Qi Gu

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Previous life

In his previous life, Qi Gu endured daily burning and cutting in the Underworld’s Purgatory. Even there, he investigated the origins of the Horrifying Corpses. By using the Book of Life and Death, he traced their karma to Cunning Ghost and another obscured presence, prompting the Underworld to monitor Cunning Ghost 273.

Over a thousand years, he refined the book’s Threads of Karma into a personal magical artifact. In his present life, he could still see these threads but did not understand what they were until his memories returned 273.

Childhood at Floating Mist Temple

Qi Gu was abandoned on a bitterly cold, snowy night. The founder and abbot of Floating Mist Temple found him and raised him as his disciple. The temple remained his home until he was eighteen 1 31 41.

Master and disciple lived in poverty. Qi Gu gathered wild fruit and hunted pheasants to help support them, while his master repeatedly renovated the remote temple in hopes of attracting worshippers and funding his university education. An elementary-school teacher helped them apply for financial assistance they had not known was available 1 125 203.

At eight, Qi Gu befriended Wang Xiangxiu, a woman whose bruises she explained away as climbing injuries. His attempt to help her and her ghost daughter, Juanjuan, ended disastrously: Juanjuan became violent, destroyed a man’s body and soul, and attacked her mother’s soul. Qi Gu blamed his own mistaken judgment and well-intentioned lie. His master urged him to continue helping others while remembering never to repeat the mistake 202 203 204.

Education and entertainment career

Qi Gu attended university in the capital and worked there briefly after graduation. A promised job placement disappeared when the relevant policy was abolished, and a subsequent employer fled shortly after hiring him 1 147.

He entered entertainment partly to earn enough recognition to promote Floating Mist Temple. His agency assigned him a gentle persona that clashed with his naturally cold expression and blunt speech. After he refused to entertain people over drinks, his manager smeared his reputation, and he left the industry 1.

He subsequently worked assorted jobs, including acting as a tourist-attraction “wild man,” playing corpses as an extra, working at a milk-tea shop, and writing mini programs. His return to public attention came through Investigating the Strange 1 2 39.

His master’s death and the temple

After his master died, Qi Gu continued offering incense toward Floating Mist Temple from his rental room. He wanted to fulfill the old man’s wish for the temple to flourish 1.

When he returned to arrange the funeral, he found a rare peach on the tree his master had planted for him. Its sourness brought him to tears—the first time he had cried since he was eight. Later, he restored the temple’s statues and installed a small shrine honoring his master as its founder 31 70.

Appearance

Qi Gu is handsome, with a naturally cool expression that can make him appear aloof even when he is not upset 1.

• Eyes: Clear, almond-shaped eyes that visibly brighten when food or money catches his interest 2 20.
• Hair and complexion: Soft black hair, pale skin, and long, straight eyelashes; his hair reaches just below his ears during the Qingji Mountain investigation 43 62 201.
• Build: Slender, with limited physical stamina despite his formidable magical ability 39 43.
• Clothing: Usually favors practical, casual clothes, including loose T-shirts, athletic shorts, light jackets, and cargo pants 2 212.
• Distinctive accessory: Frequently carries the Purple-Gold Gourd at his waist, often alongside pockets packed with snacks 2.

Personality

Qi Gu is laid-back and openly fond of avoiding unnecessary effort. He uses a ghost-propelled wheelchair despite being able to walk, prefers motionless extra roles to physically demanding work, and treats paranormal outings as opportunities to snack. His laziness does not prevent sustained study or decisive action when others need help 1 2 70 171.

He is unusually blunt and rarely bothers with elaborate social niceties. This has damaged his entertainment career, but his preference for directness also reflects a serious conviction: a comforting lie can lead to irreversible harm. He consciously separates strong emotions from his judgment 2 92 203.

Online abuse generally fails to anger him. He sincerely admires inventive insults and memes, reasoning that the consequences of malicious speech belong to the speakers rather than to him 2.

Beneath his detached manner, Qi Gu is considerate and particularly sensitive to abandoned or mistreated children. His own abandonment helped motivate him to shelter Green Ghost, and he strongly resents irresponsible parents. He also finds it difficult to ask others for favors, even when advocating for deserving ghosts 41 63 77.

In love, he favors action over declarations. Once he recognizes his feelings for Lin Hanzhi, he takes them seriously, plans a confession carefully, and studies protective magic with Lin’s future in mind 171 181 201.

Abilities & Skills

Karmic Sight and Threads of Karma

Qi Gu can perceive intricate threads invisible to ordinary people and instinctively distinguish their origins and destinations. His recovered memories identify them as Threads of Karma 22 273.

• Reads connections involving cause and effect, affection, and hatred 273.
• Possesses eyes capable of glimpsing karma and seeing through illusions because of his past-life refinement of the threads 273.
• Turns karmic threads golden by pouring Spiritual Power into them, then uses them to bind Asura 273.
• The final binding demands enormous power and concentration; he cannot complete its activation without Lin Hanzhi’s assistance 273.

Divination and Kin-Finding

Qi Gu practices facial reading, fate analysis, and rituals for locating missing relatives 20 22 38.

• Warns Kang Hao to return home before a burglary injures his grandparents; a subsequent news report corroborates the incident 12.
• Identifies Mu Xingchen’s aptitude through the Canopy Star in his fate 20.
• Detects that Vivian’s apparent fate does not match the disappearance of her son, exposing evidence of fate-swapping 20 21.
• Uses water, sandalwood incense, blood from relatives, silver needles, and a map to locate Han Song after the family’s karmic connection has been severed 22.
• Explains that accurate physiognomy requires interpreting facial features together rather than judging a single feature in isolation 38.

Talismans and Replication

Qi Gu draws talismans on paper and directly in the air. He has studied material from multiple traditions rather than identifying himself with either Zhengyi or Quanzhen Taoism 27 62 70.

• Binding talisman: Creates an airborne golden talisman that enlarges and restrains Old Lady Bai 27.
• Copying Talisman: Replicates an item’s functions, producing miniature Purple-Gold Gourds with limited uses 70.
• Five Thunder Talisman: Summons a wrist-thick lightning bolt to open the banyan tree’s hollow 114.
• Reverse-Written Talisman: Breaks the evil spell fusing two ghosts together, weakening them enough for him to retrieve their Glazed Bone 175.
• Protective and pain-relieving talismans: Provides relief for Lin Hanzhi and distributes Good Luck Talismans to families with children 94 118.

Formations and Barriers

Qi Gu specializes in preparations that protect an area or dismantle an enemy’s supernatural support 62 94 113.

• Draws a complex cinnabar-and-blood array while fighting the Wish Ghost 62.
• Uses chicken blood to establish a protective formation around the village chief’s house 94.
• Casts a Life-Protection Formation across the flooded ground to preserve living things’ vitality during the removal of Azure Bone from the banyan tree 113.
• Places talismans at a speedboat’s four corners before departure; their activated barrier absorbs an enormous wave with barely a jolt to the boat 219.
• Large formations leave him pale, exhausted, and vulnerable. The Life-Protection Formation requires companions he trusts to defend him while he maintains it 113 114.

Spiritual Energy and Purification

Qi Gu directs golden Spiritual Power through his fingertips for both combat and treatment 51 55.

• Dispels the yin energy overwhelming Xu Xue before hatred causes her to lose control 51.
• Severs and destroys the Wish Ghost’s blood-vessel-like threads 55.
• Clears ghostly energy from possessed or affected people by transmitting spiritual energy through their wrists 153.
• Uses his tongue-tip blood against yin entities and hostile formations, although doing so adds to his physical strain 114 167.
• Slows the transformation of corpses so their inhabiting ghosts can say farewell to their families 200.

Ghost Handling and Underworld Contact

Qi Gu captures dangerous ghosts but also shelters, employs, and advocates for cooperative ones 11 43 63.

• Contracts with Green Ghost so the child can accumulate spiritual merit toward reincarnation 11.
• Summons the Wine Ghost and tricks it into biting enchanted stones before capturing it 43.
• Coordinates ghost allies during investigations and pays working ghosts with offerings 63 187 188.
• Summons Underworld officials to take captured ghosts into custody and requests help with reincarnation or reunions 63 177.

Limitations

• Poor physical stamina: Falls behind other guests while climbing and becomes sore from prolonged walking 39 176.
• Vulnerability while casting: Repeated attacks can interrupt his talisman drawing; Lin Hanzhi’s Bone Blades provide crucial cover 233.
• Heavy spiritual expenditure: Large-scale techniques can cause pallor, bleeding, sluggish movement, and impaired concentration 114 273.
• Difficulty underwater: Cannot effectively dive by himself and relies on Lin Hanzhi to guide him down 237.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Purple-Gold Gourd — An heirloom left by his master. Holds ghosts and supernatural objects; the Anomalous Affairs Bureau’s researchers cannot determine its material 1 63 68 70.
• Miniature Purple-Gold Gourds — Consumable replicas made with Copying Talismans. Their capacity varies; the one given to Lin Hanzhi can catch two ghosts at once 70 79.
• Protective incense pouches — Protective sachets usable three times; distributed to the production team and later offered to fans 40 188.
• Iron Pellet — A cold, intricately patterned implement inherited from his master and associated with the Judge of the Underworld Ghost-Swallowing Pill 49.
• Azure Bone and Glazed Bone fragments — Collects and stores supernatural bone pieces during investigations. Azure Bone can amplify ghosts’ desires and evil; later Glazed Bone fragments fit together and fuse in cyan light 63 115 176 261.
• Twin Hearts Pendant — Two emerald-green jade pieces gifted by his master. Allows mutually loving wearers to sense and communicate with one another across great distances; Qi Gu studies its magical logic for his own talisman work 201.
• Six Bone Blades and cold jade box — Given to him by Lin Hanzhi to compensate for his physical vulnerability. The box preserves the flesh needed to control the blades, which can defend Qi Gu from concealed positions in his sleeves 212 233.
• Ritual supplies — Uses cinnabar, yellow talisman paper, incense, Ox Tears, and incense-ash water for protection, spirit perception, and treatment 27 28 70 118.

Relationships

• Lin Hanzhi — Romantic partner. Their relationship develops through shared investigations, food, and mutual care. Qi Gu recognizes his feelings during the General’s Mansion case and later learns that Lin is the Anomalous Affairs Bureau’s director. They are officially together by their first morning at Floating Mist Temple; their trust and combined power prove decisive against Asura 171 206 210 273.
• Shifu / the Ghost Official — Adoptive parent, teacher, and founder of Floating Mist Temple. Qi Gu regards him as his only family. His master continues helping him after death through Underworld assistance and gifts 118 177 201.
• Mu Xingchen — Disciple. Qi Gu initially declines to teach him because his lineage is struggling, then accepts his Want Want milk as an apprenticeship offering and immediately assigns him to wash the gourd 20 43.
• Green Ghost / Han Song — A drowned child ghost Qi Gu sheltered after finding him during a university summer break. Qi Gu contracts with him for his eventual reincarnation and later reunites him with his biological family 11 22.
• Vivian and Han Yunshu — Grateful clients and supporters after Qi Gu identifies their missing son. They invite him to name their restaurant, and Han Yunshu gives him a card for free dining at the family’s restaurants 22 64.
• Song An — Director of Investigating the Strange. Comes to value Qi Gu’s abilities and popularity, offering him the episode’s tips and a higher appearance fee 2 20.
• Pubu Gesang — Fellow practitioner and investigative ally. Helps defend Qi Gu during major spellwork and facilitates the bureau’s study of his gourd 62 68 113.
• Miao Yue — Investigative ally who protects him during demanding rituals and helps him recognize that his treatment of Lin Hanzhi goes beyond friendship 113 171.
• Kang Hao — Beneficiary of Qi Gu’s divination and an outspoken defender against online accusations 2 12.
• Wei Cai — Antagonist who hires paid trolls to damage Qi Gu’s reputation; the campaign backfires as favorable topics about Qi Gu dominate the trending list 61 64.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Trivia

• His misfortune has a measurable financial threshold. Initially, holding more than five thousand yuan triggers losses. By Chapter 183, the limit has risen to twenty thousand; exceeding it leads to a hand injury and medical expenses that bring his funds back within the limit 1 183.
• He requests installment payments. When Song An raises his fee, Qi Gu specifically asks to receive five thousand yuan per day 20.
• His wheelchair is a convenience, not a mobility aid. Green Ghost propels it fast enough to overtake electric scooters 1.
• His master’s “martial arts manuals” included school exercises. Qi Gu practiced supposedly extraordinary techniques before discovering they were ordinary calisthenics and eye exercises 70.
• His acting remains a running joke. Even Lin Hanzhi, an ardent admirer, struggles to praise anything beyond his standard Mandarin pronunciation 122.