Character Analysis and Backstories of Manga Tales of Demons and Gods

Xiao Ning’er:

Meet one of Nie Li’s fighter apprentice classmates from the esteemed Winged Dragon family. Her unwavering commitment to training stems from her desire to break free from an unwanted arranged marriage to Shen Fei of the Sacred Family, whom she strongly dislikes. She’s depicted with shoulder-length black hair and a slim physique, although in the Manhua, her hair is portrayed as long and brownish-orange. Known for her cold and aloof demeanor, she’s often seen as an anti-social beauty. Her personality reflects that of a serious and determined student, embodying an unyielding nature.

She holds deep gratitude towards Nie Li for granting her the power to defy her arranged marriage and for curing her of the Arctic disease just in time. Nie Li’s actions have earned her eternal thanks, as he was instrumental in helping her avoid a fate she dreaded. She stands as the first woman in Nie Li’s rebirth life to develop feelings of love towards him.

Backstories:

Before the destruction of Glory City, she held an impressive rank as a 5-star silver demon spiritualist. However, her journey to this achievement was challenging. Initially starting as a bronze rank, she suffered immensely from the Arctic disease, enduring agonizing pain for two long years. Despite her illness, she was coerced into an arranged marriage with Shen Fei of the Sacred Family, who was Shen Yue’s elder brother. Refusing to succumb to her family’s wishes, she defiantly fled to the Black Devil Forest of St. Ancestral Mountain, just before the snow wind beast attacked.

Powers:

Xiao Ning’er kicks off her cultivation journey with a remarkable green soul realm and a soul force measuring 78. When her soul realm is put to the test, it reveals an exceptional Winged Dragon form with the Wind Lightning attribute, a rarity that sets her apart as a remarkable talent. Along with this form, she gains access to the Lightning Dragon Technique, propelling her almost instantly to a 1-star bronze rank. In a moment of intense emotion, her soul force experiences a significant jump from 105 to 362. Simultaneously, her soul realm transforms, manifesting physical wings—a phenomenon known as soul forming, which is exceedingly rare and demands an exceptionally pure soul force.

During the Holy Orchid Institute’s annual exam just a month later, Xiao Ning’er’s display of soul force is so extraordinary that it surpasses the 500-limit of a primary soul crystal, causing it to explode. Upon entering the Heavenly Sacred Border, her cultivation has already reached Silver rank, although the exact extent of her advancement remains unknown. As she nears the divine Thunder God’s Meteorite Sword, its formidable soul force intensifies, leading to an immediate breakthrough to a 5-star silver rank. Nie Li then presents her with a god-level growth rate Heavenly Lightning Sparrow demon spirit, instructing her to integrate with it, a task she accomplishes.

During their journey through the Ten Millennium Spatial Array, Nie Li discovers a large number of Blood Crystals in the Silver Winged Family’s village. With the assistance of these crystals, Xiao Ning’er becomes the first to achieve a breakthrough to 1-star Gold rank. Through her dedicated training and utilization of the Demon Spirit Devouring Technique, Xiao Ning’er eventually reached the pinnacle of a 5-star Gold rank. Subsequently, she swiftly advances to a 1-star Black Gold rank, further solidifying her formidable prowess.

During their journey to the Nether Realm, everyone’s cultivation experienced rapid advancement thanks to the Soul Array, reaching an impressive 4-star Black Gold rank. Upon entering the Nine-Layered Deathlands, Xia Ning’er consumed one of the Spiritual Origin Fruits, significantly elevating her cultivation to near legend rank. Participating in the Lord of Nether’s Disciple Selection, she ventured into the Black Infernal Tower where she absorbed the black flames, fortifying her body and soul. When Nie Li’s soul realm surged and attained Legend rank, the overwhelming wave of profound law energy through the soul array propelled her directly to the 2-star Legend rank.

Upon joining the Heavenly Note Sect, Xiao Ning’er’s cultivation soared to the 5-fate Heavenly Fate Realm. Each stage of the Lightning Dragon cultivation technique typically advances a person’s cultivation by three stages. By reaching the “Forming Thunder” stage at the 2 Fate Realm, she achieved 5-fate status. During her visit to the Divine Feathers Sect, Nie Li refined a god-level Divine Scarlet Thunderbird, which she promptly integrated with, further enhancing her power.

Du Ze:

A fellow student in Nie Li’s fighter apprentice class at the Holy Orchid Institute. Hailing from the humble Du family, he faces financial challenges as a commoner. However, he compensates with his diligent work ethic and decent talent. His age is only 14 and belongs to a human tribe. He has brown hair. According to personality, he is hardworking, determined, and honorable. His father’s name is Du Meng.

Appearance:

While his appearance isn’t detailed in the novel, the manhua depicts him with brown hair and eyes. Known for his straightforward, honorable, and overly serious demeanor, he often takes on the role of a responsible older brother, engaging in friendly arguments with Lu Piao over his lazy tendencies. Du Ze deeply admires and respects Nie Li, carrying a significant burden within his heart as his two sisters had to marry disabled individuals from the neighboring village to afford his education at the Holy Orchid Institute.

Backstory:

As one of Nie Li’s dearest companions, he valiantly sacrificed his life defending Glory City during the demon beast onslaught. Wei Nan, Zhu Xiangjun, and Zhang Ming served directly under him in battle. Despite studying the Sacred Flame cultivation technique, which didn’t align with his form or attribute, he exhibited immense determination and perseverance. Through relentless hard work, he achieved the status of a 1-star gold-class demon spiritualist and elevated his family’s status to that of aristocrats.

Powers:

Du Ze was born with a yellow soul realm, giving him a head start with a soul force of 52. During his soul realm test, he manifested the Heavenly Thundercloud form with the lightning fire attribute, a perfect match that allowed his soul force to grow steadily. With a consistent supply of elixirs from Nie Li and the use of Purple Haze Grass, his cultivation continued to flourish. Although his soul force didn’t surge as easily as others, he compensated with diligent cultivation. After a month of intense training alongside Nie Li, Lu Piao, and the others, Du Ze made remarkable progress. He reached a strength level of 500, achieving a 5-star bronze rank and surpassing 500 in spiritual power.

After a month, Du Ze reunites with Nie Li at the City Lord’s mansion, where he receives an Abyss Tiger god-level growth rate demon spirit. At some point, he breaks through to silver rank, integrating the demon spirit into his soul realm, although the specifics of his progress into silver rank remain undisclosed. During their journey through the Ten Millennium Spatial Array, Nie Li discovers a substantial amount of Blood Crystals in the Silver Winged Family’s village. Utilizing these crystals, Du Ze achieves a breakthrough to a 1-star Gold rank.

Through his dedicated training and utilization of the Demon Spirit Devouring Technique, Du Ze eventually reached the pinnacle of a 5-star Gold rank. During the expedition to the Nether Realm, everyone’s cultivation experiences rapid advancement thanks to the Soul Array, reaching an impressive 4-star Black Gold rank. Upon entering the Nine-Layered Deathlands, Du Ze consumes one of the Spiritual Origin Fruits, significantly elevating his cultivation close to legend rank.

Lu Piao:

Lu Piao, alongside Du Ze, is one of Nie Li’s closest friends. Hailing from the esteemed Lu family of Glory City, he is also a student at the Holy Orchid Institute. He has dark Grey brown hair and grey eyes. He is loyal and frank toward the protagonist. But he is a bit lazy. 

Personality:

In the Manhua adaptation, Lu Piao is portrayed as an average-height boy with spiky dark hair and grey eyes, although his appearance isn’t detailed in the novel. Characterized by his laziness and lack of ambition, Lu Piao tends to put in more effort when motivated by his companions. Despite his playful and somewhat cowardly nature, he remains fiercely loyal to his friends. Despite his noble background, he treats people from all walks of life with equality. Lu Piao harbors a fear of disappointing his father, as he faces the consequence of being hit when this occurs.

Backstory:

In his previous life, Lu Piao shared a close bond with Nie Li and Du Ze, but his cultivation only reached the level of a silver-ranked fighter. Growing up, Lu Piao was childhood friends with Xiao Xue, and his affection for her deepened into love over time. However, in their previous life, Lu Piao’s cultivation remained too low for Xiao Xue’s family to accept him as a suitable match. Instead, she was wedded to a young master from the Lu Family.

During the attack on Glory City, Lu Piao and Xiao Xue managed to find each other and secretly married. Their time together was tragically brief, as Xiao Xue lost her life in the demon beast onslaught. Grief-stricken and unable to imagine life without her, Lu Piao chose not to escape with Nie Li and passed away soon after.

Powers:

Lu Piao, like Nie Li, embarked on his cultivation journey from the lowest level. Initially possessing a red soul realm, many doubted his potential to become a demon spiritualist. However, upon training with the Holy Primal Chaos Technique, his soul force surged rapidly, thanks in part to his chaos attribute. With a regular supply of elixirs from Nie Li and the use of Purple Haze Grass, Lu Piao’s cultivation soared. Despite starting with a lower soul force than Du Ze, he managed to break into bronze rank shortly after him. Through focused training alongside Nie Li and others, Lu Piao reached an impressive 3-star bronze rank in both fighter and spiritual power.

After reuniting with Nie Li at the City Lord’s mansion, Lu Piao received a Scarlet Demonic Leopard god-level growth rate demon spirit. Although his progress into silver rank wasn’t disclosed, he successfully integrated the demon spirit into his soul realm. During their journey through the Ten Millennium Spatial Array, Lu Piao utilized Blood Crystals to break into a 1-star Gold rank. Through his training and the Demon Spirit Devouring Technique, he eventually reached the pinnacle of 5-star Gold rank. In the Nether Realm, Lu Piao’s cultivation surged with the assistance of the Soul Array, reaching a 4-star Black Gold rank. Consuming a Spiritual Origin Fruit in the Nine-Layered Deathlands further elevated his cultivation toward legend rank.

Participating in the Lord of Nether’s Disciple Selection, Lu Piao absorbed black flames in the Black Infernal Tower, strengthening his body and soul. Nie Li’s breakthrough into Legend rank propelled Lu Piao directly to a 1-star legend rank. Chosen as a disciple by the Lord of Nether to join the Divine Feathers Sect, Lu Piao’s 5-grade Heaven rank spiritual root qualified him for the west district of the Skysoul Institute. Upon cultivating in the Saint Soul Grounds, his strong natural talent propelled him to the eighty-sixth rank on the Saint Soul Board. With a steady supply of spiritual stones, he broke through to the Heavenly Fate Realm.

Receiving a god-level dragon bloodline demon spirit from Nie Li, Lu Piao’s cultivation continued to advance. Through Nie Li’s Divine Elixir and primordial bloodline demon beast blood, his cultivation rapidly progressed to 6 Heavenly Stars in the Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains Painting. Trying Nie Li’s Divine Elixir for the first time elevated Lu Piao directly to the 5-stage Heavenly Axis Realm. With further doses of the Divine Elixir and dedicated cultivation, his cultivation continued to rise steadily over the next month.

Xiao Yu:

Xiao Yu is a youth whom Xiao Ning’er encounters while separated from the group by the Fog of Misleading in the first layer of the Nine-Layered Deathlands in the Nether Realm. Despite being biologically female, Xiao Yu presents and speaks as a male, leading to some misunderstandings. Raised by her foster father, Ming Fei, the Lord of the Nether, Xiao Yu lacks knowledge about her origins. However, she senses two mysterious auras within her that have always offered protection and guidance. She also feels a connection between these auras and the enigmatic space-time artifact ring she possesses.

Unbeknownst to Xiao Yu, Nie Li converses with her birth father and discovers that millions of years ago, after being defeated by the Sage Emperor, he sealed his and his wife’s cultivation inside Xiao Yu’s blood using the Void Spiritual Array. Utilizing a secret technique, he then sent her to the current period.

Personality:

Despite dressing as a man, Xiao Yu exudes a friendly and easygoing demeanor. Nie Li often teases her about this disguise, noting her graceful and pure aura. She possesses thin, long brows, gentle eyes, and a long nose, with skin resembling white jade and eyes brimming with spirit. Her lips seem to curve in a perpetual half-smile, adding to her enigmatic charm. Despite her flat chest, she bears a complex inscription pattern, the Void Spiritual Array, tattooed upon it. Even after Nie Li learns of her true gender, Xiao Yu opts to continue wearing male attire.

Backstories:

In the previous timeline, no information is available regarding Xiao Yu’s life or experiences.

Gu Bei:

Gu Bei is a student in the 1st year Genius class at the Skysoul Institute and belongs to the esteemed Gu Clan, one of the three strongest families in the Divine Feathers Sect. Alongside his sister, Gu Lan, he is a direct descendant of the family. However, tragedy struck when they lost their parents at a young age, and their potential as successors to the family made them targets.

Despite Gu Lan facing meridian blockages, exceptions were made for her by the family. However, Gu Bei was perceived as a disappointment, appearing to be a complete underachiever. In reality, to avoid becoming a target in the succession struggle, he concealed his true talent and strength. In secret, Gu Bei devoted most of his time to cultivating sword intent under Gu Lan’s guidance. His mastery of sword intent had already reached an impressive level; if he didn’t deliberately suppress his cultivation, his Heavenly Fate Realm strength would be immediately evident.

Personality:

Gu Bei is rumored to have over twenty wives, earning him a reputation as a lazy loafer motivated solely by lust. However, this image of him as a useless and harmless individual is merely an exaggeration carefully crafted by Gu Bei himself. In reality, he hides his true strength to avoid attracting attention.

Backstory:

In Nie Li’s past life, Gu Bei was recognized as an enigmatic expert, foreseen to emerge a century later, comparable to Long Yuyin in prowess. His mastery of the sword, imparted by his sister Gu Lan, was renowned. It was Gu Bei’s formidable sword intent that propelled him to achieve the status of a Martial Ancestor Realm expert.

Li Xingyun:

Despite his status as an illegitimate child, Li Xingyun holds significant power within the Ashen Flames Family of the Divine Feathers Sect. Just two years prior, he was hailed as a rising genius within the sect. Despite being third in line for the patriarch’s seat, he has amassed thousands of young talents under his wing, providing them with top-notch cultivation resources using his considerable wealth. Li Xingyun’s faction, known as the Heavenly Path, commands three low-grade Deity’s Lakes, showcasing his influence and resources within the sect.

Despite his slightly overbearing and harsh demeanor, Li Xingyun possesses a loyal and trustworthy personality. He values the faith and trust placed in him by his people and friends and would never betray it. Additionally, he takes pride in his ability to discern the truth in people, demonstrating his keen insight and judgment.

In Nie Li’s previous life, Li Xingyun vied for the Patriarch’s seat of the Ashen Flames Family within the Divine Feathers Sect but failed to secure it, prompting his departure.

Backstory:

After leaving the Divine Feathers Sect, Li Xingyun’s natural talent flourished, propelling him to become a dominant figure beyond its confines. His reputation eclipsed even that of Gu Bei’s or Long Yuyin’s. However, his moral compass was often questioned, as he struggled to discern between good and evil. Nevertheless, he forged friendly alliances across various realms and garnered a loyal following of devoted brothers.

Duan Jian:

The male youth with dragon wings is the offspring of a silver-winged woman who fell in love with Duan Yun, a member of the Black Dragon Family. Tragically, both of his parents were killed, and he was subjected to torture by the Silver Winged Family. When Nie Li first encountered him, he was being brutally whipped. Following Nie Li’s intervention, not only was the youth freed from his torment but he was also empowered to seek revenge. In gratitude for Nie Li’s aid, he pledged his allegiance and vowed to serve him.

With his distinctive dark gold (or sometimes described as black) colored wings, Duan Juan stands out due to his mixed bloodline. He possesses a quiet and dignified demeanor, with a simple outlook on the world. Once he chooses someone to follow, he displays unwavering loyalty towards them.

Backstory:

In an alternate storyline, during Nie Li’s previous life, it’s improbable that Duan Juan would have survived the onslaught from the Silver Winged Family, as Nie Li did not enter the Abyss Prison Realm and Ye Mo wouldn’t have entered until several years later.