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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bridge_of_birds_0.png]]
2''Bridge of Birds'' is the first installment in Barry Hughart's literary trilogy ''The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox''. It is a fantasy novel taking place in a version of ancient China wherein the regional folktales and Taoist myths are all true. The gods really do meddle in the affairs of mortals (but subtly, for reasons of etiquette), and minor bits of magic can be found anywhere.
3
4Lu Yu, nicknamed Number Ten Ox because of his birth order and great strength, is a humble peasant living in the village of Ku-fu, content to spend his days farming and assisting with the annual silk harvest... until one year when the abject failure of the harvest coincides with a devastating plague that infects the children--and ''only'' the children--of the village. Ox's aunt sends him to Peking with money in order to hire a wise man to solve the mystery, and he winds up with one Li Kao, an antiquated drunkard who keeps company with bandits and thugs. But despite these "slight flaws in his character", Master Li also has a well-developed sense of justice and quite possibly the keenest mind in all China, and he eagerly joins--in fact, he takes command of--Ox's quest to save the children. A quest that ultimately takes them into every conceivable corner of China, into bustling cities and deep caverns and across deserts and mountain ranges, to do business and battle (sometimes simultaneously) with brilliant scholars, horrifying monsters, scheming noblewomen, obsessive businessmen, demigods, and not a few tormented ghosts.
5
6The writing style is lush and poetic yet semi-conversational in tone, featuring devices such as alliteration, humorous exaggeration and understatement, and casual references to Chinese history and folklore. The tone is a wonderful blend of action, drama, comedy, and even romance, along with an engaging theme of mystery and discovery as Ox and Master Li gather and put together the pieces of the puzzle. Although short as fantasy novels go--it clocks in at under 300 pages--it nonetheless contains more ''story'' than many a conventional DoorStopper.
7
8Hughart wrote two sequels--''The Story of the Stone'' and ''Eight Skilled Gentlemen''--which have been published in an omnibus edition with their precursor.
9
10!!''Bridge of Birds'' contains examples of:
11* AdaptationalAttractiveness: An in-universe example. [[spoiler:Jade Pearl is described in a folk tale as the most beautiful girl in the world who the Star Shepherd falls in love with, but Master Li realizes that a sensible person like the Star Shepherd would have valued a smile that held all the joy and wonder in the world over mere physical beauty. Like, say, Lotus Cloud's.]]
12* AlwaysChaoticEvil: All the Dukes of Ch'in. [[spoiler:Justified since [[MyGrandsonMySelf they are all the same man.]]]]
13* ApocalypticLog: In the city destroyed by The Hand That No One Sees.
14* AssholeVictim: One of Li Kao's plans requires a funeral, and since they're in too much of a hurry to wait for one, he hopes to find someone who deserves to be offed. He does.
15** Really, a lot of the characters are this. [[spoiler: The Ancestress is a homicidal ControlFreak, her daughters are a pack of spoiled brats, her granddaughter murdered a soldier and his lover due to the soldier picking a commoner over her, and the Duke of Ch'in is a self centered coward in the body of a TinTyrant. All of them come to horrific and well deserved ends. Unfortunately averted for Pawnbroker Fang and Ma the Grub, who despite deliberately botching the silk harvest, and accidentally poisoning the village's children in the process, get away scot free... unless that last lynching in the finale did the trick.]]
16* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: On being crowned, the Princess of Birds shines with a dazzling light.
17* AxeCrazy: [[spoiler:[[BewareTheNiceOnes Henpecked Ho]]]], when he has finally had enough of the indignities he'd endured for so many years, goes after his wife and in-laws with an axe.
18* BambooTechnology: Literal in the case of the Bamboo Dragonfly, a flying machine constructed out of bamboo and powered by fireworks.
19* BeatStillMyHeart: The villain become invulnerable by having his heart removed and hidden in a SoulJar. When Master Li and Ox find it, the heart is still independently beating.
20* BigEater: Every time Master Li and Number Ten Ox meet the porcupine merchant, there's a LongList of all the dishes he ate at his most recent meal.
21* BlackComedy: All over the place. Li's con game involving an ear he severed off a ruffian, the death of [[spoiler: Fainting Maid]], Henpecked Ho's BigDamnHeroes moment...it seems like the Middle Kingdom runs on it.
22* BrainsAndBrawn: Master Li and Number Ten Ox, respectively.
23* CharacterCatchphrase: "My surname is Li, my personal name is Kao, and [[HeroicComedicSociopath there is a slight flaw in my character]]."
24%%* ChekhovsGun: Too many to list, and all pretty clever.
25%%* ChekhovsGunman: Likewise.
26%%* ChekhovsSkill: Again, likewise.
27* TheChessmaster: Master Li realizes toward the end of the story that the series of convenient coincidences that have cropped up every time they hit a roadblock in their quest is the work of [[spoiler:the August Personage of Jade]], who wants them to succeed for reasons of his own.
28* ComicSutra: Good luck figuring out what exactly "Six Doves Beneath the Eaves on a Rainy Day" is supposed to look like.
29** That said, most of the other named positions do appear in Chinese sex manuals, with names defensibly translated as Hughart does, and are used appropriately in the story.
30* ContractualGenreBlindness: The Duke of Ch'in deliberately acts like a villain out of fairy tales, incidentally providing his foes with [[WorthyOpponent a fair chance to beat him]]. However, this is ''not'' out of a sense of fairness -- it's because he's [[TheManBehindTheCurtain more frightened and confused than he tries to show]].
31* ContrivedCoincidence: Too many to list. Let's just say that characters keep on bumping back into each other with alarming frequency. [[spoiler:Turns out to be justified, as someone up in the heavens ''really'' wants the heroes to succeed in their quest.]]
32* DeathbringerTheAdorable: Zig-zagged. Doctor Death turns out to be a very sweet old man, who just happens to be obsessed with chopping up corpses to resurrect his beloved wife, [[spoiler: who died horribly long ago as an indirect result of his conning money out of a wealthy man for the money to continue his studies.]] He's a bit creepy, in spite of his complete lack of malevolence, but he still helps the protagonists [[spoiler: and, in the ending, is [[MercyKill unceremoniously freed from his earthly obsessions by the Falcon]], [[TogetherInDeath only to be happily be reunited with his wife in the afterlife.]]]]
33* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler:Half-literally. Although GodsHandsAreTied in the matter of Jade Pearl, the August Personage of Jade ''can'' help Number Ten Ox and Master Li in their quest, and if it ''just so happens'' to right the ancient wrong in the process...]]
34* DevotedToYou: Lotus Cloud attracts a string of devoted admirers, including Number Ten Ox, who would do anything for her. [[spoiler:This is a clue to her divine nature, as Master Li realizes: even without remembering who she really is, she still attracts worshipers.]]
35* DirtyCoward:
36** [[spoiler: The Duke of Ch'in. He engineers the downfall of Jade Pearl, kills her three handmaidens, and engages in centuries of cruelty and villainy because he's scared stiff of dying and facing the Wheel of Transmogrification.]]
37** The Ancestress, who engages in a similar life of self centered cruelty against others, only to flee in terror from Henpecked Ho after he's finally had enough of her madness.
38* TheDogWasTheMastermind: Master Li [[TheReveal reveals]] in a WhamLine that [[spoiler:the Key Rabbit, who has been depicted up to this point as a meek, cowardly man forced to be the assessor of the Duke of Ch'in, is actually the Duke of Ch'in himself]].
39* EvilMatriarch: The Ancestress, who corrupted the Sui dynasty to ruin, slaughtered millions of peasants for the vanity of having people die on her extravagant projects, and [[KarmaHoudini ultimately, using her weak-willed step-son as a scapegoat, got away scot-free to live a life of decadent luxury and bitter plotting to restore her reign]]. [[spoiler: Fortunately, once her tenure as an ArcVillain is over, Henpecked Ho settles with her in quite a gruesome fashion, after dealing with her evil clan off-page.]]
40* EvilOverlord: The Duke of Ch'in rules with an iron fist and regularly has people tortured or murdered as a warning to others. He lives in a sinister fortress and has supernatural powers including mind reading and [[spoiler:SoulJar immortality]].
41* FakeFaint: Fainting Maid, true to her name, uses fake fainting as a frequent tool to manipulate her family. Master Li notes that she gives the exact performance each time, staggering in shock -- "two steps backward, six to the left" -- before falling to the ground. [[spoiler:He turns it against her later, positioning her two steps forward and six to the right of a hidden trap before deliberately provoking her.]]
42* FalseReassurance: One of the stories told of the tyrannical Duke of Ch'in concerns a farmer who went to the Duke to plead for mercy for his village. He successfully convinced the Duke that the village was genuinely unable to pay the Duke's taxes, and the Duke promised the village would never have to pay taxes again -- then had his soldiers burn it to the ground and put all the residents to the sword.
43* FateWorseThanDeath: The handmaidens of the Princess of Birds, who [[spoiler:were tricked and murdered by the Duke of Ch'in, and then reanimated and forced to act as guards to his SoulJar, preventing anyone from righting their mistake]].
44* FindTheCure: The impetus for the entire plot is Number Ten Ox's quest to find a cure for the children of his village, who have been exposed to a poison that can only be cured by a very rare and powerful herb.
45* FingerLickingPoison: In the Ancestress' house, Number Ten Ox comes across a treatise on assassination which includes an anecdote about someone disposing of his enemies by gifting them with books after smearing the edges of each page with arsenic so they would be poisoned when they licked their fingers to turn the pages.
46* GenreSavvy:
47** Master Li begins to realize that he and Ox are in a fairy tale.
48--->'''Li:''' Nothing on the face of this earth -- and I do mean nothing -- is half so dangerous as a children's story that happens to be real, and you and I are wandering blindfolded through a myth devised by a maniac.
49** Villain example: the Ancestress is the only character in the book savvy enough to see through pretty much all of Master Li's bullshit, and is not fooled by a single one of the cons they try to pull on her. Unfortunately for her, her savviness does not protect her from [[spoiler: a henpecked husband with an axe and nothing to lose.]]
50* GodsHandsAreTied: The Chinese pantheon places great store on the rule of law, and not even the emperor of the gods can break the rules with impunity. At least, not openly...
51* HeartTrauma: "A man with no heart likes things cold."
52* HenpeckedHusband: The appropriately nicknamed Henpecked Ho. [[spoiler: At first, until Li and Ten Ox walk into his life.]]
53* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: The history of the Duke of Ch'in is based on stories told about [[UsefulNotes/QinShiHuangdi Ch'in Shi Huangdi]], the first emperor of China. Historical consensus is that the real man wasn't a bad as legend painted him, and the legends have been additionally exaggerated for the purposes of this story.
54%%* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: Anything that happens and isn't immediately important will be important later.
55* IfICantHaveYou: [[spoiler:Fainting Maid was angry that the man she wanted to marry fell in love with another woman, and arranged a gruesome death for him. Master Li notes that he also has his suspicions about the subsequent death of the other woman, which was officially ruled a suicide.]]
56* ISeeDeadPeople: A rare case where this is a learned skill. Master Li can do it, and he teaches it to Number Ten Ox. As for the ghosts themselves, they [[GroundhogDayLoop repeat their deaths over and over]] until either the loop is broken, or their [[GhostlyGoals reason for remaining]] is removed. They wear JacobMarleyApparel, and it's uncertain whether they know they're dead, though some seem to do.
57* IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy:
58** Henpecked Ho loved his concubine Bright Star, though he knew she didn't love him. When she fell in love with another man, who reciprocated, Ho did everything he could to help them be together.
59** Number Ten Ox at the end, when he [[spoiler:rejects Lotus Cloud's offer to stay with him in favor of restoring her identity as the Princess of Birds, even though it means that he will never see her again]].
60* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Number Ten Ox, according to Master Li. "When I run into something that is really foul, I can counter with the potential for foulness that resides in the depths of my soul... You, on the other hand, suffer from an incurable case of purity of heart."
61* InvisibleMonsters: [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Hand That No One Sees]], which turns out to be [[spoiler:a GiantSpider]].
62* KavorkaMan: Lotus Cloud is one of the ever-elusive female examples of this trope.
63* LamarckWasRight: The origin of Master Li's "slight flaw." [[spoiler: His parents were criminals who robbed the Duke of Ch'in while his mother was pregnant with him, and were caught because of their greedy squabbling. The abbot who raised him had to contend with his nature asserting itself, though Master Li eventually became a reasonably virtuous man on his own. Partly because committing crimes was less exciting than solving them, but baby steps.]]
64* LandOfDragons: This is "a novel of an ancient China that never was," to which the book blurb adds, "But oh, it should have been!" Gets credit for having a more developed world than the description would imply. And only one dragon, on a little necklace.
65* LongList:
66** What you tend to get if you ask Henpecked Ho a simple question. On one occasion, Number Ten Ox asks him the name of a mountain, and he spends several paragraphs listing the mountains of China in order of notability until he gets down to the one Ox asked about.
67** The descriptions of the porcupine merchant's meals.
68* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:Miser Shen began hoarding money so he could afford to revive his dead daughter. The hoarding became a compulsion, and he [[MotiveDecay forgot why he was doing it in the first place.]]]]
69** Also subverted: [[spoiler:His love for Lotus Cloud later moves him to squander all his wealth on gifts for her, which makes him go sane again, and ultimately results in his happy reunion with his family in the afterlife.]]
70* LikeFatherUnlikeSon: Henpecked Ho is a weak-willed but likable and intelligent NiceGuy, to the point of choosing IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy in regards to his deceased concubine. All of his daughters are stubborn, self-centered, and stupid, [[spoiler: with [[BewareTheSillyOnes Fainting Maid]] [[IfICantHaveYou murdering a soldier she was attracted to]] [[DisproportionateRetribution because he chose Ho's concubine over her,]] much to Ho's disgust.]]
71* MadScientist: Doctor Death is an extremely sympathetic and very kind example.
72* MadnessMantra: "Chop-chop. Chop-chop-chop!"
73%%* MalevolentArchitecture
74* MasochistsMeal: Porcupine meat, if improperly prepared, will supposedly kill you horribly.
75* TheMaze: The Duke of Ch'in's treasure houses are all complicated labyrinths were a wrong turning will result in a horrible death.
76* MeaningfulEcho: Number Ten Ox and Fainting Maid's first stroll through the gardens leads to an argument about whether a bird is a cuckoo or a magpie imitating a cuckoo. Later on, when Master Li has [[spoiler:exposed Fainting Maid as the murderess of her father's concubine and lover and [[AssholeVictim induced her to faint right into a deep well]]]], he tells her father, "You are perfectly free to hear whatever you choose, but what I hear is a magpie that is imitating the sounds of [[spoiler:a scream and a splash]]."
77* MeaningfulName: Many of them, including Fainting Maid and [[spoiler:Lotus Cloud, when you consider that "Lotus" is the flower of forgetfulness and "Cloud" implies obscurity or veiling...]].
78* MoneyFetish:
79** Lotus Cloud is known as the most expensive woman in all of China with good reason, although her greed extends to only pearls and jade. Anything else, and she instantly loses interest. [[spoiler:The true reason for her yearning for pearls and jade turns out to not be simple greed, but a subconscious yearning for her true identity named Jade Pearl]].
80** Anyone who makes himself invulnerable by removing his heart also acquires an overwhelming lust to obtain and handle "cold things": treasure in all forms.
81* MotiveDecay: Surprisingly averted. The Master Li and Number Ten Ox go through many epic adventures, such as [[spoiler: becoming the wealthiest men in China and meeting [[GodInHumanForm gods in human form]]]], all to save the children of the village.
82* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Li Kao decides that the easiest way to find the Great Root of Power in the Ancestress' household is to have a funeral — and that, since the need for the Great Root is rather urgent, it's best not to just wait for the occasion to arise. He does express a hope that he'll be able to find somebody who deserves to die, and the person he settles on is indeed a thoroughly nasty piece of work, but it certainly demonstrates the flaw in Li Kao's character.
83* MrViceGuy: There is a slight flaw in Li Kao's character (more than one flaw, actually, if you count "alcoholism" and "willingness to rob and murder people to achieve your goals" as two separate traits), but he's still unquestionably on the side of good, and most of the more morally dubious actions he commits are done to people who [[PayEvilUntoEvil thoroughly deserved it]].
84* MyGrandsonMyself: [[spoiler:Master Li and Number Ten Ox learn that the Dukes of Ch'in, a notorious line of tyrannical rulers, have actually been just one immortal Duke the whole time.]]
85* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The Hand That No One Sees. Yes. Start running ''now.''
86* NeedleInAStackOfNeedles: Subverted. Master Li thinks the Duke has probably hidden the girl by transforming her into a single grain of sand on a beach or something along those lines... when the truth is far simpler and more brilliant.
87* TheNicknamer: Lotus Cloud gives all of her suitors cutesy nicknames like "Boopsie", "Woofie", and "Pooh-Pooh".
88* NoImmortalInertia: When the heroes destroy the heart of the immortal villain, he is rapidly reduced to a skeleton and then crumbles into dust.
89* OldMaster: Master Li, in spite of the slight flaws in his character.
90* PlotCoupon: The bell, the ball and the flute, and the parts of the Great Root.
91* {{Polyamory}}: Number Ten Ox, [[spoiler: Miser Shen]], and all of Lotus Cloud's other lovers tend to get along famously, in part because all of them are decent people deep down. Master Li jokes that she ought to build a kennel for them. [[spoiler: This is a hint as to her [[GodInHumanForm true nature]]. Li eventually realizes that while this lack of jealousy makes no sense in romantic terms, it makes ''perfect'' sense for a goddess. Suitors might be jealous, but '''worshippers'''...]]
92* PrehensileHair: The underwater treasure house containing the greatest of the Duke's treasures is guarded by [[spoiler:the revenants of the three murdered handmaidens]], whose hair moves independently to snare and hold intruders.
93* PsychopathicManchild: [[spoiler: The Duke of Ch'in. For all of his villainy, at heart, he's just a scared little boy utterly unable to accept his own mortality. Master Li notes from all the labyrinths, games, and petty behaviour he indulges in, that Ch'in never really grew up in all the centuries he's been alive.]]
94* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Several characters, [[spoiler:most notably the Duke.]]
95* RenaissanceMan: Master Li knows about topics ranging from chemistry to astronomy to Egyptian mythology. He is also fluent in Latin.
96%%* TheReveal: A couple of [[WhamLine Wham Moment]]-y ones.
97* RoyalBrat: Pretty much all the descendants of the Ancestress. Fainting Maid is the most prominent example.
98* RunningGag: Master Li and Number Ten Ox running into someone they previously scammed, whose identity is revealed with a shout of ''"What have you done with my ''{precious item}''?!"''
99* SappingTheShapeshifter: During the climactic confrontation, Number Ten Ox has to hold on to the villain while he transforms into a variety of large dangerous animals and tries to throw him off. Ox notes in the narration that he's thankful the villain lacked imagination and never thought of becoming a scorpion or a porcupine.
100* ShowyInvincibleHero: It never quite feels like our heroes are in any ''real'' danger, but there is great fun in seeing their plans to get out of it.
101* SoftWater: Number Ten Ox and Li Kao manage to survive a suicidal hundred-foot leap at one point by merely landing in a calm pool of water and avoiding a jagged rock in there by six inches.
102* SweetAndSourGrapes: [[spoiler: Miser Shen]] spends years single-mindedly gathering up wealth to try to learn how to bring his daughter back to life from the Old Man of the Mountain, but doing so turns into a compulsion of its own, and he forgets. Losing all his treasure causes him to become sane again, and he resolves to become a better person, [[spoiler: which directly leads to a virtuous death in the course of righting a great wrong, [[TogetherInDeath and a happy reunion with his family]].]]
103* SoulJar: The main villain has had his heart removed and hidden away. If the heart can be found and destroyed, he will be killed, but until then he is invulnerable.
104* SpiritualSuccessor: To the ''Kai Lung'' stories of the early 20th century.
105%%* StarcrossedLovers: Over and over.
106* MillionToOneChance: A character estimates that there is a "Ten Thousand Billion Trillion To One Chance" of anybody ever [[spoiler:restoring Jade Pearl after her downfall and disappearance]]. Naturally, the heroes succeed in doing so.
107%%* TitleDrop
108* TogetherInDeath: Several instances in the ending.
109* TongueTwister: On an occasion when Ox feels that he's overindulged on wine, Master Li has him repeat a tongue twister to prove to himself he's not drunk: "Forty-four dead stone lions" in the Peking/Mandarin dialect, which -- as Ox narrates -- "comes out as ''ssu shih ssu ssu shih shih'', if it comes out at all."
110* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: Master Li fakes being a member.
111* TheWatson: [[IncorruptiblePurePureness Number Ten Ox]], to [[MagnificentBastard Master Li]].
112* WhenSheSmiles: Lotus Cloud.
113* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Well, becoming a deity isn't so bad, but removing your heart also [[TheStoic makes you kind of inhuman.]]
114* YouDontWantToCatchThis: "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! IT IS THE PLAGUE OF THE TEN THOUSAND PESTILENTIAL PUTRESCENCES!"
115* YouKilledMyFather: Master Li considers the Duke his ancestral enemy, because one of the Duke's ancestors killed his parents (actually, they were a couple of thieves, who stole the soldiers' payroll, squabbled over the loot, and were mortally wounded by the pursuers, but meh... close enough). Later he learns one important detail: [[spoiler:all the Duke's "ancestors" were actually the immortal Duke.]]
116
117!!''The Story of the Stone'' contains examples of:
118* AuthorTract: It's not hard to see where Barry Hughart thought the corruption that destroyed the Tang dynasty came from, in spite of the fact that the first novel took place ''before'' the Neo-Confucian movement was anything more than a fringe group!
119* ArcWords: "Fraud and forgery! Paint slapped over dry rot and gilded with lies!"
120* AmazonBrigade: The barbarian king who collects Moon Boy for his gang of "special people" has one, and he wants Grief of Dawn to join.
121* ArtifactOfDoom: The titular stone, which tempts men to abuse its miraculous powers. [[spoiler: Subverted, in that the stone itself is not evil, but the temptation it offers is too much for most men to take.]]
122* BandOfBrothels: The guildmistress is called the Captain of Prostitutes, and she is the most powerful woman in China.
123* TheCaligula: The original Laughing Prince, a monstrous tyrant who became quite rich vivisecting his subjects after working them to death in slave-labor and turning his land into a PollutedWasteland. [[spoiler: His current successor is less overtly-evil, but no less ruthless and mad.]]
124* CelestialBureaucracy: Hellish bureaucracy in this case. PlayedForLaughs as the gang realize, with horror, that this means the influence of the Neo-Confucians has penetrated even Hell.
125--> Demons bowed to trolls, who bowed to ogres, who bowed to devils.
126* ChineseVampire: Lurching, strangling, and soul-stealing variety, not the hopping one. The name is transcribed as ''chiang shih''. [[spoiler: The final fate of the Laughing Prince's quest for immortality.]]
127* CirclesOfHell: The trip through Hell is essentially a Chinese version of Dante's ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]].''
128* MadArtist: A rather subdued variety, but [[spoiler: the current prince]] is both a great artist and quite homicidally mad.
129* NoodleIncident: ''"I tied the other end of a tarred rope around the corpse's legs, and it slid silently beneath the surface and drifted down to join the others."'' It is mentioned that "the others" are described in lost volumes of ''Memoirs of Number Ten Ox'', which were destroyed by Imperial Censors.
130* OddJobGods: The guild of prostitutes even petitions Heaven for a new patron deity, as the current one isn't tough and crafty enough.
131* ReallyGetsAround: Moon Boy. [[spoiler: Although as he is the former goddess of prostitutes, this comes to make more sense.]]
132* TitleDrop: Twice. At the beginning of the story, Ox notes that it is a day when he writes down his adventures with Master Li, and asks Master Li which story he should tell. Then, after their trip through Hell, Master Li asks his friend who enabled the trip what he would call this story. In both cases, the response is ''Shi tou chi'', which the asker translates as "The Story of the Stone".
133* TogetherInDeath: As in the last novel, the final fate of [[spoiler: Moon Boy, Grief of Dawn, and the stone is to be taken up into Heaven together.]]
134* YourMindMakesItReal: The group's trip into Hell is entirely the result of suggestion and hallucination, but all of them agree that they're still in terrible danger.
135
136!!''Eight Skilled Gentlemen'' contains examples of:
137* AffablyEvil:
138** Envy is a cruel, ruthless killer hoping to destroy the universe out of spite, but he is also, as a former cavalier, courteous, brave, and [[spoiler: somewhat supportive of Number Ten Ox's relationship with his daughter, in his own way]].
139** Sixth Degree Hostler Tu just really, ''really'' wants to share the finer points of whatever cuisine pops into his head with you, while murdering you with his hands. He also [[spoiler: willingly aides Ox and Li in saving the universe from Envy, pacifies the ancient demon gods of his people from aiding their brother, and ends up becoming a god... all while remaining a crazy murderous bastard.]]
140* CoolOldGuy: The Celestial Master, an old friend of Master Li's who makes even ''him'' look young, is one of the most brilliant and powerful minds in China, and a stalwart force for good in the face of Neo-Confucian opposition. [[spoiler: His [[OutOfCharacterAlert later behavior]] is an indicator that something has gone terribly wrong.]]
141* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Each of the demonic gods of the aboriginal Chinese specializes in a different bizarre form of murder. Somewhat more down-to-earth is the Imperial Slow-Slash Execution. [[spoiler: It turns out [[HitmanWithAHeart Devil's Hand]] has been {{Mercy Kill}}ing anyone sentenced to it for years, and faked their cries of pain with a pig's bladder.]]
142* CuteMonsterGirl: Envy's daughter Madness, [[spoiler:the shamaness,]] is part human and part water-dragon in her true form. [[spoiler: She uses this form to save Ox, Li, and the universe from her father, though doing so means leaving the mortal world forever to become a goddess like her mother.]]
143* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler: The Celestial Master]] is subjected to a gruesome mix between this and PuppeteerParasite, as Malice possesses him by literally burrowing into his chest cavity and controlling him from within.
144* DivineDate: Long ago, the ever-restless cavalier that would become Envy courted and won the heart of the most dangerous death-goddess in the pantheon, before his wild nature drove him to spurn her. [[spoiler: They had two children together first, Madness and Malice, and their double-nature drives part of the story.]]
145* DrivenByEnvy: The character [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Envy]]. He recounts a famous parable about a cycle of wishes bringing someone right back to where they began to illustrate how his nature drives him, and how he can never, ever rest, be satisfied, or enjoy anything he has.
146* EatTheEvidence: Well, when you ''really'' need to get rid of a body, there's always [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalism]].
147* EunuchsAreEvil: The original conspiracy, before the supernatural elements get involved, is being run by the palace eunuchs. Even the ones who ''aren[='=]t'' criminals are still first-degree jerks. At one point, when Ox and Li are travelling through the palace, they see the sad, sad women whom the Emperor has tired of, forced to live at the eunuchs' whim in the shadow of [[CompensatingForSomething a huge pink tower with a brown dome on top, from the tip of which a stream of water filled with white lilies flows]]. Li comments that any man who thinks that a eunuch's "treatment" makes them more subtle is [[LampshadeHanging clearly fooling himself]].
148* FoodPorn: Sixth-Degree Hosteler Tu expounds on food quite frequently, as it's his second great obsession (the first being murder). Also possibly averted in the sequence where Master Li and Yen Shih [[spoiler: [[EatTheEvidence prepare The Snake's body into a grand feast for their hosts]]]], depending on your constitution and/or [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments sense of humor]]. Ox spends the duration trying not to throw up.
149* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Confucius was generally seen as a virtuous, if stuffy, teacher in previous books, but in this one the horrible "ghost scheme" to deprive all the poor of China of basic political rights is attributed directly to him.
150* HumanSacrifice: A cornerstone of Envy's plan, to stage what looks like [[spoiler:the Celestial Master]] sacrificing a human being to the gods on the solstice, provoking the August Personage of Jade to rage and leading to mass destruction on Earth.
151* ScoobyDoobyDoors: They feature prominently in [[ShowWithinAShow the play within the story]].

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