Old Lu

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Childhood and the Lost Cultivation Opportunity

Old Lu was an orphan taken in by an elder whom he called his grandfather. He inherited the household’s corpse-collecting trade, books, and treasured burial cloth. As a young man, he considered changing occupations and visited the Twin Blades Gang to watch its Second Elder practice martial arts from a distance 4 8 15.

Thirty years before Shen Yulang’s execution, Old Lu and his grandfather collected a murderous cultivator who had survived an attempted execution by a thousand cuts. When the dying cultivator pulled his grandfather close, Old Lu mistook the gesture for an attack and crushed the cultivator’s skull with their sewing-tool box 5.

The cultivator had actually been imparting a cultivation method. Old Lu’s grandfather could neither speak nor write the teaching afterward, leaving only illegible scrawls when he tried. He beat Old Lu, drove him away, and later fell gravely ill. Old Lu returned to care for him before his death and finally learned the restriction: “the teachings cannot pass to six ears” 5.

Raising Lu Mingyue

The stigma attached to corpse collecting left Old Lu unmarried and without children. One winter, he found the abandoned infant Lu Mingyue at the foot of his courtyard wall. He brought her home and bought a nanny goat to feed her with its milk 1 3.

Old Lu named Mingyue, taught her to read and write, and trained her in corpse preparation. She grew up treating him as her real grandfather. He initially hoped she would bring a husband into the household and have children, allowing him to see the family flourish 1 4.

Their livelihood depended on payments from the county authorities and gratuities from the dead person’s family. Unclaimed bodies brought only the official reward and had to be taken to Old Crow Mountain for burial, a task Old Lu usually performed alone 1 2 3.

Shen Yulang and the Twin Blades Gang

After Shen Yulang’s execution, Old Lu stitched the severed head back onto his body. When Mingyue subsequently obtained a cultivation method through the burial cloth but could not explain it, Old Lu recognized the same restriction his grandfather had encountered. He reassured her, then privately examined the cloth and lamented his own lack of an opportunity for immortality 3 4 5.

His interest persisted. He questioned Mingyue about the cloth and inspected it again when she was away, although he outwardly described the discovery as her good fortune 8.

The Twin Blades Gang’s Second Elder later questioned Old Lu over his executed son’s possessions and had the household searched. Old Lu endured the intrusion with carefully chosen words and a deferential manner 9 10.

After the gang’s destruction, Old Lu and Mingyue spent two days bringing home and preparing 145 bodies. The slaughter frightened him enough that he warned her to avoid unnecessary outings and involvement in outside affairs 12 13.

Obtaining the Second Elder’s Knowledge

Five years later, the Second Elder’s corpse was returned to Yangguan City. Old Lu noticed that the man looked younger than before and suspected immortal arts. Hoping to obtain the same kind of opportunity Mingyue had received, he insisted on washing the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth himself 14 15.

Blood-red writing appeared, and Old Lu experienced the Second Elder’s life, including his acquisition of Bai Yunzi’s cultivation teachings and his eventual death from a Flesh-Rotting Pill. Old Lu inherited the cultivation art and three spells but also learned that the elder had spent years unsuccessfully seeking a Spirit Mansion-opening method. He concealed the discovery from Mingyue 15 16.

Final Winter and Death

By the following winter, Old Lu suffered severe coughing, labored breathing, and increasing frailty. Mingyue channeled Origin Power into his body to ease his symptoms. At his request, she prepared braised pork, lamb ribs, and his favorite liquor, April Green, believing he might be nearing death 17.

That night, Old Lu attacked Huahua and attempted to kill the sleeping Mingyue with a cleaver. He revealed that he wanted the Shen Household’s Spirit Mansion secret art and resented the contrast between her health and his decline. Invoking the fact that he had saved her as an infant, he insisted that she owed him her life 17 18.

Old Lu wounded Mingyue’s arm and threw lime into her eyes. Despite its injuries, Huahua seized his ankle, giving her time to strike his head with a broken table leg. The blow killed him; Huahua also died. Coals from the overturned stove set the room ablaze 18.

Mingyue wrapped his corpse in the black cloth and received his memories, cultivation art, and spells. His final warning within those memories was that she must never trust anyone 18.

Aftermath

The authorities found Old Lu’s charred body with skull fractures caused by a blunt weapon. County Commandant Qin ordered further investigation into his death and Mingyue’s disappearance, but Zhou Biao discouraged a search of Old Crow Mountain and suggested that a criminal had abducted her 19.

Two orphaned brothers subsequently received the corpse-collecting work. Over time, Yangguan City forgot both Old Lu and the granddaughter he had raised 19.

Old Lu later appeared in Mingyue’s nightmare, accusing her of killing him. The dream figure became grotesquely injured and rose again after she burned it; this appearance occurred within the dream, not as a confirmed resurrection 30.

Appearance

• Early appearance: Wore a blackened jacket and had a weathered face 1.
• At sixty: Had entirely white hair, cloudy eyes, and a bent back 14.
• During his final illness: Became visibly withered, with drooping eyelids and hands that remained icy even beside the stove 17.

Personality

Old Lu was patient and affectionate toward Mingyue for much of her childhood. He rescued her, educated her, reassured her when she was frightened, and provided better food when their earnings allowed it. Social isolation weighed on him: he preferred leaving the courtyard gate open so he could smoke in his reclining chair and watch living people pass after spending his working hours among the dead 1 4 7.

He was also cautious around power. He tolerated officials skimming rewards and bowed to the Twin Blades Gang rather than risk provoking them. By sixty, however, he had largely stopped bowing and scraping, treating Zhou Biao as a younger family member rather than merely an official 2 10 14.

His fear of death ultimately outweighed his attachment to Mingyue. Although the gang massacre temporarily made him fear cultivation opportunities, he continued longing for immortality. During his final attack, that longing became violent resentment and a claim that saving Mingyue entitled him to take her life 13 15 18.

Abilities & Skills

Corpse Collection and Restoration

• Had handled roughly eight hundred to a thousand corpses over his career 3.
• Expertly stitched severed heads and other wounds, taking two hours to reattach Shen Yulang’s head 3 8.
• Collected remains, washed execution sites, prepared bodies for viewing, and buried the unclaimed dead 2 3.
• Trained Mingyue in the family trade, gradually moving her from observation to practical work 3 7.

Literacy

• Read books inherited from the elder who raised him 4.
• Gave Mingyue her name and taught her the written language of their world 4.

Inherited Cultivation Knowledge

• Acquired the Five Elements Eternal Spring Art, Wooden Caltrops, Fireball Technique, and Water Mirror Shield through the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth 16.
• Recognized the effects of a Flesh-Rotting Pill from the Second Elder’s memories 16.
• Never opened a documented Spirit Mansion or demonstrated spellcasting before his death 18.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Corpse-Wrapping Cloth — An inherited black cloth that prevented blood from leaking during transport. Old Lu was taught to value it above the house itself. He eventually discovered that it could transmit a dead person’s memories and cultivation knowledge 2 3 8 15 16.
• Handcart — Used to transport bodies between execution grounds, the county office, and his home 1 2 12.
• Willow-wood tool box — Held the needles and thread used for corpse restoration 3.
• Tobacco pipe — Frequently smoked while resting in his courtyard 1 4 9.
• Cleaver/billhook and lime — Used during his attack on Mingyue and Huahua 17 18.

Relationships

• Lu Mingyue — Adoptive granddaughter and apprentice. Their years of mutual care ended when he attempted to kill her for her Spirit Mansion secret art; she killed him in self-defense 1 4 17 18.
• Unnamed adoptive grandfather — Raised Old Lu and passed down the household’s trade and possessions. Old Lu accidentally destroyed his cultivation opportunity by killing the dying cultivator who was teaching him 4 5.
• Zhou Biao — Longtime acquaintance whom Old Lu treated like a son. Zhou later steered the investigation away from treating Mingyue as her grandfather’s murderer 14 19.
• Twin Blades Gang’s Second Elder — First intimidated Old Lu while investigating his son’s death; his own corpse later supplied Old Lu’s cultivation knowledge through the cloth 9 10 15 16.
• Huahua — Household dog and Mingyue’s protector. Old Lu fatally attacked it, but its final resistance enabled Mingyue to defend herself 17 18.

Notable Quotes

“Mingyue, we could do without this home, but we must never lose this Corpse-Wrapping Cloth...” 3

“Grandpa gave you your life! Now Grandpa wants you dead! You should give your life back to Grandpa!” 18

“My dear granddaughter, from now on, you must never trust anyone...” 18