Character from Beware of Chicken by Casualfarmer
An Imperial Realm cultivator who raised an orphan, abandoned him to fight demons, and returned to find that orphan had become a farmer with a kung fu rooster and a community that puts his sect to shame.
Shen Yu is what the cultivation world produces at its highest level: a man so powerful that his presence distorts the spiritual atmosphere, and so shaped by that world's values that he genuinely thought abandoning a twelve-year-old to go fight demons was acceptable parenting. He's not evil — he's the product of a system where strength justifies everything and personal bonds are secondary to cosmic duty. His return to find Jin farming instead of cultivating was a collision of worldviews. Shen Yu expected a disciple who'd risen through the ranks. He found a grandson who grew rice, married a village girl, and was accidentally more powerful than most sect elders because he'd been dumping qi into his crops for years. The old man's ongoing recalibration — watching Jin's approach work, reluctantly admitting that maybe community matters more than individual ascension — is one of the series' most compelling character arcs. He is randy, opinionated, terrifyingly strong, and slowly learning that the Azure Hills might have more wisdom than the imperial courts.
An older man with rippling muscles visible beneath torn robes, covered in scars and burn marks from centuries of combat. His face is normally a mask of serenity or stern judgment. Despite his age, he radiates the physical authority of someone who could level a mountain and has probably done so.
Also known as: Elder Shen Yu, Grandfather Shen