Shāng Bù Huàn

Shāng Bù Huàn (殤不患, Shō Fu Kan, "Unconcerned with Dying Young") is the primary protagonist of Thunderbolt Fantasy and a supporting character in both Thunderbolt Fantasy: The Sword of Life and Death and Thunderbolt Fantasy: Bewitching Melody of the West. Hailing from the land of Xī Yōu, he is a wandering swordsman who has taken on the responsibility of stealing mystical swords created during the War of Fading Dusk and sealing them within the Sorcerous Sword Index to keep them out of the wrong hands.

Personality
"'Shouldn't it be troubling to cut someone down? No matter how great your skills are, it should never be a casual, simple matter to brandish a sword. But, when you're a slob to the core like me, being penitent all the time is too much of a pain. Carrying a sword with no edge is a lot easier.'" Shāng Bù Huàn outwardly appears cold and uncaring, acting as if he does not care what others are doing, and complaining that everyone around him is crazy and unreasonable. He describes himself as a slob and gives the impression of being a slovenly vagabond. When he is approached for help, he will often complain to no end. He can often be annoyingly flippant, rarely taking things seriously even with the heat is on, and he seems quick to cut ties where they develop.

However, this apathetic persona doesn't come from a need to live up to being a wandering swordsman, instead coming from his desire to stay out of people's lives and not troubling himself with their problems, or, more importantly, troubling them with his as he knows trouble tends to follow him. While he sometimes comes across as selfish, deep down he only desires to keep people from getting hurt. Due to his compassionate nature, he often ends up helping people he comes across. Làng Wū Yáo even claims his compassion is his own worst enemy, and it has been used against him. He often gives people advice after saving them, like Wū Yáo, Juǎn Cán Yún, and even his own imposter. Preferring to stay quiet (other than complaining), he is not one to pontificate: he just feels a need to speak his mind when others tell him of their reasons for living. His tendency to cut ties, like leaving without saying goodbye, also speaks to a misguided attempt to not hurt people's feelings.

Shāng's motivation for taking the sorcerous swords threatening his home is not only to keep them from the magistrate, but to keep them from the people who want revenge on the magistrate. Not believing in things like revenge, he is only concerned with keeping unassuming people from coming into contact with these otherworldly demon blades.

Life in Xī Yōu
Born in Xī Yōu two hundred years after the War of Fading Dusk, by the time he had grown to be a man Bù Huàn had befriended Mù Tiān Mìng, who would become his partner. He also knew Tiān Gōng Guǐ Jiàng, an exceptional artisan.

When the corrupt government of Xī Yōu began to use the mystical weapons created during the War against the southern tribes of its land to assimilate them by force. Bù Huàn saw firsthand the destruction these weapons could cause in the wrong hands so, aided by Tiān Mìng, he stole them from their resting places and stored them in a magical scroll crafted by Guǐ Jiàng: the "Sorcerous Sword Index." While stealing a weapon from the Imperial palace itself, he met Làng Wū Yáo who was the court virtuoso at the time but who then decided to join him. Labeled a criminal by the Imperial government, with the entire Imperial army sent after him, it was not long before others also sought to take the Index. A heretical group called the Order of the Divine Swarm and its leader, Huò Shì Míng Huáng, were one such group.

In a battle against Ming Huang himself, despite being assisted by Wu Yao and Tiān Mìng, Bù Huàn was hopelessly outclassed. However, he refused to level the playing field with the Index, knowing its power had too much potential danger. Ming Huang, mocking Bù Huàn's hesitation, blinded Tiān Mìng, forcing the group to retreat. Heartbroken that his holding back had gotten someone he cared about hurt, Bù Huàn fled the country alone with the Index, looking for a place to dispose of its inventory.

Bù Huàn's travels took him across the Wasteland of Spirits, the perilous scar on the land left by the War and the catastrophic powers used by and against the demons. Encountering a dragon named Mò Wáng, he cut off one of its wings enabling his escape. Later, he found a village of cannibals and he was forced to kill every single one. These and other perils did not stop him in his journey, but his actions would unintentionally trail-blaze for troubles soon to follow.

Arrival in Dong Li
Although in Dong Li, Bù Huàn had little time to relax before coming across a damaged temple containing a stone Buddha statue with an umbrella to protect it from the rain. Drenched himself, he took the umbrella, but a mysterious man sitting nearby said that, for taking it, he would have to do a good deed in return. Shrugging it off, Bù Huàn nonetheless ran into Dān Fěi, a Seal Guardian on the run from the Xuán Guǐ Zōng, a cult bent on taking a legendary sword cross-guard from her. Driving the thugs away, he brought her back to the temple, only to also run into and easily defeat the thug squad's officer, Cán Xiōng.

Refusing to get involved further, Bù Huàn attempted to go his own way and visit a village for food, only to find that the cult had put up notices branding him an enemy and the villagers fled from him. Ambushed outside of town by cultists lead by Liè Mèi and Diāo Mìng, before he could fight them off they were driven away by arrows from Shòu Yún Xiāo, who along with his student Juǎn Cán Yún, Dan Hei, and even the stranger who introduced himself as Guǐ Niǎo, convince Bù Huàn to reluctantly join them on a quest to the Demon Spine Mountains and the cult's lair to retrieve the handle of the Tiān Xíng Jiàn, a mystical sword Dan Hei's order was charged with guarding.

From there the group journeyed to Night Devil Forest to collect Xíng Hài, a demoness necromancer who could help them overcome the army of the dead at the foot of the mountains. When the group's progress was blocked by Shā Wú Shēng, a notorious assassin and sword master, Bù Huàn met him that night and attempted to talk him down before the two nearly came to blows. By now, most in the group had become suspicious of Bù Huàn; to them, he was an unknown factor due to having just seemingly appeared out of thin air, with no one knowing a thing about him but also not believing his explanation of coming from Xi You.

Arriving at the mountains despite Xuán Guǐ Zōng resistance, Bù Huàn and the group were confronted by hordes of the dead. Dan Fei cast a protection spell over the group while Xing Hai wove her magic, but to Bù Huàn's surprise the spell expelled him from the circle to fight for his life. He annihilated wave after wave of the zombies, but was nearly exhausted and overwhelmed before the dead were successfully put to rest. The next trial was against a towering stone golem with a weak spot on its head, which Yún Xiāo somehow misses, and, chased by the golem, Bù Huàn instead runs up its body and pierces the head himself, nearly falling to his death after but narrowly saved by Yún Xiāo's arrow. Furious at what he thought was the group's attempts to kill him, he stormed off; in truth, these had been devious tests by Xing Hai and Yún Xiāo to determine his characteristics.

Happening across cult soldiers with Dan Fei and Gui Nao, Bù Huàn took their demon bird whistles and the trio used them to infiltrate the Seven Sins Tower, soon confronted upon arrival by the cult's leader: Miè Tiān Hái. A trick from Gui Nao results in Dan Fei's vengeful attack on Tian Hai being instead directed at Bù Huàn, who, although surprised, was able to keep her at bay until she was subdued and they were both arrested and thrown into cages. After learning that Gui Nao's real name was Lin Xue Ya, an infamous thief, and that Xue Ya, Xing Hai and Yun Xiao all plotted to steal the cross-guard from Dan Fei, Bù Huàn simply broke himself out of his cage, telling Dan Fei to stay put, and confronted Xue Ya who told him the real plan: to he only sought to humiliate Tian Hai for his own amusement. Taking food down to Dan Fei, he went along with the plan by disguising himself as Xue Ya to draw the cult leader away from the tower so the thief could steal the handle. Bù Huàn, however, was no actor or master thief, and the facade quickly fell apart, forcing him to flee.

Running into Dan Fei and a wounded Can Yun, who had freed her and gave Bù Huàn the title he would come to use: "the Edgeless Blade." The three were set upon by Diāo Mìng and his men, but Bù Huàn showed his true strength: his "sword" was a only blunt wooden one and despite using only a tree branch easily wiped out the cultists and killed Diāo Mìng. Arriving at the Tiān Xíng Jiàn's temple, he was too late to stop its reassembling, removal, and destruction, which awakens Yāo Tú Lí, a demonic god trapped beneath the temple since the War. Bù Huàn cooly pulls out Jie Huang Jian, a sword that sucks the demon into a vortex and deposits her at the edge of space. Planting the sword where it must be guarded for a century, he assigns Can Yun, Dan Fei, and the Seal Guardians the job of looking after it. Unable to say goodbye to his friends, he attempts to slink away but is stopped by Xue Ya who gives him an umbrella before the two part ways. Before leaving, and despite the coming storm, Bù Huàn stops by the damaged temple, leaving the umbrella with the Buddha.

Xue Ya soon began spreading tall tales of their adventure, and an ex-cultist took on Bù Huàn's appearance to capitalize on his face to gain an identity of his own. However, Bù Huàn himself entered the restaurant where the man was eating, and although surprised at the man's gall, humored him and listened to the man's twist on the story despite its many errors. Paying for the man's food and drink, he left, but cult remnants arrived and mistook the man for him as he feared, forcing Bù Huàn to intervene. Despite the men being enchanted to explode into acidic, poisonous blood upon death, he defeated them and had a heartfelt conversation with the now-shaken imposter who, grateful, promised to pay Bù Huàn back by making a life that was his own. This done, he returned to his quest to now find a place get rid of the Index.

Abilities
"'I'm a human being: a human being who just happens to have a variety of tools at his disposal.'" Bù Huàn appears to have "the air of a master," according to Juǎn Cán Yún, but it is possible that he is not formally trained. That said, he is feasibly the most powerful combatant in the series and can be considered a master in his own right. Most of his physical power comes from his channeling of Qi, which, while masterful, may also be a skill he was not formally trained in. Channeling Qi is extremely exhausting to him, but he still uses it to power his strikes to the point of shattering rock (and bone). Part of the reason that he avoids conflict is because his Qi-powered combat style is so taxing. Or, put another way, his combat style is taxing in an effort to encourage him to seek other means of solving problems.

Bù Huàn carries a simple wooden sword similar to a bokken named Formless Rogue Sword. He claims it has the benefits of not rusting, being lighter, and easier to maintain. It has no embellishments or decorations and lacks even a cross-guard. Its "blade" is painted silver and, for much of the first season, it is mistaken for being a crude iron sword for this reason; in truth, it does not even have an edge or a sharp point.


 * Edgeless Blade Technique: Bù Huàn has mastered an art that combines expert swordsmanship and martial arts with the channeling of Qi. With this, he can power his strikes to the point where even a common tree branch can slash, bash, or pierce clean through stone, steel, flesh, and bone. When fighting Diāo Mìng, his killing blow was so strong that it expelled the man's rib cage backwards and out through his spine, and, when fighting Mò Wáng, he severed the dragon's wing despite their reputably impenetrable scales. The downside of this is that it exhausts his energy at an alarming rate, which he uses as a way of reminding himself to stay out of trouble and to only use violence as a last resort, as he disdains taking life. He also makes use of his sword's thick wooden scabbard to bash enemies, especially if they get behind him.
 * Unarmed Fighting: Even without a weapon, Bù Huàn can hold his own in hand-to-hand. He is able to deflect and block blows even from swords as well as body-slam, trip, roll, throw, and otherwise put enemies off-balance by turning their own momentum against them. He can also easily put people on the ground with blows from his fist, open palm, or kicks.
 * Leadership: Despite being a loner, Bù Huàn is nonetheless a capable planner, able to strategize both in the heat of the moment and well in advance. He also has the ability to effectively lead groups of people, as displayed in "The Hunting Fox" when he was able to wield the Night of Mourning against Xiào Kuáng Juàn.
 * Qi Channeling: As well as fueling his combat technique, Bù Huàn can utilize his Qi to perform other tasks like repairs (such as when he was forced to mend the Index when it was torn), to heal injuries, or expel poisons. He can even exert this power over himself to stimulate his blood flow or halt it to prevent poison from reaching his vital organs.
 * Sorcerous Sword Index: As the keeper of a scroll containing some of the most powerful and dangerous weapons the world has ever seen, Bù Huàn knows every sword in this collection well, and he has, on occasion, put them to use quelling major threats when a lot of lives are on the line.

Trivia

 * Much of Bù Huàn's fighting style resembles kendo, a modern form of kenjutsu utilizing bokken or shinai (bamboo swords).
 * Bù Huàn has a signature gesture where he touches the side of his nose with an index finger.