Overview
Yuan Li was born as the descendant of the fallen Yuan Clan, and spent his whole life to reach Core Formation to raise his clan. After reaching Core Formation and meeting Seo Hweol, he was implanted with Seo Hweol’s schemes. He established his plans before reaching Nascent Soul, after which he bided his time after sealing his Blood Soul in the cities near Heaven-Treading Desert.
In his time within the Head Realm, Yuan Li split his cultivation among various 'Blood Bodies' which obscured his Nascent Soul level from the ascending Heavenly Being cultivators, allowing for him to remain in the Head Realm. Now that the head realm was filled with only those at the core formation level or below, he had soon taken the mantle as the 'strongest cultivator' in the Head Realm.
Yuan Li's eventual goal was to obtain the Serving Command Seal as to ascend via the 'old path' into the Blood Yin realm, rather than the Bright Cold realm connected to Ascension Path.
Later on, one of his blood bodies, posthumously named Yuan Yu (and later Seo Li), was used as a form of puppet by Seo Eun-Hyun after hastily defeating Yuan Li in the 12th Cycle before ascending.
Trivia
- Yuan Yu is specifically described in terms of beauty. In a Q/A it was revealed that the author likens Yuan Yu to being more akin to a sculpture, Yuan Li's masterpiece, than to the other properly 'human' characters that the author lightly describes.
- Yuan Yu's body has been stated to be in perfect Taiji, meaning the body itself lacks a specific gender, and the author likes to play around with this fact leading to a number of misunderstandings within the characters in the story.
Prowess
References
- Author's Q&A 6
- Chapter 89 - Debut.