Main Characters | Heavenly Officials | Other
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General Tropes
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: Many gods know how to shift between genders if they have few to no choice. One notable example is The Wind Master Shi Qingxuan, who prefers both genders and switches based on what they feel in the mood for and even tries to get other gods to shapeshift as well, whenever they are together.
Martial Gods
Jun Wu (君吾)
Voiced by (Mandarin): Song Ming note (animation), Chen Hao (audio drama)
Voiced by (Japanese): Takehito Koyasu (animation)
Voiced by (English): Reagan Murdock (animation)
Played by: Yao Yichen (web series)
The Martial God Heavenly Emperor.
- Big Bad: He's the reason behind all of the tragedy Xie Lian experienced in the entire story.
- …But He Sounds Handsome: At the beginning of the Mount Tonglu arc, he tells Xie Lian that Bai Wuxiang is the most powerful and dangerous of the Supreme ghosts and the Heavens won't survive the ascension of another ghost like him. He's Bai Wuxiang.
- Collector of the Strange: He has a wide collection of swords, even having a sword that could prove if someone was actually a virgin. Lampshaded by some heavenly officials who openly wonder why Jun Wu even had a sword like that.
- Duality Motif: As a martial god and a Supreme-ranked Calamity, he's both god and ghost. However, he's several times more powerful in his god form.
- The Emperor: He is the most powerful martial god in the heavens, therefore he leads all of the other gods.
- Evil Is Petty: The main reason he decides to ruin Xie Lian's life is because as the Crown Prince after defeating his Heavenly Calamity declared "Body in abyss; heart in paradise" which Jun Wu took as an insult.
- Fallen Hero: As the Crown Prince of Wuyong, he only wanted to save the people. Because No Good Deed Goes Unpunished he lost faith in humanity and became a calamity.
- Foil: To Xie Lian. In the past Jun Wu was also a Crown Prince, but fell from glory when his believers started to leave when they thought he wasn't doing enough to try and save them from the soon-to-erupt volcano. He gave into despair and desperation and became willing to sacrifice human lives to appease the Kiln, even killing his own friends. This led to him soon losing his kingdom and last loyal follower and friend, who fled when he found out he had the Human Face Disease of his former friends. In Xie Lian's case, however, while he was left alone with no one left to support him, he didn't give up his morals for revenge or out of despair and was able to avoid a similar fate because there was one person out there who still believed in him.
- Gaslighting: He does this to Xie Lian in book 5 when he pits certain ghosts and gods against one another, and makes them choose whether to help Jun Wu and destroy the human array or to fight one another. When the latter option happens, Jun Wu chastises Xie Lian and tells him all of this is happening due to his own stubbornness and this could have been avoided had he tried to stop them.
- Glamour Failure: Mei Nianqing reveals to the entire heavenly court and Xie Lian that Jun Wu was the originator of the human face disease by using a sword as a mirror to reflect the faces he usually kept hidden under his glamor. In the past, he was unable to hide the faces when he was incredibly stressed or emotional.
- Leave No Witnesses: When the volcano erupted again in Wuyoung, he let it envelop his entire kingdom, leaving no trace or record of his history behind, leading him to take on a new identity and ascend to heaven. As he took over heaven, he killed every official and replaced them with people he could control, leaving no one but Mei Nianqing aware of this.
- Madness Mantra: When Mei Nianqing finds out his Crown Prince killed their friends and they've possessed him as the Human Face Disease, he tries to choke his friend as he hysterically screams that he's better off alone and doesn't need anyone.
- Master Swordsman: He is incredibly skilled with the sword, even matching Xie Lian in a fight.
- Not So Above It All: He's shown to be amused during some of the arguments that go on in heaven and when Lan Chang accused Xie Lian of being the father to her child Jun Wu's chin actually slips off of his hand in shock.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Jun Wu is diplomatic and makes sure that both sides of the argument are heard before dealing out a final verdict. This totally falls apart after The Reveal, of course.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: His final fate. After he's defeated by Xie Lian, he's kept sealed beneath the depths of Mount Tonglu.
- Shadow Archetype: To Xie Lian. Their backstories of wanting to help the common people out and the tragedies that occured because of their actions mirror, but their consequential behavior differ.
- Shipper on Deck: He actually seems to find Hua Cheng and Xie Lian's budding relationship quite amusing, and seems supportive of the two. Although he could have just been glad to find another weakness to use against Xie Lian if he were to disobey him.
- Stepford Smiler: He rarely loses his smile, which only serves to unnerve those around him, even Xie Lian.
- Top God: The oldest and most powerful of all the gods, he rules over the Heavenly Capital and all the other heavenly officials.
- The Usurper: When he ascended to heaven, he killed many heavenly officials so he could replace them with more loyal people and put himself in charge.
- Walking Spoiler: It's hard to discuss Jun Wu's character without revealing he's Bai Wuxiang.
- We Used to Be Friends: He used to have four close friends that were at his side when he was Crown Prince of Wuyoung. However, when they couldn't agree on how to protect the kingdom from the volcano erruption, Jun Wu chose to sacrifice some human lives, but when three of his friends found out he killed them as well. They continue to haunt him in the form of the Human Face Disease, and once Mei Nianqing, his last friend discovers this, he finally leaves Jun Wu's side as well.
- A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: In the final volume, Jun Wu is revealed to be Bai Wuxiang.
Pei Ming (裴茗)
Voiced by (Mandarin): Tu Xiongfei (animation, Season 1), Shun Zi (animation, Season 2) Chen Jiaheng (audio drama)
Voiced by (Japanese): Jun'ichi Suwabe (animation)
Voiced by (English): Aaron Campbell (animation)
Played by: Liu Shuai (web series)
Weapon: Ming Guang (sword)
The Martial God of the North, one of the Three Tumors, and one of the Four Famous Tales ("The General Who Snapped His Sword").
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: In the finale he ends up teaming up with Ruo Guang by bowing to the other, apologizing for the two of them splitting up all those years ago, and begging for his help. Although this happens offscreen and is told through Ruo Guang's jeers when they come to assist Xie Lian.
- Badass General: What he was as a mortal, and his title in heaven was "The General Who Broke His Sword".
- Brutal Honesty: He makes it known upfront what he wants and what he won't stand for. So when he tells Xuan Ji she should return to her kingdom since they were both on opposing sides, but she refuses, he attempts to persuade her by reminding her they agreed their relationship was a fling and her kingdom needed their general.
- The Casanova: He was already a womanizer in his mortal life, but when he ascended his preferences expanded from mortal women to fairies, lady officials, female ghosts and demons, as long as they are beautiful. It went to the point where mortals started worshiping him as a god of love.
- Easily Forgiven: Yushi Huang doesn't hold it against Pei Ming for laying siege to her kingdom, but he still feels guilty about it.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Despite him chasing after any woman he found attractive, he made sure that whoever he slept with would live comfortably afterwards and would never kill any of his lovers just because they were pregnant with child.
- When Xuan Ji offered him the strategies of her military in a desperate attempt for them to stay together, he refused to maccept it and make use of it; in the donghua, he even burnt the scrolls that Xuan Ji offered to him. Even when Xuan Ji mutiliated herself, Pei Ming had his people look after her and saw to it that she was taken care of.
- Foil: To his descendant and subordinate Pei Xiu. While Pei Ming didn't take his love life too seriously and lived in the moment, Pei Xiu could never really let go of Ban Yue and she was the main reason he started to lure people into the Sinner's Pit so Ke Mo and the soldiers wouldn't have to torture her for centuries. He also gave up his status as a god for her, much to Pei Ming's shock and disapproval.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: He doesn't seem to be well liked amongst the other Heavenly Officials. When Quan Yizhen travels alongside Xie Lian to rescue him from Black Water's lair he comments that it was amazing the two of them even came to save him. He claims when the other gods found out the mission was to save Pei Ming they all suddenly said they didn't have the time. He's also called one of the "Three Tumors" of heaven alongside Ling Wen and Shi Wudu.
- Humble Goal: His main goals when he was mortal was to fight and have fun with any woman who caught his eye. He had absolutely no interest in becoming a king despite others saying he should.
- I Was Beaten by a Girl: During the Mount Tonglu arc, Xuan Ji, a woman, beats him bloody until Yushi Huang, also a woman, rescues him. Because of his conservative stances on women, he finds this humiliating.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His opinion of women can still very conservative. However, he does show he cares for the people close to him like Ling Wen and Pei Xiu who he almost treats like a son. His few appearances beside Pei Xiu show he's trying to help Pei Xiu get back into heaven sooner.
- Master Swordsman: Was a well known general on the battlefield and received the title "The General Who Broke His Sword" when he ascended.
- Nepotism: Despite likely getting to his position by his own hands, Pei Ming hints that he actually had to pull some strings to allow Pei Xiu to ascend to heaven. He even goes out of his way to try and hunt down Ban Yue just so Pei Xiu can return to heaven sooner.
- Odd Friendship: In terms of personality, he was the complete opposite to his friend Rong Guang, but the two got along well until bounderies were grossly crossed.
- Offered the Crown: When he was mortal, his subordinate Rong Guang plotted a coup against the ruling king of their home kingdom in Pei Ming's name. When Pei Ming found out, he took his sword and put down the coup (and the conspirators) personally. The king then had Pei Ming arrested for treason anyway.
- Pet the Dog: Pei Ming was the one who lent Ling Wen the manpower to harass Jing Wen's followers and burn his temple, helping her to cause the decline of Temple of Jing Wen and her ascension as the foremost Civil Goddess.
- Really Gets Around: In his mortal and immortal life, he was well known for hitting on any women he found attractive. It's gotten to the point where mortals see him as a love god instead of a martial god.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Because of their mutual reputations for really getting around, Pei Ming and Ling Wen's worshippers assume that they are lovers and write very embarrassing romantic plays about them, to their mutual dismay.
- Shipper on Deck:
- He was the first martial god to notice there was something going on deeper with Hua Cheng and Xie Lian's relationship. He points out multiple times the two being together, possibly in a romantic sense, with Xie Lian hurriedly shrugging it off each time. When he joins Quan Yizhen, Feng Xin and Fu Yao to form the sword to Xie Lian's statue he is visibly amused as Xie Lian pulls Hua Cheng down for a kiss.
Pei Ming: Ho-ho?- He also seems to slightly be on board with Pei Xiu and Ban Yue as an item, although he doesn't fully approve of Ban Yue as he feels she's not good enough for Pei Xiu.
- Stay in the Kitchen: While he does have some respect for close friends like Ling Wen, acknowledges women as equals in intellect unlike Jing Wen and Rong Goung, and defends their careers when they are very wronged, Pei Ming gets angry at Ban Yue for not knowing how to make up herself or cook as he believes she should have been taught how to do that. In the finale, he gets visibly depressed when he's being outdone in combat by the Yushi Huang as she comes to assist Xie Lian and the others.
- Strong and Skilled: All the upper ranked gods who managed to ascend are capable and earned their ascension.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Since Pei Xiu is his descendant, they share a strong resemblance to each other that Xuan Ji initially mistook Pei Xiu for Pei Ming.
Lang Qianqiu (郎千秋)
Voiced by (Mandarin): Jiang Zihan (animation), Li Xin (audio drama)
Voiced by (Japanese): Daiki Yamashita (animation)
Voiced by (English): Branden Loera (animation)
Played by: Ding Jiawen (web series)
The Martial God of the East.
- The Apprentice: When Xie Lian lived in Yong An as Guoshi Fang Xin, he became Lang Qianqiu's teacher. It's only after he saves him from E-Ming does Lang Qianqiu recognize him by his sword technique alone.
- Back for the Finale: He makes a reappearance in the final book in the heavenly capital when Jun Wu is revealed to be White No Face, he is quickly incapacitated along with the other gods. He also assists in keeping the rats away from the human array.
- Black-and-White Morality: See Honor Before Reason. He jeopardizes an undercover mission in Ghost City to stop a man from gambling away his daughter's lifespan and marriage. While noble, he should have taken into account the repercussions of his hot-headedness and steeled himself for the fact that such cutthroat choices are bound to happen in the Gambler's Den.
- Broken Pedestal: After saving his life with nothing but a stick and a special sword technique when bandits held Lang Qianqiu hostage as a child, he came to admire Xie Lian, who became the Guoshi Fang Xin at that time. Unfortunately, following the slaughter of his entire family, this admiration understandably turns to hatred.
- Butt-Monkey: Throughout the Gambler Den scene, he's humiliated by the ghosts who throw food at him, yell at him or threaten to disrobe him as he's star-fished against the ceiling. Xie Lian exchanges a stale bao for Lang Qianqiu's freedom, to the other's chagrin.
- Didn't Think This Through: He has a habit of jumping into action without considering the finer details. For instance, when he gets to duel Xie Lian, he never explicitly stated they would only fight with swords, nor did he agree that victory can only be achieved through an opponent's death, something Xie Lian takes advantage of and even chides him for.
- Honor Before Reason: Is supposed to be in Ghost City undercover and nearly blows it when he violently interrupts a gambling session to stop a father from betting twenty years of his daughter's life and possibility for a happy marriage just so the man can have his wish of killing his other competitors granted. Shi Qingxuan even admits that had he known Lang Qianqiu was this hot-headed they would have made a different plan.
- Hot-Blooded: Lang Qianqiu is so passionate about everything, that he can't stand shady business, almost blowing his own cover; is generally the type that acts/attacks first, thinks later.
- Motor Mouth: When angered, he doesn't seem to know when to shut up. This is something Xie Lian finds out in the Gambler's Den and quickly becomes annoyed of.
- Pet the Dog: As much as he hated Qi Rong he tries to console Guzi who tearfully searches for his "dad", he finds Qi Rong's spirit and places it in a lantern. He even visits Puqi shrine from time to time so Guzi can talk to a ghost fire Qi Rong.
- When Xie Lian asked to be exiled after his crimes as Fang Xin Guoshi were exposed, Lang Qianqiu protested against it. Even at his angriest, he only wanted to get his revenge through a fair life-or-death fight and didn't want Xie Lian to further demean himself.
- Put on a Bus: He swears to find Qi Rong and kill him after Xie Lian's "kidnapping" he's only mentioned in some conversations, but doesn't many another appearance. He makes a reappearance in the final book when Jun Wu brings Xie Lian back to the heavenly court.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: After the Gilded Banquet massacre, his court urged him to eliminate all of the remaining Xian Le citizens. Instead, he lies about Guoshi Fang Xin's nationality and decrees that there will no longer be a distinction between the Yong An and Xian Le citizens.
Quan Yizhen (权一真)
Played by: Liu Zirui (web series)
The Martial God of the West, referred to as Qi Ying by other Heavenly Officials.
- Artifact Domination: In the past when Yin Yu's servant deliberately gave Quan Yizhen the Immortal Brocade as a "birthday present", he gets controlled by Yin Yu which is what lead to the other being casted out of heaven.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: His main mode for fighting. Xie Lian even notes that what he lacks in technique, he definitely makes up for in determination.
- Bandage Mummy: After the battle with Jun Wu, he's seen in the Heavenly Capital wrapped up in bandages.
- Because You Were Nice to Me:
- He claims that he keeps giving Xie Lian gold bars because he already has a lot of them, but Xie Lian remembers during the Mid Autumn banquet when he threw his chopsticks to drop the curtain on a play Quan Yizhen was getting really angry at. So this could be his way of repaying Xie Lian's kindess, although Xie Lian wishes he would stop. Other than that when he and the others were being chased by Pei Ming he nonchalantly started fighting Pei Ming while motioning for Xie Lian's group to escape.
- He also seemed to treat Yin Yu this way in the past, where the other decided to look after him once he saw potential in him. Even after the Immortal Brocade incident, Quan Yizhen still clearly cares for Yin Yu and never hated the other for what he did. Unfortunately, Yin Yu doesn't exactly feel the same as he always makes a break for it once Quan Yizhen realizes who he is and won't leave him alone.
- Berserk Button: The Demonization of Yin Yu makes him violently furious. Unfortunately for him, his worshippers have made Yin Yu the villain of his myth.
- Big Eater: Whenever he visiots Puqi he tries to eat some food there. And he always seems to forget the reaction Xie Lian's food causes to him, leading him to pass out on at least two occasions.
- Blood Knight: Has loved fighting ever since childhood.
- Brutal Honesty: He doesn't mince words and says what's on his mind, even if it comes out as a bit rude.
- Combat Pragmatist: How does he decide to stop Pei Ming from chasing Xie Lian and his group trying to sneak out of heaven? Throw his bed at the other Martial god.
- Comically Serious: There's hardly a scene where Quan Yizhen isn't this, making him come off as quite the ditz as well as flustering Xie Lian.
- Defence Mechanism Superpower: Gods have an ability to emit a bright flash of light when they feel they're in danger. Xie Lian uses Quan Yizhen's to blind a group of monks trying to capture Hua Cheng... by threatening to feed him more of his food.Quan Yizhen: (weakly) I don't want anymore...
Xie Lian: Calm down, this isn't for you! - Determinator: Once he sets his mind to something, he rarely lets go. This is played for laughs when he attempts to enter the golden step litter that came to pick up Xie Lian but is forcefully ejected out. Unperturbed, he merely gets up and starts running after the litter to try and hitch a ride. Once it drops of Xie Lian and Hua Cheng and swiftly exits, Quan Yizhen is disappointed he couldn't get inside. However, it is played a bit darker with his relationship to Yin Yu as, his constant desire to help out his shixiong only angered the other at feeling useless to the point it caused their falling out and Yin Yu's banishment.
- The Ditz: Even in normal situations, he can come across like this, with many gods gossiping that he likely has nothing on his mind. He's also a bit slow on the uptake in conversations.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: When he was human, he was despised in his sect, and the other disciples always ran to Yin Yu with complaints on Quan Yizhen misbehaving or getting special treatment. Played with when he ascends to heaven where he's respected as a powerful martial god, but doesn't seem to have many friends as most gods leave him alone.
- From Zero to Hero: Originally a nobody, he gained so many followers he ended up replacing Yin Yu as the Martial God of the West.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: He's one of the few martial gods who doesn't carry a weapon on him when he fights. But given how strong he is, he likely doesn't even need a weapon. The only time he's wielded a sword was when he was under the control of the Immortal Brocade, accidentally killing a group of gods and Yin Yu ordering him to kill himself which he attempts to do before Jun Wu stops him.
- Innocently Insensitive: Along with his No Social Skills and Brutal Honesty, Quan Yizhen says what's on his mind or whatever he thinks of a situation, no matter how the other person may feel about his poor choice of words. This is what lead to him falling out with Yin Yu and why the other refuses to talk about the martial god.
- Nice Guy: He's a bit ditzy, but overall a nice person and means well if he likes you. Even though sometimes his help can be a bit unwanted towards the people he's trying to help.
- No Social Skills: To the point where it affected the plot, leading to the fallout between him and Yin Yu.
- Quirky Curls: He's noted to have curly hair, and he's certainly nonconformist.
- The Sleepless: Played with; gods don't need sleep, but Quan Yizhen does so anyway. His first real introduction shows him sleeping on his bed when Xie Lian, Ming Yi and Shi Qingxuan attempt to escape from heaven and accidentally dig into his room trying to outrun Pei Ming.
- The Stoic: He rarely changes expressions beyond a spaced out look. Some gods gossiped that he's the god who has nothing on his mind.
- Undying Loyalty: Despite the incident that caused a rift between the two, Quan Yizhen still respectfully refers to Yin Yu as "shixiong".
- The Unfettered: As long as he can still move and is conscious, he'll continue to pursue his goal. This unfortunately lead to Yin Yu resenting Quan Yizhen's help as he saw it as the other pitying him for becoming weaker. It also nearly causes him to get killed as Xie Lian has to keep a death grip on Quan Yizhen and remind him not to go after Jun Wu for killing Yin Yu, because he's outmatched.
- Unskilled, but Strong: When he's fending off Pei Ming Xie Lian notes he's bashing him with no method, but if he were fighting anyone that wasn't Pei Ming their heads would've been bloodied by now.
- Unwanted Assistance:
- Keeps putting gold in Xie Lian's donation box despite Xie Lian rejecting it.
- Yin Yu felt that Quan Yizhen trying to help him only showed how weak he truly was and caused hin to lash out and nearly kill his shixiong in anger.
- We Used to Be Friends: He was close to Yin Yu, but after the former was exiled they were never truly able to reconnect, even when Quan Yizhen was open to hearing Yin Yu's explanation. During the Autumn Banquet, he gets infuriated at one of his plays making fun of Yin Yu that he almost jumped up on stage to beat up the actors.
Mu Qing (慕情)
Voiced by (Mandarin): Hu Liangwei (animation), Liu Kang note (audio drama)
Voiced by (Japanese): Chiaki Kobayashi (animation)
Voiced by (English): Lucien Dodge (animation)
Played by: Cai Yao (web series)
Weapon: Zhan Ma (scimitar)
The Martial God of the Southwest.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: As a visual medium, the donghua allows viewers to pay closer attention to his facial expressions. When Jun Wu placed Xie Lian under house arrest, Mu Qing doesn't look unaffected.
- Badass Armfold: Most of his appearances in the donghua have him sporting this pose.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Besides changing his looks (and only somewhat), Mu Qing barely gives any effort to act any differently as Fu Yao as he doesn't keep his Character Tics in check and is quick to react to any of his Berserk Buttons, all of which would immediately give away his true identity.
- Berserk Button: When he's told to sweep the floors or is reminded he's not a high-born, he gets angry very quickly. Feng Xin is quick to hit this button when he's equally furious.
- Brutal Honesty: Almost everything that comes out of his mouth is this, and he doesn't mince words. In the past, this has gotten him into a lot of trouble and has branded him as a loner by others.
- Cannot Spit It Out: A platonic example. Telling Xie Lian how inferior he felt to him since he was the Crown Prince while he was just a lowly servant. However, he still wanted to be the other's friend, but could never get over those hurdles he put himself under. This causes him to feel even more inferior to Xie Lian in present time and allows Jun Wu to take advantage of his insecurities and put him under cursed shackles.
- Character Tics: He rolls his eyes constantly. Especially when Xie Lian or Feng Xin are present.
- Clear My Name: He got wrongfully accused and imprisoned of killing Lan Chang and using her unborn baby for dark magic, thus creating the ghost fetus Cuocuo. While this subplot kinda gets forgotten, it's clear that Mu Qing didn't do it. Cuocuo's affiliation with Jun Wu implies it was a lie to cause division among the gods and further isolate Xie Lian from his allies.
- Deadpan Snarker: Every other word that comes out of his mouth is this.
- Everyone Has Standards: He's pragmatic in nature, but there are lines he won't cross. As Xie Lian put it best, Mu Qing is the type of person who would spit on a person's drink, but would never consider poisoning said drink. Though Fu Yao (who is actually Mu Qing) claims that he would never spit either.
- Friend to All Children: A sign that Mu Qing isn't as much of a jerk as he seems is that children love being around him, and he himself doesn't act as harsh towards kids. In the past, he would actually play with the children in the town and give them sweets. So when he acts cold to them when Feng Xin and Xie Lian are around, they know better and continue to ask him for candy. However, the one exception to this rule would be Hong-Hong-er.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Implied. When Hua Cheng was still serving in Xie Lian's army as a soldier, he was sent home by Mu Qing, partly out of concern since Hua Cheng was rather young for a soldier and the former didn't want to send a child out into the battlefield. However, Hua Cheng speculates that the real reason is because Mu Qing was envious of his talent with the saber, which Xie Lian personally praised himself. It isn't certain which claim is more true than the other.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: He acts above others which only isolates him from people, but Xie Lian doesn't mind. It's later revealed that he acts this way because he didn't feel like he was enough to be by Xie Lian's side and actually wanted to be friends. Xie Lian calmly dissuades his fears and says that they were already friends.
- In Touch with His Feminine Side: He knows how to sew, leading him to be relegated to mending Xie Lian's clothing and in one extra begrudgingly teaches Xie Lian how to sew so he could make something for Hua Cheng.
- It's Personal: Mu Qing is on the receiving end of the trope; Hua Cheng is not fond of both Mu Qing and Feng Xin for abandoning Xie Lian as they're the other two gods who Hua Cheng challenged to a duel (albeit they did not accept said challenge). However, a few scenes make it obvious that Hua Cheng dislikes Mu Qing a lot more, partly because it was Mu Qing who left Xie Lian's side first and partly because the god booted him from the army several years ago.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may be outwardly cold and rude, but he does have the best intentions which Xie Lian makes note of. In the past, he would look after his old mother and bring her food she was unable to get anymore.
- Meaningful Name: His name can mean "one who yearns for affection", which hints at his main character conflict for the story. In the past he always wanted to be friends with Xie Lian, but his lowly status as well as his cold demeanor of pushing others away made it difficult for him to admit it. Even after he ends up leaving Xie Lian to join another group of heavenly officials to get back into heaven sooner, he still wishes to make it up to Xie Lian but feels he'll never be forgiven. He then spends most of the story still protecting Xie Lian how he can, but keeping his distance out of shame and guilt. The climax of his arc is him admitting his desire of friendship to Xie Lian as they are chasing down Jun Wu.
- Momma's Boy: He loved and cared for his mother, even delivering her food from the Xian Le palace after she's become too old to work for herself. One of the reasons, he decides to leave Xie Lian in the past was because he wanted to tend to his mother and look after her.
- Not So Stoic: He acts all cool and collected, but can lose his temper as easily as Feng Xin when angered.
- Pretty Boy: Not unusual for the genre, but he's noted to be slender and pretty enough that most people would mistake him for a literature god rather than a martial god.
- Photographic Memory: He noticed the coral bead in Hua Cheng's braid is the same bead Xie Lian wore 800 years ago.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Any time he and Feng Xin are obliged to be in one anothers' company in a situation where they cannot physically fight each other, they will attempt to "stab each other with words".
- Sour Supporter: His relationship with Xie Lian may be rocky at the best of times, but he does look up to the prince and is truly loyal to him.
- Virgin Power: He practices the same cultivation path as Xie Lian, which requires him to abstain from earthly pleasures like alcohol or sex.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Feng Xin. Both of them yell at and bicker with each other almost all the time, but they're both loyal to Xie Lian and will have each other's back when needed.
- We Used to Be Friends: When he and the others roamed the streets in order to make a living, he eventually parts ways with Xie Lian in order to attend to some personal businesses. It's only later does Xie Lian find out he was taken under the wing of other Heavenly officials in order to get back into heaven, and Xie Lian cusses him out afterwards when he refused to help him. This leads to him falling out with Xie Lian and Feng Xin where he then leaves the two soon afterwards for good. After Xie Lian ascends to heaven again for the third time, Mu Qing is shocked to see his former Crown Prince again, but still goes out of his way as Fu Yao to watch over him and is ashamed at how they both acted in the past. Subverted towards the end of the story where Xie Lian makes it clear he still considers Mu Qing a close friend.
Feng Xin (风信)
Voiced by (Mandarin): Wen Sen (animation), Guo Haoran (audio drama)
Voiced by (Japanese): Makoto Furukawa (animation)
Voiced by (English): Phil Song (animation)
Played by: Xiao Kaizhong (web series)
Weapon: Feng Shen (bow)
The Martial God of the Southeast.
- Accidental Misnaming: An emperor accidentally miswrote Feng Xin's title "Ju Yang" when writing it on the temple but was too scared to change it and insisted he wrote it correctly. So for years Feng Xin's name was known as "Tremendous Masculinity" instead of "Perfect Sun" and he was absolutely furious when he found out.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The Animated Adaptation shows more focus on the conflict and guilt he feels even after he's left Xie Lian's side, as shown when his anger quickly fades after he realizes that it was Xie Lian's third ascension that wrecked his palace and in some of his scenes as Nan Feng.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: In Volume 3, he pleads with Hua Cheng to leave Xie Lian alone out of the misguided fear that Hua Cheng has sinister intentions towards the prince.
- Berserk Button:
- Don't bring up how his name was horribly misspelled that he was mistaken for a fertility god note .
- The mention of his wife and son is more than likely to get his blood boiling. Especially if you're Mu Qing.
- He gets extremely irritated when Cuocuo seems to treat Jun Wu more like his father than his actual biological one.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: Due to an accidental misspelling of his title centuries ago that caught on, mortals have come to believe Feng Xin possesses a "tremendous masculinity". He's worshipped as a fertility god by women who wish for a son, something that completely mortifies him. Some men also seem to worship him because of his "tremendous masculinity".
- Bodyguarding a Badass: During his days as the Crown Feng Xin acted as Xie Lian's bodyguard, although given his martial skills Xie Lian didn't necessarily need one, but he enjoyed Feng Xin's company and they became friends.
- Butt-Monkey: Surprisingly, he's put in a lot of embarrassing positions throughout the book. From his temples being incorrectly named, to Hua Cheng deliberately causing blood rain to fall onto him without cover.
- Even the Guys Want Him: In the donghua a group of men who advise Xie Lian on who to worship blush happily when they mention Feng Xin's name.
- Hot-Blooded: It's very easy to get him mad.
- The Hyena: Xie Lian notes that it's very easy to make Feng Xin laugh at anything.
- The Illegible: He's completely terrible in writing. Hua Cheng is the only one who is worse than him.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: He's the father of the fetus spirit Cuocuo.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Other gods like Fu Yao are more than happy to retell how his name got misspelled for centuries which lead to mortals thinking he had "tremendous masculinity" and was worshipped by many women in hopes of bearing a son. Needless to say, he cursed up a storm when he found this out when he went back to Heaven to report this and clearly hates having to remember this fact about himself.
- Papa Bear: When he sees Cuocuo he tries to look after him, although the fetus spirit would just scratch and bite him.
- Paralyzing Fear of Sexuality: When he rolls the die Xie Lian left after being "kidnapped", the number leads him and Fu Yao to Feng Xin's greatest fear: a women's bath. He even considers being stuck in a swamp full of crocodiles less terrifying. Ironically he had a child with Lan Chang in the past.
- Platonic Prostitution: In the past during Xie Lian's first descent, Feng Xin would use some of the money he earned in order to buy Lan Chang, but only spoke with her. Played with later on when he and Lan Chang apparently had a child together.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: When Feng Xin loses his cool he tends to swear a lot. Most noticeably considering he is one of the few among the main characters who swears frequently.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Any time he and Mu Qing are obliged to be in one anothers' company in a situation where they cannot physically fight each other, they will attempt to "stab each other with words".
- Think Nothing of It: He's the one who cleared Xie Lian's debt from the massive property damage caused by Xie Lian's third ascension.
- Those Two Guys: With Mu Qing.
- Undying Loyalty: To Xie Lian. Between him and Mu Qing, he's the one who stayed at Xie Lian's side for longer before eventually leaving, and even then it's only because Xie Lian outright told him to leave.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Mu Qing. Both of them yell at and bicker with each other almost all the time, but they're both loyal to Xie Lian and will have each other's back when needed.
Civil Gods
Ling Wen (灵文)
Voiced by (Mandarin): Huang Ying (animation), Ji Guanlin (audio drama)
Voiced by (Japanese): Yōko Hikasa (animation)
Voiced by (English): Wendee Lee (animation)
Played by: Liu Jinyan (web series)
The highest-ranked civil god, and one of the Three Tumors.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: Her donghua counterpart has blue hair instead of black.
- Affectionate Nickname: The other Tumors call her Noble Jie.
- Apologetic Attacker: When she is under the Immortal Brocade's control, she apologizes to Xie Lian and Quan Yizhen as she attacks them. Hilariously, the two are more fascinated by how her martial prowess has increased than the fact that she can now damage them immensely.
- Awesome by Analysis: She managed to see through a Calamity-ranked Ghost's disguise almost immediately.
- Badass Bureaucrat: She deals with the accounts after her colleagues destroy private property,
- Barrier Maiden: She created and is in charge of the Upper Court's communication array. The moment she abdicated, this array was taken out and caused an uproar among the Heavenly Officials.
- Berserk Button: She seems to have a lot of patience, but she does get annoyed when the other gods start throwing a lot of useless information at her, and yells at them to use their brains before asking her unnecessary questions.
- Brutal Honesty: When recounting Pei Ming's exploits to Xie Lian, she does not hesitate to admit to the Crown Prince that Pei Ming is quite the promiscuous man.
- Character Tics: In the donghua she tends to clear her throat when she wants to move onto a different topic or to clear the air for Xie Lian to speak.
- Demonic Possession: By the Immortal Brocade, although at first it seems symbiotic due to Ling Wen treating it kindly, once it starts to lose its temper Ling Wen apologizes saying they don't have control of their body anymore. This is because the spirit possessing the robe was in love with Ling Wen and is quite protective as a result, but it is easily jealous of flirty guys and has few patience for potential attackers.
- Gender Bender: Because Ling Wen's status as a civil god makes mortals inaccurately think that she is a man, they built a lot of temples with male statues, thus making her stronger in male form, as opposite of Shi Qingxuan.
- Hidden Depths: Lin Wen can be quite calculating, manipulative and cruel when she needs to get something done, which was how the Immortal Brocade was born. Tricking the person who liked her - a potential martial god - into wearing it, convincing him he needed to remove his limbs so he could fit it, before it culminates in him chopping off his own head. At the end, the robe became a powerful ghost/spiritual device which - alongside Pei Ming's shared manpower - allowed the destruction of Xuli Kingdom, decreasing the Jing Wen's power as a result, since most of his temples were there and resulting in his disappearance from the Heavens, as well as her ascension as the foremost Civil Goddess.
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Humble Beginnings: Deconstructed. Originally named Nangong Jie, she was a shoe-seller who would work as a scribe for sonnets or letters for extra income. During a festival for Civil Gods, she wrote an essay titled "Not Xuli" for a competition and won, defeating the essay "Ode To Xuli" written by a clone of Jing Wen, the foremost Civil God of the time. At the time, the kingdom was in a turbulent time and the people was tired of the essays that praised Xuli, making Not Xuli extremely popular. The essay was taken down and after she was exposed to be the author, she was captured by the authorities. This was brought to the attention of Jing Wen, who immediately appointed her to the heavens in Middle Court. Although he claims he appointed her out of the goodness of his heart, she suffered acute mistreatment as his deputy official until her revenge and takeover of his position. See Calling the Old Man Out and Hidden Depths for more. - Karma Houdini: By the end of the story the only punishment she receives for creating the brocade immortal, hiding various dark secrets for other officials, and assisting Jun Wu in capturing and jailing almost every heavenly official is just being put back into her old position, offering merits and information in exchange of missions for other gods, with even more paperwork. Granted, it's a tiring and thankless job, so it could still be seen as a proper form of punishment.
- Mission Control: Plays this role in the arcs she appears. Through the Upper Court's Spiritual Communication Array, she assigns other gods missions in exchange of merits and offers them information to help them achieve their plans.
- Most Writers Are Writers: She is a writer like the author of the series Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. She mourns never being able to going back to writing after being pulled up into heaven as she has to work herself to the bone to keep heaven running.
- Ms. Exposition: She is Xie Lian's main source for information for the first few arcs, and she's the one who introduces him to the names of the Four Calamities.
- Not So Above It All: Despite her stoic attitude, she does have a sense of humor and occasionally snarks if she finds the right moment to do so. During the banquet, Shi Wudu chides Shi Qingxuan for taking on a female form and asks what they would do if someone as powerful as Pei Ming went after them. She actually has to choke on her laughter before teasingly telling Shi Wudu if he keeps up those jokes, they can't be friends anymore. During the game, she and Pei Ming both do spit takes when one play depict them as lovers.
- Odd Friendship: With Shi Wudu and Pei Ming. The three of them are known as the "Three Tumors" of heaven. They often laugh about their misfortunes, but also show respect, affection worry towards each other. Shi Wudu even considers her as a "sister", and Pei Ming shares the sentiment.
- Pet the Dog:
- While she does have her moments of snark and teasing of Xie Lian, she clearly respects him unlike most of the other heavenly officials and goes out of her way to talk to him or give him information. She even refers to him by his previous title of "Your Highness" or "Crown Prince" with genuine respect, while others may refer to him that way in a tone of mockery.
- When Xie Lian asks about Yin Yu's relationship with Quan Yizhen, she carefully words what happened between the two as a "prank". But when Xie Lian finds out what really happened, he realizes Lin Wen worded it the way she did as to show a bit of respect towards Yin Yu. She may have also felt guilty for her role in creating the Immortal Brocade and how that ended up casting Yin Yu out of heaven.
- She helped with covering up the scandalous nature of Shi Qingxuan's ascension for Shi Wudu's sake.
- She was the first only person to have shown the Immortal Brocade's past life, Bai Jin, kindness, as she was aware of how mistreated he was despite his position as a general, and even gave him his name. She likely planned to give him back a physical body as a Calamily Ghost through the opening of Tonglu Mountain, willing to kill many ghosts if necessary.
- She offered Pei Ming to join Jun Wu's side as a way to prevent his imprisonment, although he declined.
- Photographic Memory: She can remember any report that has passed to her desk.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: She and Pei Ming get mistaken for lovers, which they are both mutually disgusted at. Yet no matter how many times they forcibly deny it, no one listens which Lin Wen even lampshades.
- Soul-Crushing Desk Job: Her job basically can be summed up as this. She has to stay on top of information to pass on to other gods, keep communications running, hand out merits and many more tasks that keep her occupied.
- Spell My Name With An S: Her name for some translations are sometimes written as "Ling Wen", while the donghua seems to have written it as "Lin Wen".
- The Stoic: She's calm and collected throughout the books.
- True Blue Femininity: Her donghua counterpart's main color is blue form her hair to her clothes.
- Vetinari Job Security: Ling Wen's job is so indispensable to that once she runs away with the Reverent robe, the Heavens are unable to function properly, as no one else can do the work her palace does properly. Also extends to her being released from jail at the end of the novel with no further sentence mainly because she's needed to solve the mess.
Elemental Masters
Shi Qingxuan (师青玄)
Voiced by (Mandarin): Lu Zhixing (animation - male form), Qiu Qiu (animation - female form), Qian Wenqing (audio drama - male form), Xu Jiaqi (audio drama - female form)
Voiced by (Japanese): Nobunaga Shimazaki (animation - male form), Ayako Kawasumi (animation - female form)
Voiced by (English): Jacob Eiseman (animation - male form), Anjali Kunapaneni (animation - female form)
Played by: Chang Huasen (web series - male form), Wang Yueyi (web series - female form)
Click here to see Shi Qingxuan's female form
The Wind Master, and one of the Four Famous Tales ("The Young Lord Who Poured Wine").
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: He's impossibly nonchalant about swapping genders, claiming he doesn't care as long as he's beautiful. It might indicate Shi Qingxuan identifies as genderfluid, but nothing is confirmed.
- Back for the Finale: He reappears in the final book to help Xie Lian redirect the ghosts so they don't cause another outbreak of the human face disease.
- Berserk Button: Don't ruin his looks. After a tribesman's arrow nicked his cheek, he blew him sky high in retaliation.
- Big Brother Worship: He adores Shi Wudu and he's one of the few people Shi Qingxuan listens to. Shi Qingxuan holds his word high above others, and does whatever he can to please him or get his recognition.
- Blood-Splattered Innocents: A consequence of his brother getting his head ripped off just a few feet away from him.
- Blow You Away: He can create gusts and tornadoes by waving his Wind Master fan.
- Break the Cutie: He gets it arguably the worst out of the cast. He had the misfortune of being targeted by a jinxing spirit, which over his brother to screw another man (and said man's family) over to save him and allow him to ascend to godhood, but then the man whose life Shi Wudu had ruined then exacted revenge after plotting for centuries, causing Shi Qingxuan to lose his godhood (and a limb).
- Brought Down to Normal: After his run in with the Venerable of Empty Words, Shi Qingxuan can no longer use any of his spiritual powers. This is a hint that Shi Qingxuan was never meant to ascend. Then after He Xuan gets his revenge on Shi Wudu, Shi Qingxuan becomes permanently mortal, although he's still able to use his abilities as the Wind Master when he's given back his Wind Master fan.
- Character Tics: When extremely nervous, scared, or stressed, Shi Qingxuan tends to laugh. It annoys some of the others, especially Ming Yi, but he can't stop it.
- Cruel Mercy: After He Xuan kills Shi Wudu, a broken Shi Qingxuan asks him to kill him as well, but He Xuan refuses. (It's anyone's guess whether he refused out of spite or because he can't bring himself to kill Shi Qingxuan).
- Dark and Troubled Past: He was a target of the Venerable of Empty Words as a child, whose main goal is to make their target suffer, and to avoid the curse Shu Wudu had to crossdress Shi Qingxuan to avoid catching the demon's eye. It helped for a while, but the demon still found him and it took Shi Wudu's ascension and the swapping of fates to get rid of it.
- Distressed Dude: Is put into a few dangerous situations where he's powerless and needs the help of the others to save him. From losing his powers after running into the Venerable of Empty Words, to being held against his will by Shi Wudu and then chained up in Black Water's domain.
- Forced to Watch: He was chained up and forced to watch his brother die before his eyes.
- Gender Bender: The fact that he had to crossdress as a girl for years in order to get rid of the demon from his trail made him love his female goddess form. Not to mention that many statues of his were made female, thus giving him more power in the female form. Xie Lian is initially confused when he sees Shi Qingxuan again in his female form and doesn't quite understand why the god loves switching between genders, but Shi Qingxuan brushes it off by saying he doesn't care as long as he looks beautiful.
- Heroic BSoD: After He Xuan tears off Shi Wudu's head, all Shi Qingxuan could do was sit in near silence as they cry over their brother's death and why He Xuan would do this to him.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: After He Xuan enacted his revenge, Shi Qingxuan lost his brother, his best friend, became mortal and got crippled. He still somehow manages to stay positive about it.
- Iconic Item: His beloved fan, which carries his spiritual power. After He Xuan breaks it, he later repairs it and gives it back.
- Innocence Lost: It starts getting chipped away during the Venerable of Empty Words arc, and utterly goes down in flames in the Black Water arc.
- In Touch with His Feminine Side: Ignoring the fact that he can literally shift between a female and male form, he also cares about his looks. As seen in the Ghost City's night market when he was pulled away by a group of female ghosts to beauty parlors. After he catches up with Xie Lian again he's worried his face was ruined but is giddy to find out he actually looks better and asks for a mirror to see the results for himself. Later on when he disguises himself as a maid to sneak into Paradise Manor he complains about having to swallow his pride to put on a dress, but Xie Lian internally thinks the Wind God is actually enjoying this.
- Misery Trigger: Despite being reduced to the life of a beggar, Shi Qingxuan seemed to retain most of their sunny disposition. Yet when he's sharing Xie Lian's body and Yin Yu comes to rescue him from his palace in heaven, Shi Qingxuan flinches away from the sight of Ming Yi's shovel. This in turn causes Xie Lian to flinch as well, but he doesn't hold it against Shi Qingxuan for acting in that way.
- Nervous Wreck: During the Venerable of Empty Words arc, Shi Qingxuan becomes this as he starts laughing nervously and talking fast as he tries to anticipate the venerable's next attack and worries about harm coming to those close to him.
- Nice Guy: He's overall very kind to the people he meets, even tossing down ten thousand merits to the other gods just because he wanted to. His title for ascension was "The Young Lord Who Poured Wine", as he ascended due to his act of pouring his wine on some bullies down below him. Even He Xuan admits that Shi Qingxuan's only crimes are loving his brother and enjoying the divinity he genuinely thought belonged to him, but unfortunately that's not enough for He Xuan to exempt him from his Revenge.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: You know something must be wrong when Shi Qingxuan doesn't feel safe with his brother after running into the Venerable of Empty words and losing his powers as a result. This leads to Shi Wudu forcefully dragging him back to heaven against his will.
- Only Sane Man: He may be a Spoiled Sweet Nice Guy, but he does voice valid points. While most officials are quick to nitpick any mistake Xie Lian makes, Shi Qingxuan is the first to leap to his defence by pointing out the good he managed to accomplish. In general, he's not afraid to poke holes when it comes to iffy witnesses.
- Pink Means Feminine: In their donghua female counterpart, Shi Qingxuan wears pink and light blue colors for their robe.
- The Pollyanna: He does have moments of fear or anger, but most of the time even after falling from heaven and becoming a beggar, Shi Qingxuan always seems to be an overall happy person.
- Proud Beauty: Shi Qingxuan is very proud of his looks and so much as scratching their face will definitely send him in a rage. When Xie Lian meets him in Heaven but in his male form, Shi Qingxuan brushes of the Crown Prince's confusion and says as long as he looked beautiful, whatever gender he takes shouldn't matter.
- Relative Error: In female form, Shi Qingxuan is incorrectly assumed by mortals to be Shi Wudu's wife rather than his sibling, which makes them both very uncomfortable.
- Riches to Rags: After He Xuan drops him off at the capital, he soon becomes disheveled and homeless. However, he does manage to keep his cheerful demeanor and when Xie Lian notices his broken arm and leg Shi Qingxuan assures him that these were wounds he got on his own.
- Spoiled Sweet: Shi Qingxuan is heavily spoiled by his brother, but that doesn't diminish his kindness towards others. With his vast wealth, he even passes it around to the other gods because he can.
- Thicker Than Water: Shi Qingxuan was willing for his brother to descend from godhood if it appeased He Xuan, because he thought everything would be alright as long as they were together. He Xuan even blames Shi Qingxuan's filiality to Shi Wudu by angrily yelling that they never chose him whenever Shi Wudu was around.
- Those Two Guys: Is usually seen with Ming Yi by their side.
- Unwanted Assistance: The windstorm that Shi Qingxuan set upon Xie Lian and the group as they were headed to Ban Yue was set in hopes they get turned away from the kingdom. This of course lead to the opposite outcome, forcing Xie Lian and the others to seek shelter and meet A-Zhao and the other merchants.
- We Used to Be Friends: Any bond that he and Ming Yi may have had was shattered when Ming Yi reveals himself to be the Supreme He Xuan and kills Shi Wudu in front of him.
Ming Yi (明仪)
Voiced by (Mandarin): Wu Lei (animation - male form), Bai Xuecen (animation - female form), Peng Yao (audio drama - male form), Li Shirong (audio drama - female form)
Voiced by (Japanese): Nanako Mori (animation - female form)
Voiced by (English): Christopher Wehkamp (animation - male form)
Played by: Tian Xuning (web series - male form), Sun Jialing (web series - female form)
Weapon: Yue Ya (shovel)
The Earth Master who was initially missing due to be sent out to spy on Hua Cheng. Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan eventually rescue them, and they are never seen without Shi Qingxuan nearby.
- Affectionate Nickname: Shi Qingxuan always refers to them as Ming-xiong.
- Big Eater: Is almost always seen eating in large quantities. Turns out it's from the trauma of starvation.
- Dead All Along: In two ways — the real Ming Yi turns out to have been killed a while back, and the man currently impersonating him is a Supreme.
- Deadpan Snarker: To Shi Qingxuan. Whenever he tells Ming Yi during their search for the Venerable of Empty Words that he's worried Ming Yi will be targeted because they're his best friend, Ming Yi asks if there's an option to not be friends anymore.
- Gender Bender: Their first appearance is them in their female form, although it was at the request of Shi Qingxuan and Xie Lian notes that Ming Yi didn't look too happy being in that form.
- Improbable Weapon User: They wield a shovel that can dig a tunnel anywhere. Xie Lian theorizes the reason Ming Yi doesn't carry it around that often is due to the fact that it just doesn't look as cool as other spiritual weapons. It's also because he can't wield it as well as he should be able to, not being the real Ming Yi.
- Perpetual Frowner: In the donghua Ming Yi always seems to have a small frown on their face.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The real Ming Yi's fate. Right after he ascended, he was kidnapped by He Xuan, who wanted to infiltrate into Heaven by impersonating a Heavenly Official. Ming Yi spent centuries imprisoned in He Xuan's lair, unbeknown to everyone. He eventually manages to escape and fire a distress signal, but before the Heavenly Officials sent to investigate the signal can find him, he is hunted down by He Xuan and Hua Cheng, who kill him so they can keep the charade. Then his body is taken back to the Black Water Manor, where it gets dissolved to the bone.
- The Stoic: They rarely if ever emote much.
- Those Two Guys: Is usually never seen without Shi Qingxuan by their side.
- A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: He is actually the ghost king He Xuan disguised as the Earth God.
Shi Wudu (师无渡)
Voiced by (Mandarin): Zhao Yi (animation)
Played by: Jin Zehao (web series)
The Water Master, and one of the Three Tumors.
- The Almighty Dollar: Aside from being the god of water, he's also the god of wealth. Merchants and sailors will pray to him for a safe voyage, lest they risk having their ships and cargo sunk to the bottom of the sea.
- An Arm and a Leg: He Xuan tears off both of his arms after he attempts to choke Shi Qingxuan. He brushes this off by laughing at He Xuan and admitting he doesn't regret the misery he put He Xuan through.
- Big Brother Bully: Often times Shi Wudu is rude to Shi Qingxuan, but he does show a softer side at some moments.
- Big Brother Instinct: He would do anything to protect his brother Shi Qingxuan, even exchanging an innocent man's fate for his brother's with Ling Wen's help in order to save him, or provoking the ghost king to kill him on his own instead of making Shi Qingxuan do it.
- Combat Hand Fan: Like his brother, he wields a fan that can control water.
- Create Your Own Villain: He's indirectly responsible for the existence of "Black Waters Sinking Boats".
- Deader than Dead: Gods don't reincarnate, after all. And unlike Yin Yu, he doesn't come back as a ghost.
- Defiant to the End: Shi Wudu considers it his victory that he and his brother lived for so many years in prosperity, while He Xuan, whose whole family suffered hideous misfortune and died because of Shi Wudu, can't get anything back.Shi Wudu: Everything I have today, I fought for myself. I will fight for what I don't have. I will change fate I don't possess. My fate is up to me and not the heavens!
- Killed Off for Real: Gods cannot reincarnate, so after He Xuan rips off his head, he's gone for good.
- Made of Iron: Although he was likely going hysterical Shi Wudu continues to laugh at He Xuan even after both of his arms were torn off and it's only after He Xuan tears off his head does he truly die.
- Making a Splash: As the water master, he has the power to control the sea.
- Making the Choice for You: Shi Wudu does this a lot for Shi Qingxuan.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: Shi Wudu urges Shi Qingxuan to assume a male form around Shi Wudu's extremely promiscuous heterosexual friend Pei Ming so that Pei Ming won't make unwanted advances. Pei Ming, standing right there as Shi Wudu says this, takes offense at the implication.
- Odd Friendship: With Ling Wen and Pei Ming. The three of them are known as the "Three Tumors" of heaven. They often laugh about their misfortunes, but also show respect, affection worry towards each other. Shi Wudu even considers Ling Wen as a "sister", and Pei Ming shares the sentiment.
- Off with His Head!:He Xuan kills him in this manner by tearing Shi Wudu's head off with his bare hands.
- Pride: He believed he had the power to change fate to his will and not the heavens. He also refuses to apologize for anything he's done wrong, which is what created He Xuan and believes he knows what's best for Shi Qingxuan.
- Promotion to Parent: It's not known how old he was when his parents died, but Shi Wudu has been raising Shi Qingxuan on his own since they were at most 16 & 10 respectively.
- Relative Error: In female form, Shi Qingxuan is incorrectly assumed by mortals to be Shi Wudu's wife rather than his sibling, which makes them both very uncomfortable.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: After recovering Shi Qingxuan from the Venerable of Empty Words, Shi Wudu's immediate reaction is to pay for Xie Lian's silence with a chest full of gold. Xie Lian doesn't take the bribe and attempts to return it, leading him to discover Shi Wudu holding Shi Qingxuan captive to try and hide the fact they no longer have their godhood.
- Take a Third Option: Shi Wudu has done this his whole life. Since Shi Qingxuan was never meant to ascend, he chose to switch his fate with He Xuan so he could and the Venerable of Empty Words would plague He Xuan instead. In his final moments, he makes the choice for Shi Qingxuan for He Xuan to kill him and let his brother walk free, even though Shi Qingxuan wanted them to leave together.
- Taking You with Me: He attempts this with Shi Qingxuan. Although in an incredibly twisted way, it may have been his last act of protecting Shi Qingxuan as he likely knew He Xuan would never let any harm come to Shi Qingxuan and knew He Xuan would kill him as a result.Shi Wudu: Qingxuan! I can't leave you alone like this! If I die, there's no way you'll be able to survive in this world, so you might as well come with me!!
- The Unapologetic: To protect his brother, he'll do anything and everything without a shred of remorse for who may be affected by his actions.
- Thicker Than Water: He will do absolutely anything if it's for his little brother such as, switching his fate with He Xuan's, leading Shi Qingxuan to be the one who ascends while He Xuan is plagued by the Venerable of Empty Words.
Yushi Huang (雨师篁)
Weapon: Yu Long (sword), Yushi (kasa)
The Rain Master, and one of the Four Famous Tales ("The Princess Who Slit Her Throat").
- Action Girl: When she appears, she can easily hold her own, and assists the others when trying to get into Mt'Tonglu.
- Animal Motif: Oxen, as this is also her animal companion.
- Food God: She's the goddess of agriculture.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: On paper, Yushi Huang doesn't sound very impressive: she doesn't have any shrines or temples, she only gets one lantern at the Mid Autunm Festival (which is lit by her Familiar just to say she got a lantern), and her spiritual item is a hat that brings rain. However, her status as the only Food God makes her extremely important, as hungry people lose all faith in all gods real quick. At the climax of the story, she's the only one Jun Wu can't afford to imprison or kill, which allows her to secretly assist Xie Lian and Hua Cheng.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: She wields a sword at her side, which was the same sword she used to slit her throat.
- Heroic Sacrifice: She's known as "The Princess Who Slit Her Throat", because she did just that to save her kingdom from invasion. This act is what caused her to ascend and become a god.
- Loyal Animal Companion: Her ox who serves as her steed and usually lights a lantern for her during the Mid Autumn Festival.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: She had so many siblings when she was mortal that it made her very quiet and faded into the background.
- Modest Royalty: Although she is a goddess, she doesn't have temples or shrines built in her honor nor does she reside in the Heavenly Capital, as she's perfectly content with her lot in life.
- Nice Guy: She's known for her kindness and did many favors for Xie Lian. When he finally meets her, he thanks her for lending him her hat those years ago. She allows him to bow and tells him not think of it. When she meets Pei Ming again, she doesn't hold any grudges towards him attacking her kingdom all those centuries ago, although he does seem to feel guilty anyway. She also decides not to take any offerings from her followers feeling that it would be a waste to her followers if they couldn't buy things they needed or have food to eat.
- One-Man Army: She's easily one of the most powerful gods in the story next to Xie Lian and Jun Wu despite being a harvest goddess.
- The Quiet One: She was this in her life as a princess, mainly because she had so many brothers and sisters she ended up fading into the background.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: While her siblings were fighting and arguing for their father to sacrifice himself to save their kingdom, she quietly urged her father to give her the throne. After a quick ceremony, she walked out in her father's steed as the ruler of the kingdom, kotowed three times and slit her throat. This ended up saving her kingdom, her family and lead her to ascend to heaven.
- Scars Are Forever: She has a scar across her throat from her self inflicted wound that lead her to become a heavenly official.
- Slashed Throat: A self inflicted one to save her kingdom, earning her the title "The Princess Who Slit Her Throat".
- Small Role, Big Impact: For most of the story she is mentioned in passing, and she had given Xie Lian her hat when he was the Crown Prince to help the Yong'An citizens with their drought. She doesn't make a full appearance until the end of Book 4 but for most of Book 5 she assists Hua Cheng by sneaking him into the capital and fighting off the ghosts Jun Wu is attempting to release on the human array.
- Young and in Charge: While only briefly, she was the youngest of her siblings, yet due to circumstances, was given the title of ruler.
- Youngest Child Wins: She was the youngest in her family and was always ignored as a result. Yet she ends up taking her father's place as the ruler of their kingdom and at Pei Ming's demands, prostrated at the gates three times before slitting her throat and causing her to ascend to heaven.
Deputy Gods
Fu Yao (扶摇)
Voiced by (Mandarin): Hu Liangwei (animation), Liu Kang note (audio drama)
Voiced by (Japanese): Chiaki Kobayashi (animation)
Voiced by (English): Lucien Dodge (animation)
Played by: Li Fancheng (web series)
One of the gods assigned to help Xie Lian track down the ghost bridegroom. He has a short temper and a sharp tongue to match.
- Berserk Button: He loses his temper really quickly when he's told to sweep the floors or given anything that demotes him as nothing but a servant.
- Character Tics: Just like his general Mu Qing, he also rolls his eyes. This is because he's actually Mu Qing.
- Hot-Blooded: His temper in any given situation, and it worsens when San Lang is nearby. In fact, he can quiet literally set his blood on fire as seen during the Ban Yue arc.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He and Nan Feng always seem to be a second away from brawling out in the open, leaving Xie Lian having to step between the two and make sure they don't start fighting. But they do put their differences aside to protect Xie Lian.
- Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about Fu Yao not only because he has so little screen time but also because he is Mu Qing.
Nan Feng (南风)
Voiced by (Mandarin): Wen Sen (animation), Guo Haoran (audio drama)
Voiced by (Japanese): Makoto Furukawa (animation)
Voiced by (English): Phil Song (animation)
Played by: Zheng Yibin (web series)
One of the gods assigned to help Xie Lian track down the ghost bridegroom. He's usually the most worried for Xie Lian's well being and swears a lot.
- Anything but That!: Played for Laughs. When Xie Lian offers to thank him for all his help by cooking him a meal, Nan Feng immediately makes excuses to get the hell out of dodge. This is because he's actually Feng Xin in disguise, and as such he's all too aware that Xie Lian is a horrible cook.
- Atrocious Alias: Nan Feng is simply a portmanteau of Feng Xin's title (Nan Yang) and name (Feng Xin), without even any changes made to the hanzi characters to make him less conspicious to Xie Lian.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: He'll protectively stand in front of Xie Lian, although the other can easily handle himself. This is because Nan Feng is Feng Xin and he used to serve as a guard for Xie Lian.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Just like his general, Feng Xin. He's actually Feng Xin in disguise, and this is part of what gave him away to Xie Lian.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He and Fu Yao are always one comment away from going full out on each other and Xie Lian has to constantly stand between the two before anything gets too serious. However, they do work together when protecting Xie Lian.
- Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about Nan Feng not only because he practically disappears after the Ban Yue arc and because he is Feng Xin.
Pei Xiu (裴宿)
Voiced by (Mandarin): Ling Fei (animation), Wu Tao note (audio drama)
Voiced by (Japanese): Toshiki Masuda (animation)
Voiced by (English): Aaron Campbell (animation)
Played by: Zhang Zijian (web series)
Click here to see Pei Xiu when he was still mortal
One of the generals under Pei Ming.
- Adaptation Expansion: His past and involvement in the war between Ban Yue and Yong An is expanded up on in the donghua, as well as him actually meeting Xie Lian and looking up to him as "General Hua".
- Affectionate Nickname: He's sometimes referred to as Little Pei by Pei Ming or other heavenly officials. Ban Yue refers to him as Pei Xiu-gege.
- The Beastmaster: Due to his close relationship with Ban Yue, he's able to control the snake-tailed scorpions, unleash them on traveling merchants who come near the kingdom and lure them to the Sinner's Pit. He still has control over them during the Mt. Tong'lu arc.
- Big Brother Instinct: Even though he lived in Yong An, he looked after Ban Yue when they were both still human and during his trial for luring humans to their death in the Sinner's Pit, he takes full responsibility when he could have easily let the heavens punish Ban Yue and get off with a lighter sentence. Xie Lian theorizes that the reason why Pei Xiu went to such lengths to lure people to the pit for over two hundred years was because he couldn't bear watching Ban Yue continued to get hung by Ke Mo and the soldiers and take all of their resentment. It can also be inferred that this is why he tackled Ke Mo, who was the leader of the group who continuously strung up Ban Yue and spoke ill of her. This expanded upon more in the donghua where he and Ban Yue planned to have the Yong An army invade Ban Yue in order to lessen the casualties, and after he heard his soldiers saying they found the Guoshi of Ban Yue he was shocked to find her corpse strung up. When Pei Ming approaches Ban Yue at Mt. Tong'Lu he unconsciously steps between them, clearly still looking out for Ban Yue despite no longer being a heavenly official.
- Brought Down to Normal: This is his punishment as he is exiled. This makes fighting more difficult for him when he tries to assist Xie Lian and the others in Mt. Tong'lu.
- Childhood Friends: Though not noted that heavily, he did look after Ban Yue when they were younger.
- Determinator: It takes a lot to dedicate centuries of your life luring people to their deaths just to be able to save the person you cared for who is forever chased down and strung up by the soldiers she once fought alongside.
- The Drifter: He becomes this after his exile from heaven as he wanders around the earth.
- The Exile: Due to his crime of tricking humans and killing them, he's banished from heaven for about three hundred years.
- Fantastic Racism: He has a strong hatred for the people of Ban Yue, with the donghua implying it's due to the fact that his parens were killed by Ban Yue soldiers. When he looked after Ban Yue he immediately assumed she was being abused by the Ban Yue children, and not asking her who actually hurt her, or see that the children were clearly from Yong An. Even in the military and as a god, he clearly doesn't look upon Ke Mo or his soldiers with any respect.
- Foil: To his lord Pei Ming. While Pei Ming didn't take his love life too seriously and lived in the moment, Pei Xiu could never really let go of Ban Yue and she was the main reason he started to lure people into the Sinner's Pit so Ke Mo and the soldiers wouldn't have to torture her for centuries. He also gave up his status as a god for her, much to Pei Ming's shock and disapproval.
- God in Human Form: He takes on the appearance of A-Zhao pretending to be a guide for the Ban Yue pass so he can lure merchants and traveler's to the Sinner's Pit.
- Hero Worship: In the donghua he along with Ban Yue worshipped General Hua and both worked together to try and end the war as soon as possible with as few casualties as they could.
- Hidden Eyes: In Xie Lian's flashback of when he looked after Ban Yue, her friend from Yong An has his eyes covered in shadows. Later on, Pei Xiu tells Xie Lian he was that boy.
- Jerkass Has a Point: As blunt as he was about it, he's correct about how Xuan Ji brought her ruin onto herself because she refused to see reason and let go of her obsession with Pei Ming.
- Light Is Not Good: He wears light blue and white robes in his donghua counterpart and had spent centuries luring people into the Sinner's Pit.
- Nepotism: Despite likely getting to his position by his own hands, Pei Ming hints that he actually had to pull some strings to allow Pei Xiu to ascend to heaven. He even goes out of his way to try and hunt down Ban Yue just so Pei Xiu can return to heaven sooner. Inverted as a mortal commoner in the donghua during his flashback where no matter how hard we worked, he couldn't get promoted into a higher position due to his background unless he achieved a momentous victory in the war.
- Not So Stoic: The only time he ever seems to lose his cool is around Ke Mo, as he yells to the other how the Ban Yue kingdom was going to fall one way or another. This could also be due to the fact Ke Mo had been torturing Ban Yue for centuries, which only adds more salt to his wound.
- Spell My Name With An S: Some translations spell his name as "Xiu" instead of "Su". The official English translations of the novel and the donghua go with the former, while the manhua uses the latter.
- The Stoic: He's noted by the other gods to have an unreadable face, and some aren't sure what he could really be thinking.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Since Pei Ming is something like his great-great-great-great grandfather, he naturally has some features similar to him. When Xuan Ji sees him, she initially mistakes him for Pei Ming.
Former Heavenly Officials
Yin Yu (引玉)
Voiced by (Mandarin): Xia Michen (animation), Sun Langlang (audio drama)
Voiced by (English): Ryan Negrón (animation)
Played by: Wang Jiayu (web series)
The former Martial God of the West.
- Affectionate Nickname: Quan Yizhen strictly refers to him as "shixiong", but given their falling out, Yin Yu hates hearing the other call out for him.
- Always Someone Better: Although being able to ascend is nothing to scoff at, he quickly loses out to his shidi Quan Yizhen who quickly surpassed him.
- Berserk Button: Due to Quan Yizhen's terrible social skills and quickly surpassing Yin Yu, he slowly becomes a sore point for the latter. To the point that he forgets to convince Quan Yizhen to take off the Immortal Brocade and gets so enraged by the other he accidentally screams at him to kill ten heavenly officials and orders him to kill himself. Even years later when he accidentally runs into the other, his clearly still has a lot of unvented feelings as he bashes Quan Yizhen's head in with Ming Yi's shovel when the occasion rises.
- Dark Is Not Evil: When he serves Hua Cheng, he's depicted wearing dark clothes, but he generally means well and does what he's told. The only exception to that rule is Quan Yizhen.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Downplayed. He's genuinely grateful and loyal to Hua Cheng for taking him in, but he's very bitter about the circumstances that necessitated it and has great difficulty following Hua Cheng's orders when they bring him in contact with Quan Yizhen.
- The Exile: He was exiled from heaven due to a "prank" he pulled on Quan Yizhen.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Once a powerful martial god in heaven, he now serves under Hua Cheng.
- Improbable Weapon User: He uses Ming Yi's shovel to dig tunnels for Hua Cheng and the others. He also uses it to bash Quan Yizhen's head in on occasion.
- Last Words: "But... I wanted to be a god..."
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Before he ascended he chose to look after Quan Yizhen as he believed he could cultivate his skills and do something great. Yet as time passed, he becomes more and more annoyed with Quan Yizhen's obliviousness and his shidi ends up surpassing and dethroning him from heaven. Although even Quan Yizhen seems to admit that the he's still at fault for the entire Immortal Brocade incident. He's now a servant of Hua Cheng's with two shackles on his body.
- The Nondescript: He has such a generically nice appearance, people will often forget how he looks like as soon as they turn away from him. The first time Xie Lian sees his face, he mistakes Yin Yu for someone else wearing an intentionally forgetable, unremarkable fake skin.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: He ascended and became a god, a feat the immense majority of people will never be able to achieve, but he still feels mediocre and unremarkable due to Quan Yizhen easily outperforming and dethroning him.
- Power Limiter: As part of his banishment, Yin Yu wears a cursed shackle on his wrist that seals his spiritual powers.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: He appears to have died due to the cursed shackle sucking all his blood out in the final book, but is referenced to have recovered and back serving Hua Cheng in an extra.
- We Used to Be Friends: He and Quan Yizhen were noted to be close, but after Yin Yu's exile, he doesn't like bringing up topics related to his former shidi.
Mei Nianqing (梅念卿)
Xie Lian's former teacher who imparts the prince with words of advice and is a famed fortune teller with great cultivation.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Xie Lian only refers to him as "Guoshi". As it turns out, even "Mei Nianqing" is not his real name. He has one, but stopped using it after Wuyong's fall. The only person who knows it is Jun Wu, whose real name in turn only Mei Nianqing knows.
- Mentor Archetype: He is Xie Lian's teacher, who is the protagonist.
- Papa Wolf: The reason he wanted to tutor Xie Lian in the past was because he saw a lot of Jun Wu in the young crown prince and wanted to do everything he could to prevent the same thing from happening. He shows more of this in book 5 where he tries to dissuade Xie Lian from getting closer to Hua Cheng and questions how Xie Lian is attracted to the Ghost King. But ultimately, he says it doesn't matter so long as Xie Lian is happy. When the other gods start calling Xie Lian useless or crazy, he immediately shuts them down and threatens to throw them off the statue if they complained about Xie Lian further.
- Really 700 Years Old: Turns out he is from Wuyong, the kingdom that Jun Wu was the crown prince of. Wu Yong was destroyed 2,000 years ago during a catastrophic volcanic eruption. This means that Mei Nianqing is over 2,000 years old, literally older than all but one of the currently existing gods. The only being who perhaps matches his years is Jun Wu himself.
- Seers: He can read fortunes and was the one who declared that Hong-Hong er would live a life a misery since he was born under an unlucky star. He also tells Xie Lian he only saw darkness in his future. He was famed for it as the Guoshi of Xianle, and Hua Cheng remarks that he is accurate in his readings.
- Shapeshifter: He can change his form to anything he wants.
- Shipper on Deck: He's initially confused at finding out Xie Lian's attracted to Hua Cheng, but ultimately says that if Hua Cheng makes Xie Lian happy, then that's all that should matter.
- We Used to Be Friends: While they were young he used to be very close with Jun Wu. However after learning that he had murdered their friends their relationship fell apart and he left the prince's side.
