GHOST REALM & GHOST REALM ASSOCIATES
Bai Jing
白锦 “WHITE BROCADE”
The human spirit fused with the Brocade Immortal. He was once a young man with immense talent in martial arts who was destined for godhood. However, his life was gruesomely cut short when the girl he was in love with manipulated him into dismembering himself. That girl was Nangong Jie, better known as Ling Wen.
Banyue
半月 “HALF-MOON”
Former state preceptor of the Kingdom of Banyue, now a wrath ghost. She is a scrawny young woman who nonetheless possesses the power to call upon and control deadly scorpion-snakes. Despite her gloomy disposition, she earnestly wishes to save others from suffering, even if it means that she has to suffer in their stead.
Cuocuo
错错 “MISTAKE” (A CHILDISH TERM, LIKE “OOPSIE”)
A malice-level ghost resembling a monstrous-looking human fetus. It targets pregnant women and seeks to usurp the place of the children in their wombs—killing both mother and unborn child in the process. Its mother is Lan Chang (also known as Jian Lan), and its father is none other than Feng Xin. That being said, Cuocuo clearly doesn’t consider Feng Xin worthy of filial respect, and Feng Xin cannot bear acknowledging such a creature as his own son.
He Xuan
贺玄 “CONGRATULATE,” “BLACK,” “MYSTERIOUS”
Four Calamities Title: Ship-Sinking Black Water
One of the Four Calamities, Ship-Sinking Black Water. He is a mysterious and reclusive water ghost who rules the South Sea. Like Hua Cheng, he won the bloody gauntlet at Mount Tonglu and wields the power of a supreme ghost. He is consumed by ceaseless hunger and is driven by an equally consuming lust for revenge.
He Xuan disguised himself as the Earth Master Ming Yi for many centuries, and during this masquerade he cultivated a friendship with Shi Qingxuan. Although founded on falsehood, the feelings of friendship that “Ming-xiong” held for Shi Qingxuan seemed to be legitimate.
Black Water has a strange relationship with Hua Cheng. The two can hardly be considered friends, but they frequently work together to further their own personal interests—He Xuan was Hua Cheng’s spy in the heavens for centuries, and in return, Hua Cheng loaned him large sums of money and resources. Despite providing essential intel over the years, He Xuan remains deep in debt to him.
Kemo
刻磨 “MILLSTONE”
A former general of the Kingdom of Banyue, now a wrath-level ghost. He bears great resentment against the State Preceptor of Banyue, even after his own death, and great hatred for the long-dead kingdom that destroyed his own.
Lan Chang
蘭菖 “GLADIOLUS [FLOWER]”
A malice-level ghost. Formerly a prostitute in Ghost City and now on the run with her monstrous child, the fetus spirit Cuocuo. She is hardly as delicate as her floral name implies—when it comes to throwing insults around on the streets of Ghost City, she can give as good as she gets. In Chinese flower language, the gladiolus flower means “tryst” (for romantic rendezvous) and also “absence.” She was formerly known as Jian Lan (剑兰), which is another term for the same flower.
Jian Lan was once a citizen of Xianle, and no ordinary one at that—her family was wealthy and influential, and she was even briefly in the running to be named the crown prince’s consort. After the fall of Xianle, she was forced into service at a brothel, where she conceived Cuocuo during a brief doomed romance with Feng Xin. An unknown assailant targeted her and carved her unborn son out of her stomach to forge him into a monster, killing Jian Lan in the process and causing her to linger in the living world as a vengeful ghost.
Lang Ying (Ghost Child)
郎萤 “YOUTH,” “FIREFLY”
A mysterious ghost child afflicted with Human Face Disease. He has known nothing but abuse for hundreds of years due to his horrifying appearance, save for the fleeting kindness and warmth of the human girl Xiao-Ying. The combination of this trauma and his almost total lack of human interaction has left him mostly mute and constantly on high alert. Xie Lian was the one to give him this name: Lang being the national surname of Yong’an, and Ying to commemorate the girl who once took care of him.
Qi Rong
戚容 “FACE OF SORROW” OR “RELATIVE,” “TOLERANCE/FACE”
Four Calamities Title: Night-Touring Green Lantern
One of the Four Calamities, also called the “Green Ghost.” Unlike the other three Calamities, he’s actually only a wrath ghost, not a supreme. Gods and ghosts alike agree that he was only included in the group to bump up the number to an even four. (Also, he’s just that big a pest.) He is infamous for his crude behavior and ostentatious attempts to copy the style of the more successful Calamities, as well as for his ravenous appetite for human flesh.
His crimes expanded to include kidnapping and body-snatching, as he possessed the body of a human man and in doing so acquired a young son named Guzi. In a surprising turn of events, Qi Rong developed an attachment to the boy that led to him sacrificing himself to save Guzi’s life.
Qi Rong is Xie Lian’s younger cousin on his mother’s side, much to Xie Lian’s everlasting dismay. Surprising no one, Qi Rong has been a source of stress and trouble ever since their mortal childhoods in Xianle. His royal title in Xianle was Prince Xiao Jing.
Rong Guang
容广 “APPEARANCE/TOLERATE,” “VAST/NUMEROUS”
A former military officer of the fallen Kingdom of Xuli. He was once Pei Ming’s right-hand man and close friend; they were close enough for General Pei to name his sword “Mingguang,” a portmanteau of their names. However, he now seeks revenge against Pei Ming as a malice-level ghost fused with that same broken sword.
White No-Face
白无相 “WHITE NO-FACE”
Four Calamities Title: White-Clothed Calamity
One of the Four Calamities, White No-Face is mysterious, cruel, and powerful enough to battle with the Heavenly Emperor himself—truly, a supreme among supremes. He destroyed the Kingdom of Xianle with the Human Face Disease pandemic. His peculiar fixation on Xie Lian is unnerving, as are his equally peculiar displays of affection.
White No-Face is a creation of Jun Wu’s, made with a single purpose: to drive Xie Lian down the path chosen for him. White No-Face ultimately failed in this mission, thwarted by a passerby’s bamboo hat.