Luo Feng

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Luo Feng (罗酆)
Alias(es)	Old Luo 20
Gender	Male
Age group	Middle-aged 41
Affiliation	Luo family; Cabinet Mountain Village 23 43
Occupation/Role	Village worker, assists with maintaining order, and scouts mountain routes 23 30 32 33 43
Family	Gu Ya — wife; Luo Shan — son 1 18
Status	Alive; preparing to confront a sheep-like being alongside Luo Bin at the latest documented appearance 50
First Appearance	1

Background / History

Life in Cabinet Mountain Village

Luo Feng and Gu Ya lived in the village before Zhong Zhicheng arrived. Before the discovery of protective lamp oil, villagers sheltered in concealed underground spaces; Luo Feng recognizes this older method of survival when the family finds an abandoned shelter in the mountains 13 49.

He is known locally for both strength and intelligence. Zhang Jun considers him too dangerous to confront directly and believes that, without Luo Shan’s disappointing behavior, Luo Feng might have become deputy village chief. Luo Feng also built a rough mountain shelter that other villagers gradually completed over the following two years 15 45.

Luo Shan’s Death and Soul-Summoning

After an evil-spirit attack apparently kills Luo Shan, his parents attempt to summon his soul using secretly saved lamp oil. Believing the attempt has failed, they place his body on a cremation platform. When Luo Bin awakens in that body, Luo Feng immediately challenges his identity because the time allotted for soul-summoning has already passed 1 4.

Before admitting the village chief to the morgue, Luo Feng crushes Luo Bin’s left little finger with the blunt back of an axe and takes a fingernail from another corpse to support a false explanation for the injury. He helps conceal the household’s encounter with an evil spirit, but privately confronts Luo Bin again with a cleaver. Gu Ya intervenes, and Luo Bin escapes questioning by pretending to faint 1 2.

Luo Feng subsequently stops Luo Bin from opening his bedroom window at night, throws him back onto the bed, and repairs the boarded window. Although still suspicious, he warns him about evil spirits and the danger associated with his missing fingernail 3.

Lamp-Oil Investigation

When the village chief assigns Luo Shan to guard the outsiders at the Mountain God Temple, Luo Feng insists that the family comply. He identifies the missing fingernail and depleted lamp oil as reasons for the chief’s suspicion and tells Luo Bin to earn his trust 5.

Luo Feng later privately admits that he deliberately reduced the household’s lamp oil to test the situation and preserve a potentially life-saving resource. During Zhong Zhicheng’s overnight investigation, spirits are discovered inside the house. Luo Feng pulls Gu Ya away from the kitchen, and he and the chief barricade the main room 13.

He reports the people who had approached the house, contributing to the investigation of Zhang Jun and Zhang Yunling. Although Gu Ya trusts Yunling, Luo Feng treats her presence as relevant evidence rather than exempting her from suspicion 13 19.

Acceptance of Luo Bin

After Luo Bin exposes Zhang Jun, Luo Feng praises him but warns that making enemies can expose the entire household to retaliation. Their exchange establishes an unspoken understanding: Luo Feng knows that the soul inhabiting Luo Shan’s body is not his original son, yet chooses not to reveal this to Gu Ya 18.

His acceptance initially centers on protecting Gu Ya. It becomes more openly paternal when he attacks one of Luo Bin’s suspected assailants outside the Ancestral Hall and throws his billhook into the wall beside the man’s head. He declares that any further harm to his son will make the attackers answerable to him 18 31.

Luo Bin’s investigation of a suspected murderer earns further approval. Luo Feng listens to his timing-based deductions, then equips him with eight knives in metal-lined leather sheaths and promises to teach him the family trade after their mountain expedition. By the time they encounter the mountain loop, Luo Feng has accepted him through their shared bodily bloodline, his respect for both parents, and his care for Gu Ya—even without knowing the occupying soul’s original name 40 41 46.

Mountain Expedition

After Luo Bin draws the black lot on the household’s behalf, the family is assigned to scout the mountains. Luo Feng leads them along marked trails, deepens route arrows, and pushes beyond the first shelters rather than treating the chief’s minimum distance as sufficient progress toward escape 30 43 44 45.

At their nighttime shelter, evil spirits accuse Luo Bin of being one of them. Luo Feng rejects their attempt to divide the family and thrusts his machete through the door gap; its tip comes back stained crimson. The next morning, he prevents Luo Bin from following a voice imitating Gu Ya, who remains locked safely inside the shelter 45.

Father and son become trapped on a looping path. Luo Feng grows exhausted and increasingly desperate to continue searching, but Luo Bin stops him and develops an anchor-point theory from his memory of their route. After they escape the loop, Luo Feng praises his contribution. Their agreed password—“Three thousand seven hundred and thirty-one”—allows Gu Ya to distinguish them from beings that had impersonated them 46 47.

Further exploration reveals traps and an underground shelter containing eight skeletons. Luo Feng suspects illness rather than evil spirits killed its occupants and decides to withdraw to avoid infection and report the discovery 49.

While escaping the surrounding humanlike beings, he wears animal hides and carries a sheep’s-head staff taken from the abandoned village. He later explains that the family has entered Qiang Village’s territory and that its apparent “people” are not human. When an upright sheep follows them beyond the boundary, Luo Feng attempts to distract it with the hides and staff, then joins Luo Bin’s proposed attack. He warns Luo Bin when the creature imitates Gu Ya and charges 50.

Appearance

• Facial hair: Stubble in his first appearance 1.
• Eyes: Bloodshot when Luo Bin awakens on the cremation platform 1.
• Bearing: His grim profile, piercing stare, and cold expression make Luo Bin wary of him during their early encounters 1 2.
• Temporary expedition attire: Wraps filthy, matted animal hides around his shoulders and body while carrying a wooden staff topped with a large sheep’s head 50.

Personality

Luo Feng is stern, observant, and difficult to deceive. He recognizes the change in his son, understands the village chief’s reasons for investigating the household, and advocates discretion when the family discovers signs of a human murderer. His guiding principle is to avoid unnecessary enemies—but, once a threat exists, to prevent it from endangering the family again 1 5 18 39.

His apparent coldness contrasts with his concern for Gu Ya and his eventual devotion to Luo Bin. He prioritizes his wife’s safety, comforts her after frightening discoveries, and publicly defends the son he knows is no longer Luo Shan’s original soul. Toward people outside the household, he is generally indifferent and distrustful 18 31 33 39 46.

He believes that refusing to explore merely postpones death in the village. This determination can become dangerous: the mountain loop drives him toward frantic, exhausting attempts to keep moving. Nevertheless, he accepts Luo Bin’s reasoning and later chooses retreat when growing surveillance and the risk of misleading future expeditions outweigh further exploration 31 46 48.

Abilities & Skills

Combat and Blade Handling

• Sends a suspected attacker flying into the Ancestral Hall wall with a running, leaping kick 31.
• Throws a billhook close past the man’s head and embeds it in the wall as a warning 31.
• Uses his machete through a shelter’s door gap against the spirits outside 45.
• Owns nine knives associated with a family trade, but the trade’s techniques and the ninth knife’s purpose remain unexplained 41.

Mountain Survival and Navigation

• Follows and reinforces trail markers, identifies concealed traps, and guides the family through dangerous ground 44 49.
• Recognizes the risks of particular resting places, including a stopping point where snakes killed several families 44.
• Uses shelter precautions and a password to counter nighttime intrusion and impersonation 44 47.
• Knows that unfamiliar figures and even apparent acquaintances encountered outside may be deceptive; warns against following their calls 44 45 46.
• His experience does not prevent him from becoming trapped in the mountain loop; Luo Bin’s analysis is necessary to resolve that crisis 46 47.

Observation and Threat Assessment

• Detects Luo Bin’s replacement of Luo Shan through his behavior and the circumstances of his awakening 1 18.
• Infers the chief’s suspicions from missing lamp oil and Luo Bin’s damaged finger 5.
• Remembers Chen Xianxian’s remarks about Luo Bin’s injuries and cites them when confronting the suspected attackers 30 31.
• Connects the unusual cleanliness of two corpses to the possibility of murders disguised as supernatural deaths 39.
• Suspects disease in the abandoned underground shelter and recognizes the danger of infection 49.

Practical Craftsmanship

• Weaves a bamboo winnowing basket 4.
• Regularly sharpens and maintains his blades 20 34.
• Built the rough wooden shelter later expanded by other villagers 45.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Axe: Rust-covered but keen-edged; used to threaten Luo Bin and crush his little finger 1.
• Cleaver / machete: Used for threats, clearing brush, and defending the mountain shelter 2 43 45.
• Billhook: Carried at his waist and thrown during his confrontation with Luo Bin’s suspected attackers 31.
• Nine knives: Gives Luo Bin eight in leather sheaths with metal linings and iron-edged openings; leaves the ninth knife unexplained 41.
• Pocket watch: Lends it to Luo Bin, who uses it to time a route during his murder investigation and later returns it 39 40.
• Iron file: Deepens carved arrows marking the mountain route 44.
• Blood talisman: Receives a palm-drawn talisman before the expedition; the chief says it can restore the recipient’s senses once in an emergency 34.
• Animal hides and sheep’s-head staff: Taken from the abandoned village as deterrents; Luo Feng subsequently suspects that removing them drew an upright sheep after the family 50.

Relationships

• Gu Ya — Wife and his foremost protective concern. Their main disagreements involve her trust in Zhang Yunling and his determination to seek an escape route despite the risks 18 32 37 43.
• Luo Shan — Original son. His poor reputation disappoints Luo Feng, who previously refused to teach him the family trade 9 15 41.
• Luo Bin — Soul occupying Luo Shan’s body. Their relationship develops from violent suspicion into accepted fatherhood and mutual reliance during the mountain expedition 1 2 18 31 41 46.
• Zhong Zhicheng — Village chief. Luo Feng assists his work and follows expedition instructions, but conceals household secrets and privately resists parts of his investigation 5 13 30 33 43.
• Old Kong — Fellow villager with whom he handles corpses, restrains Zhang Li, and prevents unsafe nighttime intervention 23 30 33.
• Zhang Yunling — Close to Gu Ya and treated well by the family, but not exempt from Luo Feng’s suspicion. He objects to sharing dangerous family information with her and disapproves of encouraging Luo Shan’s attachment to her 16 19 35 43.

Notable Quotes

“Don't make enemies lightly. Once you fall out with someone, you must nip the threat in the bud. Otherwise, there will be no end to the trouble.” 18

“I only have this one son. His life is my life.” 31

“If everyone fears death, all we can do is wait to die in the village.” 31

“Apart from our own family, you can't trust anyone in this village. You can know someone's face without knowing their heart.” 39