Door God

Biodata

Power Progression

No named cultivation realm is established for Door God. His documented development concerns recovery from suppression and the expansion of his guardian duties.

Background / History

Suppression and Escape

An ancient temple patriarch sentenced the spider yao to a hundred years of suppression for impersonating a door god and disturbing the public. The inscription on his jade plaque stated that he had not eaten anyone and that his bloodline was a reason to spare him 23.

Chen Du saw a smoke-like yao flee down the mountain as a black dot vanished from his seal. Investigation uncovered the suppression plaque. After learning that the creature had previously posed as a door god, Chen Du worried that it might cause further trouble or return to threaten the temple 23 24.

Lord Linji’s Temple and Capture

At Lord Linji’s temple, a door bearing a door-god image repeatedly returned after being removed—even after workers cut it away with power tools. Yunzhi investigated and found the demon inhabiting the doors, trapping her inside and demanding goats as sacrifices 28 29.

Yunzhi’s attempts to persuade him to surrender failed, and his defensive ability repelled her illusion. She instead used concealment and repeated attacks to exhaust him, but still could not damage the doors. Only after obtaining Chen Du’s treasured sword could she injure him and force his giant spider form from its hiding place 29 30 31.

Once weakened, he succumbed to an illusion that prompted him to shrink himself. Yunzhi carried him back to Earth Sage Temple, where he broke free and smashed the gate. Faced with his suppression plaque and Chen Du’s seal, he begged for mercy 31.

Service at Earth Sage Temple

Chen Du judged that renewed imprisonment would neither explain the spider’s wrongdoing nor teach him repentance. Instead, he offered food and shelter in exchange for accepting a binding, guarding the gate, and cultivating his character. He promised to consider releasing him once he had reformed and conditions below the mountain were suitable. The spider immediately entered the gate, and Chen Du named him Door God 32.

Door God subsequently accompanied Chen Du and Yunzhi to investigate another weakening seal. When a powerful pig demon escaped, he repeatedly blocked its attacks on Chen Du. After returning to the temple, he also repelled the demon’s surprise attack while Yunzhi was away 43 44 45 46.

These defenses earned him a spiritual fruit and permission to move throughout the temple. Chen Du entrusted its safety to him while Yunzhi continued pursuing the escaped demon 47.

Appearance

Door God’s true form is a black spider as broad as a door, large enough to fill a small room 31.

• Eight eyes: All visibly show fear when he confronts the suppression plaque or Chen Du’s seal 31.
• Door-like abdomen: His rear can serve as a door, matching the burrow-building characteristics Yunzhi associates with trapdoor spiders 31.
• Smoke manifestation: He becomes dense black smoke when entering doors or traveling along the ground 32 43 45.
• Inhabited gate: After his binding, the old wooden gate gains a fine grain, dense texture resembling either gold or wood, and rings of dark-gold patterns 32.
• Partial manifestation: He can project a hideous spider face from a door to swallow food 47.

Personality

Door God has limited intelligence and a narrow conversational repertoire, repeatedly declaring “I am the Door God” or demanding sheep even when threatened. Yunzhi’s elaborate appeals to reason fail to move him. Chen Du nevertheless considers him capable of learning rather than inherently evil 29 31 32.

He fears the authority represented by the suppression plaque and seal, and readily begs for mercy when confronted with them. Under Chen Du’s supervision, he learns to remain silent around outsiders and stops frightening visitors. Yunzhi later reports that he has obeyed the rules, although he still quietly announces himself when she returns alone 31 32 40.

Food is a strong incentive for him. After receiving the spiritual fruit, his rough, clumsy voice noticeably softens, and he answers Chen Du’s instruction to protect the temple with his defensive declaration 32 47.

Abilities & Skills

This Door Is Impassable

His signature defensive ability prevents passage through a doorway or door-shaped barrier 29 44.

• Repels Yunzhi’s Like a Dream illusion during their first confrontation 29.
• According to Yunzhi, can send anything entering the door back exactly as it came 31.
• Produces an invisible barrier away from a physical gate, stopping the pig demon immediately before it reaches Chen Du 44 45.
• Requires magical power: after prolonged exhaustion, he can no longer maintain it 30.

Durable Door Form

His door-like rear remains exceptionally hard even when his magical power and physical strength are exhausted 30 31.

• Withstands masonry hurled by Yunzhi and leaves her unable to finish the fight unaided 30.
• Is not invulnerable: Chen Du’s treasured sword cuts through his defenses and injures him 31.

Door Inhabitation and Guardianship

Door God inhabits doors as a guardian rather than merely standing watch beside them 32 47.

• Restores and transforms the damaged main gate upon entering it 32.
• Once his range expands, every temple door becomes a dwelling place from which he can emerge 47.
• Repels the escaped demon’s attack on the temple; Chen Du also expects him to intercept hostile demons approaching through the air 46.

Black-Smoke Evasion

He can transform into black smoke for escape and travel 23 45.

• Moves close to the ground and becomes almost invisible beneath thick grass 45.
• Consumes substantially more energy than an ordinary evasion technique over the same speed and distance 47.
• His forced escape from the mountain contributes to his weakened condition before fighting Yunzhi 30.

Size Transformation and Digging

• Size transformation: Can reduce his room-filling body to an ordinary spider’s size. Yunzhi exploits this ability through an illusion to transport him 31.
• Digging: Yunzhi identifies him as a burrowing trapdoor spider; Chen Du later uses the pit he dug as a reference when excavating the mountain 31 44.

Binding and Rules

• Jade suppression tablet: Originally records his offenses and hundred-year sentence. Chen Du rewrites its inscription to document his new binding to the temple gate 23 32.
• Earth Sage Seal: Chen Du stamps the gate to establish the binding. Removing the tablet from its position at the main gate later allows Door God’s protective range to encompass the temple 32 46.
• Conduct toward humans: Must not harm or frighten people, speak before outsiders, or lock anyone in or out without orders 32.
• Guardian duty: Must stop unfamiliar demons and ghosts from entering and alert Chen Du 32.
• Movement restriction: Even after receiving temple-wide freedom, must not leave without permission 47.

Relationships

• Chen Du — Captor, reformer, and master. Gives him his name, imposes rules, provides food, and rewards his protection with greater freedom and a spiritual fruit 32 40 47.
• Yunzhi — Initially his opponent and captor, later a fellow temple guardian. She recognizes his superior cultivation and defensive abilities as a threat to her own standing, while considering herself much more intelligent 31 33 43.
• Ancient temple patriarch — Suppressed him for impersonating a deity and alarming the public, but spared his life because he had not eaten anyone and possessed a noteworthy bloodline 23 32.