Main Characters (Shen Qiao, Yan Wushi) | Sects of the Jianghu (The Three Demonic Sects, Daoist Sects) | Nations and Kingdoms
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Buddhist Sects
Tiantai Sect | 天邰宗
Xueting (雪庭)
Voiced by: Liu Yuxuan note (animation), Liu Beichen (audio drama)
"Buddha can be forgiving and advises people to act kindly. 'Put down the butcher's knife, and one becomes a Buddha,' they say. But for those that are unrepentant, he can also exert the power of lightning and thunder."
The imperial adviser of the former emperor of Northern Zhou, Yuwen Hu, as well as the former top disciple of the Tiantai Sect.
- Adaptational Job Change: Downplayed. The novel introduced him as the imperial adviser of Yuwen Hu, the previous emperor of Northern Zhou, but the donghua has him become the former imperial adviser of Yuwen Yong (renamed Yuwen You in the Animated Adaptation). Likewise, whereas he used to be a disciple of the Tiantai Sect in the novel, the donghua introduces him as an active member of said sect.
- Adaptation Name Change: His name is changed from Xueting to Xueyin in the donghua.
- Ambition Is Evil: He's willing to put an incompetent and despotic emperor on the throne just so that he and the Buddhist sects can regain influence in the jianghu once more.
- Beauty Is Bad: The novel described him to be handsome enough that he could pass off as a dignified and wealthy scholar had it not been for the lack of hair on his head. However, he's not as benevolent as he appears to be.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: In spite of Yan Wushi's animosity towards Xueting, he doesn't kill him in their final confrontation because he intends to surrender him to the Tiantai Sect in exchange for a copy of the final book of the Zhuyang Ce.
- Catchphrase: Although it's common for all Buddhist monks to say it, one can already make a drinking game of all the times Xueting says "Amitabha" throughout the audio drama.
- Character Tics: In the Animated Adaptation, Xueting tends to slam his staff onto the ground whenever he expresses his frustrations or emphasizes a point he's making.
- Hypocrite:
- In spite of Xueting's claims that Yuwen Yong's reign is brutal and stained with blood, Northern Zhou begins to fare far worse under Yuwen Yun's rule. Of course, Yan Wushi knows that he's bullshitting and is only supporting Yuwen Yun because of the latter's support of Buddhism, which is beneficial to Xueting's own ambitions.
- When Xueting calls Yan Wushi a thieving scoundrel in the donghua, Yan Wushi is quick to fire back that Xueting is the pot calling the kettle black.
- Staff of Authority: Xueting carries a khakkhara
with him, which he also uses in combat. This is Truth in Television; while khakkharas are used mostly as noisemakers or instruments, they can also be used as a defensive weapon. - Terms of Endangerment: Yan Wushi always calls him an "old bald donkey" or "old bald ass", and both Bian Yanmei and Yu Shengyan also refer to Xueting by the same degrading nickname.
- Uncertain Doom: Yan Wushi seals Xueting's meridians after Yuwen Yun is deposed, and later hands him over to the Tiantai Sect for them to deal with their treacherous ex-disciple however they wish. It's never revealed when the sect has in store for Xueting.
Other Buddhists
Liansheng (莲生) and Lianmie (莲灭)
Liansheng voiced by: Xiu Yuan (audio drama)
Lianmie voiced by: Zhang Pei (audio drama)
Xueting's disciples.
- Bit Character: There's not much revealed about them, and their appearances are only meant to further emphasize that the Buddhist faction has become a huge thorn on the protagonists' side.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Liansheng was mentioned a few times when Yan Wushi first mentions what happened at the Jade Terrace Daoist Conference to Shen Qiao, as Liansheng was one of the disciples that Li Qingyu defeated in the event. His first appearance has him accompanying Xueting when the latter tracks down Yan Wushi in Weizhou.
- Those Two Guys: They're both introduced at the same time and they always fight together.
- Uncertain Doom: The last time they're mentioned, the novel described that the fight between them and Bian Yanmei came to a standstill. It's uncertain if they were merely defeated and got taken into custody, or if they were killed off.
Confucian Sects
Linchuan Academy | 临川学宫
Leadership
Ruyan Kehui (汝鄢克惠)
Voiced by: Su Xin (animation, audio drama)
"The southern tea has its own exquisiteness. It's tolerant and all-embracing. Only then can it take in all the rivers and streams and eventually turn into a boundless ocean."
The master-in-charge of the Linchuan Academy.
- Adaptation Personality Change: In the donghua, while he is still complicit in the assassination plot against Yan Wushi, Ruyan Kehui also allied with Beimu (Tujue) when he never did anything of the sort in the novel, where he views the Tujue people as "foreign barbarians". However, the writers eventually revealed that just like in the novel, Ruyan Kehui still doesn't trust the people of Beimu, but he still joins in their plan to take down Yan Wushi for far more personal reasons, mostly that he strongly dislikes Yan Wushi and his obstinate nature.
- Everyone Has Standards: The novel's final chapter states that while Ruyan Kehui is not particularly fond of Yan Wushi and even helped conspire to have him killed, he does not wish for him to lose against Hulugu.
- Fantastic Racism: Ruyan Kehui is a firm believer in the Han people's supremacy, and does not think highly of foreigners or the influence they have on China's rulers. This is one of the reasons why he helped in the assassination plot, since he disapproves of the reign of the Yuwen family, who are of Xianbei ancestry.
- Fate Worse than Death: Lampshaded. At one point, Yan Wushi mentions that Confucianists love to give lectures and that someone like Ruyan Kehui would rather die than be forced to never preach to the public again.
- Karma Houdini: Besides ending up seriously injured in his duel with Yan Wushi that he needed to cultivate in seclusion for months to recover, Ruyan Kehui doesn't get any proper comeuppance for his role in the assassination plot to have Yan Wushi and then the emperor of Northern Zhou killed. However, Puliuru Jian soon takes over the throne, and he is another of the Xianbei people — who Ruyan Kehui look down on due to his Sinocentric beliefs. Therefore, while Ruyan Kehui doesn't get any karma, he doesn't get what he wants either. To add insult to injury, the extras mention that the Sui Dynasty eventually absorbed the Chen Dynasty, the latter of where Ruyan Kehui resides.
Disciples
Xie Xiang (谢湘)
Voiced by: Xiu Yuan (animation), Xiao Xin (audio drama)
Ruyan Kehui's favored disciple.
- Awesome, but Impractical
- The Bus Came Back
- Foreshadowing: In the chapter where Xie Xiang was introduced, he's specifically mentioned to be of the Xie Clan of the Chen Commandery. And beforehand, the narration stated that Yan Wushi would go by the surname "Xie" whenever he would travel. It's eventually revealed that Yan Wushi is also a descendant of the Xie Clan, and his birth name is Xie Ling.
- Graceful Loser: Zigzagged. While he's arrogant and competitive, he's quick to admit if he lost and if he got ahead of himself. He also doesn't feel ashamed about losing to people who he knows are the top-ranked masters. However, he doesn't take well to the thought of losing to people he deems as nobodies.
- Hot-Blooded
- Red Oni, Blue Oni
- Unknown Relative: It's unknown exactly how they are related, but it's later revealed that Yan Wushi is from the Xie Clan, which means he and Xie Xiang are of the same blood.
Zhan Ziqian (展子乾)
Voiced by: Zhang Pengfei note (animation), Xiu Yuan (audio drama)
A disciple of the Linchuan Academy, and Xie Xiang's shixiong.
- The Bus Came Back: After appearing in Madam Su's birthday banquet, the next time he shows up is almost a hundred chapters later when he and Shen Qiao meet at the Sword Trial Conference.
- Fanboy
- Historical Domain Character: He's a more obscure example than the others in the cast, but Zhan Ziqian is actually a Real Life painter who existed around the time of the Sui Dynasty, and is famous for the portrait "Strolling About in Spring", which is the earliest landscape painting that still exists today.
- Hidden Depths: He has a strong passion for drawing, as shown when he asks Shen Qiao to be a model for one of his paintings. This is inspired from the real Zhan Ziqian, who is renowned for his lifelike portraits.
- Nice Mean And In Between: Between the three named members of the Linchuan Academy note , Zhan Ziqian is the Nice of the three. Unlike his shixiong, he is well-mannered instead of condescending towards the people he speaks to; and unlike his shizun, he never enforces his Confucianist beliefs on others.
- Nice Guy: He's always polite to anyone he speaks to. In his first appearance, he makes sure to greet both Yan Wushi and Shen Qiao, whereas his shidi only acknowledged Yan Wushi. He's also one of the few people who is courteous to Shen Qiao from the get-go.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni
Other Sects
Liuhe Organization | 六合帮
Leadership
Dou Yanshan (窦燕山)
Voiced by: Gao Qichang (animation), Wang Yuhang (audio drama)
"Yan-zongzhu, have you ever heard the saying, 'Pride goes before a fall'?"
The chairman of the Liuhe Organization.
- Adaptational Wimp: In the donghua, Dou Yanshan is portrayed as someone who has far more bark than bite.
- When Yan Wushi declines Dou Yanshan's challenge and calls him a nobody, Dou Yanshan managed to silence anyone else who laughed at him by using his inner qi in his response to let the others knew that even though he was just ridiculed by Yan Wushi, he's still not someone to be easily trifled with. He doesn't get to do such in the donghua, and some of the onlookers even shove him around.
- While he participated in the heat of the battle during the ambush against Yan Wushi in the novel, he stays mostly out of the fighting in the donghua and only lands a sneak attack on Yan Wushi when the latter is already far too wounded to fight back. Then when he tries to land the killing blow on Yan Wushi, he nearly chickens out when Yan Wushi threatens him with an insidious look and smile.
- Fantastic Racism: Dou Yanshan believes in the supremacy of the Han people while looking down on the other ethnicities in the Central Plains.
- It's Personal: While the other four do not personally get along with Yan Wushi, their reasons for ambushing him were purely for reasons that were either pragmatic or political. Dou Yanshan, however, wants payback against Yan Wushi for destroying the volume of the Zhuyang Ce that was supposed to be delivered to him.
- Karmic Death: As one of the five masters that took part in the ambush, Yan Wushi makes sure that he doesn't get away with it by taking advantage of the dissent within the Liuhe Organization to have Dou Yanshan poisoned to death.
- Killed Offscreen: During Yan Wushi and Xueting's rematch, the novel mentions that Dou Yanshan was killed by poisoning via Yan Wushi's machinations.
- Know When to Fold 'Em
Members
Yun Fuyi (云拂衣)
Voiced by: Weng Yuan (animation), Yang Ou (audio drama)
The vice-chairman of the Liuhe Organization and Dou Yanshan's second-in-command.
- Action Girl: She's able to hold herself well against Murong Qin, who takes the time to praise her for her skills.
- Adaptation Deviation: The donghua has her ally with Beimu (Tujue) alongside Dou Yanshan early on in the story, whereas in the novel, she allied with Tujue on a separate occasion in an attempt to consolidate power from Dou Yanshan.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Yun Fuyi encounters too much trouble on her mission to deliver one of the books of the Zhuyang Ce to Jiankang, and when it eventually escalates to an all-out confrontation in Chuyun Temple, she offers to surrender the book to Xueting as long as she and her subordinates will not be harmed.
- Oh, Crap!: In the donghua, Yan Wushi warns Shen Qiao that since he has read one of the books of the Zhuyang Ce, everyone in the jianghu will start targeting him and will use any sorts of means to get to him first. Yun Fuyi starts to look alarmed at the statement and leaves in a haste, because she's precisely one of those "everyone" Yan Wushi mentioned.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Although Yun Fuyi managed to become the chairman of her sect after Dou Yanshan's death, her leadership only lasted for half a month until evidence of her collaboration with the Tujue people was brought to light. The resulting revolt resulted in the other leaders of the sect forcing her to rescind her position, and this contributed further to the divide of the entire Liuhe Organization.
- Sleeping Their Way to the Top: Shen Qiao and Yan Wushi witness her in bed with one of the young masters of the Huang family to curry favors from them as part of her plan to become the next chairman of the Liuhe Organization.
Liuli Palace | 琉璃宫
Yuan Zixiao (袁紫霄)
Voiced by: Zhu Jun (audio drama)
A member of Liuli Palace, she's sent as the sect's representative to oversee the latest Sword Trial Conference — an event that occurs every ten years.
- Mysterious Past: The way Gu Hengbo addressed Yuan Zixiao implies that there's some past history between them. What kind of history they have, however, is never given any further detail.
- Purple Is Powerful: Downplayed. Yuan Zixiao wears purple robes, and while she is never seen fighting, she does have a wide scope of knowledge as well as a very sharp eye. Not to mention, she is also next in line as the leader of Liuli Palace.
- Smarter Than You Look: She's quickly looked down on by the others solely because of her gender, but Yuan Zixiao proves why she's chosen by Liuli Palace to act as the judge of the Sword Trial Conference when she's able to accurately point out each martial artist's fighting style and respective flaws to the most miniscule of details.
- Stay in the Kitchen: When Yuan Zixiao is introduced to the other martial arts masters in the Sword Trial Conference, many immediately voice their condescension of her due to the sole fact that she's a woman. Not more than one minute later, she immediately silences all her naysayers by showing how observational she is.
- The Stoic: She's not the most emotive and always carries herself in a cold and dignified manner.
Dongzhou Sect
Ruan Hailou (阮海樓)
Voiced by: Liu Beichen (audio drama)
"I killed countless disciples in your sect. You're going to hate me from the bottom of your heart this time. It doesn't matter anymore, however, since I'm going to pay you back with my life. But how are you ever going to make up for the half of my life that you owe me?!"
A former member of the Bixia Sect. After suffering a personal betrayal, he defected to Goguryeo and joined the Dongzhou Sect. Twenty years later, he returned to the Bixia Sect to take his revenge.
- Arc Villain: He's one of the adversaries that Shen Qiao faces when he first heads to the Bixia Sect.
- Despair Event Horizon: When Zhao Chiying informs him that Hui Leshan has already passed away and had died expressing regret for what he did to Ruan Hailou, the man almost immediately lost the will to live as he already spilled too much of the Bixia Sect's blood to be able to let go of his revenge.
- Driven to Suicide
- Et Tu, Brute?: He used to be close friends with Hui Leshan, the previous leader of the Bixia Sect. However, when both were competing for the position of sect leader, Hui Leshan got him drunk and made it look like Ruan Hailou slept with their shizun's daughter, which forced him to leave the sect in shame.
- Foil: He's one to Shen Qiao, showing what happens when someone allows themselves to be consumed by their vengeance after they're betrayed, no matter how justified their hatred may be.
- Laughing Mad
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Ruan Hailou seeks revenge on Hui Leshan for framing him and humiliating him. But he doesn't hesitate to dish out his revenge on the rest of the Bixia Sect, seeing them as equally responsible for their sect leader's actions.
