Li Pu

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Li Pu (黎谱)
Gender	Male
Age	Early thirties at his introduction; appears gray-haired in Ye Qianfan’s later vision 102 185
Birth Date	Fifteenth day of the sixth lunar month, during the hour of the Dragon, in a dingmao year 180
Affiliation	Demon-Quelling Office; Four Lesser Yin Gates 102
Occupation/Role	Nuo Master; Corpse Stitcher, also called a Second-Skin Artisan or Second-Skin Tailor 102 103
Team	Joins Ye Qianfan and Shen Lang’s team for the Grade B tomb-related mission 156
Family	His original family died before the Riverside Town mission; a wife and son appear in Ye Qianfan’s later vision 141 185
Status	Last seen alive and elderly in Ye Qianfan’s vision, following a near-fatal tomb injury 178 180 185
First Appearance	Chapter 102, “Group Members” 102

Background / History

Li Pu spent fifteen or twenty years stitching corpses before investigating Tomb-Keeper Village. He routinely attached threads to bodies in his care because some incomplete corpses would rise and wander away. The precaution let him retrieve them without prolonged searches or disputes with bereaved families and officials 128 162.

His family died long before the Riverside Town investigation, and he stitched their bodies together himself. Villagers in his hometown believed he would never amount to anything. After entering the Demon-Quelling Office, he wanted to return in triumph with the county magistrate accompanying him through the streets 141.

Li Pu also aspired to join the Heavenly Suppression Office. After the River God incident, he asked Shang Xueli to recruit him, but she judged him insufficiently strong and advised him to gain more experience 152.

Appearance

Li Pu is introduced as a man in his early thirties wearing work clothes suited to his corpse-stitching profession 102.

• Clothing: Dark gray robe and a cowhide apron tied around his waist 102.
• Carried load: A large load suspended from a shoulder pole, which passes into the Passage Well without striking its sides 102.
• Face: Described as broad and “pancake-flat” 167.
• Later appearance: Gray-haired in the vision where he offers incense to Ye Qianfan 185.

Personality

Li Pu is boastful, irreverent, and openly flirtatious. He offers to spend the night with the Pavilion Chief’s worried concubine and repeatedly provokes Shang Xueli with sexual remarks. Their arguments can become childish: both cling to Ye Qianfan while demanding that he choose a room-sharing partner 143 144.

His confidence changes quickly with circumstances. He praises Ye Qianfan’s strength and eagerly imitates his attack on a Human Effigy, only to lose his nerve when the impact splits his hand. He also mistakes another Daoist’s arrival at the mortuary for competition that could ruin the team’s “business,” until Ye reminds him they are salaried officials rather than commission-seekers 167 177.

Despite his complaints and fear, Li Pu helps his companions under pressure. He offers to assist Ye Qianfan against the Heavenly River Cult and spends his hoarded needles during the cave retreat. After suffering a grave chest wound, he continues watching for enemies and urges Ye to leave rather than risk himself 136 140 178.

Abilities & Skills

Corpse Stitching

Li Pu practices one of the Four Lesser Yin Gates’ professions. His years of handling bodies give him both technical skill and familiarity with mortuaries 103 162 164.

• Quickly stitches a cut carriage cushion back together while the group disembarks 162.
• Has experience repairing incomplete corpses, including those that remain restless after death 128.
• Stitched together the bodies of his deceased family 141.

Corpse-Tracking Thread

Li Pu leaves a thread attached to corpses entrusted to him so that he can recover them if they escape 128.

• Tracks the Pavilion Chief through concealed cave passages, guiding Ye Qianfan and Shen Lang toward the exit 128.
• Follows routes hidden behind stalactites rather than relying on visible openings 128.
• The thread’s red end indicates that the tracked person is very close 128.

Corpse-Sewing Needles

Li Pu uses needles as both weapons and supernatural restraints 114 140.

• Throws needles to drive approaching Human-Skin Ghosts back temporarily 114.
• Binds Crying Children while Shang Xueli’s gu insects reveal them and Ye Qianfan captures those that break through 140.
• His needles cannot decisively defeat the three Human-Skin Ghosts encountered during the rain attack 114.

Corpse Control

Li Pu animates corpses and sends them to grapple with living enemies, creating openings for Shang Xueli to kill the restrained cultists 136.

• Ye Qianfan informally calls the move the “Corpse-Control Hug Technique” because he does not know its actual name 136.

Corpse-Scent Detection

Li Pu can recognize faint corpse odors through strong perfumes, attributing his sensitivity to years of corpse-stitching work 162.

• Detects corpse scent on Village Chief Qian despite the man’s scented sachets 162.
• Investigates carriage cushions by crouching down and sniffing them 162.

Corpse Qi

Li Pu is steeped in corpse qi. Shang Xueli expects a normal person sharing a room with him to show symptoms such as pallor or excessive yin qi 134.

• She deliberately arranges for Mo Hechuan to room with him.
• Mo’s lack of any reaction helps confirm that he is not an ordinary human practitioner 134.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Corpse-Sewing Needles — Used to repel Human-Skin Ghosts and restrain Crying Children 114 140.
• Tracking thread — Attached to bodies or targets to locate them through winding passages 128.
• Office-issued evil-slaying saber — Fails to cut a Human Effigy; the recoil splits the web of Li Pu’s hand and makes him drop it 177.
• Cowhide apron and shoulder pole — Part of his work equipment at his introduction 102.

Relationships

• Ye Qianfan — Colleague and later team leader. Li Pu trusts his strength and welcomes the chance to join his Grade B mission. Ye carries him after his chest injury and searches for Life-and-Death Grass to save him; the elderly Li Pu later worships him as “Celestial Venerable Ye” 156 178 180 185.
• Shen Lang — Teammate who praises Li Pu’s information-gathering and names him the team’s “know-it-all.” Shen hauls him out of the effigy pit, comforts him during blood loss, and leaves him clothing and water before seeking medicine 156 178 180 181.
• Shang Xueli — Frequent sparring partner in arguments, but an effective combat ally. She uses his corpse qi to test Mo Hechuan and later fights alongside him against cultists and Crying Children 134 136 140 143.
• Mo Hechuan — Assigned roommate and concealed Human-Skin Ghost. Mo claims he deliberately spared Li Pu so that he could hunt the other officers 115 133.
• Hong Qilin — Fellow Nuo Master who entrusts Shang Xueli’s protection to Li Pu while staying behind to fight the cultists 137.
• Wife and son — Appear in Ye Qianfan’s later vision. Li Pu prays for his son to pass the imperial examination and become a jinshi 185.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Riverside Town Investigation

• Introduces himself before entering the Passage Well and asks why the mission lacks the usual preliminary inspection report; the squad leader reveals that two inspection groups have disappeared 102 104.
• Helps Shen Lang catalog the Human-Head Tree’s 321 faces, including those of dead colleagues. He discovers the emerging face identified as Mo Hechuan, exposing another disguised ghost 124 125.
• Leads the trio out of Crying Child Cave using his tracking thread, then collapses from exhaustion outside 128.
• Refuses to enter the corpse-filled yurt because of its overpowering stench and admires Ye Qianfan’s composure 130.
• Controls corpses against Heavenly River cultists and helps defend the retreat through Crying Child Cave 136 140.
• Cooperates with Shang Xueli to chain the door shut after the team sets the fake River God’s room on fire, putting their quarrel aside to follow Ye’s orders 146.

Tomb-Keeper Village and the Former Dynasty Tomb

• Researches mission quotas, rewards, and team-size rules, earning a place on Ye Qianfan and Shen Lang’s team. After reading the file, he complains that the assignment concerns Tomb-Keeper Village rather than the tomb itself 156 159.
• Detects corpse scent on Village Chief Qian and helps examine the carriage before the mortuary investigation 162.
• Initially dismisses warnings that the Human Effigies are moving. Ye Qianfan saves him when one reaches for his chest 176.
• Is pierced through the chest by a small effigy concealed behind a larger one. Ye carries him while Shen Lang helps pull him to safety 178.
• As blood loss worsens, asks Shen Lang to remove his body or ashes from the tomb so that he will not become an Earthbound Spirit. Ye and Shen leave him sheltered while seeking Life-and-Death Grass 180 181.

Later Vision

• Appears elderly and alive after Ye Qianfan is left bodiless by Daoist Chen’s Rebirth Incantation 185.
• Offers incense to Ye Qianfan and discusses spreading his worship with his wife. The supplied account does not show how Li Pu recovered from his tomb injury 185.

Notable Quotes

“Who wants to go solo when there’s a mighty leg to cling to?” 156

“If you can’t carry me out, burn me. Taking my ashes out will do.” 180

Trivia

• His near-fatal injury occurs on his birthday. He jokes that memorial offerings of longevity noodles would instead be “life-cutting noodles” 180.
• Ye Qianfan compares his rapid needlework to Dongfang Bubai, praising him with: “The sun rises in the east, and only Li Pu remains undefeated!” 162.
• The “Rank upgrade” in Chapter 156 concerns the Riverside Town mission’s reclassification from Grade C to Grade B, not a documented cultivation advancement for Li Pu 156.