Qu Nanzhu

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Original World

Qu Nanzhu’s parents sold him into slavery when he was six. Living among deceitful and dangerous people taught him not to be timid. At eight, he began cultivating under his master, whose guidance and the influence of the sect’s elders helped change his disposition. As his standing increased, however, the distance between him and other sect members also grew 2.

His original world had endured three hundred years without anyone capable of adequately protecting humanity. The hundred immortal sects sacrificed half their disciples with little success, while demons and devils slaughtered humans without fearing the karmic punishment that had once restrained them. As that world’s child of fortune, Qu Nanzhu refined himself into six divine artifacts to guard humanity in six directions 98.

He intended to fuse his soul into the artifacts as well. Instead, the Heavenly Dao preserved it, infused the artifacts with its own laws, and sent him into the modern world. Qu Nanzhu was eighteen when he died; the three-hundred-year crisis was not his age 98.

Arrival in the Modern World

Qu Nanzhu entered the body of another eighteen-year-old Qu Nanzhu, whom he calls Xiao Zhu. The two were born at precisely the same moment and look identical. Xiao Zhu’s severe injuries had driven his living soul from his body before his allotted lifespan ended; wandering ghosts then nearly devoured it because of his exceptionally yin fate 1 4 33 98.

After five attempts at soul-calling, Qu Nanzhu recovered Xiao Zhu’s damaged soul. He stabilized it with golden merit light and placed it inside a branch bearing a Spirit-Gathering Talisman. He then reported the two men at the scene to the police and sought treatment for his head wound 1.

Qu Nanzhu also took Xiao Zhu’s karmic burden onto himself. This caused Manager Zhong, who had ordered the injured Xiao Zhu disposed of, to suffer karmic backlash; Zhong later died of terminal liver cancer 33 98.

Appearance

• Face: Delicate, strikingly beautiful features that nearly blur conventional gender distinctions, balanced by a high, straight nose 6.
• Eyes: Phoenix eyes with raised outer corners and relatively light irises; his focused gaze appears capable of seeing through people 6.
• Eyebrows: Naturally featherlike, with gently dipping tails that soften his otherwise cool expression 6.
• Hair: Long enough to wear in a moderately high ponytail 82.
• Clothing: Favors casual outfits, including gradient shirts, jeans, denim jackets, wide-leg trousers, and baseball caps. He sometimes uses a yellow duck cap to attract less attention 2 24 25.
• Later appearance: At thirty-five, his features remain youthful; the passage of time is described as showing chiefly in his eyes 132.

Personality

Qu Nanzhu fiercely protects his right to make his own choices. Having spent his first life cultivating to save others and ultimately sacrificing himself, he refuses to let exceptional talent become an obligation to surrender his second life. He rejects Fuchenzi’s recruitment appeal when it feels like moral pressure, but later voluntarily offers help with cases the bureau cannot handle 19.

His compassion nevertheless remains instinctive. He saves Xiao Zhu immediately upon arriving, risks himself during public emergencies, and is distressed by the suffering he sees in clients’ futures. Over time, he decides that living freely does not require forcing himself either to care or not to care 1 19 23 54.

Around strangers, he can seem cold, blank, or aloof. With familiar people, he is cheeky, playful, affectionate, and sometimes childish. Enthusiastic fans can embarrass him, while Huo Sili and his close friends see a much warmer side of him 17 40 86 92.

He distinguishes paid work from personal favors and treats confidentiality seriously. He considers a paid divination a settled exchange, refuses to reveal a client’s private relationship problems for viewers’ entertainment, and carefully reads contracts before signing them 14 23 26.

He is also blunt toward hypocrisy and wrongdoing. Rather than offering supernatural absolution to an apparent philanthropist responsible for deaths, he tells the man to confess and serve his sentence 2 51.

Abilities & Skills

Divination and Face Reading

Qu Nanzhu reads faces, birth details, karmic connections, and visible threads of fate to investigate people’s histories and futures 2 23 74 89.

• Identifies concealed relationships, dishonest conduct, family troubles, and criminal responsibility 2 17 51.
• Sees marriage threads, including the red thread linking himself and Huo Sili 74.
• Detects a silver thread stealing Liu Huiyun’s luck and memories 89.
• Uses a strong karmic bond to locate a missing person even without birth details or blood kinship 102.
• Does not always foresee how a predicted outcome will occur: he knows the Zhao couple will enjoy a happy future without initially knowing its cause 34.

Spiritual Sight

He possesses innate Yin-Yang Eyes and can perceive ghosts, living souls, spiritual qi, merit, and sin 1 13 19 76.

• Can open another person’s Yin-Yang Eyes 57.
• Selects jade-bearing rough stones by their spiritual qi rather than stone-gambling expertise 13.
• Can estimate the amount of qi inside jade, but cannot see its exact size or shape 28.
• Recognizes unusual cultivation constitutions, including Lin Suwan’s Supreme Yang Physique and Xue Yu’s Talisman Cultivator Sacred Physique 110 112.

Talismans and Heavenly Lightning

Qu Nanzhu draws talismans on paper, leaves, people, objects, and directly in midair. He can use blood when necessary and strengthen his work with spiritual energy 1 6 11 60 119.

• Heavenly Lightning: Destroys the chimei afflicting Su Youqin and kills the curse’s caster. One of his Heavenly Lightning Talismans later becomes a prized bureau exhibit 11 71.
• Golden Light Impurity-Breaking Talisman: Removes Cheng Xuanyu’s Heart-Burning Curse 60.
• Person-finding talisman: Takes the form of a folded paper crane activated with the seeker’s blood and thoughts of the missing person 102.
• Protective inscriptions: Adds spirit-calming and body-protecting effects to a jade bangle, improving comfort, steadiness, and resistance to damage 119.
• Concealment: Uses talismans to prevent recognition. A version upgraded by Xue Yu can make observers perceive him as different kinds of people rather than recognize Master Qu 64 133.
• Material limitations: Cheap paper and cinnabar reduce his talismans to roughly seventy percent effectiveness, although they still outperform most talismans available on the market 6.

Arrays, Soul Restoration, and Merit

His formations gather spiritual energy, ward off evil, nourish souls, and investigate supernatural interference 5 30 75.

• Stabilizes Xiao Zhu with carefully measured amounts of golden merit light; the damaged soul cannot withstand too much at once 1 4.
• Constructs a Soul-Nourishing Array using a jade infant statue and eight jade beads positioned around Spirit Lake 30.
• Uses the lake’s spiritual qi and dragon qi to support Xiao Zhu’s recovery and improve his vulnerability to predatory ghosts 21.
• Prepares an Eight Trigrams Array to trace the theft of Huo Sili’s fortune through Ling Qiao’s Ghost Pact 75.
• Cannot rely indefinitely on a Spirit-Gathering Array in one location: once the surrounding spiritual energy is exhausted, the formation becomes useless 10.
• Risks collapse when overdrawn, as shown after completing the Soul-Nourishing Array and during the school rescue 30 54 55.

Animated Paper Figures

Qu Nanzhu commands mobile paper figures capable of communicating, carrying objects, and acting with apparent initiative. Their sophistication astonishes Fuchenzi and Daoqing 19.

• Deliver messages, type on phones, and alert allies to contact the police 19 51.
• Carry jade beads into formation positions and search for hidden curse implements 30 60.
• Restrain suspects and pursue hostile cultivators 38 100.
• Help him sit up while recovering from overexertion 57.
• Allow him to share their senses at a distance 104 138.
• Assist with Longbao’s care and remain part of the household 86 93.

Rituals and Underworld Contact

• Divine Mantra for Purifying the Mind: His chanting produces a tangible calming effect on livestream viewers 21.
• Underworld summons: Sends a summoning talisman directly to the Hall of Yanluo, drawing an Underworld judge through Ghost Gate Pass 109.
• Otherworldly status: States that he is not bound by this world’s Heavenly Dao, leaving him unaffected when Huo Sili’s fortune-replenishing mechanism drains luck from nearby people. The summoned judge also recognizes him as an outsider standing on equal footing with the Heavenly Dao 75 109.

Teaching

Qu Nanzhu teaches both bureau personnel and individual students 71 113.

• His first three bureau lessons cover three talisman types and illusion-array principles; the bureau’s combat strength subsequently increases fivefold 85.
• Provides Lin Suwan and Xue Yu with food, clothing, housing, and transportation so they can concentrate on cultivation 113.
• Explicitly asks them to call him Teacher, rather than formally take him as their master 113.
• Guides both to Intermediate Celestial Master credentials within three months 118.
• Teaches Huo Sili cultivation after inviting him to practice together 113 118.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Talisman paper and cinnabar — Regular supplies for his protective, investigative, and offensive work 6 14.
• Fine writing brush — A gift from Huo Sili; its bristles can cut his fingertip to take blood for a talisman 60.
• Canvas bag — Carries his tools and paper figures. He buys it partly because it recalls accompanying his master on demon-subduing trips as a child 24 60.
• Jade peace-buckle pendants — Commissioned as vessels for the powerful ghosts who helped rescue accident victims, allowing them to protect the people they saved 12 14 24.
• Longevity lock — Made by Huo Sili from silver gathered from a hundred households and presented on Qu Nanzhu’s nineteenth birthday; Longbao receives one as well 130.
• Two silver rings — Given by Huo Sili at the main-story ending. Qu Nanzhu explains that heart-link locks signify becoming Dao companions in his original world 130.
• Storage ring, original world — Owned during his childhood training; his master once questioned why he wanted a canvas bag when he already had it 24.

Relationships

• Huo Sili — Benefactor, close friend, and eventual romantic partner. He offers Spirit Lake for Xiao Zhu’s recovery, supports Qu Nanzhu’s work, and later cultivates with him. Their relationship becomes explicit after Qu Nanzhu sees their marriage thread 20 21 74 75 113 118.
• Xiao Zhu / Longbao / Qu Zhaoye — The original owner of Qu Nanzhu’s body and initially the person Qu Nanzhu feels closest to in the modern world. Qu Nanzhu restores him in a jade infant body, names him Longbao, and raises him as his younger brother. At thirteen, Longbao chooses the name Qu Zhaoye 30 32 86 132.
• His original master — Takes him into cultivation at eight and accompanies him on early demon-subduing journeys. His guidance helps Qu Nanzhu recover from his harsh childhood 2 24.
• Chen Xun — Huo Sili’s personal assistant and Qu Nanzhu’s trusted traveling companion. He handles practical arrangements, accompanies him on filming trips, and helps care for Longbao 40 71 86.
• Si Yunxiang and the Huo family — Welcome him into family life, care for Longbao, consider a future marital home for the couple, and comfort him when his birthday gifts move him to tears 86 102 130.
• Fuchenzi and Daoqing — Celestial masters who initially seek to recruit him. Although he refuses, he offers voluntary assistance; Daoqing later works alongside him and introduces him to General Lin 19 51 86.
• Wen Youfang — Paranormal Investigation Bureau director who registers him as an instructor and rewards the improvements brought by his lessons 71 85.
• Lin Suwan and Xue Yu — Students he personally selects for their exceptional constitutions. Xue Yu later improves the Concealment Talisman Qu Nanzhu uses 110 112 113 133.
• Qin Siyi and Su Youqin — Qin Siyi arranges his intervention in her younger sister Su Youqin’s curse case. Both later attend his housewarming and bring an inkstone 11 14 69.
• Shang Ni’en — Fan and friend who helps him purchase the imperial-green jadeite needed for Xiao Zhu’s new body 27 28.
• Ling Qiao — Powerful ghost whom he helps establish as Huo Sili’s protector. He later discovers that her Ghost Pact is being exploited to steal Huo Sili’s fortune 25 75.
• Candlelight — His fan community. He treats forty-three airport supporters to dinner, signs photographs, and checks that they have somewhere to stay 40 41.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Notable Quotes

“I have my own life, and I’m not going to give it up just because of this so-called talent you keep talking about.” 19

“If you truly wanted to atone, you should turn yourself in, confess, and pay for your actions in prison.” 51

“I refined myself into divine artifacts.” 98

Trivia

• Despite inheriting Xiao Zhu’s modern-world memories, he is much less proficient with a phone than with talismans. He enjoys Honor of Kings despite being poor at it 41.
• He eats unusually quickly and in large quantities while maintaining an elegant, unhurried manner 41.
• He frequently neglects private messages, making even wealthy prospective clients struggle to contact him 17 38.
• He initially plans to leave the internet once he has earned enough money and live as an expert hidden among ordinary people 6.
• His first Weibo profile picture is a close-up of Little Eighteen rather than himself 40.
• Learning to bake his first cake takes several days of practice after an overly sweet initial attempt 120.