Main Characters: Wei Wuxian | Lan Wangji
Five Great Clans: Lan Clan of Gusu | Jiang Clan of Yunmeng (Jiang Cheng) | Jin Clan of Lanling (Jin Guangyao) | Nie Clan of Qinghe | Wen Clan of Qishan
Other Characters: Other Clans | Yi City Group | Miscellaneous Characters
This page applies to the characters who only appear in the Yi City arc and play a vital role in the arc's plot.
All spoilers are unmarked.
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Xue Yang (薛洋) - Chengmei (成美)
Voiced by: Zhang Fuzheng note [animation], Hui Long [audio drama], Li Jiayi [audio drama, as a child], Liu Sanmu [web series] (Mandarin) Click here for other languages
Played by: Wang Haoxuan [web series]
Height: 180 cm
Weapon: Jiangzai | 降灾 (jian)
"If I said I was going to kill the entire Chang Clan of Yueyang, then I wouldn't even spare the dog!"
A guest disciple of the Jin Clan, Xue Yang was a practitioner of demonic cultivation. His talent in The Dark Arts made him able to recreate the other lost half of the Yin Tiger Tally.
Having made his name as a hooligan in Kuizhou, Xue Yang's massacre of the Yueyang Chang Clan and his eventual arrest by Xiao Xingchen was the point where the Nie and Jin Clans began to fall out. Xue Yang was imprisoned in Koi Tower until the death of Nie Mingjue, after which Jin Guangshan began to pressure the remnants of the Chang Clan to change their statements.
After the Chang Clan gave in, Xue Yang was then released back into the world, where he took his revenge on Xiao Xingchen's friend Song Lan by massacring all of Song Lan's students in the White Snow Temple and blinding Song Lan, forcing Xiao Xingchen to give his own eyes to Song Lan. When Jin Guangshan died and Jin Guangyao took over, one of Jin Guangyao's first moves was to remove this stain on the Jin Clan's reputation. Xue Yang fled for his life, and was then saved by the already-blind Xiao Xingchen.
Tropes that apply to Xue Yang in general
- An Arm and a Leg: Fingore aside, Lan Wangji slices off Xue Yang's arm in the end of their battle. He becomes incapacitated and loses the fight as a result, allowing the protagonists to win back Shuanghua and give Song Lan some sort of comfort — although he's rescued by the mysterious masked cultivator afterward, he later dies from the blood loss.
- Antagonist in Mourning: Even if he refuses to admit it, he's spent the last few years mainly grieving Xiao Xingchen's death and attempting to revive him.
- Arc Villain: He's directly responsible for everything bad that happens in the events of Yi City, both past and present.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Xue Yang figures out that "Mo Xuanyu" is the Yiling Patriarch simply from seeing him channel immense power from a basic demonic cultivation spell — something that only the founder of said arts would be capable of. And unlike Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng, he never personally knew Wei Wuxian.
- Ax-Crazy: He's not mindlessly insane, but it's obvious that even before his Sanity Slippage, there are already a few nails in his head that were screwed the wrong way.
- Bad Powers, Bad People: He's a demonic cultivator, and is infamous as a delinquent that killed off an entire clan.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: It's strongly suggested that Xue Yang grew attached to Xiao Xingchen after living a peaceful life with him for years.
- Break Them by Talking: He seems to enjoy making his enemies or victims break down by telling them horrible things. Examples include telling Xiao Xingchen about who he was actually killing and reminding Song Lan that his intentions to find Xiao Xingchen contrasted the last words he said to his friend.
- Color-Coded Eyes: Xue Yang has been drawn with blue, yellow, gray, and red eyes in his designs for almost all the adaptations (except the live-action drama). All four eye colors complement his cold-blooded nature.
- Combat Pragmatist: As he admits, he's a delinquent and so is naturally not afraid of fighting dirty.
- Dark and Troubled Past: In the past, Xue Yang lived as a Street Urchin doing menial jobs, and then everything went downhill for him when Chang Cian cost him his finger. This shaped him into the twisted and ruthless criminal he is today, committing violent acts even after he sought vengeance and being unnecessarly cruel to others.
- Dark Is Evil: In all of the adaptations he wears dark robes, and he's far from a nice person.
- Depending on the Artist: His eye color is never consistent in official art, changing from blue (first season of the audio drama), to yellow (second season of the audio drama), to gray (manhua), and finally to red (donghua).
- Disproportionate Retribution: If someone hurts him, he'll hurt them back tenfold. He even suggested this to A-Qing in his attempt to help her deal with whoever would make fun of her.
- Dissonant Serenity: He's not fazed in the slightest over tricking Xiao Xingchen into killing Song Lan, even being merry enough hours later to hum while cutting apples like nothing happened.
- Does Not Know How to Say "Thanks": When Xiao Xingchen started giving both him and A-Qing candy everyday, Xue Yang never thanked him but never rejected the gesture either. There are hints that, rather than being ungrateful, he was simply not familiar with feeling nor expressing genuine gratitude.
- Dual Wielding: He briefly fights Lan Wangji with both Jiangzai and Shuanghua, implying he's capable of wielding both in a battle (and therefore making him the only character to wield two swords at once).
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: It's implied that he grew to care for Xiao Xingchen in his own twisted way, since after the latter rescued him the two of them were able to live in peace for some time. But even if that was the case, it didn't stop him from tormenting Xiao Xingchen when the cat went out of the bag; although when that resulted in the latter's suicide, Xue Yang didn't take it well.
- Evil Genius: Xue Yang fills the genius role in the three-person band led by the villain Jin Guangyao, as he's the one with the exceptional talent to restore the lost half of the Yin Tiger Tally and fulfill other evil schemes. Besides Wei Wuxian, he was also the only other person to successfully create a sentient corpse. However, he states that in terms of knowledge and expertise in demonic cultivation he's still only second to the founder himself.
- Evil Is Petty:
- If the audience needs more convincing that Xue Yang is a horrible villain, then his claim that he'll even kill animals if he has to will do the trick.
- The "Villainous Friends" extra shows that Xue Yang wasn't above trashing someone's stall simply because he didn't think the food was good, which sums up his villainous personality in a nutshell.
- Fangs Are Evil: Xue Yang is described to have canine-like teeth, and he's the villain of the Yi City arc.
- The Farmer and the Viper: Xiao Xingchen saved him, healed him and cared for him as a friend and Xue Yang repaid him by using him, killing his best friend and driving him to his Despair Event Horizon.
- Faux Affably Evil: In his less darker moods, he talks to someone in a cheerful manner even when it's clear that he's either threatening them or about to kill them.
- Fingore: He lost a finger on his left hand when it got crushed by a cart.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: When Xue Yang relayed part of his backstory to Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing, the latter expressed that what happened to him was horrible and Xiao Xingchen (after learning the full story) stated that the former would have been justified in his revenge had he merely taken a finger or an arm at worst. Xue Yang even claimed that it's why he's the way he is right now. The other characters in the novel, however, are of the opinion that it doesn't justify his Serial Killer tendencies.
- The Gadfly: When he's in a particularly good mood, he enjoys spending his time messing with A-Qing without making any veiled threats.
- Hidden Depths: Despite his Street Urchin background and horrible personality, he possesses surprising knowledge in repairing houses. This is demonstrated when he offered to direct Xiao Xingchen in fixing the rooftop of the coffin house in Yi City.
- Hyper-Awareness: Xue Yang was the only one to suspect that A-Qing may be faking her blindness, and it's only thanks to years of pretending that she was able to bluff him.
- I Am a Humanitarian: Downplayed. He doesn't eat human flesh, but he infuses his tea with the tongues of his victims which hints he still consumes them in some way.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Combat Pragmatist he may be, but he'll immediately stand down if he's in a situation where he knows he's completely cornered.
- Made of Iron: He can take a lot of hits without going down, mentioning to Xiao Xingchen that he's used to pain. Even after being heavily wounded by the Jin Clan, he still managed to survive. When Xiao Xingchen stabbed him after finding out who Xue Yang really is, he barely reacts to it. Lan Wangji even has to slice his arm off for him to stop fighting.
- Master Actor: Xue Yang claims that he's nowhere near Jin Guangyao's level of acting. But when Wei Wuxian accesses A-Qing's memories and see what the real Xiao Xingchen was like, he notes that Xue Yang actually did an impeccable impression of the latter.
- Mr. Fanservice: He gets to be shirtless in a few chapters of the manhua, and he's admittedly easy on the eyes.
- Nerves of Steel: Every adaptation shows Xue Yang being chillingly calm, and even thrilled, when Nie Mingjue attempted to cut him down with Baxia in a flashback.
- Never My Fault:
- Despite his crimes against the Chang Clan, Xue Yang blamed Xiao Xingchen for arresting him, telling him that he should have minded his own business.
- Xue Yang's reaction when he inadvertently drove Xiao Xingchen to suicide after taunting him with the Awful Truth? "You forced me to do this!" Even years later, he's still unable to realize that he's at fault and lashes out by annihilating the remainders of the Chang Clan out of "revenge", belying his true desire to avenge Xiao Xingchen's death through his own.
- Pet the Dog:
- There were times when he showed genuine altruism to both Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing, even if he doesn't go about it in the most humane ways.
- In the manhua when a merchant spurned Xiao Xingchen solely because he's blind, Xue Yang emanated a menacing aura towards said merchant to make him change his mind.
- When A-Qing claimed that someone called her ugly, Xue Yang tried to give her advice on what to do the next time someone insults her. Except that by then, she already knew about Xue Yang's true colors and Xue Yang's "advice" wasn't exactly family-friendly.
- While his relationship with Jin Guangyao is more accurately described as a criminal partnership rather than an altruistic friendship, Xue Yang truly respected his capabilities and never mocked his origins.
- There were times when he showed genuine altruism to both Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing, even if he doesn't go about it in the most humane ways.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Before he kills or approaches his victims, he would comment on how they don't need their tongues anymore before relieving them of said tongue.
- Psycho Knife Nut: Implied. The Ax-Crazy Xue Yang has a habit of using knives as a form of intimidation which implies he's fond of using them. However, he's otherwise never seen using them other than for mundane purposes.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Downplayed. Xue Yang is a vicious man but has a fondness for candy, which A-Qing lampshaded was awfully childish of him despite the man being at least an older teen at the time.
- Psychotic Smirk: He has a smug and psychotic smile plastered on his face almost all the time, which all the visual adaptations can attest to. It only drops when he gets seriously angry.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: He's featured with red eyes in the donghua, which goes to show how dangerous he is. The red eyes are even more striking since one's eyes only glow red whenever they're using demonic cultivation, but the red color in Xue Yang's eyes is natural.
- Sadist: Xue Yang loves the sight and sound of his victim's suffering, and even grins or laughs at their misery and/or deaths.
- Sanity Slippage: While it's subtle, there's a part of his head that got irreparably screwed after Xiao Xingchen died. In the past, he's perfectly composed even while indulging in his murderous tendencies, whereas at present he's noticeably more unhinged and erratic. The manhua even shows the exact moment his breakdown trope happened in detail, from expression shifting from disbelief to denial to horror to rage and finally, to madness.
- Serial Killer: He's responsible for wiping out the entire Chang Clan and for the White Snow Temple massacre. And that's just part of the body count.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: He doesn't cuss all the time. However, more often than not, his manner of speaking is extremely crude and disrespectful if one pays attention to how his sentences are phrased, and his remarks become even more profane when he intends to mock someone.
- Slasher Smile: He usually wears an unsettling smile on his face whenever he kills or is fighting someone.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Downplayed. He acts as the Arc Villain of the Yi City arc and dies afterward, with majority of his screentime limited to that arc in both flashbacks and the present timeline. However it was ultimately Xue Yang's actions that led to Nie Mingjue's death as his relationship with Jin Guangyao reached the point that made the latter assassinate him; this ultimately set in motion Nie Huaisang's plans to take down Jin Guangyao and thus, very likely, the resurrection of Wei Wuxian. If it wasn't for Xue Yang seeking revenge on the Chang Clan and being caught by Xiao Xingchen, it is quite possible that the novel's events (after the Time Skip) wouldn't happen.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: He would exchange snide remarks with A-Qing, with him usually the one who instigated it.
- The Sociopath: He lacks a conscience and has a very skewed morality; while he's not a Consummate Liar, he's definitely not above deceiving others; he does anything and everything that amuses him; he fears a meaningless and boring life; and he's unable to acknowledge what he did wrong since, as far as he knows, he's just repaying the favor to those who he believed wronged him first. However, Xue Yang is fully capable of feeling love; the problem is that his childhood trauma and lack of proper guidance left him unable to properly express it, let alone realize it.
- Street Urchin: He was a poor and orphaned child.
- Sweet Tooth: A defining feature of his was his fondness for sweets. His desire to eat candy was what triggered his traumatic childhood incident, and Xiao Xingchen giving him candy every day was what had the latter warming up to him.
- Toxic Friend Influence: He wasn't above offering dubious advice to A-Qing as an older brother figure, but his influence never affected her due to her paranoia about him stopping her from ever truly listening to the advice.
- Tragic Keepsake: While his possession of it was mostly to help maintain his disguise, Xue Yang's anger when Shuanghua is taken from him implies he still sees the sword as a memento of his former companion.
- The Unapologetic: He has zero remorse whatsoever for all the murders he committed. He's never even able to acknowledge that he's responsible for the one death he's upset about.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: When Xue Yang was younger, he was a lot more naive and simple-minded. Then a few grown men abused him one terrible day, and unbeknownst to them, created a murderous delinquent who would soon repay their "kindness".
- Villainous Breakdown: He has an equally epic and tragic villainous breakdown after Xiao Xingchen committed suicide, having trouble processing what happened and being in denial that he was responsible. He has another when Lan Wangji retrieves both Shuanghua and the spirit-trapping pouch containing Xiao Xingchen's soul from him, desperately screaming at him to give them back.
- Villainous Friendship: He worked alongside the eventual Big Bad Jin Guangyao and formed a friendship with him, with the extra chapter "Villainous Friends" even named after it. Jin Guangyao was, however, pragmatic enough to recognize that a public association with a known hooligan did not bode well for his political aspirations.
Tropes that apply to Xue Yang in The Untamed only
- Adaptational Badass: Downplayed. Demonic cultivation was discovered long before the beginning of the story, and Xue Yang was already practising The Dark Arts before Wei Wuxian did.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: In the novel he always worked for the Jin Clan, whereas in the series he worked for the Wen Clan first.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Xue Yang is introduced prior to the events of the Yi City arc due to being an agent of the Wen Clan.
- Ascended Extra: Downplayed. In the novel, Xue Yang has some plot importance but his screentime is limited to one arc, one extra chapter and handful of mentions. In this adaptation, he's given more screentime and is one of the most advertised characters in the series. He even gets his own character theme song to boot.
- Beneath the Mask: His character song delves into his character and how he feels about the events of the Yi City arc. According to the lyrics, he mourns Xiao Xingchen's death and is aware that he'll never come back, and knows what he had done and admits that he brought his suffering on himself. However, he chooses to go into self-denial and persist in his attempts to resurrect Xiao Xingchen because otherwise he's left with nothing, and all the while he's secretly waiting to die as atonement.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: He told Wen Ruohan that he feared not death but a life of boredom and no meaning, implying he was looking for a goal in life.
- Humble Goal: Despite his villainous ways, his thoughts as he breathes his last cry show his original goals were far more simplistic and innocent.Once upon a time, there was a little child who liked sweet things very much. But because he had no parents nor money, he could never have such things. So every day... he'd been dreaming if only someone could give him candy every day.
- Latex Perfection: Unlike in the novel, he and Wei Wuxian had already met long before the events of the Yi City arc. Therefore, when they encounter each other again, Xue Yang uses a face mask that makes him look exactly like Xiao Xingchen.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Xue Yang's actor claims that before the tragedy began, his character eventually figured out that A-Qing wasn't blind but never exposed her since he wanted to continue enjoying his life with her and Xiao Xingchen.
- Pet the Dog: Xue Yang showed in his own (and often twisted ways) he cared about Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing. An adaptation-specific detail is that after a merchant spurned Xiao Xingchen solely because he's blind, Xue Yang actually threatened the merchant at knife-point into reconsidering his decision.
- Serial Killer: In addition to the entire Chang Clan and the White Snow Temple massacres, the adaptation mentions that he has also killed several other lesser clans.
- Stepford Smiler: According to Wang Haoxuan, Xue Yang tends to smile and laugh through everything he does as both a defense mechanism and a way to show that deep inside, he's still a child who never properly grew up. Then after Xiao Xingchen's death, Xue Yang's habit of smiling became a coping mechanism and a sign of his Sanity Slippage.
- Voice Changeling: While in his disguise, he speaks with Xiao Xingchen's voice instead of his own.
Xiao Xingchen (晓星尘)
Voiced by: Qian Wenqing [animation], Chen Hao [audio drama], Chenzhang Taikang [web series] (Mandarin) Click here for other languages
Played by: Song Jiyang [web series]
Height: 185 cm
Weapon: Shuanghua | 霜华 (jian)
Click here to see Xiao Xingchen in The Untamed
"If I were in your place, there would be many things I would not wish others to inquire."
The third and latest disciple of the famed rogue cultivator Baoshan-sanren, Xiao Xingchen was a well-meaning but overly trusting Daoist priest. Having made his name in one night, Xiao Xingchen's arrest of Xue Yang set the tone of their future interactions as the target of Xue Yang's tactics.
- Adaptational Badass: He was already said to be Strong and Skilled in the novel, but there's definitely a significant difference in power when cryokinesis (or a diluted form of it) is added to his arsenal in the donghua.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: In The Untamed, the events of the Wen Clan's impending attack on the Four Great Clans and the massacre of the Chang Clan occurred around the same time, hence Xiao Xingchen appeared much earlier when he apprehended Xue Yang in the flashback arc. He even got to have a brief interaction with Wei Wuxian, who asked him about Cangse-sanren.
- Alliterative Name: Xiao Xingchen.
- Big Brother Instinct: When he first met A-Qing, he went out of his way to guide her away from the busy streets and protect her even after knowing she nicked him. After she told him the truth about Xue Yang and how she lied to him about being blind, he was more concerned about her safety and advised her to run away, telling her he knows she's clever enough to make a good life for herself.
- Blind Weaponmaster: The loss of his sight didn't stop him from being a proficient fighter. It's only a shame that Xue Yang took advantage of his blindness to trick him into killing villagers.
- Cosmic Plaything: Not only were none of his goals to save the world and bring good to people not fulfilled very well, but he did the exact opposite thanks to being manipulated by a vicious murderer. The despair was too much for him and he took his own life. Wei Wuxian at one point lampshades his completely abysmal luck.
- Despair Event Horizon: He found out the friend that's been living with him for years was his enemy and had been directing him to kill innocent villagers, as well as his old friend. The end result of all that was him taking his own life out of despair.
- Detect Evil: He can sense the resentful energy of corpses thanks to Shuanghua. However, the sword can't tell the difference between actual walking corpses and those infected with corpse poisoning, which Xue Yang took advantage of.
- Easily Forgiven: A tragic and justified example. Song Lan didn't blame Xiao Xingchen for killing him, understanding that he was tricked.
- Handicapped Badass: Even when blind, he still went out on night-hunts and had little trouble corpses. Unfortunately, his inablity to differentiate walking corpses to innocent civilians with corpse poisoning ended up making his efforts all for nought.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan are said to be the most intimate of friends, to the point they had a goal of opening up their own sect together. They're close enough that Xiao Xingchen, even after he went blind, easily recognized Song Lan's swordsmanship and the sound and carvings of his sword Fuxue.
- An Ice Person: The donghua provides Xiao Xingchen with the ability to freeze anything he channels his spiritual energy into. Additionally, anyone who's struck dead with his sword is left with a frost symbol on their bodies.
- Light Is Good: He's dressed in almost all white and he's one of the nicest and most selfless cultivators in the story.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Although it took his death for Xue Yang to realize this, Xiao Xingchen was implied to mean a lot to the younger man, and his death left him devastated. Xue Yang spent the next few years trying to revive him, and he gets unusually angry and desperate when Wei Wuxian tells him point-blank that it's impossible. He also becomes furious shortly after he slips into his second Villainous Breakdown after Shuanghua is taken from him. Xue Yang's character song in The Untamed even confirms this, as the song is basically a mournful ode dedicated to Xiao Xingchen.
- Nice Guy: His kindness and determination to help everyone was his key traits. One could even say that he's too nice for his own good.
- Not So Above It All: While he was generally gentle and level-headed, it was extremely easy to make him laugh.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The one person he saved turned out to be his evil archenemy.
- Skilled, but Naive: Xiao Xingchen rightfully earned his reputation for both his pure heart and combat skill. That aside, his pure heart didn't last him long in a world where many are heartless and merciless, and his overly optimistic attitude allowed him to be manipulated easily.
- Tragic Bromance: He was close friends with Song Lan. Unfortunately for them, they parted ways after Xiao Xingchen gave him his eyes and was manipulated into killing him, which shocked him so much he took his own life. However, Song Lan (now a fierce corpse) eventually gets posession of his soul (or more specifically, the fragments of it) and intends to travel around while carrying them, in hopes of reuniting with his friend one day.
- Tragic Dream: He had a desire to find a cultivation sect based on merit and ideals rather than blood ties and social standing. Unfortunately, his death aside, the present timeline shows that blood ties and social standing still trumps all and as such, his dream was impossible to achieve.
- Trauma Conga Line: This man's life after he left his mountain was one tragedy after another, leading to his Despair Event Horizon.
- Unwitting Pawn: While Xiao Xingchen could generally be too trusting, giving up his sight to restore Song Lan's made it much easier for Xue Yang to manipulate him into killing innocent civilians under the pretense that they were walking corpses.
- Weapon Specialization: As a Daoist priest, he carried a fuchen (horsetail whisk) with him.
- We Used to Be Friends: Downplayed. Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan's close relationship became strained after Xue Yang attacked the White Snow Temple, and Xiao Xingchen kept his distance from Song Lan as per the latter's request. He has no hard feelings, however, and even gave up his sight so that Song Lan would regain his own.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: After the massacre at Baixue Temple, Xiao Xingchen gives his best friend Song Lan his eyes and intentionally fades into obscurity, wracked with guilt over what happened. He's befriended by a young girl and saves the life of another cultivator, rebuilding a new life in Yi City with them. And then he's manipulated into killing an entire village as well as Song Lan by that same cultivator, who turns out to be his enemy Xue Yang, Driven to Suicide after learning about what he's done, and the young girl, A-Qing, is killed by Xue Yang shortly after.
- Zorro Mark: The superpower variant. In the donghua, his sword leaves a frost flower mark on its victims. This is to make it easier to explain how others could tell that Shuanghua was used in cutting up Chang Ping's corpse.
Song Lan (宋岚) - Zichen (子琛)
Voiced by: Liu Kang note [animation], Wu Lei [audio drama], Lu Lifeng [web series] (Mandarin) Click here for other languages
Played by: Li Bowen [web series]
Height: 190 cm
Weapon: Fuxue | 拂雪 (jian)
Click here to see Song Lan in The Untamed
"Carry Shuanghua, walk the worldly path. Exorcise evil together with Xingchen. Once he wakes, tell him — I'm sorry. It was not your fault."
Xiao Xingchen's most trusted friend, and a disciple of the White Snow Temple. After his death, he was turned into into a fierce corpse by Xue Yang.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: In The Untamed, the events of the Wen Clan's impending attack on the Four Great Clans and the massacre of the Chang Clan occurred around the same time, hence Song Lan appeared much earlier when he helped Xiao Xingchen capture Xue Yang. He encountered Wei Wuxian once again after Lotus Pier burned down, which happened around the same time Song Lan had his sight restored by Baoshan-sanren.
- Baritone of Strength: Song Lan has a low voice thanks to his multiple voice actors, befitting of a powerful cultivator.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Unlike his friend he wears dark robes, but he is not evil at all.
- Eye Scream: Xue Yang blinded his eyes during the massacre on the White Snow Temple; although he regained his sight after Xiao Xingchen gave him his eyes.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan were stated to be the most intimate of friends, and the novel proves a few times that they knew each other like the back of their hands.
- I Will Find You: After they last parted on bad terms at the White Snow Temple, Song Lan felt remorseful for what he said to Xiao Xingchen and spent the next few years searching for him. Sadly, their reunion was less than touching.
- Revenant Zombie: Song Lan is the only other fierce corpse besides Wen Ning to retain his consciousness.
- Revenge Before Reason: A lot of the tragedy in Yi City likely could have been avoided had Song Lan immediately gone to see Xiao Xingchen first instead of letting his anger for Xue Yang murdering his entire clan cloud his mind.
- The Stoic: He's a man of few words and is more reserved than Xiao Xingchen. He's even referred to as "the distant snow and cold frost", an allusion to his taciturn nature.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's the second tallest character in the novel, standing only one centimetre behind Nie Mingjue. He's always portrayed wearing dark robes in every adaptation, and he's faring well in terms of looks.
- Terrified of Germs: According to Jin Guangyao, Song Lan is mysophobic.
- Tragic Bromance: He was close friends with Xiao Xingchen. Unfortunately for them, they parted ways after Xiao Xingchen gave him his eyes and was manipulated into killing him, which shocked him so much he took his own life. However, Song Lan (now a fierce corpse) eventually gets posession of his soul fragments and intends to travel around while carrying them, in hopes of reuniting with his friend one day.
- Tragic Keepsake: After Xue Yang is defeated, Song Lan departs Yi City while carrying Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing's souls, as well as the former's sword Shuanghua. While they act as a memento of the deceased, Song Lan also hopes to one day recover their souls.
- We Used to Be Friends: Downplayed. He and Xiao Xingchen were close friends but had a falling out after the White Snow Temple massacre when he ultimately pushed the latter away. However he regretted his actions soon afterward and later looked for him.
- Weapon Specialization: Like all other Daoists, he carries a fuchen which he can use as a whip.
A-Qing (阿箐)
Voiced by: Nie Xiying [animation], Yang Neng note [audio drama], He Wenxiao [web series] (Mandarin) Click here for other languages
Played by: Chen Zhuoxuan [web series]
"You're a big blind, I'm a little blind. If we travel together, we can watch out for each other."
A young homeless girl who's born with white eyes. She got by in life by pretending to be blind, as it made it easier for her to receive food scraps from sympathetic villagers and steal from oblivious bystanders. She started accompanying Xiao Xingchen after their first encounter. She currently resides in Yi City as a ghost.
Tropes that apply to A-Qing in general
- Adaptational Curves: Her donghua design
◊ makes her chestier than what's implied in the novel, where she's described to have a petite build. - Badass Normal: She's an example of Wei Wuxian's constant lessons of the cleverness of normal people. Despite being a normal young girl with no powers nor prestige and has only her wits as her weapon, she still came very close to foiling Xue Yang and plays a role in helping defeat him in the present timeline.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: The reason she decided to stick by Xiao Xingchen's side was because he went out of his way to protect her from the man she stole from and was the first to show her concern regarding her "blindness".
- Big Brother Worship: Downplayed. A-Qing looked up to Xiao Xingchen as an old brother figure and nearly gave herself away to Xue Yang after she praised the swiftness of his sword despite being "blind". Even in death, she chose to stay in Yi City to find Xiao Xingchen's corpse and hopefully find someone to enact justice onto Xue Yang on both of their behalves. When Wei Wuxian opens Xiao Xingchen's coffin, A-Qing cries over his corpse.
- Character Development: She went from a young girl who tricked and deceived others to ensure her own survival to a ghost that selflessly protects any unfortunate outsiders from Xue Yang and helps the protagonists avenge Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan's deaths.
- Cute Ghost Girl: The juniors find her current ghostly appearance to be scary, but Ouyang Zizhen finds her cute and notes that she would have grown up into a lovely lady if she was still alive.
- Depending on the Artist: In the audio drama art, she has most of her hair down with a few strands tied into loops. In the manhua, her hair is tied into loose and low pigtails. In the donghua, she has most of hair in a bun secured by a hairpin, with a few loose strands.
- Easily Forgiven: Xiao Xingchen didn't really hold it against her for pickpocketing him, and easily let her accompany him when she made the suggestion that they travel together.
- Friendly Ghost: Creepy appearance aside, A-Qing is a benevolent ghost that's on the heroes' side and helps the protagonists fight back against Xue Yang.
- Girlish Pigtails: She wears her hair in pigtails in the manhua which is befitting of a young and energetic teenage girl.
- Handicapped Badass: Even with her ability to see and talk taken away from her, A-Qing has done a great job protecting others from Xue Yang and is the one who gets to help Wei Wuxian figure out what happened in Yi City and fight against her former friend.
- Happily Adopted: Downplayed. Although short-lived, she was taken in by Xiao Xingchen and happily lived with him up until their deaths.
- Hates Being Alone: Strongly implied. After living with Xiao Xingchen for years, when he advised her to run while he deals with Xue Yang, she cried that if they won't leave the city together, she'd rather die by his side.
- Hyper-Awareness: Even though she can no longer see as a ghost, A-Qing's other senses are noticeably heightened since she can quickly tell where someone is from sound alone.
- Insult of Endearment: Xue Yang would call A-Qing "Blindie" out of "affection", which she hated. It soon became a threatening nickname after he realized that she had been onto him the entire time.
- Master Actor: She knew how to act blind even when under pressure, and was generally good at playing dumb. Xue Yang even praised her for being able to fool him for so long.
- Meaningful Name: Qing translates to "bamboo", and she always carries a bamboo stick with her.
- Monochromatic Eyes: Her pupils are nearly white in color, which allows her to easily pass off as blind.
- Nerves of Steel: Even when Xue Yang pointed Jiangzai at her to see if her blindness was an act, she didn't flinch and maintained a perfect facade throughout his test.
- Obfuscating Disability: She pretended to be blind to make pickpocketing easier. This also allowed Xue Yang to be less suspicious of her. After all, why worry about what you do in front of someone who can't see you?
- Obfuscating Stupidity: She pretended to be clueless about certain cultivator jargon in front of Xue Yang and got him to reveal that he's a cultivator by pretending to not know the difference between hunting and night-hunting.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Only known as A-Qing. Given that she's an orphan roaming the streets, it's unlikely she has a full name.
- Plucky Girl: Her Street Urchin origins aside, she was an upbeat girl that persevered non-stop in her backstory. Her determination is enough for her ghost to still fight against Xue Yang.
- Properly Paranoid: When she came across Xue Yang's body, she immediately got a bad feeling from him and tried to steer Xiao Xingchen away from him, but the latter assured her that the boy was harmless. Even after living with Xue Yang for three years, she could never let her guard down around him. She would eventually learn that her intuition wasn't incorrect.
- Reflectionless Useless Eyes: Exploited in her character designs. Her white eyes lack reflection which helped give the impression that she was blind in her backstory. She could actually see fine, but she took advantage of them for her act as a useless blind girl to make stealing easier.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: While she never cussed in Xiao Xingchen's presence, her final words before Xue Yang cut off her tongue showed that she could be very profane with her words if she wanted to. She was a Street Urchin, after all.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Xue Yang would throw several barbs at her, to which she sniped back in kind.
- The Speechless: Due to Xue Yang cutting out her tongue before she died, she cannot speak as a ghost and so scares people away with the sound of her bamboo pole tapping the ground. The best she can do is make grunts or gurgling noises when she tries to hint at something to Wei Wuxian.
- Spell My Name With An S: Her name is commonly read as A-Qing, but 箐 can also translate to Jing. The official subtitles for The Untamed and (initially) the donghua spell her name as A-Jing, whereas other translations use A-Qing. Mo Xiang Tong Xiu confirmed that her name is pronounced as A-Qing.
- Street Urchin: She was an orphaned teenager living on the streets, where she managed to survive by shamelessly and successfully conning other people.
- Sweet Tooth: It's implied she was very fond of candy. Xiao Xingchen made sure that A-Qing got a piece of candy every day, alongside Xue Yang.
- Terms of Endangerment: Xue Yang would call her "Blindie" as an Insult of Endearment, which she grudingly tolerated. At present, however, he uses it as a threatening nickname instead since they are now enemies.
- Undying Loyalty: To Xiao Xingchen, literally. Due to him treating her with kindness, she tried to protect him in her own way from Xue Yang, and even after she became a ghost she remained in Yi City to ward off others and find anyone who could avenge Xiao Xingchen's death.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Whenever Xue Yang referred to A-Qing by name instead of "Blindie", she was on edge and worried he realized she truly wasn't blind. Sure enough, when he found her after she had fled Yi City he cheerfully called her by name right before killing her.
- Little Miss Con Artist: as her white eyes lacked reflection she often used them to her own advantage such as bumping into people, pretending to be helpless while stealing their wallets.
Tropes that apply to A-Qing in The Untamed only
- Demoted to Extra: Her role in the Yi City arc is heavily diminished, as the adaptation doesn't show her telling Xiao Xingchen the truth about Xue Yang or her getting blinded and her death in the backstory is adapted out. The audience only knows that the former happened when Xue Yang taunts her ghost and tells her what he did in detail. She also wasn't present in the scenes where Xiao Xingchen killed himself and Xue Yang tried to turn him into a fierce corpse, whereas in the novel she was hiding the entire time and watched the whole thing happen.
- Ethereal White Dress: Years after Xiao Xingchen's suicide, she starts wearing white robes, making her look more eerie in appearanc. This suitsher as someone who is in mourning and pretends to be a ghost to scare off everyone from stepping foot into Yi City.
- Not Quite Dead: Enforced due to Chinese media having strict censorship when it comes to showing either ghosts or the undead. Here, A-Qing still got blinded and had her tongue cut out by Xue Yang, yet managed to survive and so is alive when Wei Wuxian and the juniors encounter her.
- Prophet Eyes: Her eyes eventually became white after Xue Yang burned them with poison and thus leaving her blind.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: She appears and disappears in a blink of an eye in front of the juniors a couple of times, which Wei Wuxian uses to prank them.
