Shiranui Asuka

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Asuka belongs to the Shiranui Household, a lineage renowned for its Time Masters. Despite initially presenting herself as one, her actual specialty is Japan’s Yin-Yang Arts. Her brother openly challenges her claimed title, and Du Yu later recognizes that she is a Yin-Yang Master rather than a Time Master 251 278.

Her household’s ancestral teachings include the Cause-and-Effect Reversal Formula. The author’s timeline explanation traces this formula to Xu Fu, who entrusted its teachings to the boys and girls he took east 456.

Ancestor Timeline

In the Ancestor Timeline, Asuka secretly traveled to China after her lineage received an invitation to the Peach Banquet. There she met Ancestor Du Yu, a deceased man who had refused reincarnation and worked as an unauthorized ferryman in the Underworld. They fell in love, and she remained in China to live with him 442 456.

Seven years later, his soul scattered into oblivion. Asuka used the ancestral reversal formula without permission to save him, becoming the first Time. With no predecessor to instruct her, she pushed time back too far—not merely before his soul dispersed, but before he died. This unknowingly created the second timeline 456.

A recording preserves her insistence that she never regretted saving him, despite understanding that her method could have grave consequences. Second-Generation Du Yu eventually replaced her as Time 437 456.

Appearance

• Youthful appearance: Cowherd estimates that she looks only sixteen or seventeen; this is an observation, not a confirmed age 253.
• Face: Described as delicate and cute, with fair skin 163 171.
• Clothing: Wears a short skirt and wooden sandals in the exchange arc, and a kimono in later scenes 118 410.
• Legend disguises: Appears as an ordinary local girl in the White Snake Legend and as a schoolgirl carrying a large schoolbag during the bus intervention 163 228.
• Carried accessories: Commonly keeps talismans and other supplies in a waist pouch or small backpack 171 226 278.

Personality

Asuka is curious, impulsive, and initially sheltered. She steals a banquet invitation and a powerful-looking Legend-Sealing Pearl simply because she has heard that China and the Peach Banquet are fun. She does not understand the danger of bringing Japan’s creation legend into another country’s hands until Du Yu explains it 135.

She is sensitive to familiarity and etiquette. Initially, she objects to Du Yu using her given name because they are not close, and she considers “A-Xiang” even ruder. Once she becomes close to Medusa, she expressly invites her to use “Asuka,” “Asuka-chan,” or “Little Asuka” instead 124 200.

Her compassion extends equally to humans and monsters. She treats the feverish Blind Princess without fearing her appearance, lends her clothing despite becoming cold herself, and argues that strangers still deserve help. This sincerity is later praised by Yanyanluo 464 465 477.

Although easily frightened and prone to tears, Asuka will confront stronger opponents for someone she cares about. She challenges Cavendish to release Chada despite trembling, refuses to abandon Du Yu during the threatened catastrophe, and initially places herself between Cowherd and Xie Yujiao 131 373 378.

Her growth centers on accepting responsibility without expecting everyone else to satisfy her wishes. She prevents her protectors from killing Xu Xian because their mission requires him alive. Later, she relinquishes her attempt to protect Xie Yujiao when doing so would provoke a battle between two large forces 172 379.

Abilities & Skills

Yin-Yang Arts and Talismans

Asuka’s demonstrated specialty is Yin-Yang Arts, not the Time Master abilities for which her household is famous 251 278.

• Immobilization: Uses a “Freeze!” talisman to stop several pursuing female ghosts 154.
• Silencing and immobilizing: An alternate-timeline Asuka places both types of talisman on Zhou Zhuangshi during the bus confrontation 231.
• Equipment dependence: When her legend clothing leaves her without her talisman pouch, she cannot respond effectively to Xu Xian’s attack 171.
• Limited direct combat: She and Xie Yujiao struggle against ordinary Black Monks while relying on clumsy martial arts 372.

Shikigami Technique

Du Yu refers to Asuka having thirteen shikigami. Their availability is governed by agreed schedules rather than unrestricted obedience, and her own magic power can limit large simultaneous summons 178 180 303.

• Borrowed power: Myriad Bone Workshop attaches his Life-Bound Talisman to the Spirit-Summoning Gate so Asuka can use his power to summon seven monsters, including those outside their usual workdays 303.
• Emergency protection: Despite arguing among themselves, all seven immediately converge on her when a Black Monk seizes her throat 305 306.
• Emotional bond: Asuka refuses Tamamo-no-Mae’s proposed self-sacrifice, saying she does not want to lose her 314.

Spirit-Medium Technique

Asuka can summon spirits and provide the means to perceive and contact souls 154 278.

• Ghost Howl: Uses a drop of blood to form a magic array and summon a small black dog. He is identified as one of the Six Divine Hounds, but initially lacks developed spiritual intelligence and performs tricks instead of fighting 154.
• Other Shore Talismans: Enable the group to see ghosts while searching for Xingtian’s soul 278.
• Spirit-Medium Formation: Proposes using a formation to speak with Xingtian after finding him 278.
• Limitations: She admits that she is not particularly skilled at the technique. Ghost Howl remains reluctant to attack much larger enemies even after receiving Erlang Shen’s guidance 278 372.

Healing and Medical Care

Asuka combines magical healing with bandages, medicinal herbs, and practical nursing 131 355 464.

• Healing Technique: Improves Chada’s condition temporarily, but cannot continue saving Chada once the injuries become too severe 131.
• Injury treatment: Examines and treats Gorgon after Du Yu brings her back badly wounded 142.
• Battlefield care: Bandages Black Impermanence, applies medicinal herbs, and casts healing after putting on white gloves. He reports recovering strength 354 355.
• Nursing: Checks Blind Princess’s fever, arranges shelter and hot water, lends her robes, and makes a grass pillow 464.
• Practical limits: Her apothecary apprenticeship is unsuccessful enough that the proprietor complains she has burned numerous medicinal ingredients 163.

Formations

Asuka can deploy simple talisman-based formations and implement more experienced practitioners’ instructions 313.

• Flying Array: Following Xie Yujiao’s advice, places an array outside You Si’s Gravity Array, reducing the burden on the trapped Great Tengu enough for him to stand and escape with Weaver Girl 313.
• Actual effect: The Flying Array lightens its occupants and improves their jumping ability; it does not grant true flight 313.
• Limitations: She cannot independently break the unfamiliar Gravity Array, and touching its boundary makes her arm extremely heavy 313.

Knowledge of Legends

Asuka guides others through Japanese legends and explains the rules of their supernatural events 144 146 154.

• Creation legend: Directs Izanagi and Izanami toward creating the Heavenly Pillar and raising the High Plain of Heaven 146.
• Thought-Manifestation Art: Explains that the creator gods turn thoughts and words into reality. She also identifies the ability as innate rather than something ordinary cultivators can learn 144 149.
• Escape route: Recalls that Izanagi’s discarded hair ornament becomes a grape field, distracting the pursuing female ghosts 154.
• Important distinction: Her guidance exploits the gods’ creation ability; she is not shown possessing Thought-Manifestation Art herself 144 146.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Yata Mirror — Bronze mirror used to project Izanagi and Izanami. Combined with Yingning’s cracked Green Writing Brush, it displays and rewinds Du Yu’s memories. It fails to locate the Sage during the Elder Era journey, showing Du Yu instead 146 149 226 298.
• Anywhere Door — Stone-built transport device supplied by her elders for returning to Japan. The version used in the rescue operation carries any number of travelers but permits only one round trip; Jinkuro explains its activation over the phone 226.
• Legend-Sealing Pearl — Stolen from her lineage before the Peach Banquet; contains the dangerously consequential Izanagi creation legend 135.
• Talismans and summoning implements — Includes immobilizing, silencing, and Other Shore Talismans, a summoning bell, and a small knife used to draw blood for a spirit-medium array 154 231 278.
• Medical supplies — Bandages, medicinal herbs, and white gloves used in battlefield treatment 354 355.
• Paper fan, whistle, and red card — Used to discipline quarrelling monsters and direct the staged “Shiranui Household” reception for Yanyanluo 305 465 470.

Relationships

• Du Yu — Begins as her teasing senior and becomes the person she loves. She refuses to leave him during the catastrophe and later persuades his withdrawn Sage incarnation to resume planning. His promise to consider dating her and meeting her parents is conditional on defeating the Great Buddha 124 374 386 410.
• Ancestor Du Yu — Her lover in the original timeline. His dissolution motivates the forbidden reversal that makes her the first Time 442 456.
• Shiranui Jinkuro / Jin Jianglang — Protective older brother. Helps activate her Anywhere Door, comes to China at her request, and is pressured into joining Du Yu’s Bureau. She also stops him from yielding to Longing’s imitation of Yanyanluo 226 235 253 287.
• Qu Xi — Welcomes her into the Bureau as family. Qu Xi’s trust increases after Asuka’s alternate-timeline counterpart helps her during the bus incident 234 245.
• Medusa / Gorgon — Close friend whom she treats after severe injuries. Asuka invites her to use affectionate names and asks whether they can contact each other even without needing assistance 142 200.
• Chada — Fellow traveler met on the way to China. Asuka confronts Cavendish over Chada’s captivity and attempts emergency healing 131 135.
• Xie Yujiao — Friend and formation adviser. Asuka initially protects her from Cowherd, then apologizes and withdraws rather than trigger a larger battle 313 378 379.
• Shiranui Fire God and Tsukimi Sake — Household members who try to evacuate her. After learning that she loves Du Yu, they instead commit themselves to fighting alongside her 373 374.
• Yanyanluo / Blind Princess — Sick stranger whom Asuka nurses without prejudice. She arranges a mock household reception to fulfill Yanyanluo’s wish to join the Shiranui Household and is devastated by witnessing her later decapitation 464 470 483.
• Xu Xian — Fellow apothecary worker who pursues her legend identity. When he becomes abusive, her monsters intervene; she nevertheless forbids them from killing him because they are inside a legend 163 171 172.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Foreign Legend Exchange

• Proposes that the visiting Controllers enter one another’s legends. The Queen Mother of the West postpones the exchange for seven days 105.
• Admits that she was not sent by her elders: she stole the invitation and pearl and came for amusement 135.
• Accompanies Du Yu and Ramla to Olympus, later treating the injured Gorgon 137 142.
• Guides the Izanagi legend, but her unreliable summons complicate the escape from Izanami’s pursuing forces 146 153 154.

White Snake Legend

• Descends as “Fragrant Girl,” an apprentice at the Hall of Rejuvenation 163.
• Is threatened by Xu Xian and rescued by Myriad Bone Workshop and Shuten Doji. Her insistence that they spare him prompts the Great Tengu to acknowledge her growing maturity 171 172.
• Attempts to summon Tamamo-no-Mae against two assassins who already know her shikigami schedule and the fox’s weakness 180.
• Announces that she intends to collect her luggage and stay in China long-term 200.

Bus Rescue and Bureau Membership

• Uses the Yata Mirror and Green Writing Brush to uncover how Qu Xi’s absence from a bus changed Du Yu’s fate, then provides the Anywhere Door for the intervention 226.
• An Asuka from another timeline appears on the bus. Two simultaneous ringtones reveal that both she and the current Asuka’s borrowed phone are present; this counterpart belongs to the Sage’s disciples but helps Qu Xi 228 231 234.
• Settles into a room at the Bureau and summons Jinkuro to China. Her pressure secures his agreement to remain and help Du Yu 234 235 253.

Elder Era and Mount Buzhou

• Provides ghost-seeing talismans for the search for Xingtian’s soul and intervenes when Longing exploits Jinkuro’s attachment to Yanyanluo 278 287.
• Supports the Mount Buzhou battles through mass summoning and the formation-assisted rescue of Weaver Girl 303 313.
• Publicly objects to killing Fuxi and appears to break with Du Yu. She later reveals that the dispute was coordinated through Xiao Qi so she could leave unnoticed and gather reinforcements 329 354.
• Returns with the Armed Monster Alliance and additional supporters. Refusing evacuation, she tells the household Time Masters that she loves Du Yu, prompting them to join the battle 354 373 374.
• Chooses to leave Xie Yujiao with Cowherd rather than cause a war between their forces, then goes to support the attack on the Great Buddha 379.

Apocalypse and Timeline Revelations

• Confronts the withdrawn Sage after the world’s destruction. Her confession and news of a Descent Device for the Legend of the Legend Management Bureau bring him back into active planning 410.
• Completes his mission to separate Du Yu’s parents in the past. Jinkuro cuts the resulting Line so Du Yu becomes an orphan rather than disappearing 413.
• Her recorded testimony and the later timeline explanation reveal that she was the first Time and that her attempt to save Ancestor Du Yu began the second timeline 437 442 456.

Yanyanluo Side Story

• Shelters and nurses Blind Princess, then recruits monsters to stage a welcoming “Shiranui Household” for her 464 465 470.
• Is identified by Tsuchimikado Eleven as the legendary Shiranui Asuka. Yanyanluo likewise calls her a legendary Onmyoji, although Asuka protests that she cannot yet use even a basic talisman 474 477.
• Witnesses Yanyanluo cut off her own head and breaks down as the Great Tengu and Yukigyo restrain her. Hanamitsuki and Tsukimi Sake arrive immediately afterward 483.

Notable Quotes

“Human or monster, being sick is being sick. You need someone to care for you.” 464

“Everyone in the world starts out as strangers. Does that mean they never need anyone else's help?” 465

“I think I'm in love with Senior Du Yu.” 374

“Actually, I've never regretted it.” 437

Trivia

• Severe seasickness repeatedly interrupts her explanations and travel. She eventually boasts that she can maintain a conversation while vomiting; Baxia walking on the seabed finally relieves it 145 178 298.
• Her initial Time Master title is misleading: household membership is her justification for claiming it, but Jinkuro refuses to validate the claim. Her eventual transformation into Time occurs separately in the Ancestor Timeline 251 278 456.
• “Spanking” is a recurring disciplinary threat: she uses it against unruly shikigami, uncooperative patients, and her own brother 305 354 355 464 465.