
• Li Qingxiao: His daughter, whose wishes and happiness matter more to him than a prestigious marriage. (Chapters 292 and 315)
• Li Xuanxuan: Family leader and brother-in-law, with whom he shares decades of household service. (Chapters 115, 158, and 1729)
• Li Qiuyang: A fellow elder and companion in grief whose deathbed he attends. (Chapters 670 and 1729)
• An Siwei: A fellow administrative elder in the expanded household. (Chapters 1200 and 1236)

Items

• Golden Yang Radiant Origin: Spiritual qi he gathers in the desert for the family rather than an innate power he attains. (Chapters 430–431)
• Barrier Breaking Pill: Offered by Yuanjiao to reward his long service and support further Qi advancement. (Chapter 492)
• Sword and jade armor: Equipment associated with his guard service; his swordsmanship remains limited by Qi cultivation. (Chapters 583 and 1438)