History Manga / FengShenJi

[[quoteright:225:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/feng-shen-ji-l0_5389.jpg]]

Feng Shen Ji is a manga written by Zheng Jian He, and drawn by Tang Chi Fai. It’s known for its great art and that it’s colored unlike the vast majority of manga.

In a land, eerie reminiscent of old china, called Shang, a messenger appears in order to deliver a divine edict to Shang’s emperor. Basically it goes a little like this: “Go out and plunder the neighboring lands for resources on behalf of the gods”

In face of this heavenly decree the emperor chooses to say; fuck it, and decides to take up arms against the deities he, and his ancestors, worshipped in order for the denizens of Shang not to live under the tyranny of the gods.
And so begins the epic adventure of Feng Shen Ji.

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Feng Shen Ji contains examples of:
* AnArmAndALeg: When Wu Geng's divine power activates, he can't control it properly, resulting in his left arm being blown off. [[spoiler: Since the TimeSkip he's learned to make a new one with his Smelting Aura.]]
* AnimalMotifs: Dogs for Wu Geng/[[MeaningfulName Ah]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Gou]].
** Dragons for [[AC:Tian]], and possibly the phoenix for [[spoiler: Shi Xing]].
** Butterflies for Ah Lan.
* AntiMagic: Divine Power: Monochrome, used by [[AC:Tian]] and [[spoiler: Wu Gung]]
* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Most of the gods.
* BadAss: Let's count the [[WorldOfBadass many ways]], shall we?
** BadassAbnormal: Wu Geng.
** BadassCrew: The Thirteen Great Generals of the Dark Ones. Also consider each other BashBrothers.
** BadassGrandpa: Fu Yi. Since his children are also pretty important to the plot, he also counts as an ActionDad.
** BadassNormal: Bai Cai. 100% human, faster than top-tier gods.
** HandicappedBadass: [=NiTian ErXing=], kicking ass even while [[SecretlyDying turning into]] [[TakenForGranite a rock]].
** ImplacableMan / TheJuggernaut: [[AC:Tian]], [[CurbStompBattle curbstomping]] other certified badasses left and right. In his youth, he [[OneManArmy soloed the]] [[UpToEleven entire world]], and terrified the other ancient gods enough that they [[spoiler: betrayed him and murdered his wife]].
*** Tian Kui was this to Shi Xing in their fight, where even going all out suicide mode failed to let the latter take just Tian Kui's arm with him.
** PregnantBadass: Kong Que, though she only goes back to the battlefield after her child is born.
* BaldOfEvil: Shen Yan.
* {{BFS}}: Luanwu can enlarge his already huge blade to truly ridiculous levels, as shown [[http://www.mangareader.net/feng-shen-ji/57/9 here]]
* BigBad: [[AC:Tian]] the king of the gods, possibly.
** [[spoiler: Shen Yen hijacked the role from him.]]
* BloodFromTheMouth: Every time someone gets punched or stabbed in the chest.
* BloodKnight: Shi Xing and [=QiongXiong Jie=].
* BodySurf: Wu Geng acquires the body of a boy killed the exact moment he was in an early chapter, and has been using it ever since.
* BrilliantButLazy: [[BlowYouAway Xuan Feng]], who claims to be the weakest of the Sage Kings, but mostly just can't be bothered to put effort into his fights. When he gets serious, he's as strong as the rest, and an even match for [[spoiler: the Phoenix-boosted Shi Xing.]] This is partly because he believe his power is too deadly to be used, having [[spoiler: accidentally killed his master while showing it to him for the first time]]
* CallingYourAttacks: PlayedWith. Characters rarely shout their attacks, but the moves are labeled for the audience nonetheless.
* CastFromLifespan: Using the Phoenix drains your life force. [[spoiler: Shi Xing, being [[BlessedWithSuck undead]], doesn't really care...]]
* ChessMaster: Shen Yan has had thousands of years to plan and does not waste a single one.
* CombatCommentator: Ubiquitous. ''Every single battle'' has at least one character who hangs back and describes exactly what's going on. If no-one's available, the narration will step in and do it for them. With characters that can literally put their all into their weapons and techniques, a single punch can actually warrant the fighter's ''entire'' life story.
* CombatPragmatist: Wu Geng is never afraid to play dirty.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The Dark Ones are mostly pretty friendly, despite their reputation as savage barbarians (literally) from Hell. Except for [[OmnicidalManiac [=QiongXiong Jie=]]].
** LightIsNotGood: Several of the gods are associated with light, and most of them wear white or yellow robes. All of them (except for [[LaResistance the Lost Ones]]) are JerkassGods.
* DeathWorld: Hell, unsurprisingly.
* DecoyProtagonist: It's easy to think Zi Shou will be the main character, until he's killed by [[AC:Tian]]. Turns out Wu Geng is the protagonist.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: How [=NiTian ErXing=] united the Dark Ones, who had been at civil war for a decade.
* DefiantToTheEnd: Zi Shou.
* DissonantSerenity: Zhen Chan takes the cake for this, don't expect him to get revved up against anyone. Unless if you're REALLY REALLY stubborn.
* DivineRanks: There are “normal” gods, go a level higher and there are great gods, after that comes Sage Kings; gods that have pushed their powers to perfection. Then there's an elder, a sort of chieftain and spiritual leader among the gods, and at the top of the ladder sits [[AC:Tian]], the only old god left.
* TheDreaded: [[AC:Tian]], [[CurbStompBattle for good reason]].
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: A lot of stuff that becomes really important later on (especially after the first timeskip) is conspicuously absent early in the story. In particular, there is absolutely no mention of the Sage Gods or anything to do with them, nor any mention of the Dark Ones whatsoever. The fact that nobody encountered or mentioned the inhabitants of the phantom island is also sort of handwaved away. The mines where the slaves toil are also initially described as sulfur mines before quickly becoming magical bloodstone. And [[spoiler:[[AC:Tian]] is shown going into the sleep of the ages after his first appearance, even though later revelations make it clear he doesn't actually do that.]]
* EmpathicWeapon: The Dark Ones' Soul Gear.
* [[spoiler: FakeDefector: Ah Lan, who goes over to the bad guys' side in order to assassinate [[AC:Tian]] in his sleep.]]
** [[spoiler: It doesn't work. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero At all.]]]]
* EatsBabies: Gui Mu.
* TheEmperor: Zi Shou. Technically also [[GodEmperor [[AC:Tian]]]], though he tends more towards OrcusOnHisThrone.
* EtTuBrute: [[spoiler: Shen Yan, towards [[AC:Tian]]]]
* EvilChancellor: Shen Yen, the leader of the retired head gods, the sage gods, who schemes on [[AC:Tian]]'s behalf while the King of the Gods slumbers.
* EvilSorceress: Xin Yue Kui, the Hero's maternal aunt who became a fully realized oracle by stealing her father's eyes, summons the spirits of pure-dissapointment and sorrow, and used Mantra to give a character numb immortality only so they could ''wish'' they could die.
* FullContactMagic: The typical application of Smelting Aura.
** Especially with Sir Li Jing, who's aura manifests as ''giant stone fists'' that mime his strikes and fighting stances.
** Wu Geng left arm ''is'' smelting aura and dons a golden gauntlet gyro gauntlet as an ultimate form.
** Wu Geng's uncle, Zi Yu, was an accomplished swordsman before and summons giant swords for his own grip, but also to rain down by scores upon enemies with piercing motions of his hands.
** Leter on, we meet the inhabitants of phantom island, who are born with Smelting Aura itself. These guys can summon entire armor made of smelting aura having special properties.
* {{Gonk}}: Li Ne Zha, a somewhat oddly-proportioned BrattyHalfPint in a world of [[HeroicBuild impossibly muscled men]]. He's still called such after 2 or 3 {{Time Skip|s}}.
* GuileHero: Several abound but two outstanding ones are Wu Geng and NiTian ErXiang.
* HavingABlast: A Sage God can create spontaneous explosions all around him by slamming his fists together, per his Divine Skill. [[AC:Tian]] manages cause spontaneous explosions while throwing his spear; the narration states he's just that unreasonably powerful. Zongheng Tianxia of the Dark Ones has small detonating orbs as his Soul Gear. That is to say: most Dark Ones ignite their soul through an actual weapon and this guy makes spirit-grenades out of thin air. Honored one Bai Yu, leader of white creed & a citizen of phantom island can unleash bolts of energy that creates this effect via repelling force which gives Wu Geng serious trouble.
* HealingHands: Kong Que. Also Zhen Chan, whose power works from a distance, and is so powerful that it takes decapitation to finally kill the gods he supports.
* TheHeart: Bai Cai for the heroes, specifically for Wu Geng and later the entire Dark Ones Nation.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Fu Yi]]
* ImaginationBasedSuperpower: Smelting Aura summons matter from another world to create real or imaginary objects. As stated in chapter 80, it is entirely based on the user's imagination. Zi Yu managed to craft a sword that ''specifically'' hurts gods and dubbed it Heaven Punisher. Heaven Punisher, when conjured, actually doesn't heavily damage anything but divine power. Honored ones from phantom island specializes in smelting aura, creating things ranging from fires & steel armors to repulsion force bolts.
* JackOfAllStats: Ah Gou/Wu Geng can use all 3 styles of powers, Divine Powers (Gods), Smelting Aura (Human & [[spoiler: Phantom Island citizens]]) & Soul Ignition (Dark Ones). However, due to several reasons he can't use these powers to their fullest, requiring to mix these abilities & use versatility over raw power.
* JerkassGods: The gods extort and enslave humanity, then expect nothing less than boot-licking in return. Even indirectly defying the gods is punished with death, for the outlier, their family, their town, and likely anyone else even remotely associated with them.
* LaResistance: The Lost Ones. Also technically the Dark Ones, who are rebelling against the conditions forced upon their conquered ancestors.
* LargeHam: Absolutely [[WorldOfHam everybody]], including the narration. It makes sense, since this world runs on RuleOfCool.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Bai Cai and SuiFeng QiWu respectively. Both of them are nice, upright women but SuiFeng is a serious LadyOfWar while Bai Cai is TheHeart.
* LongestPregnancyEver: Kong Que, chief of the rebel gods, was pregnant for 18 months.
* MadeASlave: Wu Geng, among everyone (who survived) in his former kingdom is sent to a life working in a mine.
* MeaningfulName: All of the Dark Ones, who take descriptive warrior names. Some of the gods also have these. Often overlaps with NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast and AwesomeMcCoolName.
** Examples include: [[AC:Tian]] ("heaven"), or his real name, Hei Long ("black dragon"). From the Dark Ones, among others, [=NiTian ErXing=] ("act contrary to Tian/heaven") or the previous grand marshal, [=HaiKuo TianKong=] ("boundless as the sky and ocean"), and [=TieXue WuShuang=] ("Iron Blood").
** Averted by Bai Cai (Bok Choy, literally "white vegetable"), who has a borderline FailOSuckyname. Ah Gou ("dog") could be go [[FailOSuckyname either]] [[AwesomeMcCoolName way]], depending on how you look at it.
* {{Necromantic}} / LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler: Hei Long]]
* [[NiceGuy Nice Girl]]: Bai Cai. So much so that some people think it's her super power.
* {{Ninja}}: The Dark Ones, more or less.
* NobleDemon: Tian Kui initally appears as TheBrute, unquestioningly doing [[AC:Tian]]'s bidding and utterly [[CurbStompBattle cub-stomping]] anyone who gets in his way. Several flashbacks later, and it turns out he's a pretty decent guy after all. Monst notably, his most heinous act until that point, [[spoiler: killing Shi Xing's lover]] seems more of a MercyKill in hindsight.
** Tian Wu is perhaps the biggest [[KnightTemplar Knight Templar]] in God's army who doesn't hesitate to threaten even a woman who goes against the gods. However, he is also quiet decent guy to his fellow gods & [[spoiler: later stands upto Shen Yen for Xuan Feng]].
* TheOldGods: Only one though; [[AC:Tian]]. Because he [[spoiler: ''killed all of the rest'']].
* PaintingTheMedium: [[AC:Divine Power Monochrome]]. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Guess what it does to the color]] in the comic when someone is using it.
** Also, the supreme god [[AC:Tian]] always has his name spelled out in small caps in a special font.
* PoisonousPerson: Several gods of the Plague Affiliation, most notably Gui Mu and Bai Lian.
* TheQuietOne: Zi Yu, whose little dialogue consists mostly of monosyllabic responses.
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Very much the entire theme of the manhua, which comes off a cross between ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' (a man with the aim to destroy the gods) and ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' (doing so with awesome superpowers). To be fair, the gods started it.
** It also has serious shades of ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath''.
* RomanticRunnerUp: Zi Yu for Da Ji. Also Zhui Ri for Bai Cai and possibly [[AbhorrentAdmirer Zi Dian]] for Ah Lan.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: Shi Xing]], against [[HighPriest Xin Yue Kui]] and then [[ManBehindTheMan Shen Yan]].
* {{Seer}}: There is a divine powers specifically reserved for this. Special mention goes to Shen Yan, Fu Yi, Da Ji & later Xin Yue Kue.
* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Wu Geng starts off [[TrainingFromHell facing members of the Lost Ones]]. He then fights his way through several Great Gods, [[TookALevelInBadass took several levels in badass]], and is now fighting Sage Kings. Next up the ladder is [[OneManArmy [[AC:Tian]]]] himself.
** Subverted a bit considering [[AC:Tian]] showed up very early on to curb-stomp the king of Shang, now several arcs later and even after [[spoiler: having being supposedly killed]], it's being reinforced that he's the top dog all along.
* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: The Smelting Aura allows one to do this, from stone fists (Li Jing) to glowy magic swords (Zi Yu) to [[spoiler: a new arm, and a super-strong golden gauntlet to go on it (Wu Geng)]].
** Inhabitants of phantom island can create entire [[PoweredArmor set of armors]] with smelting aura that gives them equal footing with generals of dark ones.
* TakenForGranite: Dark Ones who contract the petrification sickness, most notably [[spoiler: [=NiTian ErXing=].]]
* TakeUpMySword: [[spoiler: [=NiTian ErXing=] to Wu Geng, by way of [=SuiFeng QiWu=]]]
* TeleportersAndTransporters: The Vanishing arts used by the Dark Ones allow them to teleport short distances.
** TeleportSpam: Users of Vanishing arts don't seem to have a cool down period and can even teleport repeatedly in place of flight.
* TopGod: [[AC:Tian]], the oldest, and strongest god in the heavens.
* TragicMonster: Shi Xing. Also, surprisingly enough, [[spoiler: [[AC:Tian]]]] himself.
* VillainDecay:
** Bai Lian. While all the other sage kings remained badasses after the time skip, Bai Lian came back more unhinged and was [[spoiler: completely humiliated in a rematch with Ah Gou]].
** Gui Mu. From dangerous god of pestilence to being locked up by his adopted human son and shedding lonely tears.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: The honored ones from phantom island. All they want is to add more energy for smelting aura so that their world can survive & fight against nothingness. However, to do that they are willing to do anything & their plan involves turning an entire nation to said energy while pretending to be benevolent benefactors that fill the gap after gods were forced to leave the central plain.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: is [[spoiler: Shi Xing]] dead or what?
** [[spoiler: He, along with Xuan Feng & [[AC:Tian]] returns for the final arc.]]
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: [[AC:Tian]].
* WolverineClaws: [=TieXue WuShuang=], who uses his claws as weapons.
* WouldHitAGirl: Wu Geng
* [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair You Gotta Have Green Hair]]: The Dark Ones' hair is usually a realistic brown, black, or white - except when they activate their Soul Gear, at which point it turns bright green.
* YourDaysAreNumbered: [[spoiler: [=NiTian ErXing=], who is terminally ill with the petrification sickness.]] The only thing keeping him alive is his HeroicWillpower.

** Dragons for Tian, and possibly the phoenix for [[spoiler: Shi Xing]].

* AntiMagic: Divine Power: Monochrome, used by Tian and [[spoiler: Wu Gung]]

** ImplacableMan / TheJuggernaut: Tian, [[CurbStompBattle curbstomping]] other certified badasses left and right. In his youth, he [[OneManArmy soloed the]] [[UpToEleven entire world]], and terrified the other ancient gods enough that they [[spoiler: betrayed him and murdered his wife]].

* BigBad: Tian the king of the gods, possibly.

* DecoyProtagonist: It's easy to think Zi Shou will be the main character, until he's killed by Tian. Turns out Wu Geng is the protagonist.

* DivineRanks: There are “normal” gods, go a level higher and there are great gods, after that comes Sage Kings; gods that have pushed their powers to perfection. Then there's an elder, a sort of chieftain and spiritual leader among the gods, and at the top of the ladder sits Tian, the only old god left.
* TheDreaded: Tian, [[CurbStompBattle for good reason]].

* [[spoiler: FakeDefector: Ah Lan, who goes over to the bad guys' side in order to assassinate Tian in his sleep.]]

* TheEmperor: Zi Shou. Technically also [[GodEmperor Tian]], though he tends more towards OrcusOnHisThrone.
* EtTuBrute: [[spoiler: Shen Yan, towards Tian]]
* EvilChancellor: Shen Yen, the leader of the retired head gods, the sage gods, who schemes on Tian's behalf while the King of the Gods slumbers.

* HavingABlast: A Sage God can create spontaneous explosions all around him by slamming his fists together, per his Divine Skill. Tian manages cause spontaneous explosions while throwing his spear; the narration states he's just that unreasonably powerful. Zongheng Tianxia of the Dark Ones has small detonating orbs as his Soul Gear. That is to say: most Dark Ones ignite their soul through an actual weapon and this guy makes spirit-grenades out of thin air. Honored one Bai Yu, leader of white creed & a citizen of phantom island can unleash bolts of energy that creates this effect via repelling force which gives Wu Geng serious trouble.

** Examples include: Tian ("heaven"), or his real name, Hei Long ("black dragon"). From the Dark Ones, among others, [=NiTian ErXing=] ("act contrary to Tian/heaven") or the previous grand marshal, [=HaiKuo TianKong=] ("boundless as the sky and ocean"), and [=TieXue WuShuang=] ("Iron Blood").

* NobleDemon: Tian Kui initally appears as TheBrute, unquestioningly doing Tian's bidding and utterly [[CurbStompBattle cub-stomping]] anyone who gets in his way. Several flashbacks later, and it turns out he's a pretty decent guy after all. Monst notably, his most heinous act until that point, [[spoiler: killing Shi Xing's lover]] seems more of a MercyKill in hindsight.

* TheOldGods: Only one though; Tian. Because he [[spoiler: ''killed all of the rest'']].

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Wu Geng starts off [[TrainingFromHell facing members of the Lost Ones]]. He then fights his way through several Great Gods, [[TookALevelInBadass took several levels in badass]], and is now fighting Sage Kings. Next up the ladder is [[OneManArmy Tian]] himself.
** Subverted a bit considering Tian showed up very early on to curb-stomp the king of Shang, now several arcs later and even after [[spoiler: having being supposedly killed]], it's being reinforced that he's the top dog all along.

* TopGod: Tian, the oldest, and strongest god in the heavens.
* TragicMonster: Shi Xing. Also, surprisingly enough, [[spoiler: Tian]] himself.

** [[spoiler: He, along with Xuan Feng & Tian returns for the final arc.]]
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Tian.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: A lot of stuff that becomes really important later on (especially after the first timeskip) is conspicuously absent early in the story. In particular, there is absolutely no mention of the Sage Gods or anything to do with them, nor any mention of the Dark Ones whatsoever. The fact that nobody encountered or mentioned the inhabitants of the phantom island is also sort of handwaved away. The mines where the slaves toil are also initially described as sulfur mines before mysteriously becoming magical bloodstone. And [[spoiler:[[AC:Tian]] is shown going into the sleep of the ages after his first appearance, even though later revelations make it clear he doesn't actually do that.]]

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: A lot of stuff that becomes really important later on (especially after the first timeskip) is conspicuously absent early in the story. In particular, there is absolutely no mention of the Sage Gods or anything to do with them, nor any mention of the Dark Ones whatsoever. The fact that nobody encountered or mentioned the inhabitants of the phantom island is also sort of handwaved away.

** Also, the supreme god [[AC:Tien]] always has his name spelled out in small caps in a special font.

* ImaginationBasedSuperpower: Smelting Aura summons matter from another world to create real or imaginary objects. As stated in chapter 80, it is entirely based on the user's imagination. Zi Yu managed to craft a sword that ''specifically'' hurts gods and dubbed it Heaven Punisher. Heaven Punisher, when conjured, actually doesn't heavily damage anything but divine power.

* HavingABlast: A Sage God can create spontaneous explosions all around him by slamming his fists together, per his Divine Skill. Tian manages cause spontaneous explosions while throwing his spear; the narration states he's just that unreasonably powerful. Zongheng Tianxia of the Dark Ones has small detonating orbs as his Soul Gear. That is to say: most Dark Ones ignite their soul through an actual weapon and this guy makes spirit-grenades out of thin air.

* {{Seer}}: Shen Yan.