| “ | You think too highly of yourself, but you're a woman after all, you can't reach that high. | ” |
— Jing Wen
| ||
Jing Wen (敬文, Jìng Wén) is the former number one Civil God. He was the one who appointed Ling Wen as his errand girl when she was still a mortal, but mistreated her in the following years.[1]
Appearance[]
His original appearance as a Heavenly Official is not described in the novel. After a decline in spiritual power, he was able to survive by possessing a stone statue of a so-called eunuch, a man that has been castrated mostly as punishment or to serve a specific social function. This type of eunuch statue was recognised to be a slave statue typically buried alongside the powerful and wealthy. Due to the burial effects, the statue was full of yin energy, making it perfect for possession. The statue lacks proper feet, leading to a strange thumping noise as Jing Wen walks and can be described as looking "somehow bizarre and at the same time silly".
Additionally, the carved stone man is said to be extremely coarsely made and bare, wrapped only in cloth. Beneath the cloth there is nothing between the legs as one would expect of a man, thus revealing to onlookers that, the statue is indeed a eunuch [2]
Personality[]
He has a two-faced personality, as seen in the argument he has with Ling Wen. With Pei Ming not initially believing Ling Wen when they had found him due to the impoliteness of actions and tone [1].
During his time in Heaven, Jing Wen was always known to put on another face when interacting with the other Heavenly Officials. However, to Ling Wen, he showed a ruder, crueller misogynistic side that only she was aware of at the time. Due to their difference in power and status, it would have been unlikely that anyone would have believed his errand girl, Ling Wen, should she have spoken up [1]. He is shown to also be quite manipulative this way. Another example of this is when he deliberately keeping Ling Wen at his palace at midnight and then spreading rumours that she was trying to seduce him, further demeaning her [1].
Despite being a former literature God, he is shown to be crass and without respect or politeness, lacking any kind of class or elegance. He refuses to acknowledge his wrongdoings, pretending he did everything with good intent. This can be seen in his treatment of Ling Wen. Taking advantage of his position he kept Ling Wen on endless seemingly useless and benign errands, such as serving tea, delivering presents to other Heavenly Officials during holidays, and running kilometres just to fetch poetry manuscripts and wipe tables. His justifications were that he was trying to toughen her up and that if she couldn't handle these small tasks then he was fully in his right to not promote her [1].
He's shown to be a sexist misogynist pig, believing women couldn't reach high in position and having been disgusted by losing to a woman. Even going so far as to call his treatment of Ling Wen, 'training opportunities', not believing that a woman could have talent. When Pei Ming goes to defend her, he immediately calls him, her lover, suggesting that he could have been the root of those rumours about her sleeping her way into power. According to Ling Wen, he believes that every man she interacts with is her lover, which further displays his deep-rooted misogyny. Ironically his soul ended up in the stone statue of a slave eunuch.[2][1]
History[]
Background[]
Jing Wen was born to the kingdom of Xuli and is many centuries older than Ling Wen. One year the kingdom held a festival to celebrate the Civil Gods and with it, a small literary contest. Young scholars could write an anonymous essay about any topic, which would then be hung up in the biggest Civil God temple, at that time Jing Wen's, and a winner would be chosen by the people.
Jing Wen has descended at that time and participated out of fun by transforming into one a scholar. Confident his essay "Ode to Xuli" would win, he planned to reveal his true identity when he was announced top placer and raise his reputation among the people. However, an essay called "Not Xuli" won instead of his. The reason wasn't necessarily the quality of the writing, but more so the political situation of Xuli. People were unsatisfied with the kingdom and thus "Not Xuli" won as it matched the people's complaints. Essays praising the kingdom were also amassed, thus the people were tired of essays like "Ode to Xuli".
People searched for the author of "Not Xuli", but they remained unknown until a few months later, when Jing Wen had already forgotten about the whole ordeal. It turned out Ling Wen, at that time a shoe-selling woman, was the one who wrote it and had now been locked up in prison. Jing Wen quickly appointed her to the Heavens, which was pretty uncommon as women weren't normally deputy generals.
Jing Wen was praised for his sympathy towards her, and it was said that she was truly lucky to have met him. However, in reality he only let her run exhausting and long errands all day, refusing to promote her. He would sometimes have her stay in the Jing Wen Palace until midnight to work and then accuse her of hanging around to harass him. This fuelled rumours that Ling Wen slept her way into power and rose to her position without any skill[1]
After the kingdom of Xuli fell, his popularity and temples declined and thus his spiritual powers naturally weakened as well. Ling Wen used this to try and kill him multiple times. To survive, he possessed the statue and kept hiding, Ling Wen naturally replacing him and soon becoming the number one Civil God in his stead.[2]
Following these events, Ling Wen burned down the temples of Jing Wen with the help of Pei Ming and plagued his worshipers, most likely in order for them to drop their belief.
Reopening of Tonglu Mountain[]
Jing Wen also entered Mount Tonglu when it reopened. There he used the opportunity to kidnap Ling Wen and Pei Ming and hold them hostage underground cave beneath a small town. He bound them with scrolls that were even strong enough to suppress the Brocade Immortal. He confronts them, telling them to stop flirting despite them only quarrelling with each other.[3] Ling Wen quickly realizes that it's Jing Wen, even when he's stuck inside a statue, which shocks Pei Ming.
Hua Cheng explains the story of Jing Wen and Ling Wen to Xie Lian as they listen in on their conversation with the help of Hua Cheng's spirit butterfly that he attached to Pei Ming. Underground, Jing Wen and Ling Wen continue to argue. Jing Wen despises Ling Wen for what she has done to him, blaming her for his current situation and claiming how ungrateful she is considering how much he has done for her. Ling Wen stays smug and only tells him how much he mistreated her all these years. Pei Ming tries to stay out of the situation, but Jing Wen is aware that Pei Ming helped her destroy his temples and is enraged with him as well.
On the surface, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng both search for the location of them.
After Ling Wen insulted Jing Wen deeply by saying his popularity never even reached the knees of her palace, he implies that if he didn't help her she would have probably been raped and forced to give birth in jail. This comment disgusts Pei Ming, and he calls him out on it. Meanwhile, Xie Lian has finally found them and soon lands in the cave as well.
Jing Wen actually recognizes Xie Lian, who tries to calm the situation. However, it's useless and him and Ling Wen keep insulting and blaming each other. After the clothes fall off the statue, they all realize Jing Wen is stuck inside an eunuch statue. Ling Wen makes fun of him, while Xie Lian tries to ease the situation again by telling him he's impotent himself, but Jing Wen doesn't buy it and then threatens to mutilate Pei Ming's genitals.
Jing Wen questions Ling Wen if she really played part in the fall of the Xuli Kingdom, to which she doesn't answer, implying that she most likely did. He rages over what she's done, calling Bai Jing, a former Xuli general and who's now the Brocade Immortal, an idiot in the process.
Suddenly the scrolls binding Ling Wen rip apart and a hand emerges from the brocade, seizing Jing Wen's head. Within a few seconds the statue gets destroyed, along with Jing Wen himself.
Relationships[]
Ling Wen[]
Jing Wen and Ling Wen deeply resent each other. Ling Wen hates Jing Wen for mistreating her, making her run errands all day and making false accusations to make her look bad, plus never giving her the opportunity to rise in status. Jing Wen despises Ling Wen for trying to kill him after his popularity declined and making him flee to possess a statue, replacing him as the number one Civil God. He thinks Ling Wen is ungrateful for all the things he's done for her, but she doesn't see any good at being appointed to the Heavens by him. It's implied that Ling Wen orchestrated the fall of Xuli, causing his decline as a Civil God.[2]
Pei Ming[]
Jing Wen despises Pei Ming, due to the fact that Pei Ming helped Ling Wen burn down and destroy the Jing Wen's temples, by lending her the martial officials to do so. Pei Ming in return didn't seem to care a lot about Jing Wen and only wanted to help out a friend that has been mistreated by her superior.
After he witnesses how disrespectfully Jing Wen talks and acts towards Ling Wen, he becomes disgusted with him and frequently calls him out on his behaviour. At one point Jing Wen threatens to perform genital mutilation on him, which sets Pei Ming into panic, but Jing Wen is destroyed before anything can further escalate.[2]
Trivia[]
- There's not a single Jing Wen temple left within an 800-mile radius.[1]
- His exact age is unknown, but he was already a Heavenly Official when Xie Lian first ascended.[2]