Xingchen is a cultivator, basically a fantasy Chinese exorcist. So he has a Golden Core he’s trained up which supplies him with spiritual energy to do cool, fancy martial arts stuff like swordfighting and sick flips, but he’s also able to release, suppress, or banish spirits and ghosts and other such things that go bump in the night. He can also take part in inedia, or fast for long periods of time without food or water and wounds he receives tend to heal faster than a normal human thanks to the Core’s power. He uses a sword, Shuanghua, but can also utilize talismans for certain tasks, from making fire to binding or sealing a monster. Or, well, he used to. Being blind now makes this drastically more difficult, but if he focuses hard enough to draw up a talisman, he probably could still manage something, though its power would be understandably lowered. He was also trained as a young boy up to his teens by an immortal cultivator, so the source material was top notch. He had a good base to go off until he decided to leave.
Shuanghua itself is a fancy sword. Not only is it famous – if swords could be listed as eligible bachelors, then Shuanghua would be high up on the list – but it has a nifty ability of seeking out corpse energy. This is very helpful for Xingchen in his current state as it ensures he can still go night hunting (monster hunting and ghostbusting, basically) even without sight. However, Shuanghua can’t tell the difference between a dead corpse (your standard zombie friend) or a living corpse (someone who’s been subjected to corpse poisoning, but still can breathe and appear to be “living”) which means it can be tricked.
Because he’s lost his eyes, some of Xingchen’s other senses have naturally enhanced, as is to be expected. So hearing, smell, and touch have all stepped up their game. In canon, he can smell someone bleeding on the side of the road. He’s also never seen using a cane, so his spatial awareness is pretty good. It’s reasonable to say that once he’s familiar with a location, he can walk around it with no problems, unless someone puts an obstacle in his footpath.
PERSONALITY:
Within the text of the novel, Xingchen is described as having “a soft personality but a solid heart, gentle on the outside but determined on the inside” and that pretty much nails it on the head. This is made concrete by his leaving Baoshan Sanren’s mountain with the desire to save the world. His kindness made real by his desire to help and his inner strength proven by leaving his home with the knowledge he would never be welcomed back. His attitude was also popular with the non-cultivators when he could still see, because he is not only kind and approachable, but always answered their cries for help, especially when the larger sects would ignore such pleas. He went on to earn the moniker of the “bright moon and gentle breeze” because of his nature. Even now as a blind man, he is still good, even if he cannot help as he once did, though he will go night-hunting on his own (or with a certain companion) without being asked.
Of course, he is blind now and the events leading to his decision to give his eyes to Song Lan seem to have left Xingchen a little more subdued. Once an extremely popular rogue cultivator, he’s since fallen more to the fringes, though he never complains about it. People who didn’t know him before may not even realize anything is wrong – besides the whole being blind thing – but Xingchen clamps down when the topic of Song Lan comes up, only sharing if he deeply trusts someone. There is definitely guilt still hanging over him, that Xue Yang never would have targeted Song Lan had Xingchen never hunted Xue Yang for his criminal acts. It’s evident he misses Song Lan a great deal, too, but since his friend asked to part ways, Xingchen complied. In his mind, he has no reason to argue since it was his fault this all happened.
Xingchen probably should argue more often. People take advantage of his blindness, whether it’s to sell him more undesirable food or to simply look down on him for his disability. He ignores this, knowing he’s being treated badly, but he’s also embarrassed to try and stand up for himself in his state. Eating a bruised vegetable doesn’t bother him as much as it would someone else, anyway, so he just carries on. But this attitude also plays into what is perhaps his greatest flaw. Xingchen believes in the goodness of the world, that it’s worth saving, but he also has a tendency to trust too quickly or be lenient toward people who might be better off reprimanded. One of the people who lives with him in Yi City is Xue Yang himself, using Xingchen’s blindness to his advantage and pitching his voice so as not to be recognized. But even though Xingchen found the young man bleeding on the side of the road, he never asks for his name or why he was left to die in the first place, despite such suspicious flags. He reasons his companion will explain himself if he wishes, but Xingchen won’t force him to speak if he doesn’t.
Perhaps being raised on a secluded mountain plays into his naivete about the world, even if Baoshan Sanren holds the opinion that people in general are not worth any of their time. She is immortal and has spent an unknown time separated from society, seeming to only leave her mountain to take in orphaned or abandoned children to teach. While it is unknown how old he was when she probably picked him up, Xingchen left the mountain when he was seventeen years old, so it’s reasonable to say he spent at least a decade shut off from the rest of the world and the time during which he would have begun really figuring himself out as a young teen.
Although he may be blind (I’m sorry) to people’s true intentions, he can still pick out certain traits. He recognizes that Jin Guangyao tends to flatter others to gain their support, which is one of the man’s most reliable assets. And Xingchen is certainly intelligent in the ways of cultivation, having grown as strong as he is. When he entered the cultivation world at seventeen, he immediately garnered attention, not just from those he helped, but from the sects themselves and was invited to join multiple sects, all of which he refused.
He would have flourished anywhere, if given the freedom, but sects – especially the Great Sects, such as the Lanling Jin and the Gusu Lan – fall victim to their own politics and tend to care more about blood and name. While Xingchen was highly regarded despite having no family connections, he always wanted more for the people than for himself. Fame didn’t go to his head or deter him from his original goal of saving the world. And after he befriended Song Lan and learned they have similar ideals, he dreamed of starting a new sect together, one that didn’t value blood or money, just raw talent. And then Xue Yang happened, and those dreams were shattered.
What is right remains important to Xingchen and while his amicable nature might make one think he is a pacifist, he definitely subscribes to the idea of “an eye for an eye.” Later on in canon, Xue Yang explains why he murdered a whole sect in retaliation to losing just one pinky finger and Xingchen questions why he couldn’t have settled for taking the perpetrator’s pinky instead. The punishment must fit the severity of the crime, in his mind. Earlier, when Xingchen had caught Xue Yang for murdering said clan, he doesn’t speak up against the idea of executing the younger man. After all, he initially suggested he be punished severely for the act, anyway.
While the past two or three years have certainly humbled Xingchen, he doesn’t lie around all “woe is me.” His life could be easier, of course, but he still manages to get by with relatively little problem. Having two wards in Yi City helps, even if one is blind – spoilers, A-Qing isn’t – as not only their companionship keeps the loneliness at bay, but it forces him to look after them, giving him a new purpose outside of his random night-hunts. The three of them have become a found family of sorts and Xingchen truly cares for them and would consider Xue Yang’s unnamed character a real friend. He still has a sense of humor and the two of them make him laugh regularly, though Xingchen is also easy to entertain, and even makes himself laugh before getting to the punchline of a joke. He’s not a great entertainer himself, though. Never ask him for a story because it won’t be exciting or embellished at all.
- Shuanghua - Horsetail whisk - His clothes (plus blindfold for courtesy) - Two (2) pieces of hard candy - A (woefully light) coin purse
NOTES: Even though he has exactly zero eyeballs, Xingchen can trudge his way through life with a fair amount of ease these days. But he does still have exactly zero eyeballs.
Xiao Xingchen | Mo Dao Zu Shi
CONTACT:
CHARACTER: Xiao Xingchen
CANON: Mo Dao Zu Shi
CANON POINT: Chapter 40, before Song Lan shows up to Yi City and things fall to shit
BACKGROUND: Wiki
ABILITIES | POWERS:
Xingchen is a cultivator, basically a fantasy Chinese exorcist. So he has a Golden Core he’s trained up which supplies him with spiritual energy to do cool, fancy martial arts stuff like swordfighting and sick flips, but he’s also able to release, suppress, or banish spirits and ghosts and other such things that go bump in the night. He can also take part in inedia, or fast for long periods of time without food or water and wounds he receives tend to heal faster than a normal human thanks to the Core’s power. He uses a sword, Shuanghua, but can also utilize talismans for certain tasks, from making fire to binding or sealing a monster. Or, well, he used to. Being blind now makes this drastically more difficult, but if he focuses hard enough to draw up a talisman, he probably could still manage something, though its power would be understandably lowered. He was also trained as a young boy up to his teens by an immortal cultivator, so the source material was top notch. He had a good base to go off until he decided to leave.
Shuanghua itself is a fancy sword. Not only is it famous – if swords could be listed as eligible bachelors, then Shuanghua would be high up on the list – but it has a nifty ability of seeking out corpse energy. This is very helpful for Xingchen in his current state as it ensures he can still go night hunting (monster hunting and ghostbusting, basically) even without sight. However, Shuanghua can’t tell the difference between a dead corpse (your standard zombie friend) or a living corpse (someone who’s been subjected to corpse poisoning, but still can breathe and appear to be “living”) which means it can be tricked.
Because he’s lost his eyes, some of Xingchen’s other senses have naturally enhanced, as is to be expected. So hearing, smell, and touch have all stepped up their game. In canon, he can smell someone bleeding on the side of the road. He’s also never seen using a cane, so his spatial awareness is pretty good. It’s reasonable to say that once he’s familiar with a location, he can walk around it with no problems, unless someone puts an obstacle in his footpath.
PERSONALITY:
Within the text of the novel, Xingchen is described as having “a soft personality but a solid heart, gentle on the outside but determined on the inside” and that pretty much nails it on the head. This is made concrete by his leaving Baoshan Sanren’s mountain with the desire to save the world. His kindness made real by his desire to help and his inner strength proven by leaving his home with the knowledge he would never be welcomed back. His attitude was also popular with the non-cultivators when he could still see, because he is not only kind and approachable, but always answered their cries for help, especially when the larger sects would ignore such pleas. He went on to earn the moniker of the “bright moon and gentle breeze” because of his nature. Even now as a blind man, he is still good, even if he cannot help as he once did, though he will go night-hunting on his own (or with a certain companion) without being asked.
Of course, he is blind now and the events leading to his decision to give his eyes to Song Lan seem to have left Xingchen a little more subdued. Once an extremely popular rogue cultivator, he’s since fallen more to the fringes, though he never complains about it. People who didn’t know him before may not even realize anything is wrong – besides the whole being blind thing – but Xingchen clamps down when the topic of Song Lan comes up, only sharing if he deeply trusts someone. There is definitely guilt still hanging over him, that Xue Yang never would have targeted Song Lan had Xingchen never hunted Xue Yang for his criminal acts. It’s evident he misses Song Lan a great deal, too, but since his friend asked to part ways, Xingchen complied. In his mind, he has no reason to argue since it was his fault this all happened.
Xingchen probably should argue more often. People take advantage of his blindness, whether it’s to sell him more undesirable food or to simply look down on him for his disability. He ignores this, knowing he’s being treated badly, but he’s also embarrassed to try and stand up for himself in his state. Eating a bruised vegetable doesn’t bother him as much as it would someone else, anyway, so he just carries on. But this attitude also plays into what is perhaps his greatest flaw. Xingchen believes in the goodness of the world, that it’s worth saving, but he also has a tendency to trust too quickly or be lenient toward people who might be better off reprimanded. One of the people who lives with him in Yi City is Xue Yang himself, using Xingchen’s blindness to his advantage and pitching his voice so as not to be recognized. But even though Xingchen found the young man bleeding on the side of the road, he never asks for his name or why he was left to die in the first place, despite such suspicious flags. He reasons his companion will explain himself if he wishes, but Xingchen won’t force him to speak if he doesn’t.
Perhaps being raised on a secluded mountain plays into his naivete about the world, even if Baoshan Sanren holds the opinion that people in general are not worth any of their time. She is immortal and has spent an unknown time separated from society, seeming to only leave her mountain to take in orphaned or abandoned children to teach. While it is unknown how old he was when she probably picked him up, Xingchen left the mountain when he was seventeen years old, so it’s reasonable to say he spent at least a decade shut off from the rest of the world and the time during which he would have begun really figuring himself out as a young teen.
Although he may be blind (I’m sorry) to people’s true intentions, he can still pick out certain traits. He recognizes that Jin Guangyao tends to flatter others to gain their support, which is one of the man’s most reliable assets. And Xingchen is certainly intelligent in the ways of cultivation, having grown as strong as he is. When he entered the cultivation world at seventeen, he immediately garnered attention, not just from those he helped, but from the sects themselves and was invited to join multiple sects, all of which he refused.
He would have flourished anywhere, if given the freedom, but sects – especially the Great Sects, such as the Lanling Jin and the Gusu Lan – fall victim to their own politics and tend to care more about blood and name. While Xingchen was highly regarded despite having no family connections, he always wanted more for the people than for himself. Fame didn’t go to his head or deter him from his original goal of saving the world. And after he befriended Song Lan and learned they have similar ideals, he dreamed of starting a new sect together, one that didn’t value blood or money, just raw talent. And then Xue Yang happened, and those dreams were shattered.
What is right remains important to Xingchen and while his amicable nature might make one think he is a pacifist, he definitely subscribes to the idea of “an eye for an eye.” Later on in canon, Xue Yang explains why he murdered a whole sect in retaliation to losing just one pinky finger and Xingchen questions why he couldn’t have settled for taking the perpetrator’s pinky instead. The punishment must fit the severity of the crime, in his mind. Earlier, when Xingchen had caught Xue Yang for murdering said clan, he doesn’t speak up against the idea of executing the younger man. After all, he initially suggested he be punished severely for the act, anyway.
While the past two or three years have certainly humbled Xingchen, he doesn’t lie around all “woe is me.” His life could be easier, of course, but he still manages to get by with relatively little problem. Having two wards in Yi City helps, even if one is blind – spoilers, A-Qing isn’t – as not only their companionship keeps the loneliness at bay, but it forces him to look after them, giving him a new purpose outside of his random night-hunts. The three of them have become a found family of sorts and Xingchen truly cares for them and would consider Xue Yang’s unnamed character a real friend. He still has a sense of humor and the two of them make him laugh regularly, though Xingchen is also easy to entertain, and even makes himself laugh before getting to the punchline of a joke. He’s not a great entertainer himself, though. Never ask him for a story because it won’t be exciting or embellished at all.
SAMPLE:
One
Two
INVENTORY:
- Shuanghua
- Horsetail whisk
- His clothes (plus blindfold for courtesy)
- Two (2) pieces of hard candy
- A (woefully light) coin purse
NOTES: Even though he has exactly zero eyeballs, Xingchen can trudge his way through life with a fair amount of ease these days. But he does still have exactly zero eyeballs.