Gui Fa (
Several centuries after the Edo period, Gui Fa currently acts as an online teacher and lives with Mei, while also overseeing the resurrection of the deceased Tensens.
Appearance
Gui Fa has short, yellow ochre colored hair, and blue eyes. Unlike the other Tensens, Gui Fa is unique in that their eyes are permanently surrounded by dark sclera instead of temporarily activating when experiencing feelings of happiness or anger. Because of their shyness, Gui Fa is almost always seen keeping their face concealed by a book. When revealed, Gui Fa displays a face that is expressionless. Also, rather than siding with either a male or female form, Gui Fa assumes a body that combines both sexes together. As for their attire, they wear white robes with their sleeves fasten to their wrists and a hakama tied together with an obi bearing a gem.
After expending their Tao trying to protect the Basin, Gui Fa's body became reduced to that of a child's. Their body eventually progressed back to its previous form after living up to the 21st century. During this time, Gui Fa wears a strip turtleneck sweater, pants, and shoes.
Gallery
Personality
Gui Fa hiding their face from Sagiri.
Gui Fa maintains a calm and seemingly apathetic composure but is shown to be extremely shy around others, preferring to cover their face with a book at all times to make sure that no one sees them. According to Mei, Gui Fa was shy even in the past and has noted that it has gotten worse over time. After confronting Sagiri, Gui Fa desperately tried to make sure that Sagiri did not try to make eye contact with them by shifting their position. The only rare times Gui Fa is willing to show their face to others is if they were to engage in important matters or make a bold statement.
As a Tensen, Gui Fa has no sympathy towards humans and only sees them as material to create Tan. Gui Fa even admitted that they believe that their kind and humans are incapable of coming to an understanding and that they found Sagiri's attempt at a negotiation with them to be pointless. Regardless, they have shown no signs of hostility when encountering them and would rather not engaged in conflict. Gui Fa embraces the fact that Tensens are born to harbor no feelings of emotion, such as wanting to form bonds with others, and that they and the other members of Lord Tensen (including Mei) are only beings that are meant follow the way of Tao. After being notified that four members of Lord Tensen were defeated by the human survivors, Gui Fa stated that they did not feel a sense of vengeance and only took their passing as part of their training. Although this was the case, after hearing Mei explain how she learned what life meant during her time with Hōko, Gui Fa did admit that they felt a sense of envy towards her.
Unlike the other Tensens (with Zhu Jin as an exception), Gui Fa prefers to take the middle ground in that they do not side with one gender and instead choose to maintain a body that showcases both sexes. Because of this point of view, Gui Fa finds the Bōchū Jutsu training to be ridiculous and believes that their method is more effective.
History
Past
1,000 years ago on Kotaku, Gui Fa and the other Tensens were unknowingly born from the Tao of a single Tao puppet created by Rien as part of her and Xu Fu's research in discovering the secrets to immortality. Together, the Tensens served as the rulers of Kotaku known as Lord Tensen and lived to serve Xu Fu, who they believed was their creator and master and was secretly busy with his research alone, which forbidden the Tensens, other than Rien, from meeting him. Throughout their life, Gui Fa and the other young Tensens trained in the ways of Tao under Rien's tutelage and were each assigned one of the five forms of training in immortality; with Gui Fa being assigned in the realm of Shu'itsu. They were also introduced to the Hōko as tools they could use to replenish their Tao. However, after 200 years passed, the Hōko began undergoing Arborification and left the Tensens at risk of dying if they were to run out of Tao. During a meeting, in which Ju Fa expressed his frustration to the others, Gui Fa presented their idea of using the humans from Japan as another source of Tao. Mu Dan, Tao Fa, and Ju Fa took this idea into consideration and sent a Arborified Hōko as bait to lure in humans to the island.
After several centuries had passed, the Tensens successfully managed to lure in the first group of humans to Kotaku and attacked. Since then, Lord Tensen has been turning humans that came to the island into an elixir known as Tan that could increase their life spans and gain a step closer to creating an Elixir of Life.
Edo Period
Lord Tensen Arc
- Main article: Lord Tensen Arc
Lord Tensen having a meeting.
Gui Fa joins the other Tensens in a meeting to discuss about the humans that made landfall. Once Ju Fa and Zhu Jin confirmed that the humans they encountered were dealt with, the Tensens toast to their longevity and to their grandmaster.
Later, while Tao Fa shows off the new training area, Gui Fa commented that they found the Bōchū Jutsu bed chambers ridiculous and suggested taking a "central position" like them.
Hōrai Arc
- Main article: Hōrai Arc
After Rien allowed one of the humans, Aza Chōbē, to ally with Lord Tensen due to having special Tao that could complete his research, Lord Tensen introduces to him the Hermit Ascendance Ritual.
Lord Tensen then gather and are informed by Chōbē about the remaining human survivors and their plan of invading the palace to acquire the Elixir of Life. Knowing that they plan to make their arrival at the palace, Rien initiates the Rite of Just Consumption and have the Tensens place in their respective temples.
Gui Fa approached by Sagiri and Mei in the Rentan Temple.
Later, Gui Fa takes Rien's place in guarding the ritual circle while he prepares to depart to Japan. Gui Fa then encounters Sagiri and Mei after the two enter into the Rentan Temple. Gui Fa warns them not to take a step or they will be force to attack. Gui Fa tells them about Rien's whereabouts and explains that the ritual circle will be able to tell her of the current status of the humans. Sagiri then reaches for her sword, causing Gui Fa to direct their Tao towards her and force Sagiri on her knees, demanding that she remove her hand. Sagiri explains that she does not wish to fight but to apologize on behave of the humans that trespassed on their territory and wish to cease the fighting by allowing her allies to return home. After noticing how her Tao reacted, Gui Fa honors Sagiri's request but tells her that it will all be pointless once they return to Japan and explains by creating an illusion using their Tao. Gui Fa tells them that Rien plans on using the Paradise Butterflies to spread across the land ad turn every human into Waitanhua flowers to form the giant Banko, creating more perfected Tan in the process. Sagiri asks why they would go to such lengths, to which Gui Fa answers that they found humans to be valuable material ever since they first landed on the island and are now depended on them on achieving immortality. Gui Fa also says that it was meaningless for Sagiri in trying to come to a mutual understanding with each other and that all the two sides can do now is kill each other. They then look towards Shion's talismans which starts to burn, indicating that his life is slowly diminishing.
After the ritual revealed that all the Tensens were defeated, Gui Fa prepares to go to the floodgates to report back to Rien with no intentions of fighting Sagiri and Mei or avenging their comrades. Before leaving, Gui Fa asks Mei the reason as to why Mei decided to come back to Hōrai after so long, to which she answers that she had finally come to understand what life was. Upon hearing this, Gui Fa stated that they envy her. The three then suddenly feel the palace starting to shake after the second landing party made their arrival, to which Gui Fa remarked that it was not a good sign.
Gui Fa discovers a secret door in Rien's laboratory.
Gui Fa reports back to Rien in that the Tensens have been defeated, the Rite of Just Consumption has failed, and another party of invading humans have arrived in Hōrai. While having the Dōshi take care of matters outside, Gui Fa is ordered by Rien to go to the Main Temple Annex to protect the Basin. After arriving, Gui Fa questioned if the item was really Rien's true objective. While there, Gui Fa does further investigation in Rien's laboratory and discovered a secret door that hid research material aimed at reviving a soul and found a Hōko in bed while being guarded by clones of Rien. Gui Fa then came to realize the truth; Lord Tensen's true master is Rien, the Arborified wife of Xu Fu who has been using a Tao puppet to complete her goal of bringing back her husband by creating more Tan out of Japan's citizens. Gui Fa also stumbled upon the burnt talismans used for Rien's I Ching to determine the fates of those who will survive in the future events to come and learns that only two men and one woman will make it out alive. While performing their duty of protecting the Basin, Gui Fa's body shrunk as a result of expending too much of their Tao to do so.
Departure Arc
- Main article: Departure Arc
Gui Fa warns Yuzuriha about the I Ching's prophecy.
After the ending of the Zhu Jin-fused Banko's rampage, Gui Fa comes outside while carrying the Basin and encounters Mei and Yuzuriha. The Tensen then tells them that in less than two hours they will not be able to stop Rien from making it to Japan and shows them through a Tao illusion of what they discovered while at Rien's laboratory, much to Mei and Yuzuriha's shock. Not knowing on whether they should support Rien or try to stop her after learning the truth, Gui Fa turns to Mei for an answer but is interrupted by Yuzuriha who wishes to hurry to the floodgates. Before going their separate ways, Gui Fa tells Yuzuriha about the fates of how many will survive in the future based on the I Ching they found earlier and warns her to not doubt the ritual.
At some point, Gui Fa encounters Aza Tōma holding his brother's plant ovule and offers to help revive him by using the Basin. Gui Fa then decides to leave the island and settle in the mainland amongst the humans.
Epilogue
After living for another several centuries (presumably during the Reiwa Era), Gui Fa currently works as an online teacher and lives with Mei after she had been fully revived. After they had finished teaching an online class, Gui Fa is informed by Mei that the plant ovules of Ju Fa and Tao Fa have started to sprout, much to their surprise, and hopes the same progress will happen with the other Tensens.
Abilities and Powers
As one of the rulers of Kotaku, Gui Fa had partial authority over everything that went on and could command the Dōshi, Mōnshin, and Sōshin.
Tao
- Further information: Tao
Gui Fa possesses Metal-attribute Tao and has complete mastery over it. After spending 1,000 years of training, Gui Fa's Tao has been greatly refined where others could view their abilities as god-like. With its use, Gui Fa can sense the presence of others, the movements and weak spots of their opponents, and enhance their physical attacks.
Gui Fa is capable of creating illusions using their Tao, which they primarily use to explain to people past events that are in accordance to their memories or events that will happen in the future based on their depiction. By releasing and targeting their Tao, Gui Fa is also able to make their enemies fall to their knees from the pressure they emit and diminishes their ability to move.
Regeneration
As a Tensen and a consumer of Tan, Gui Fa possesses regenerative abilities and an incomplete form of immortality. Gui Fa's regeneration can only be weakened if they were to face an opponent that possesses the Fire-attribute and the only known way of killing them is if the said Fire-attribute user completely destroys their tanden or their plant ovule.
Yin-Yang
Gui Fa is able to switch chi's of either Yin or Yang to augment their Tao and recover any lost. As Gui Fa switches in and out, their sex changes to match the chi, which is put to use whenever they engage in Bōchū Jutsu training. However, unlike the Tensens, Gui Fa maintains a body that represents both sexes by combining their Yin and Yang forms together. As a result, the chi cycle will continue to flow and allow Gui Fa to gather more Tao.
Kishikai Transformation
As a Tensen, Gui Fa is able to enter into a monstrous transformation where they are able to unleash overwhelming power. Since the Kishikai exerts too much Tao, Gui Fa could only hold the transformation for up to half an hour before they became reduced to a weakened body.
Trivia
- Like the rest of Lord Tensen, Gui Fa is named after a flower. "Gui Fa" (桂花?) meaning "sweet osmanthus".
- Also, like the other members of Lord Tensen, Gui Fa shares similarities to one of the Eight Immortals, Lan Caihe being the case since Lan was an immortal whose gender was considered to be ambiguous.
- Gui Fa's rankings in the Popularity Polls:
- In the first popularity poll, Gui Fa ranked 34th place, which they also shared with the Iwagakure Chief, Tokugawa Nariyoshi, and Ran.
- In the second popularity poll, Gui Fa ranked 30th place, which they once again shared with Ran.
- Gui Fa's alias refers to Manjushri (文殊菩薩, Literal meaning: Gentle Glory), a bodhisattva who is the representation of wisdom.
- In terms of referring to themselves, Gui Fa uses the Japanese pronoun "boku" (僕), which is most commonly used by males.
- Mei and Gui Fa are the only Tensens who have had their bodies shrunken.
- Gui Fa is able to understand (and presumably speak) Chinese.
- Having lived up to what can be assumed the 3rd millennium, Gui Fa became the oldest out of the Tensens (and quite possibly the oldest being in existence).