Tan Bin's ancestors were school teachers, but for years they failed to secure any recommendation to enter officialdom and died in frustration. No one outstanding emerged in the family, so Tan Bin began studying literature and practicing martial arts from a young age. Unfortunately, without a cultivation talent, he couldn't become a cultivator. In the end, he managed to enter the Fengri City Xuanqing Guard Thousand Households Station thanks to the lingering blessings of his ancestors.
Because he could read and was quick-witted, he was chosen as a clerk when the Black Banner Battalion was established, and later was dispatched as a street scout.
