No. 60 High School
Wang Ling
Voiced by: Sun Lu Lu (Chinese), Ethan Gallardo (English)
Wang Ling【Chinese:王令, Wáng lìng】is the protagonist of the series. A concealed, 16 year old cultivation genius who has managed to reach a new realm every two years since he was born and fixated on living an average life.
- Above the Gods: Wang Ling's absurd power far exceeds theirs in the series.
- Afraid of His Own Strength: In the novel, he had past concerns about the boundless Dao he posesses and how there seems to be no finite end to his growth rate. When he was younger, he had attempted to figure out his realm limitations, only to find out there...weren't any. He admits that for a time, this terrified him.
- Aw, Look! He Really Does Love Them: Because of his circumstances, Wang Ling can come off rather critical and cold to his friends and even Love Interest, being more dragged into hanging out with them than not. He genuinely does come to care about them however, willingly helping them when situations aren't getting resolved in spite of not wanting to be involved. In the donghua, it's very obvious once his seal weakens, and it gets completely broken in a spectacular fit of rage and anguish when Sun Rong gets killed in front of him in the first season.
- Broken Tears: The first time we would ever see Wang Ling cry, let alone produce tears, was when Sun Rong died at the hands of Jiang Liuying, leader of the Shadow Faction. After his rage dissipated, he was left broken and still continued to cry later on in grief at the loss of her.
- Celestial Body: Every pore on Wang Ling's body is a small world that can store a huge amount of spirit power for him to use. And not only his pores, but every single cell inside his body. A human body has 30 trillion cells; let that sink in.
- The donghua visually has an example of this when he incidentally creates a world during his mental breakdown at the loss of Sun Rong. The world we speak of was inside him, and the silhouette of Wang Ling that Sun Rong has to stab to free him is just an amalgam of celestial phenomena, cosmos, and stars.
- Celibate Hero: He grasps the concept of romance, and consistently describes Sun Rong with adjectives concerning her good looks, so he personally finds her attractive like everyone else. But he mostly chooses to not engage unless his hand is forced. It doesn't help that Sun Rong is popular in school, a striking beauty, and a prodigy from a prestigious family, which goes against his obsession to remain inconspicuous. This isn't adding in that his seal prevents him from feeling much of anything.
- Character Title: He's the titular "Immortal King" due to his high cultivation realm and as the most powerful being in existence in the series.
- Child Prodigy: Heavenly Dao are necessary to proceed to higher cultivation power. It can be difficult to acquire any one Heavenly Dao. Wang Ling, on the other hand, was born with all 30,000 Heavenly Dao (3,000 from each universe) fused into one, which is the source of his strength.
- Comically Invincible Hero: Wang Ling is so overwhelmingly, ridiculously powerful that there's nothing he can't do, even the most mundane usage of abilities (ex. able to trace people anywhere on Earth). Most of the insane feats that he does is him still being capped by his seal. The most damage he has taken is an ancient God (from a previous era in the series known as the Chaotic era) singeing a strand of his hair. No one else can bother landing a hit and in the novel no one can surprise attack him because he senses them regardless of what they do to hide. Mind, his power just keeps infinitely growing. The fact that he hides this and antagonists underestimate him for being unremarkable, only for their plans to somehow get ruined, is the basis of the comedy.
- Deliberate Underperformance: How he avoids drawing unwanted attention to himself in his school and anywhere else.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: There's quite an unorthodox one where Sun Rong, having been dealt an attack that jutted out her soul from her body, has her spirit drift towards a shocked, horrified Wang Ling and embraces him before she disappears.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: While he tries to keep a low profile and tries to minimize the amount of power he uses, he's just so strong that sometimes when he believes he's bringing it down a good notch, he still miscalculates and the result is not what he expected. It's how he got into the Elite class of No. 60 High School during the placement test, though most feel he just got "lucky" that one time due to his otherwise dull and average ability and scores in class.
- The Dreaded: So strong that Gods and personifications of the Heavenly Dao are scared of him.
- Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes: To symbolize his stoicism and nonchalance, along with his "dead fish eyes".
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Surprisingly. He tries not to stand out and transfigures his appearance accordingly, yet sports pale skin and raven black hair. Pair it along with his red eyes, and you have to wonder why he doesn't get more side eyes.
- Friendless Background: As expected of someone who wants to be incognito. In a combination of willingly not mixing around with other people and the components concerning his seal, he enters high school without experiencing what it's like to have friends. He had plans to keep it that way, but as fate would have it, he ends up having a group of True Companions (much to his chagrin).
- Heroic BSoD: Has an extreme version of one in the donghua when Sun Rong's soul gets shattered and she dies as a result. Whatever vestige of control Wang Ling had to keep him in check as his talisman seal was at its limit and Froggy (Tuntian Ha) was doing all he could muster to keep his leaking energy in check, were decimated in broken-hearted fury. It appeared he wasn't in the right state of mind, what with directionless shows of attacks during his outburst, resetting the Earth, turning back time, and incidentally creating a new world in an attempt to have Sun Rong back despite that he could have thought of more sensible options that weren't clearly emotionally driven.
- Heroic Neutral: All Wang Ling desires is to live in peace as a normal high schooler. Unfortunately, his classmates, school, events, situations, cosmic forces, etc., prevent him from not getting involved.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Practically his objective. Not that he particularly wants to get rid of his immense power per se, though he sometimes does wish he didn't have it, but rather wants to keep his life low key at most. Anything that threatens such, is seen as bothersome or something to shun. This type of goal is also exacerbated and drilled in by his parents, whom, while are open-minded about having such a special child, are shown to be at times stressed in how to handle his Power Incontinence and the potential negative downsides of what being in the spotlight can attract.
- Mage Born of Muggles: Wang Ling's parents are both at the Physical Build Stage of cultivation, the 1st stage, which might as well be completely non-magical. It's why giving birth to someone as ridiculously powerful as Wang Ling was an oddity. In the novel, the same thing happens when they give birth to his little sister Wang Nuan, who creates Dao, making her busted...just not as busted as her brother, of course.
- Magical Eye: His Heavenly Eye. It only shows up on his right eye when he activates it, turning his red into gold as it glows with a diagram. This allows him to look at people's memories, see through false illusions, can trace things as long as they aren't in another universe, rewind scenes, etc., among other things.
- Master of Disguise: Is able to alter appearances, fingerprints, and DNA, which can go undetected by even the most advanced technology. That's because he has mastered the 3,000 Heavenly Dao, one being the Great Transfiguration Spell. In the novel, he had occasionally shapeshifted into a cat, and it's stated that his current appearance as we see isn't exactly his real one, as he opts to look more like an average boy to go along with his wish to lead a peaceful, normal life.
- The Needless: At his current realm, he theoretically doesn't have to eat, drink, or sleep and has self-sustenance. He only needs to absorb a bit of spirit energy from nature every day. Eating, really, is a formality.
- No Guy Wants to Be Chased: His first impression of Sun Rong wasn't exactly all positive in both adaptations. Being that he's the only person who can see through her hidden Glory Seeker tendencies and how being associated with her would damper the goal of having a normal life, she's one of the four people he should avoid at all costs. Therefore her incessant pursuit of him is unwanted. It isn't until their "date" at the amusement park that his opinion of her shifts once she stood between him and her assassins to sincerely protect him despite her fear.
- The Omniscient: He understands every concept, law, and dimension that makes up the universe. His knowledge includes but is not limited to simple and complex theories, multiple cultivation systems, techniques, and the relationship between space-time.
- The Omnipotent: His cultivation realm at the current state is theorized to be Dao Ancestor and beyond, with mastery over Outer Daos and Divine Dao. Further comprehension of the Fate Dao has him gain control over and is able to reach at least 10,000 parallel dimensions including their timelines.
- Parodied Trope: Of overpowered main characters. This series is, after all, a comedic slice of life story and gag novel with the cultivation concept.
- Person of Mass Destruction: And how! Probably the main reason why he keeps his head down and wants to avoid using his powers, to prevent destruction to the Earth or the universe. The donghua in the first season has him accidentally almost destroy the Earth, only for them to reveal that its destruction has occurred multiple times before by him getting out of control; he just resets. In the second season, pulling off his limiter and releasing a margin of his immense power destroyed the Demon Realm in its entirety.
- Power Incontinence: Wang Ling technically has a decent grip on his strength...to an extent. He can also withhold it when his seal begins to expire. The problem lies in the magnitude and potency of his raw power itself, which is what he cannot control. For example, his parents have to buy him a specific, specialized type of chopsticks (that tend to be very expensive!) made of black iron, black jade, or black diamond, as regular chopsticks automatically break or disintegrate when he holds them.
- Power Limiter: The talisman seal that he wears to combat his increasingly growing power as he ages. Needs to get it replaced with a newer, stronger one every so often as eventually he overpowers its resistance. In the donghua, it's his father that creates it for him and it's situated on the back of his neck. In the novel, it's located on the right arm, and it's actually his genius cousin Wang Ming that constructs it, although Wang Ling initially drew the talisman based on something he had found in an ancient text, and stuck it on.
- Pretty Boy: Downplayed. His actual looks are kind of a mystery because he can change his face on a whim based on the current trend to be "average", as he can transfigure. Nonetheless, he may not be too on point with his perception of what that is, considering that even with his "dead-fish eyes" and taciturn expression, he is visually drawn to have slightly fine, handsome facial features, with Raven Hair, Ivory Skin. In the novel, he's been described more than once as a "pretty boy" in dialogue, though not in endearment.
- Reincarnation: Little is actually known of his origin and identity, let alone why he's so massively powerful. However, the novel implies he's at least the reincarnation of a mighty, ancient immortal emperor.
- Reputation Apathy: To keep away from possibly damaging the universe via any cultivation demonstration, he masks his abilities, to the point that his classmates see him as without any. Regularly, students are compared by power in the upper 100s, while he is known as "Force Value Five". He genuinely does not care and in fact, prefers it that way.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The single most worst decision the leader of the Shadow Faction could have done in the donghua is follow through with the mission to assassinate Sun Rong in front of Wang Ling, having no idea that the boy who has feelings for her was a being more powerful than Outer gods and then some. She finds out real quick when it triggers unfiltered, raw rage from him and she's at the end of one of the most epic No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- Sentient Cosmic Force: The Heavenly Dao. In the novel, they actually have physical manifestations/personalities. They are obsessed with Wang Ling and worship him (and he exceeds their power, so much so that they fear him and Wang Ling can harm them to "death", but they just get "reborn", being what they are). He's the first and V.I.P. exclusive name on their Heavenly Dao "White List", and those on that list can ignore all the rules of Dao, which would otherwise have serious consequences. It's why Wang Ling gets a free pass on quite a lot of things he does.
- The Stoic: Barely emotes and sports an expression less face no matter what happens or what he does. It's justified in-story, as his seal not only restricts his power level, but also suppresses his emotions as a consequence.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: The treatment of his friends range from keeping his distance to begrudgingly getting mixed up in their problems. Nonetheless, even with all the personal complaints, he still defends them and helps in secret when he sees they can't handle an issue by themselves. It's the same with Sun Rong. He is unstirred by her love of him, yet in the novels there's instances where he voluntarily protects her, stopping the assassination attempt on her being just one example.
- Technicolor Eyes: Has red eyes, and noticeably the only one of the cast of characters, denoting that he's not exactly ordinary.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Crispy noodles. Bar none.
- Unknowingly in Love: What his behavior with Sun Rong comes off like sometimes (at least once in the novel he felt something akin to a "doki doki" feeling in his heart, but that got subdued thanks to the talisman). He at least acknowledges he doesn't want her to come in harm's way. It's implied he would be more affected by her if it wasn't for his repressed emotions.
- Will They or Won't They?: It's difficult to cement what his relationship to Sun Rong is. The donghua is more explicit in their feelings, to the point that by the third season they are more or less dating though not together together. The novel is more subtle on Wang Ling's side, especially since the ship got stalled when Sun Rong got Put on a Bus for a while. The Ship Tease restarted once she returned though. And in a sequel short side-story, it's heavily implied they do and are married in the future.
Sun Rong
Voiced by: Qian Chen (Chinese), Meg McClain (English)
Sun Rong ( 孙蓉 ) is the main heroine of the series, a beautiful, gifted 16 year old girl whose the Student Council President of the Cultivation School League of the Songhai Faction and the heiress of Huaguo Water Curtain Group, a refining company created and led by the Sun family.
- The Ace: What her reputation and status is at school. She places high on strength tests, gets high grades, is class monitor, and is the president of the Student Council. She's not as outrageously powerful as Wang Ling, but she possesses an enormous amount of innate spiritual energy.
- Adaptational Badass: While she is still seen as a gifted student, she's more of an Action Girl in the donghua compared to the novel and is given more chances to shine.
- Break the Haughty: The events of the Xiao Family Compound (the amusement park) that had her at the mercy of Shadow Stream's assassination attempt at gun point seems to have effectively delivered her a case of Humble Pie afterwards, as her need for attention and fame decreased and she more fully embraced the part of her that is Spoiled Sweet henceforth. It showed that as much of a Child Prodigy that she is, she can be just as in danger of being kidnapped and killed as anyone else.
- Child Prodigy: She's pretty strong. Unlike Wang Ling, who chooses to hide his gifts, she's outwardly and publicly revered for it. At the start of the story, she's already the strongest at the Foundation Establishment stage with the closest to break into Golden Core in a couple of years, something that's considered quite a feat in-universe for someone that young. According to Wang Ling's analysis, since he can determine the meridian levels of people, you need 256 meridians opened to fully realize the Foundation Establishment Stage, and 70% of Sun Rong's meridians were already opened.
- Class Princess: What she portrays herself as to the rest of the world as a sophisticated and strong heiress. She's friendly and approachable, and overall successful at what she wants to accomplish. Her Establishing Character Moment in the donghua is her helping out new transfer student Wang Ling from being picked on by two bullies at the school's entrance.
- Death by Adaptation: Sun Rong never comes to actually die in the novel, as Wang Ling can never be caught off guard and can detect others fairly quickly due to his heightened senses at the realm level he is at. Most of the spirit sword competition arc was donghua original. Probably because of this, she gets better .
- Even the Girls Want Her: Guys at school naturally have crushes on her due to her confidence and beauty. When she first enters her classroom, not only do the guys, young and old, blush, but the girls also drop their heads shyly. She's described as being both a man and lady killer. She enjoys this spotlight. Only Wang Ling remained unmoved.
- Glory Seeker: To be the only top student around, she enrolled in one of the non-key city schools, that of No. 60, just so she can increase her presence and be at the uppermost placement of the student body hierarchy.
- Go Through Me: When cornered by assasins of the Shadow Stream face-first, they have her, and inadvertently Wang Ling, at their mercy, due to their skills and their higher realm (Golden Core level). Since Wang Ling is believed to be weak as a "Force Value Five", she stands in between them to protect him, telling them to let him go. In reality, she's scared but stands her ground, as long as he's kept safe. Reading her heart to find this to be sincere, this elevates Wang Ling's perception of her to the point where he's personally angered and proceeds to curbstomp them.
- Hopeless Suitor: At first. In the novel, it's difficult to get Wang Ling to crack and Sun Rong struggles to have him look her way. It's hinted that it may not all be one-sided and he does find her attractive, but it takes hundreds of chapters before any real progression on his end starts. In the donghua, the feelings are mutual early on.
- I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Why she fell for Wang Ling. She is capable of getting anything and anyone she wants, but due to his philosophy of keeping a lowkey profile, he remained unfazed by her and was ignored. They met when she asked for directions their first day at school in the novel, while the donghua has her come to his aid to "defend" him against bullies instead, hilariously giving her money as thanks and leaving without the fuss she wanted. This irritated her originally, and she made it her mission to try to win him over. However, after seeing that it didn't work, she ended up being truly interested in him and appreciated how different he was to everyone else.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: Secretly wants to expand and continue her fame. She sought to be pampered, doing amazing feats for her class just to be praised and admired. The reason for why she did this, as revealed later on, was because she wanted everyone to love her.
- It's All About Me: What she's like Beneath the Mask. Not that her being kind is completely fake, but she holds the opposite view of Wang Ling and instead craves attention. The reason she decided to attend No. 60 High School instead of a more higher, reputable key city school that she easily can get into is because in No. 60 she doesn't have to compete with others who can be as extraordinary as she is. This means that she'll be the single most strongest and outstanding top student in an average high school. Since Wang Ling can read people's hearts, he's the only person that sees through her act from the get-go.
- Love Interest: To Wang Ling.
- Ojou: She's rich, strong, well-spoken, everyone adores her, the males and females want her, has a strong magnetic pull that charms others to her, and is treated as royalty.
- Protectorate: Wang Ling does not want to see her come to harm. This applies to both the donghua and novel.
- Put on a Bus: Leaves the narrative for a long time to go to an exchange program in No. 59 High School in the novel. She returns way, way later in the story.
- Rejection Affection: It doesn't matter how uninterested in her Wang Ling appears to be; she doesn't give up on her endeavors to have him similarly fall for her.
- Secret-Keeper: Knows of Wang Ling's true power later on in the story. Because of her money and connections (i.e. powerful international fan club), this discovery works out well since she ends up suppresing a lot of trouble for him.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Isn't interested or attracted to any other boy except Wang Ling.
- Spoiled Sweet: What she authentically turns to after the failed assassination mission by Shadow Stream faction aimed for her by someone's order, pushing a dose of Character Development. At that point, she's less ostentatious with her wealth and a more sincere friend.
- Super Mode: In season 4 of the Donghua, Sun Rong awakens a new form called "Immortal King Mode" after consuming a collector's edition pack of crispy noodles that Wang Ling gave to her. In the form, her hair and eyebrows change to white, and heterochromatic eyes with her left eye being red and her right eye remaining blue. In that form, her spiritual force is imbued with one-tenth of a billion of Wang Ling's spiritual force.
