Fu Xuan

Biodata

Background

Fu Xuan grew up on the Yuque in the Fu Clan, a family of stargazers. After a clan divination predicted she would become Master Diviner, she studied under Jingtian alongside her senior sister Yaoguang 89 92.

Jingtian taught that destiny was predetermined and told Fu Xuan that his life was destined to end because of her. Disagreeing with him, she left for the Luofu Divination Commission to prove that human action could change a divination. During a later war, she proposed a costly way to turn defeat into victory, but the general refused and someone else bore the cost 92.

Appearance

Fu Xuan is petite, with an imposing presence and a formal, measured bearing 81 83.

• Hair: Long and pale pink 81.
• Forehead: A gem-like third eye that glows during divination 81 82 156.
• Stature: Much shorter than Yunli, according to Jingxing 83.

Personality

Fu Xuan is disciplined and exacting in her work. She notices minor errors in her subordinates’ reports and assigns corrective work when they are careless, while treating their kindness toward her as a separate matter 129.

She is determined to prove that choice can overcome fate, even when doing so puts her at risk. Her concern for others is equally strong: she repeatedly restrains Jingxing from exhausting himself, cares for him after he collapses, and worries that she and Yaoguang have asked too much of him 92 93 94.

Abilities & Skills

Divination

Fu Xuan uses divination to investigate events, assess testimony and anticipate danger. Nous bestowed the third eye on her forehead, bringing her both wisdom and persistent pain from her body rejecting it 82 156.

• Truth-reading: She uses copper coins and her forehead gem to confirm Jingxing’s account of Yaoguang’s disappearance 82.
• Independent calculation: Without her Jade Abacus, she calculates the weakest point in a settlement’s defenses using her fingers and dharma eye 111.
• Matrix of Prescience: She uses the Matrix and her divine sight to examine arrivals, ley lines and threads of cause and effect on the Luofu 153.
• Limits: As an unobserved visitor to the past, she initially cannot complete a coin divination or use the Matrix. A later reading concerning the Ninth Mechanism yields no result, and she struggles to untangle events at Cloudford 87 88 109 159.

Path of the Hunt

Fu Xuan applies the Path’s constraints to help Jingxing recover after he overextends himself 94.

• Her treatment stops his bleeding, eases his other symptoms and steadies his heartbeat 94.
• She refuses to treat it as a way for him to fight indefinitely, insisting that he must stay alive 94.

Talismans and Formations

Fu Xuan uses talismans and formations in combat and preparation.

• At Green Conch Crossing, she uses a talisman to send river water against the Denizens of Abundance 98.
• She devises a method to bind Jingxing’s converted Path Energy into ink blocks for later use; his first attempt causes him pain, prompting her to halt and adjust the process 99.
• During the Swarm Disaster, her formation helps hold a settlement against the advancing Swarm 123.

Equipment & Items

• Copper coins — Used for divination; during the Swarm Disaster, she substitutes Amber Shards when she has no coins 82 120.
• Jade Abacus — Used for records and communication; she lends one to Jingxing for emergency contact on Fanghu 103 111.
• Inkstone and talisman paper — Tools she uses to prepare stored ink blocks from Jingxing’s Path Energy 99.
• Hairpin — Bought for her by Jingxing during their travels in the Swarm Disaster era 116.
• Divination sachet — Given to her by Yaoguang before the journey further into the past; it contains two divinations for critical moments 110.

Relationships

• Jingxing — Initially a witness in Yaoguang’s disappearance, he becomes Fu Xuan’s partner in changing history and later her beloved. She worries about his safety and overexertion; he promises to seek a way to overcome the difference in their lifespans 82 94 108 116.
• Yaoguang — Fu Xuan’s senior sister and fellow disciple. Fu Xuan takes charge of finding her after her disappearance and joins her attempt to change their master’s fate 82 89 92.
• Jingtian — Fu Xuan and Yaoguang’s master. His belief in predestination shaped Fu Xuan’s determination to prove fate could change. After her return, he acknowledges her success and blesses her relationship with Jingxing 92 127.
• Jing Yuan — The Luofu’s general. Fu Xuan has dreamed of taking the general’s position; later, they coordinate their duties during the Cloudford crisis 82 159.
• Polka Kakamond — Guides Fu Xuan and Jingxing to the Ninth Mechanism and advises them how to anchor their existence after they change the timeline 109 110.

Story Role

Yaoguang’s disappearance

After Yaoguang vanishes through Synchronic Displacement, Fu Xuan clears Jingxing of lying and secures support to oversee the investigation. She offers him lodging and agrees to work with him to bring Yaoguang back 82 84.

Using the Heavenly Wisdom Jade Knot and the Ten-Direction Light-Reflecting Dharma Realm, Fu Xuan and Jingxing travel into the past. Most people there cannot perceive them, but Yaoguang can. When they find her, she refuses to return to the present immediately 87 89.

The battle for Fanghu

Fu Xuan reveals that she hopes to change the divined outcome of the war and save Jingtian. She and Jingxing travel toward Fanghu, where she helps him prepare for the descending Jidu Mirage while trying to prevent him from exhausting himself 92 93 98 99.

Fu Xuan considers using the Cloud-Gazing Mirror as a last resort, despite the risk that it would cost her life. Jingxing destroys the Jidu Mirage, and Jingtian’s divination predicting his death because of Fu Xuan changes 104 106 107.

The Swarm Disaster

Polka Kakamond warns that their changes to history have left Fu Xuan and Jingxing vulnerable to rejection by the timeline. They choose to travel further back to the Swarm Disaster to anchor their existence 109 110.

The pair help settlements resist the Swarm and join the IPC’s planned Market Development Department in exchange for support and freedom to act. Fu Xuan also records conditions in the era for the Xianzhou’s historical records 113 116 118.

After Jingxing confronts an Emanator of Propagation, Fu Xuan begins to disappear from the era. Jingxing stabilizes her with strength received when the Amber Lord’s light shines upon them 125.

Return to the Luofu

Back on Yuque, Fu Xuan reunites with Yaoguang and Jingtian. The Alliance keeps her position open, and she returns to her duties on the Luofu. She and Jingxing spend a week together there before he leaves to pursue his long-overdue IPC salary 127 129 130.

When Jingxing later returns with concerns about an unseen threat, Fu Xuan investigates but finds no evidence of outside evil. During subsequent attacks and mara-struck riots at Cloudford, she attempts to divine the situation while anxiously awaiting news of him 153 159.

Notable Quotes

“I will prove that even if an Aeon has ordained a fate that cannot be defied, human free will can always break through the inescapable net.” 92

“Thank you for your hard work. My hero.” 106

“You see? Fate can be changed after all, can’t it?” 127

Trivia

• Fu Xuan enjoys very sweet tea and sweets, which she associates with the energy demands of her work 83 128.
• She once divined that a day was unfavorable for rising early and arranged to arrive at the Divination Commission after noon 130.
• Although she has met an avatar of Nous, she says she has not stepped onto the Path of Erudition 98.