Xie Lian

""身在无间, 心在桃源."

"Body in the abyss, the heart in paradise.""

― Xie Lian

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Xie Lian (谢怜 Xiè Lián) His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Xian Le, is the main protagonist of the Chinese Webnovel Heaven Official's Blessing (Tiān Guān Cì Fú) written by Mò Xiāng Tóngxiù (墨香铜臭).

He was widely known throughout the Xian Le nation as the beloved yet strange prince. Never showing interest in what was considered normal for a prince, he simply declared, "I want to save the common people!" Through practice, hard work, and insight beyond his years, he perfected his cultivation and ascended to the Heavens at the age of 17.

After multiple unfortunate events, he was twice banished from the Heavens. 800 years later, he returns for the third time with an immense CRASH! What kind of story will unfold for this unconventional god?

Appearance

"His golden mask fell off, revealing the young and handsome face previously hidden behind it.

-Chapter 1

Often seen in raggedy Taoist robes. Often paired with a conical straw hat (douli). A white wrapping around one hand.

He is described as a handsome individual. In his younger years as a prince, he wore extravagant clothing and also wore two red pearls one of which Hua Cheng is currently in possession of. He currently wears a conical straw hat in honor of a nameless farmer who showed him genuine kindness and compassion at his lowest point (restoring his faith in humanity) and wears simple white robes. He tends to wear bandages to hide his cursed shackles. One of the bandages he wears is actually Ruoye.

Personality

Xie Lian is a kind gentle person. Having fallen from heaven two times, he is used to looking for and eating scraps to survive. As a result he is very frugal. Due to all the tragedies and suffering he was forced to endure, he has low self esteem and insecurities about himself. As a result, he initially did not feel worthy of Hua Cheng's love.

He is a kind man who only wants to help others, though his previous attempts have led to failure, the deaths of thousands, the severing of his ties of his close friends and family, and nearly his sanity and faith in humanity (he almost turned into a calamity). As a man he was far too idealistic and wanted to be a hero that solved everyone's problems. He was even willing to disobey rules that Gods were not allowed to interfere with the mortal realm to help save his people, though unfortunately only led to more dying. When his own people turned against him, he deci

He does not hold grudges against others and while he does not forget past grievances, most are usually pushed in the back of his mind and he is even willing to save those who have wronged him horribly in the past. He also does not care for the opinions of others, many of whom are hypocrites who look down at him for having fallen twice and for collecting scraps but do far less work than he has ever done and end up trying to get good connections with him after he becomes the strongest God at the end.

In the most dire of situations he is still able to remain calm and think up strategies on how to save everyone and defeat the enemy. However, when faced with Hua Cheng's flirtatious and romantic gestures he becomes flustered.

While he is skilled at fixing and building houses, he is horrible at household chores, being terrible at sewing, cleaning, chores, or cooking. His cooking in particular is so bad that no one can stomach his food except Hua Cheng.

History

Before First Ascension

Xie Lian was born to the Emperor and Empress of the nation of Xian Le. The nation was very prosperous: vast resources, beautiful arts, beautiful women, and happy citizens. The prince wanted for nothing, and was beloved throughout the kingdom. While he was a bit strange, not caring for politics or money, he was strong in his belief that he would be able to help the common people. He studied cultivation from a young age at the renowned Taoist Huang Ji Temple. It was there that he met one of his future generals, Mu Qing. Mu Qing worked as an errand boy at the temple, and only with Xie Lian's recommendation was he given the chance to study cultivation. 

After First Ascension

"When people said you were a god, then you were a god. If they said you were sh*t, then you were sh*t. Whatever the people said you were, that was what you became. It had always been like this."

With his country at the brink of war, against the word of Emperor Jun, Xie Lian descended to the Human Realm to assist the people. However, it is against the rules of Heaven to descend without express permission to the Human Realm, lest tragedy befall the humans. No matter how hard the prince tried, everything he did to help only seemed to make matters worse. In the end, fires and plague spread across the nation, and the rebel armies lay siege to the Imperial City. Although he had meant only to help his people, he had unintentionally been the one to lead the nation to its end.

*Spoiler*

Xie Lian can be seen as the reason why Bai WuXiang was created. "You used your divinity to interfere in mortal matters. The predetermined fate of the Kingdom of XianLe has been turned completely upside down by you, a complete and utter mess. For the sake of balance, nature will breed other things to bring everything you’ve deranged back on track. I don’t know what that creature was, but, I am certain, it was born because of you.”

"Because the Kingdom of XianLe was destined to fall. Since you raised your hand and messed up this game of chess, then, there will for sure be another hand that returns all the messed up pieces back in place.”

After the unfortunate fall of the nation, Xie Lian felt the blow from both the humans and the gods. Where he was once widely worshipped with thousands of shrines, he was now seen as the 'Demon God" who had destroyed the nation. 

From the Heavens, he received the punishment of banishment, along with the destruction of his cultivation. He was forced back to the Human Realm.

Relationships

Family

Hua Cheng

His husband and lover. He is his most devoted follower.

Qi Rong

His cousin. Was loyal to him before complications arose, and the war which led to the downfall of Xian Le.

Mother

A kind woman who loved him deeply.

Father

A stern man he had difficulty talking to despite the fact both loved and cared for each other.

Heavenly Officials

Feng Xin

Former servant.

Mu Qing

Former servant.

Shi Qingxuan

One of his closest friends and allies.

Yu Shi Huang

She leant him a device that provided rain so he could relieve the drought in Yong An.

Former Heavenly Officials

Mei Nian Qing

His teacher and close friend.

Abilities

(Contain spoilers for the whole novel)

• High Pain Tolerance: Due to the amount of torture battles and pain he suffered, he has an extremely high tolerance of pain. Even while being mortal he could go for days without food or water. When he suffered frostbite, he couldn't even remember he had wounds. It is not that he cannot feel pain, but that he has become numb to it

• High Danger Sense: He has an uncanny ability to sense danger that he has high pride on (and has proven to be correct in his intuition each and every time)

• Swordsmanship Skills: Due to collecting scraps most do not realize he ascended the first time due to his swordsmanship skills. He is so good that he can use only a branch to dispatch of over 30 heavenly officials.

• Intelligence: He has proven to be one of the most intelligent characters of the series, managing to figure out mysteries and motivations of other characters and trick even Ling Wen Jun (the highest literature God and therefore one of the smartest Gods) into revealing her crimes. He has also used this to be able to see through people's illusions and disguises by seeing flaws in their personality or appearance to distinguish them from the original (such as the fake Feng Xin and Mu Qing sent by Jun Wu).

• Immortality: He was cursed by Jun Wu to the extent that he could never die no matter what injuries he sustained.

• Physical Strength: He is strong enough to break four stone tablets onto his chest with no injuries (when a strong mortal attempted to do it he crippled himself).

• Agility: He is capable of running great speeds and also jumping high distances.

• Spiritual Powers: He regains spiritual powers after ascending to Godhood for a third time. This includes using light, having a spiritual shield on his body and communicating via the spiritual array among other uses.

• Multilingual: Jun Wu implanted in him the ability to understand the emotions and language of the WuYong tongue when spoken by the WuYong people though when Hua Cheng reiterated the same words he couldn't understand him.

• Bad Cooking Skills: His cooking skills are so bad that he has actually managed to weaponize it. His cooking has even caused the likes of Gods such as Pei Ming, Quan Yi Zhen, Ling Wen ZhenJun, Fen Xing, and Mu Qing faint along with two of the four calamities: Qi Rong and He Xuan.

• Calligraphy: Having been taught calligraphy by some of the best teachers as a child, he has one of the best handwriting of the series.

• Bad Fortune: While not necessarily an ability, due to his second fall from heaven and a crushed shackle on his neck, he suffers from having bad fortune. It is the main reason he frequently lost jobs as lightning would strike him or some accident would occur wherever he appeared.

Tools/Weapons

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Ruoye

Xie Lian is seen using a type of silk bandage called, "Ruoye". These bandages wrap around his hands and arms and are normally covered by his sleeves. While dormant, they can pass as normal bandages. When Xie Lian comes into contact with danger, the silk seems to have the ability to act on its own, as a sort of automatic defense. It can also be controlled manually when given direct instruction by Xie Lian, as seen here in chapter 7:

Xie Lian thought for a moment before slightly raising his arm, revealing a wrist that was half-bandaged.

File:Ruoye.PNG

Ruoye unwrapping itself from Xie Lian's arm to defend its owner.[1]

He said, “Go ahead.”

The moment he said those words, those white bandages began automatically sliding off his arm. Like it was alive, it flew outside by passing the curtains of the sedan.

Xie Lian sat upright in the sedan before gently ordering, “Strangle them to death.”

In the midst of the night, a white viper suddenly swam out.

While Xie Lian is unable to use spiritual power, due to the curse mark on his neck, it seems that the 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.

Fang Xin

After hundreds of years, Fang Xin finally returned to the hands of its master.

It moaned softly in Xie Lian's hands. Close by, Hua Cheng's eyes also shone from hearing the euphoric cries of that sword.

The sword wielded by Xie Lian in his role as Head Priest to Yong An is named Fang Xin. After his execution, Lang Qian Qiu carries Fang Xin until he confronts Xie Lian outside Qi Rong's lair. Fang Xin is described as being "long and slender... The sword was dark like black jade, deep and foreboding, smoother than a mirror, and if anyone were to go near, they could see their own reflection in the blade. Only the thin, silver white line of the heart of the sword cut across the blade in half."