Ruoye

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Ruoye
Information
Name	若邪 – Ruòyé 若 Ruò – as if, like 邪 yé – question mark in ancient text
Owner	Xie Lian
Type	Spiritual Device

Ruoye (若邪, Ruòyé) is a long silk band that Xie Lian carries with him. He primarly uses it as a weapon, but also for various other types of maneuvers, such as barriers or giving it for people to hold onto.

Description

Ruoye is a pure white silk bandage that can expand to a great length and is wrapped around Xie Lian's wrists and arms, where it's usually covered by his sleeves. In the text, it's often likened to a white snake. While dormant, it can pass as normal bandages. It's very durable and flexible, however, it was ripped in half during the final fight at Tonglu Mountain. After being fixed by Mu Qing, it appears to look just as new due to his sewing skills.

It shows traces of having an independent will and personality. It is deeply loyal to Xie Lian. It possesses mild perversion, as it is stated to not like being used to capture and subdue older men and was shown to be happy at the prospect of being able to be used to tie up Ling Wen, a female God. It also tends to have a more childish aspect to its personality, competing with E-Ming, Hua Cheng's scimitar, for Xie Lian's affection.

History

Origins

During his first banishment, Xie Lian often donned an ordinary white silk bandage to cover his face in an effort to hide his identity from the citizens and soldiers of Yong'an. When he later underwent his torture in the Temple of the Flower Crowned Martial God, that same silk bandage was used by Bai Wuxiang to restrain him.

Soon after he returned from the temple, Xie Lian's parents, unable to cope the fall of Xianle and their son's mental state after his banishment, committed suicide by hanging using the silk bandage. Then after seeing their bodies, Xie Lian himself unsuccessfully attempted suicide using that same method.

Having taken the lives of two royals and being stained with Xie Lian's blood, the silk gained a spirit of its own. Due to its origin, Xie Lian is able to control Ruoye without the use of spiritual power.

Use

Xie Lian pretending to be a snake charmer with Ruoye

Xie Lian is able to manually control Ruoye, and it immediately acts upon his orders. It has been used for binding people, breaking bones, creating barriers, holding people when they're in danger, and much more. In the manhua, Ruoye is even shown to help Xie Lian out with earning money. In the kitchen, Ruoye is quite adept at chopping firewood and vegetables, though its skills fall short of E-Ming's. When Xie Lian comes into contact with an evil aura, the silk seems to have the ability to act on its own, as a sort of automatic defense.

While Xie Lian is unable to use spiritual power due to the curse mark on his neck, Ruoye does not require this to be activated. He says to Nan Feng that there will "inevitably be exceptions to everything". He does not explain further as to what power source is used to control the silk.

Trivia

• Although the second character of its name is "xie" (邪, xié – demonic, evil) in conventional reading, MXTX stated in a footnote that it's supposed to be read as "ye" (邪, yé).
  • While "ye" (邪, yé) doesn't mean anything, it is similar to Moye (莫邪 Mòyé), a powerful and famous ancient sword from Chinese legends. In some versions of the legend Moye turns into a white dragon.