Ye Qianfan

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Ye Qianfan (叶千帆)
Alias(es)	Little Fan; Ye Sheng, a false name given to Shen Lang; Celestial Venerable Ye, the title established by Shen Lang after becoming emperor 2 22 186.
Species/Race	Originally human; subsequently a wandering soul inhabiting a Paper Puppet and using Ye Fu’s monstrous body; later becomes an Apprentice Immortal before returning to his original world in a healthy body 7 12 87 186.
Gender	Male 1 2.
Affiliation	Demon-Quelling Office during his time in the Immortal Realm; associated with the Puppet Sect through Qinggu’s guidance and techniques 12 102 140.
Occupation/Role	Corpse bearer; Soul Cultivator; Demon-Quelling Office Nuo Master, initially serving as Patrol Constable and later addressed as Station Chief 2 25 103 136 161.
Status	Alive; returns to his original world after a three-year coma and retains supernatural powers 186.
First Appearance	Chapter 1, “Good Fortune upon Opening This Book” 1.

Power Progression

Cultivation rank and the layers of the Soul Cultivation Great Method are separate measures. Ye Qianfan’s documented ranks progress from Ninth to Seventh to Sixth 25 99 166.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Inherits Ye Fu’s cultivation	7	Voluntary self-sacrifice overturns Ye Fu’s ascension ritual. Ye Qianfan receives his memories, cultivation methods, and accumulated power; no rank is specified.
Ninth-Rank Soul Cultivator	25	Explicitly described as having only recently entered Ninth Rank. His fragile paper body cannot safely withstand a fight between Seventh-Rank combatants.
Soul Cultivation Great Method — second level recognized	98	Discovers that his existing ability to send his soul wandering already qualifies him to practice the method’s second level.
Soul Cultivation Great Method — third level; Seventh Rank	98 99	Endures repeated strikes from Ye Fu until his soul reforms in golden light. His Qi Sea expands from bowl-sized to creek-sized, which Qinggu identifies as Seventh Rank.
Third-level material refinement — incomplete	99	Absorbs four golden finger bones into his fingertips. These provide only about half the soul power needed to perfect the third level.
Third-level material requirement fulfilled; Sixth Rank	166	A fused skull fulfills the third layer’s material requirement. Divine wood strengthens and repairs his frame; two cultivation cycles expand his Qi Sea into a river, confirming Sixth Rank. One cycle now restores half the mirror’s energy instead of a quarter.
Apprentice Immortal	185 186	Ye Fu absorbs Daoist Chen’s magical power and accidentally opens the Ascension Gate. A being from the White Jade Capital grants Ye Qianfan divine power; offerings established through Shen Lang rebuild his nearly dissolved soul and make him an immortal.
Immortality relinquished; powers retained	186	Rejects a world-bound existence that threatens his personality. Heaven returns him to his original world, where a working fire talisman confirms that his cultivation remains real.

Background / History

Ye Qianfan transmigrates into the body of a teenage boy living outside Fog City. The original owner died after collapsing from overwork near the Fog Forest and being killed by an evil spirit. After the boy’s father died, Fat Aunt worked him from before dawn until after dark while giving him little food 1.

He initially seeks enough money to enter Fog City and escape the dangerous outskirts. When Fat Aunt tries to evict him so she can rent his room for 500 copper coins a year, he chooses corpse-bearing work offering 100 copper coins a day and unlimited flatbread. To persuade the registrar to accept his small physique, he breaks a stone against his own head 1 2.

His supposed uncle, Ye Fu, is actually the original owner’s father’s sworn brother, not a blood relative. Ye Fu conceals this relationship and exploits the boy’s three flames of yang fire for an ascension scheme. Ye Qianfan also promises to avenge the original owner’s grievances; the original owner later sacrifices his soul for him 18.

Appearance

• Original vessel: A small teenage boy whose size initially makes the corpse-bearer registrar question his suitability 2 15.
• Paper Puppet: An adult-sized body, substantially larger than his original vessel, built from talisman-paper umbrella materials around the mountain god’s Exquisite Heart 12 15.
• Painted Skin disguise: Gives the puppet a human appearance but leaves its face naturally stiff and difficult to animate. Shen Lang initially mistakes this expressionlessness for exceptional composure 19 22 177.
• Physical signs: The puppet is unnaturally light and cold, has no pulse, and does not need to breathe 51 87 93.
• Concealed appendages: Ye Fu’s dark tentacles can emerge through his sleeves, trouser legs, or head; the head-mounted tentacles carry additional eyes 33 136 179.

Personality

Ye Qianfan is practical, suspicious, and quick to exploit an opening. He waits for stronger enemies to weaken one another, conceals his low cultivation behind confident behavior, and fabricates explanations when his puppet body attracts attention. Betrayal by Ye Fu leaves him especially wary of apparently helpful people 9 12 25 89.

Money and bodily restoration repeatedly motivate him. He celebrates even a few taels of silver, refuses to sell the captured flood dragon because he wants to understand the mirror, and risks entering a haunted tomb for golden bones that might improve his body 15 58 84 85. His determination can become reckless: during soul-tempering, he continues despite warnings that another strike might destroy him 98.

His morality combines restraint with ruthless retaliation. He refuses to send innocent women into the Fog Forest and objects to killing someone merely to obtain blood, yet orders Fat Aunt’s death, falsifies her consent to a deed transfer, and threatens the Pavilion Chief with being thrown into a monster-filled cave 18 19 99 128. His claim that Little Fu bears responsibility for Fat Aunt’s killing prompts Qinggu to accuse him of evading karmic debt 19.

He is loyal to companions, though his blunt explanations can obscure that care. He carries the badly injured Li Pu, seeks life-and-death grass to save him, and lets Daoist Chen cut through his puppet body rather than reach Shen Lang 178 180 184. Ultimately, he values freedom and personal identity above immortality 186.

Abilities & Skills

Soul Cultivation Great Method

Strengthens the soul through external cultivation, painful tempering, and the consumption of spiritually valuable materials 97 98 99.

• Can send his soul outside its vessel and wander independently 98.
• Uses Ye Fu’s soul-affecting strikes to temper his spirit; the process causes extreme pain, unconsciousness, and a risk of soul destruction 98.
• The third level’s Devouring Great Method absorbs golden bones and other spiritual treasures to strengthen his soul and help refine a flesh puppet 97 99.
• Cultivates most efficiently at the transition between night and day, when soul power is abundant. Cultivation at night is possible but competes with the earth and living things for that power 166.
• His incomplete soul depends on an anchor. Losing the Paper Puppet threatens gradual loss of memory, identity, and eventual dissolution 87.

Ye Fu / Little Fu Control

Controls Ye Fu’s transformed body as a spellcasting intermediary, hidden source of strength, and alternate vessel 11 87.

• While Ye Qianfan is a disembodied soul, Little Fu performs the actual spells and corpse-raising, since a soul without an anchor cannot channel energy 10 11.
• Tentacles support his puppet’s limbs, carry heavy objects, assist climbing, and grip surfaces 15 33 36 136.
• Ye Fu can hold objects inside itself, animate a skeleton, and dissolve into water to evade attacks 85.
• Movement in Ye Fu’s tentacled form is awkward on land, despite its usefulness underwater and on walls 87 133 184.
• Ye Fu’s lack of interest in Chi Xi’s apparent flesh helps expose the Human-Skin Ghost’s imitation 122.

Three Flowers Gather at the Crown

A command taught by Qinggu that brings Ye Fu’s eye-tipped tentacles out through Ye Qianfan’s head 179.

• Provides vision in multiple directions without the blind spots of his ordinary two eyes 179.
• Freezes the Human Effigies by keeping them under observation 179.
• Ye Fu retracts the tentacles before Shen Lang can see them, preserving Ye Qianfan’s disguise 179.

Aura and Qi Perception

Sees supernatural energies that ordinary appearances can conceal 9 60 112.

• Distinguishes red killing intent, green corpse qi, and white qi associated with soul forms 9.
• Identifies the Night Watchman as alive through his aura and recognizes Shen Lang’s unusual purple-gold light 60 65.
• Detects Qi Zhu’s death when his yang light disappears and is replaced by gray ghostly qi 112.
• Notices faint gray qi in the Human Effigies’ eyes 175.
• Uses living light to distinguish Village Chief Qian from a corpse despite the corpse odor surrounding him 162.

Mirror of a Hundred Demons

Wields the Bagua Mirror recovered from the sacrificial altar. It captures demons, permits use of their abilities, and offers protection against certain supernatural attacks 15 17 25 32.

• Capture: Seals the Mountain God Hag, Black Flood Dragon, and Crying Children. Captured creatures light the corresponding trigrams; the Hag activates Kun, while the flood dragon activates Kan 17 58 139 152.
• Summoning: Uses the Hag’s roar to repel a Tree Demon, summons the Black Flood Dragon against the Empress Dowager, and releases a Human-Faced Bug’s silk to bind Chi Xi 25 84 122.
• Perception and defense: Reveals the evil tree’s vines as insubstantial yin-energy manifestations and blocks their attacks with a protective barrier 32 33.
• Recharging: Learns from Shang Xueli to channel his own power into the treasure. At Seventh Rank, one cycle restores about a quarter of its energy; after his Sixth-Rank breakthrough and divine-wood enhancement, it restores half 139 166.
• Limits: Capture requires sufficient energy and a visible target; the flood dragon is sealed when nearly defeated. The mirror cannot capture ghost wind, and the summoned flood dragon is destroyed by the Empress Dowager 58 84 92 139.

Corpse Techniques and Inherited Knowledge

Ye Fu’s memories supply cultivation knowledge and practical expertise 7 9.

• Recognizes the Heaven-Trapping Formation and immediately recalls its construction, operation, and precautions 9.
• Uses a soul-stabilizing incantation to endure the Patrol Soldiers’ concentrated killing intent 9.
• Directs corpse-raising through Little Fu and later uses the Corpse Control Technique to manipulate blood for his examination 11 99 100.
• Knows the location of Ye Fu’s hidden green zombie and two hairy zombies, but postpones retrieving them because traveling with zombies would attract dangerous attention 19.

Talisman Craft and Painted Skin

Learns quickly enough to modify a talisman after seeing its earlier application 102.

• Adapts a Painted Skin talisman used on a paper pig into a convincing Four Seas Bank note 102.
• Uses a human-hair brush and blood as drawing materials 102.
• Applies a Five-Element Borrowing Technique talisman to Chi Xi’s head in an attempt to relieve his headache and heal his wound, before exposing him as an impostor 121 122.
• Successfully produces a fire talisman after returning to his original world 186.

Physical Advantages and Vulnerabilities

His artificial body removes some ordinary human limitations without making him invulnerable 9 36 175.

• Is described as immune to poison after becoming a soul 9.
• Does not need to breathe and can sustain movement through Ye Fu without ordinary stamina exhaustion, provided the puppet remains intact 51 128 175.
• Initially cannot lift a wine jar without Ye Fu; divine wood later enables independent limb movement and lifting heavier objects 36 166.
• His paper frame is easily damaged and dissolves in the Netherworld River. He survives by anchoring his soul to Ye Fu instead 25 184.

Investigation and Adaptive Combat

Relies on observation, inference, and improvised counters rather than superior martial strength 51 122 180.

• Interprets genealogies, altered names, spirit tablets, and the apparent death-order arrangement of faces on the Human-Head Tree 51 59 124.
• Uses divination blocks to identify the assessment well and choose a passage through the tomb 25 85.
• Memorizes Daoist Chen’s patterned footwork and reproduces it to cross the Human Effigy pits 180 181.
• Bluffs flute-playing to draw cultists away from Shen Lang and uses fire oil to trap a false River God 136 146.

Immortal Authority

As Celestial Venerable Ye, perceives worshippers and begins influencing events from beyond ordinary bodily existence 185 186.

• Sends a point of golden light to a boy attempting to escape being sold by his father. The boy’s shove incapacitates the father, whose soul and spirit partially enter Ye Qianfan’s mirror 185.
• Qinggu explains that immortals function as the world’s Heavenly Dao and can alter cause and effect to alleviate suffering 186.
• This authority binds the immortal to the world and may gradually erase personality and desire; Ye Qianfan chooses to leave rather than accept that cost 186.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Mirror of a Hundred Demons — Wooden-and-crystal Bagua Mirror with eight trigrams marked across its face; recovered from the altar’s core 15.
• Divination Blocks — Ye Fu’s pair of crescent-shaped wooden blocks, used to consult supernatural powers and select routes 6 15 25 85.
• Paper Puppet and repair scraps — Artificial vessel built around the Exquisite Heart; carries yellow umbrella-paper scraps for repairs 12 19.
• Golden bones — Four refined finger bones taken from the tomb and absorbed into his fingertips; later obtains a larger piece of golden bone during the River God mission 85 99 152.
• Divine Wood — A piece supplied by Shen Lang; repairs his skeletal frame and improves spiritual-energy absorption when fused into his bones 156 166.
• Demon Fang Dagger — Used against Chi Xi and to sever Human Effigies’ heads and limbs 122 177 178.
• Demon-Quelling Office sword, uniform, and waist token — Official equipment; the token is also required for Passage Well travel 102 112 153 160.
• Human-hair brush and talisman paper — Implements for Painted Skin and other talisman work 102 121.
• Cultivation books — Recovers Miscellaneous Discussions on the Arts, Corpse Refining Technique, Corpse Control Technique, and Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation Secret Art from Ye Fu’s study 19.
• Fog City entry permit — Found among Ye Fu’s possessions; grants access to the city 15.
• Golden Silk Garment — Protective soft armor taken from a corpse, described as resisting water, fire, blades, and spears; protects him from a ghostly attack 85.
• Sound-Recording Conch and luminous pearl — Loot recovered from the burial chamber 85.

Relationships

• Qinggu / the Daoist — Puppet Sect spirit, mentor, and co-inhabitant of his artificial body. Guides the self-sacrifice, puppet construction, cultivation, and final understanding of immortality. Their partnership begins in mutual self-interest and develops into concern for one another 7 12 98 186.
• Ye Fu / Little Fu — False uncle turned sacrificial betrayer, then a controllable mountain ghost. His memories and transformed body become essential to Ye Qianfan’s survival and power 6 7 11 18.
• Fat Aunt — Exploitative guardian who knew Ye Fu was not a blood relative. After she refuses to return the house and attempts to report him, Ye Qianfan orders Little Fu to kill her and uses her bloody fingerprint to complete the deed transfer 18 19.
• The original Little Fan — Previous owner of his first vessel. Ye Qianfan undertakes to avenge his grievances after the boy sacrifices his soul for him 18.
• Shen Lang — Sworn brother and trusted partner. Protects him during the assessment, repeatedly supports his plans, and later establishes his worship as Celestial Venerable Ye after becoming emperor 25 65 179 186.
• Qian Fugui — Sworn brother whose life Ye Qianfan helps save in Ghost Village. Pledges loyalty and receives treatment for his poisoned leg 63 65 97.
• Li Pu — Fellow Nuo Master and expedition companion. Ye Qianfan refuses to abandon him after a grave injury; decades later, Li Pu worships him as Celestial Venerable Ye 156 178 180 185.
• Shang Xueli — Colleague and Commandery Princess who teaches him how to recharge magic treasures. Recognizes his investigative talent and offers him a place in the Heavenly Suppression Office, which he declines 139 153.
• Hong Qilin — Colleague who remains behind against the Heavenly River Cult while Ye Qianfan’s group escapes to stop the River God’s return 138.
• Eunuch He — Demon-Quelling Office assessment administrator; celebrates the trio’s resolution of Ghost Village and becomes the creditor whose debt motivates Ye Qianfan’s life-and-death grass mission 93 155.
• Daoist Chen — Tomb antagonist who seeks Shen Lang’s dragon blood and the Imperial Corpse’s golden bone. His attack exposes Ye Qianfan’s puppet body, while his final spell inadvertently triggers the Ascension Gate 184 186.
• Heaven — The power behind the Immortal Realm. Responds to Ye Qianfan’s rejection of immortality by returning him to his original world 186.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Sacrifice and Escape from the Mass Grave

The corpse-bearing expedition exposes Ye Qianfan to risen corpses, voices in the fog, and a red-clad female apparition. Believing Ye Fu to be an experienced protector, he follows him into a cave, where Ye Fu stabs him and reveals that he is the required sacrifice for an ascension ritual 3 4 6.

Qinggu teaches him to offer himself willingly, reversing Ye Fu’s scheme. After gaining Ye Fu’s memories and control of Little Fu, Ye Qianfan exploits the battle between General Bai and the mountain god: Little Fu destroys the Heaven-Trapping Formation, then ambushes Bai during his fight with the monster. The survivors use the mountain god’s heart and talisman-paper umbrellas to construct a new vessel 7 9 11 12.

Reclaiming the House

Ye Qianfan removes the altar’s Bagua Mirror, breaking its restraints. The mirror subsequently captures the Mountain God Hag, allowing him to return to Fog City’s outskirts in his changed body 15 17.

He exposes Ye Fu’s betrayal to Fat Aunt and demands the house deed. Her resistance ends with Little Fu killing and eating her. Ye Qianfan then recovers Ye Fu’s manuals and seeks admission to the Demon-Quelling Office because its restricted maps may help him reach the Puppet Sect on Azure Cloud Mountain 18 19.

Demon-Quelling Office Assessment and Ghost Village

During the assessment, Ye Qianfan presents himself as Ye Sheng and lets other candidates overestimate his strength. His mirror repels a Tree Demon, while Shen Lang’s flute and his own improvisation help confront the threats surrounding the sinister temple 22 25 32 33.

In Ghost Village, he investigates Huang Moli’s history, conceals that the village’s rules do not count him as human, and swears brotherhood with Shen Lang and Qian Fugui. He captures the Black Flood Dragon and risks entering a haunted tomb for golden bones. When his abandoned puppet body raises suspicions, he later explains the incident away as an illusion 51 58 63 65 84 85 87 89.

The trio completely resolves Ghost Village’s problem and reaches the final recruitment examination. Ye Qianfan rapidly advances his soul cultivation, uses golden bone and Fugui’s blood to pass the blood test, and creates a counterfeit banknote for the physician before receiving his assignment 93 98 99 100 102.

Riverside Town and the Heavenly River Cult

Serving as Patrol Constable, Ye Qianfan exposes Human-Skin Ghost impostors and investigates the Human-Head Tree, the Pavilion Chief, and the cult’s hidden cave. His reconnaissance uncovers the manufacture of Human-Skin Ghosts and a sacrificial plan to open a realm gate for the River God 103 112 122 124 128 133.

He helps divert the cultists, escapes with Shen Lang while Hong Qilin makes a desperate stand, learns to recharge the mirror, and uses fire oil against the false River God. The mission ends with military intervention, the Hall Master’s death, and Ye Qianfan acquiring Crying Children and a substantial golden bone 136 138 139 146 152.

Shang Xueli offers him membership in the Heavenly Suppression Office. He declines to avoid scrutiny of his identity, while presenting the decision as loyalty to Shen Lang. On returning, his counterfeit banknote brings an immediate confrontation 153.

Former Dynasty Tomb

A physician offers to clear Ye Qianfan’s debt if he retrieves two stalks of life-and-death grass, with extra stalks worth fifty taels of gold each. Ye accepts the dangerous Grade B assignment with Shen Lang and Li Pu 155 156.

The expedition uncovers heart-gouging deaths, reanimated palace servants, and lethal Human Effigies. Ye Qianfan advances to Sixth Rank, uses Ye Fu’s additional eyes to halt the effigies, and copies Daoist Chen’s footwork to cross their pits. After Li Pu is badly wounded, obtaining the grass becomes a rescue mission as well as a means of repayment 166 171 174 178 179 180 181.

Daoist Chen is exposed as the architect of the tomb crisis and tries to use Shen Lang’s blood to awaken the Imperial Corpse. Ye Qianfan shields Shen Lang, grapples Chen, and attempts to drag him into the Netherworld River; Shi Guang pushes both into it. His paper body dissolves, but Ye Fu carries his anchored soul along the riverbed 184.

Celestial Venerable Ye and Return Home

While Ye Qianfan gathers life-and-death grass, Daoist Chen casts a Rebirth Incantation intended to kill him and steal Ye Fu. Instead, Ye Fu absorbs the spell’s power and opens the Ascension Gate. The resulting divine power nearly dissolves Ye Qianfan’s soul 185 186.

Shen Lang’s later establishment of his worship allows offerings to rebuild him as an immortal. After briefly experiencing the ability to answer prayers and influence mortal lives, Ye Qianfan learns that remaining would bind him to the world and gradually erode his identity. He chooses to leave and awakens in a hospital in his original world after a three-year coma, healthy and still able to use magic 185 186.

Notable Quotes

“I work for myself, not the imperial court!” 122

“How many chances does life give us to throw caution to the wind? With brothers like you, I, Ye Qianfan, could count this life well lived!” 65

“Has water gotten into your brain? I pushed you down here, and now you expect me to save you and take you back up? Are you insane?” 184