Chu Mu

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Childhood in the Underworld

Chu Mu arrived at the Rivet Town Orphanage at four, alongside three-year-old Xiao Bu. The two became brother and sister despite having no established biological relationship. When local children bullied her, he repeatedly fought them and took beatings in her place 2.

His resistance eventually turned bloody: he stabbed a bully with a sharpened pencil, then fought with his teeth after the pencil broke. The injured boy was the mayor’s son, but the Old Director resisted the mayor’s pressure and protected Chu Mu. The incident earned him the name “Rivet Town’s Mad Dog” and damaged his adoption prospects 2 469.

Chu Mu began earning money while very young. Alongside poverty, he suffered recurring attacks involving battlefield voices, fragmented memories, and increasingly severe heart pain. Routine examinations found only anemia attributed to malnutrition, leaving the underlying cause unexplained 3 249.

Blindness and Kafka’s Adoption

At Scott’s fight club, Chu Mu discovered that Seele had signed a contract she could not read. When Scott refused to release her, Chu Mu attacked him, sent Seele to seek Oleg, and confronted the club’s enforcers. In the aftermath, he had removed his own right eye; his remaining sight then deteriorated rapidly 7 19 21.

During Natasha’s treatment, he encountered Yaoshi in a dream. He later identified the Aeon through books and learned from Svarog that his left eye contained a seed. His growing blindness made prospective adoptive families withdraw, although he was also unwilling to leave before Xiao Bu was adopted 18 21 22 28.

Kafka initially introduced herself as his mother and attempted to influence him, but Chu Mu rejected the claim after finding no place for her in his fragmented memories. She then openly proposed adoption. Their negotiations repeatedly stalled over his insistence that Xiao Bu accompany him 31 32 35 37 40.

Chu Mu eventually boarded Kafka’s ship and met Silver Wolf. Their mutually acknowledged pretence developed into a genuine family bond: by Deep Blue Star, he accepted that Kafka and Silver Wolf were his family and credited Kafka with giving him the best possible fate 50 59 65 94.

Deep Blue Star and the Incubator

Chu Mu spent four years in cryosleep during the journey to Deep Blue Star, retaining his childhood appearance while time passed for those left on Belobog. His recurring pain continued, accompanied by a dream of a rotting whale and the word “Betrayal” 52 53 87.

On Deep Blue Star, he helped arrange salvage cooperation with Luwan and encountered a heterochromic-eyed figure in the Incubator. The figure claimed to be his past incarnation and explained that Fuli, Yaoshi, and other Aeons intended to resurrect that incarnation through him. Accepting its memories would erase Chu Mu’s present identity 69 89.

Chu Mu refused to inherit his predecessor’s outlook. Remaining true to himself passed the figure’s test and advanced him along the Path. He also acquired the Red Sun, which the figure proposed placing in his empty right eye socket 89.

Sand Sea Planet

After a warp accident separated him from Kafka and Silver Wolf, Chu Mu joined a pilgrimage to the Ancestor Tree in hopes of finding them. There he reunited with an amnesiac Tingyun, who no longer recognized him 118 132.

In a trial world where he could not access his Path, Chu Mu became chieftain of the Wood Tribe. Its comparatively lenient rule attracted refugees from harsher tribes, bringing its population to twenty thousand within half a year. He also confronted ascetic sects whose conflicting histories linked the Eyeless, the Lady, and the Red Sun to the planet’s disasters 122 123 125 127 128.

Tingyun remained beside him during their year together and helped preserve his humanity as his growing divinity made him colder. Kafka and Silver Wolf eventually found him after fighting through the Stellaron’s Fragmentum 132 240 429.

Return to Belobog

Chu Mu later communicated with Stelle while confined inside broken wood, then returned to the Underworld through an Ambrosial Arbor puppet avatar. Natasha learned that Kafka had given him a home among the stars; she also revealed that his money had helped establish Wildfire and that the Old Director had died the year after his departure 140 151.

Thirteen years after he left, Chu Mu joined Wildfire, the Mechanical Settlement, and the vagrants in their advance toward Kliperburg. He wanted the Underworld changed so that others would not endure his childhood suffering 163 166.

He also learned that Cocolia had erased Bronya’s childhood memories. Although Bronya felt overwhelming sadness on seeing him, she could not remember calling him “Brother.” Chu Mu refused to blame her or compete with Cocolia for a place in her life 182.

Order, the Xianzhou, and the Stellaron Crisis

During the Mother Tree crisis, Chu Mu awakened the Eye of Order and rescued Kafka. Kafka and Herta’s alternative plan then culminated in Number Seven’s sacrifice and Xipe’s birth. Xipe subsequently granted Chu Mu the Authority of Manipulation 303 310.

On the Xianzhou Luofu, he used Green Pheobe as a second-body identity to investigate the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus. He sought to redirect the organization rather than endorse its abuses, eventually accepting Fu Xuan’s offer of cooperation under official supervision 320 353.

His ties with the authorities became complicated by Kafka’s arrival and Blade’s wanted status. Chu Mu nevertheless maintained contact with Fu Xuan, accompanied the Astral Express crew through his doppelganger, and reunited with Kafka at the Divination Commission 377 397 405.

Phantylia exploited his attachment to Tingyun in an attempt to provoke madness. Chu Mu later killed the Lord Ravager, but his concern remained the threat posed by his own future godhood rather than simply acquiring more strength 429 453.

Godhood and the Star Shepherd Cycles

Sampo’s guidance helped Chu Mu recognize that the hope he sought existed within himself. After ensuring that his companions were aboard the Star Destroyer, he returned to the Incubator carrying reminders of his relationships and declared himself ready to face ascension 486 487.

His consciousness initially dissolved into the Path. After tens or hundreds of billions of years of observation, it reconsolidated strongly enough to contain another vast concept. He identified the heterochromic-eyed figure as Black Sun: the despair split from his previous incarnation, rather than an intact remnant of that incarnation 489 490.

Chu Mu absorbed hope, overcame Black Sun, and gained Observation and Hope. Taking in further concepts transformed him into the Star Shepherd, fulfilling Taiyi’s design for a being above the Aeons 490.

Successive Star Shepherds then traveled upstream through time to reunite with an old friend. Each generation arranged the next cycle, entrusted its final preparations to Aha, and stripped away its personality so that its divinity could scatter and return to a future Chu Mu. By the side story, he had endured countless repetitions 491 493.

Appearance

• Childlike appearance: He is six and a half during his early orphanage life. Gertie later observes that his appearance has hardly changed despite thirteen years passing in Belobog 2 166.
• Blindfold: Wears black gauze over his eyes during their deterioration, both to ease light sensitivity and conceal his artificial right eye from Xiao Bu 21.
• Eyes: At the onset of complete blindness, his pupils dilate and his eye lenses turn emerald green; he perceives only dense green fog 34.
• Third Eye: His Heavenly Eye closes into a faint golden line on his forehead 312.
• Bearing and clothing: A straight posture and refined manners make him resemble a young nobleman. His later homecoming outfit is elaborately tailored and chosen by Kafka to give him the best possible appearance 24 163 461.

Personality

Chu Mu is quick-witted, unusually mature, and difficult to deceive. He recognizes Xiao Bu’s attempts to earn affection through excessive self-sacrifice and deliberately discourages them. His early maturity is also connected to the painful memory fragments transmitted by Fuli 1 3 129.

Poverty makes him practical, guarded, and initially inclined to treat relationships as exchanges of usefulness. He struggles to understand why Asta would seek his company without a practical purpose. Kafka encourages that friendship precisely because she wants him to have interests and companionship beyond responsibility to his family 68 83 240.

He calls himself selfish, yet repeatedly risks himself for others. Family is his firmest boundary: he protects Xiao Bu from bullies, insists on taking her with him, and refuses to tolerate Dan Shu harming Stelle. Kafka, Silver Wolf, Xiao Bu, and Tingyun serve as anchors against his increasing coldness and fear of becoming like his previous incarnation 2 37 320 393 429.

Chu Mu rejects romanticizing hardship. He regards Belobog as home because of the people there, not because suffering benefited him. His attitude toward fate also changes: after frequently describing events as destiny, he ultimately declares that his decisions can change his future 453 460 490.

Abilities & Skills

Observation / the “Eyeless” Path

Initially called “Eyeless” by Chu Mu, this Path is ultimately identified as Observation. Blindness and obedience are its entry manifestations; the fictional space provides more than ordinary sight or transportation 35 487 490.

• Reconstructs walls, shelves, people, and other surroundings through sound and echoes 35.
• Creates a black-and-white fictional space in which he can teleport and bring companions 132.
• Can disappear from both Kafka’s vision and her ability to sense him 34.
• Later loads terrain observed by the Heavenly Eye almost instantly 312.
• Provides no healing ability beyond a stronger constitution and somewhat faster recovery 117.
• Becomes inaccessible while his Third Eye is open; he must close it to use the Eyeless Path 311.

Red Sun and the Authority of Hope

The Red Sun is a Strange Object embodying the Authority of hope, but represents only a small portion of the wider concept. Chu Mu’s fusion with it raises his existence beyond that of his physical body 344 486.

• Initially stores it as a crimson bead and can summon a phantom Red Sun 89.
• Uses it as the energy source for the Authority of Manipulation 310 322.
• Can absorb attack energy, including an Emanator-powered blade strike 344.
• Its devouring nature produces persistent hunger; Chu Mu believes a sufficiently powerful single attack exceeding its absorption limit could destroy him 344.
• After fully taking in hope, spreads it wherever his Observation reaches 490.

Eye of Order / Authority of Manipulation

Through Order’s threads, Chu Mu operates physical bodies and other eligible creations as puppets. Xipe grants him this Authority after absorbing Taiyi 303 310.

• Controls his body from consciousness existing on another plane 310.
• Operates doppelgangers and shifts most control threads to a second body while leaving his original body anchored 322.
• Initially finds that threads cannot enter living people; Blade’s revival repels an attempted puppet connection 310 313.
• Later recognizes the Ebon Deer as an eligible “surplus” creation and takes control of it 419.
• More threads, greater complexity, and longer use increase energy consumption. In an early test, one day’s charging sustains roughly half a day of simple movement by one puppet 322.

Conceptual Existence and the Star Shepherd

Chu Mu’s consciousness becomes independent of ordinary bodily aging, sickness, and death after merging with a concept. Complete mastery requires further ascension 310.

• Consolidates his dispersed consciousness through vast ages of observation 490.
• Commands Observation and Hope, then takes in additional concepts 490.
• Uses Order’s authority as the foundation for managing multiple Paths 490.
• As the Star Shepherd, can move stars within the Sea of Stars like livestock in a pasture 490.
• Successive incarnations travel upstream through time and perpetuate the cycle of his return 491.

Nihility Aura

Countless cycles and immeasurable age produce an involuntary aura of nihilism around Chu Mu 493.

• Prolonged proximity causes others to feel melancholy and empty, potentially leading them onto the Path of Nihility.
• Chu Mu cannot control it; the text distinguishes it from a deliberately used ability.
• Only Aeon-level beings appear unaffected, according to his observations.

Practical Skills

• Navigation and memory: Memorizes exact step counts and room layouts to function without sight 21 130.
• Gaming: Quickly masters games designed for blind players and defeats Silver Wolf in some competitions 52.
• Negotiation and investigation: Arranges salvage contracts, gathers intelligence, and maintains cooperation with Fu Xuan while concealing his full identity 69 353 367.
• Governance: Oversees the relatively lenient Wood Tribe, whose population grows through immigration 123.
• Swimming: Learns with Kafka and Number Seven’s support, overcoming his fear by thinking of his family 281.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Artificial Eye / Prosthetic Eye Lens — Replaces his missing right eye. He asks that it be preserved when offered the Red Sun as a replacement; a lens originating from the Old Director is later returned through Yaoshi’s gift 21 89 486 487.
• Red Sun — Strange Object containing the Authority of hope; initially a stored crimson bead, later fused with his consciousness 89 344 486.
• Black gauze blindfold — Protects his light-sensitive eyes and hides the artificial eye from Xiao Bu 21.
• Kafka’s coat — Given to him before his descent with the Young Whale; among the belongings he carries to the final Incubator meeting 86 487.
• Snow Globe — One of the personal keepsakes brought to the Incubator. His childhood concern for Xiao Bu includes replacing her broken snow globe 7 487.
• Orange, spotted seashell — Gift from Goff, recognized by Silver Wolf as originating in the Simulated Universe 486.
• Phone — Used to explain his puppet avatar and life with Kafka to Natasha when he cannot speak aloud 151.

Relationships

• Kafka — Adoptive mother and principal emotional support. Their early distrust and teasing develop into a genuine family bond; she helps him express grief and repeatedly acts to preserve his humanity 32 59 65 94 249.
• Silver Wolf — Family member and gaming partner. Introduces him to accessible games, helps search for a cure for his eyes, and joins Kafka in rescuing him after their separation 52 59 115 132.
• Bronya / Xiao Bu — Younger sister from the orphanage. Chu Mu protects her throughout childhood and repeatedly tries to include her in his adoption. Cocolia’s memory erasure later prevents Bronya from remembering him 2 35 37 182.
• Natasha — Former substitute teacher, doctor, and trusted caregiver. Treats his injuries, teaches him about Aeons, and reunites with him after thirteen years 17 18 151 166 469.
• Old Director — Protector and formative influence. Defends him against the mayor, raises him at the orphanage, and leaves a lasting moral example; her death becomes a major source of grief 39 64 65 151 469.
• Seele — Rescued from Scott’s contract and becomes his loyal subordinate, calling him “boss.” He later relieves her of security duties at Bronya’s ceremony 7 23 469.
• Svarog — Friend who examines his eyes and discovers the seed. Chu Mu visits him before leaving Belobog 21 22 45 46.
• Tingyun — Close companion during her amnesia on Sand Sea Planet. Their year together helps preserve his humanity; when she later forgets that period, he chooses not to tell her about it 118 130 397 429.
• Herta — Collaborator in investigating his identity and escaping a past-life memory. Participates with Kafka in the plan surrounding his Eye of Order awakening 229 232 303.
• Blade — Family member introduced by Kafka as his brother. Chu Mu initially fails to recognize him and mistakenly implicates him in trouble twice; Blade interprets those incidents much more generously 320 377 422.
• Stelle — Astral Express companion whom Chu Mu protects as the child Kafka raised. Harm to her crosses his stated family boundary 140 393 397.
• Fu Xuan — Suspicious investigator turned cooperating authority. Chu Mu denies being Shuhu, accepts Xianzhou supervision, and exchanges intelligence with her 342 353 367 405.
• Sampo — Unreliable friend and recurring source of suspicion, but also the person whose guidance helps Chu Mu approach mastery of hope 65 69 117 486.
• Yaoshi — Initially associated with his forced blindness, later with restoring his sight, fashioning his body, and returning an important keepsake. Chu Mu comes to suspect that Yaoshi granted his wish without demanding a bargain 35 344 448 486.
• Fuli — Source of the painful memories imposed on him to restore his previous incarnation. Chu Mu regards Fuli with particular wariness 89 129.
• Number Seven / Xipe — Caring older sister within his past-life memory. Her sacrifice contributes to Xipe’s birth; Chu Mu later concludes that she is part of Xipe, who grants him Manipulation 265 303 310.
• Aha — Interferes with his life and receives the final arrangements made by successive Star Shepherds before the next cycle 310 491.

Notable Quotes

“Kafka, thank you. You really did give me the best fate.” 94

“Being family doesn't require any particular role. Wanting her to become part of our family doesn't mean I want to get married this early!” 134

“Fatalism brings endless despair, leaving us no choice but to plead with destiny. But I don't believe in fate. Even after a lifetime of hardship, I still believe my decisions will change my future!” 490

Trivia

• The “Wicked King’s True Eye” is a story Chu Mu tells Xiao Bu to explain his blindfold. His later claims about its lasers are bluster, not a demonstrated ability 21 23.
• Kafka’s proposed “Star Destroyer” goal was deliberately intended to give him a practical reason to befriend Asta, rather than leave him isolated by their different upbringings 240.
• Chu Mu’s recovery of sight begins after he stops taking Number One’s medicine; Silver Wolf confirms that his pupils once again respond to light 269.
• His final ascension distinguishes the Red Sun’s Authority of hope from the entire concept of hope: fusion with the former was only a small part of what he ultimately attained 486 490.