Li Sanjiang

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Li Sanjiang (李三江)
Alias(es)	Uncle Sanjiang; Great-Grandpa; “Immortal Li” 16
Species/Race	Human
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Li family corpse-retrieval and funeral-paper business
Occupation/Role	Corpse retriever; maker of spirit money and funeral paper crafts; ritual officiant
Status	Alive 50
First Appearance	Chapter 1

Background / History

Li Sanjiang lives alone and supports himself by making spirit money, producing funeral paper crafts, and retrieving bodies from water. Though he rents out his allocated farmland rather than farming it himself, these trades allow him to live comfortably, with regular wine and meat. In corpse-retriever jargon, he calls a floating corpse a “dead float.” 1

Before liberation, he worked as a corpse carrier in Shanghai and witnessed the brutal treatment of the poor. He was conscripted on several occasions during the Republican era, including being sent to the Northeast, but escaped and returned unharmed each time. Liu Jinxia attributes his survival, health, and ability to shoulder dangerous rituals to an unusually abundant fortune. 5 6 22

Li Sanjiang becomes involved with Li Zhuiyuan after Little Yellow Oriole’s dead float follows the child home. He uses Zhuiyuan to lead the spirit back toward Big Beard’s house, unintentionally exposing him to ghostly energy and raising the possibility that he may learn to walk the yin path. 3 5 To remedy this, Li Sanjiang brings Zhuiyuan to live with him under a temporary “becoming a monk” arrangement and performs living rituals intended to sever the child’s connection to the supernatural. 5 6

Over time, Li Sanjiang comes to treat Zhuiyuan as the family member he most cherishes. He later agrees to add the boy to his household registration and writes a will leaving his property to him. 35 36 41

Appearance

Li Sanjiang is an elderly man whose outwardly aged appearance contrasts with exceptional vitality; even after serious blood loss and multiple wounds, he recovers with surprising resilience. 5 12

• Greyish-black fingernails while handling ritual implements. 3
• Often carries cigarettes and drinks white liquor. 3 12
• Uses an unusually long travel bag to carry his Peachwood Sword. 18
• His practical clothing and informal manner sharply contrast with the polished appearance of formal ritual specialists. 6 40

Personality

Li Sanjiang is blunt, irreverent, and habitually complains about inconvenience, yet he is notably protective of people he considers his own. He initially reacts to Little Yellow Oriole’s dead float with fear and reluctance, but still confronts it because he refuses to let Li Weihan’s family bear another person’s grievance. 3

He is pragmatic about his work and money. He accepts ritual payments and understands the value of appearing capable before clients, but he spends freely on food, drink, and comforts rather than accumulating savings. 16 18 His ritual style can be improvised and theatrical, though he possesses enough experience and unusual fortune to survive dangers that affect others. 5 14 16

Li Sanjiang has a deep fondness for Li Zhuiyuan. He praises the boy constantly, worries over his education and future, and regards caring for him as the unexpected joy of his old age. 17 18 36

Abilities & Skills

Corpse Retrieval

Li Sanjiang is an experienced water corpse retriever, capable of recognizing, approaching, and recovering dangerous bodies.

• Retrieves Big Beard and his son from their fish pond when others refuse to touch the bizarre corpses. 4
• Uses practical retrieval knowledge during the Jiang family pond excavation, including identifying resentment and recommending black dog blood to disperse negative energy. 31
• Is regularly sought out for corpse-retrieval work by nearby villages. 16 44

Ritual Work

Li Sanjiang performs funerary, cleansing, and protective rites, often alongside Liu Jinxia and Lu Shan.

• Uses a bell, incense burner, and ritual instructions while leading Li Zhuiyuan to draw Little Yellow Oriole’s dead float away. 3
• Performs rituals for Niu Fu’s family and later conducts separate rites for the Niu siblings’ households. 5 22
• Performs a ritual that clears the red water and corrosive effects at Four Haizi’s fish pond. 36
• Calls on the police during the Bai Family Empress incident, believing official authority provides protective force against supernatural threats. 20

Luck Transference and Living Rituals

Li Sanjiang employs formations and talismans to manage misfortune and protect Li Zhuiyuan.

• Conducts a “Luck Transferring and Evil Dispelling Array” on Zhuiyuan, tying them together with black rope and burning talismans within the formation. 6 8
• Intends to perform living rituals that would take Zhuiyuan’s misfortune onto himself in order to prevent the child from walking the yin path. 5
• Possesses enough fortune to absorb such burdens, according to Liu Jinxia, though his later attempts to transfer luck to Zhuiyuan become a source of concern for the boy. 5 32

Supernatural Resilience

Li Sanjiang’s exceptional fortune appears to grant him unusual resistance to malign influences.

• Remains peacefully asleep and unaffected while the Corpse Demon’s miasma causes Liu Jinxia and Lu Shan to lose control of themselves. 14
• Survives repeated dangerous encounters and injuries despite his age. 5 12
• Liu Yumei states that his fortune is potent enough to alter even his own destiny. 29

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Peachwood Sword — A rare, discontinued sword from a state-run furniture factory; it pierces the Cat-faced Old Woman during the Niu family incident. 16 18
• Bell and incense burner — Used to guide and communicate with a dead float while Li Zhuiyuan acts as the lure. 3
• Talismans, candles, and black rope — Components of his luck-transferring and evil-dispelling formations. 6 8
• Funeral paper crafts — Produces paper figures, paper houses, paper horses, spirit money, and other goods for funerals. 1 6
• Corpse-retrieval gear — Keeps equipment prepared for water-retrieval jobs and travels with it in a long bag. 18 45

Relationships

• Li Zhuiyuan — His great-grandson and the person he is most determined to protect. Li Sanjiang brings him into his home for living rituals, later takes him into his household registration, and leaves him his property by will. 5 35 41
• Li Weihan — A relative and longtime helper. Li Weihan once farmed Li Sanjiang’s land and assisted with shore-side altar work during retrievals; Li Sanjiang trusts him to provide for his old age. 1 3 7
• Cui Guiying — Li Weihan’s wife, whose past kindness toward Liu Jinxia is credited with helping secure aid for Li Zhuiyuan. 3
• Liu Jinxia — Fellow ritual practitioner and frequent collaborator. She openly criticizes Li Sanjiang for using Zhuiyuan to lure a dead float, but later assists him at the Niu family rites. 5 12 16
• Lu Shan — Old friend, colleague, and rival. Their long familiarity is marked by mutual teasing, competition, and Lu Shan’s jealousy over Li Sanjiang’s reputation. 13 16 45
• Lu Runsheng — Lu Shan’s adopted grandson, whom Li Sanjiang takes in for retrieval work and other household labor. 16 21
• Ding Dalin — An old acquaintance with whom Li Sanjiang shares wartime memories; their renewed contact becomes increasingly unsettling during the Water Monkey incident. 38 41
• Qin Li / A Li — Li Sanjiang initially warns Zhuiyuan to stay away from her, fearing she may harm him, but later tolerates her close presence around the boy. 8 12

Story Role / Major Arcs

Little Yellow Oriole Incident

Li Sanjiang investigates the dead float that follows Li Zhuiyuan home, identifies it as likely connected to Little Yellow Oriole, and leads Zhuiyuan to Big Beard’s house as bait. The dead float enters the fish pond, after which Big Beard and his son die. 3 4

Li Zhuiyuan’s Living Rituals

After Liu Jinxia warns that Zhuiyuan may have been contaminated by ghostly energy, Li Sanjiang takes responsibility for the child. He brings him home, performs protective formations, and tries to use his own fortune to cut off the child’s connection to the yin path. 5 6 8

Niu Family and the Cat-Faced Old Woman

Despite being injured, Li Sanjiang attends Old Woman Niu’s death-anniversary rites with Liu Jinxia and Lu Shan. He is unaffected by the Corpse Demon’s miasma and ultimately pierces the Cat-faced Old Woman with his Peachwood Sword. The villagers thereafter begin calling him “Immortal Li.” 12 14 16

Bai Family Empress Investigation

At the hospital, Li Sanjiang shields Yingzi and her relatives with his Peachwood Sword as the Bai Family Empress claims two lives. He later helps retrieve the coffin connected to the aquatic-farm deaths and turns to the police for protection and investigation. 19 20

Jiang Family Pond Retrieval

Li Sanjiang assists the police and Li Zhuiyuan’s group at the Jiang family pond, where Jiang Dongping’s body resists excavation due to buried resentment. Though Runsheng and Zhuiyuan carry out much of the dangerous work, Li Sanjiang remains the recognized senior retrieval specialist. 31

Water Monkey Incident

Li Sanjiang reconnects with Ding Dalin, who seeks to acquire land around Big Beard’s former home. Li Sanjiang dismisses Zhuiyuan’s account of dead men drinking with him as nonsense, leaving the boy to investigate the increasingly dangerous deception surrounding Ding Dalin and the Water Monkeys. 38 40 41 42

Li Zhuiyuan’s Blindness

When Zhuiyuan loses his sight from overusing Yin Walking, Li Sanjiang immediately takes him for treatment in Shanghai. After the diagnosis predicts recovery, he continues worrying about Zhuiyuan’s future livelihood, education, and marriage prospects. 49 50

Notable Quotes

“For whatever anyone does, every single deed is recorded by Heaven.” 16

“Little Yuanhou, Great Grandfather earned you a house.” 39

Trivia

• Li Sanjiang has never married and is described as having no children, despite later calling Li Zhuiyuan his great-grandson. 1 12
• He frequently refers to Li Zhuiyuan as “Little Yuanhou,” an older local-style form of address. 3 16
• He mistakes a portrait of Confucius for Laozi when setting up a ritual display. 21
• He considers instant noodles with an egg a luxurious breakfast and spends much of his income on food and drink. 18