Feng Shen Ji is a manhua written by Zheng Jian He, and drawn by Tang Chi Fai. It’s known for its great art.
In a land 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.
Has an Animated Adaptation called Wu Geng Ji, produced by Sparkly Key Animation Studio (which also animates Qin's Moon and Nine Songs of the Moving Heavens).
Tropes:
- Adaptation Dye-Job: A number of characters' appearance were revamped for the animated adaption, likely to better suit the animation studio's consumer base.
- Adaptation Expansion: Several scenes in the animation do not exist in the manhua, such as the first season finale's battle between Fu Yi, Ah Lan, and the Gods.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: The Dark Ones appear in the animated adaption much earlier than they do in the manhua.
- Animal Motifs: Dogs for Wu Geng/Ah Gou.
- Dragons for Tian, and possibly the phoenix for Shi Xing.
- Butterflies for Ah Lan.
- Anti-Magic: Divine Power: Monochrome, used by Tian and Wu Geng
- An Arm and a Leg: When Wu Geng's divine power activates, he can't control it properly, resulting in his left arm being blown off. Since the Time Skip he's learned to make a new one with his Smelting Aura.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Most of the gods.
- Badass Crew: The Thirteen Great Generals of the Dark Ones. Also consider each other Bash Brothers.
- Badass Normal: Bai Cai. 100% human, faster than top-tier gods.
- BFS: Luanwu can enlarge his already huge blade to truly ridiculous levels, as shown here
- Big Bad: Tian the king of the gods, possibly.
- Shen Yen hijacked the role from him. Only not really.
- Blood from the Mouth: Every time someone gets punched or stabbed in the chest.
- Body Surf: 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.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: 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 the Phoenix-boosted Shi Xing. This is partly because he believe his power is too deadly to be used, having accidentally killed his master while showing it to him for the first time
- Call-Back: The first time Wu Geng fights Sir Li Jing, he has Li Jing's son hostage, and gets him to stop attacking by warning him that if he continues, his son will die. Much, much later, when Li Jing is fighting on the side of the gods, Wu Geng gets him to switch sides by saying the exact line again, warning him that his son is in more danger under the continued rule of the brutal and capricious gods than he would be if Li Jing fought on the side of humanity.
- Calling Your Attacks: Played With. Characters rarely shout their attacks, but the moves are labeled for the audience nonetheless.
- Wu Geng does call out the name of one attack, but only as an insult to whomever he is attacking: it's called the 'Hungry Dog Eat Shit Kick'.
- Cast from Lifespan: Using the Phoenix drains your life force. Shi Xing, being undead, doesn't really care...
- Chess Master: Shen Yan has had thousands of years to plan and does not waste a single one.
- Combat Commentator: 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.
- Combat Pragmatist: Wu Geng is never afraid to play dirty.
- Dark Is Not Evil: The Dark Ones are mostly pretty friendly, despite their reputation as savage barbarians (literally) from Hell. Except for QiongXiong Jie.
- Light Is Not Good: Several of the gods are associated with light, and most of them wear white or yellow robes. Just about all of them (except for the Lost Ones) are Jerkass Gods.
- Death World: Hell, unsurprisingly.
- Decoy Protagonist: 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.
- Defeat Means Friendship: How NiTian ErXing united the Dark Ones, who had been at civil war for a decade.
- Dissonant Serenity: Zhen Chan takes the cake for this, don't expect him to get revved up against anyone. Unless if you're REALLY REALLY stubborn.
- Divine Ranks: 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.
- The Dreaded: Tian, for good reason.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: 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 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.
- Easily Forgiven: Despite all that Xin Yue Kui has done to make our protagonists suffer, she gets off relatively scotch-free at the end. The most she suffers through is being discarded by Shen Yen, but even there she gets to gloat about his downfall.
- Empathic Weapon: The Dark Ones' Soul Gear.
- The Emperor: Zi Shou. Technically also Tian, though he tends more towards Orcus on His Throne.
- Evil Chancellor: 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.
- Evil Sorceress: 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.
- Fake Defector: Ah Lan, who goes over to the bad guys' side in order to assassinate Tian in his sleep. It doesn't work. At all.
- Full-Contact Magic: 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 Bratty Half-Pint in a world of impossibly muscled men. He's still called such after 2 or 3 Time Skip.
- Graceful Loser: Happens pretty often, with Chi Long and even Tian as examples at the story's end.
- Guile Hero: Several abound but two outstanding ones are Wu Geng and NiTian ErXiang.
- Handicapped Badass: NiTian ErXing, kicking ass even while turning into a rock.
- Having a Blast: 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.
- Healing Hands: 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.
- The Heart: Bai Cai for the heroes, specifically for Wu Geng and later the entire Dark Ones Nation. In the animation, she seems to have become this for Zhui Ri, whom she saved.
- Imagination-Based Superpower: 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.
- Implacable Man: Tian, curbstomping other certified badasses left and right. In his youth, he soloed the entire world, and terrified the other ancient gods enough that they 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.
- Jack of All Stats: Ah Gou/Wu Geng can use all 3 styles of powers, Divine Powers (Gods), Smelting Aura (Human & 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.
- Jerkass Gods: 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.
- La Résistance: The Lost Ones. Also technically the Dark Ones, who are rebelling against the conditions forced upon their conquered ancestors.
- Large Ham: Absolutely everybody, including the narration. It makes sense, since this world runs on Rule of Cool.
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Bai Cai and SuiFeng QiWu respectively. Both of them are nice, upright women but SuiFeng is a serious Lady of War while Bai Cai is The Heart.
- Longest Pregnancy Ever: Kong Que, chief of the rebel gods, was pregnant for 18 months.
- Made a Slave: Wu Geng, among everyone (who survived) in his former kingdom is sent to a life working in a mine.
- Meaningful Name: All of the Dark Ones, who take descriptive warrior names. Some of the gods also have these. Often overlaps with Names to Run Away from Really Fast.
- 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").
- Necromantic / Love Makes You Evil: Hei Long
- Nice Girl: Bai Cai. So much so that some people think it's her super power. In the animation, she even saves the life of Zhui Ri, the god who just tried kidnapping her.
- Ninja: The Dark Ones, more or less.
- Noble Demon: Tian Kui initally appears as The Brute, unquestioningly doing Tian's bidding and utterly 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, killing Shi Xing's lover seems more of a Mercy Kill in hindsight.
- Tian Wu is perhaps the biggest 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 & later stands upto Shen Yen for Xuan Feng.
- The Old Gods: Only one though; Tian. Because he killed all of the rest.
- Painting the Medium: Divine Power Monochrome. Guess what it does to the color in the comic when someone is using it.
- Also, the supreme god Tian always has his name spelled out in small caps in a special font.
- Poisonous Person: Several gods of the Plague Affiliation, most notably Gui Mu and Bai Lian.
- The Quiet One: Zi Yu, whose little dialogue consists mostly of monosyllabic responses.
- Rage Against the Heavens: Very much the entire theme of the manhua, which comes off a cross between God of War (a man with the aim to destroy the gods) and Exalted (doing so with awesome superpowers). To be fair, the gods started it.
- It also has serious shades of Asura's Wrath.
- Romantic Runner-Up: Zi Yu for Da Ji. Also Zhui Ri for Bai Cai and possibly Zi Dian for Ah Lan.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Shi Xing, against Xin Yue Kui and then Shen Yan.
- Pregnant Badass: Kong Que, though she only goes back to the battlefield after her child is born.
- Seers: There is a divine powers specifically reserved for this. Special mention goes to Shen Yan, Fu Yi, Da Ji & later Xin Yue Kue.
- Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Wu Geng starts off facing members of the Lost Ones. He then fights his way through several Great Gods, took several levels in badass, and is now fighting Sage Kings. Next up the ladder is 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 having being supposedly killed, it's being reinforced that he's the top dog all along.
- Spontaneous Weapon Creation: The Smelting Aura allows one to do this, from stone fists (Li Jing) to glowy magic swords (Zi Yu) to a new arm, and a super-strong golden gauntlet to go on it (Wu Geng).
- Inhabitants of phantom island can create entire set of armors with smelting aura that gives them equal footing with generals of dark ones.
- Taken for Granite: Dark Ones who contract the petrification sickness, most notably NiTian ErXing.
- Take Up My Sword: NiTian ErXing to Wu Geng, by way of SuiFeng QiWu
- Teleport Spam: Users of Vanishing Arts don't seem to have a cool down period and can even teleport repeatedly in place of flight. In the animation, Zhui Ri also seems to be capable of this with his lightning, though it will wear him down after a while.
- Top God: Tian, the oldest, and strongest god in the heavens.
- Tragic Monster: Shi Xing. Also, surprisingly enough, Tian himself.
- Villain Decay:
- Bai Lian. While all the other sage kings remained badasses after the time skip, Bai Lian came back more unhinged and was 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.
- We Can Rule Together: Near the end, Tian intends to destroy and recreate the world, and offers to make Ah Gou, who he sees as a Worthy Opponent, his regent in the recreated world. Ah Gou refuses.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: 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.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Is Shi Xing dead or what? He, along with Xuan Feng & Tian returns for the final arc.
- Wolverine Claws: TieXue WuShuang, who uses his claws as weapons.
- Your Days Are Numbered: NiTian ErXing is terminally ill with the petrification sickness. The only thing keeping him alive is his Heroic Willpower.
