Sho Yosei

Sho Yosei (霄 瑤璇 Sho Yosei) is one of the three Grand Advisors of the imperial palace, holding the position of Taishi (太師 Taishi). His actual name is Shi Shou, the Purple Immortal, strongest of the Eight Immortals.

Appearance
In his human form, he looks like a shrivelled old man with long beard.

In his Immortal appearance, Shi Shou has long black hair, cold purple eyes and dressed in a fashion of old times.

Personality & Characteristics
Rather than serving the country, Sho Yosei's loyalties lie with the individual who can prove himself to be a worthy emperor. As such, he does only what is necessary to ensure the country's survival and did not support any of the princes during the previous succession struggle. He doesn't think much of humans after Sou Gen's era although he sometimes takes an interest in a select few like Shi Senka, Kou Shouka, and Shi Chouka. He also became good friends with Sa Enjun and Sou Shungai despite his opinion of and attitude towards humans.

In his old man form, he has a good sense of humor and is easy going and also seen to be very sly at getting his way around. In his Immortal form he is actually quite cold hearted and very short tempered. He frequently got mad at Shi Ryuuki when he met him sometime before Ryuuki's death and even bad-mouthed him quite a bit like Ryuuki did to him in the past. In his old man form, he sometimes reveals his true sardonic personality in presence of those who knew him closely namely the Immortals, Shouka and Kai Yu.

Plot
Advisor Sho is a close friend of the other Grand Advisors, the Taiho Sa Enjun and the Taifu Sou Shungai. The three also acted as the Grand Advisors of Shi Ryuuki's father, the previous Emperor Senka. Advisor Sho does not serve the country for its own sake and is only loyal to a worthy Emperor, whose life he will do his best to protect. During the battle for the imperial succession eight years ago, he refused to support any one of the battling princes, and since then he has done the bare minimum to ensure the country's survival while waiting for a worthy ruler to appear.

When he realizes that Ryuuki was different from his brothers, he forced him to take the throne. However, he did not acknowledge him as a worthy emperor. Although, like Senka would do, he decided to help Senka's son just once. As such, he persuades Kou Shuurei to come to the palace as a temporary Imperial consort, which motivates Ryuuki to become serious and exposes Enjun's assassination plot. Although saddened by Enjun's death, he considered it necessary. Advisor Sho also controls the Black Wolf and the Wolves of the Wind, but after he endangered the lives of Shuurei and Seiran, Shouka stops obeying his orders and vows to kill him someday.

When comforting the last moments of his friend Enjun, Advisor Sho takes on the Immortal appearance of a young man. Later, he is able to summon Enjun's spirit. Months later, when Ryuuki decided to go to the Ran Province, he arranged for the Black Wolf to be his bodyguard.

After this point, Sho always plays a silent role throughout Ryuuki's reign. When the Noble Faction corners Ryuuki, Sho appears before him in his true form and reveals his true personality. He chastised Ryuuki harshly for all the mistakes he made regardless of all the chances people gave him.

After Ou Ki's fall, he erased his existence from everyone's memories and was last seen at Shuurei's funeral. Then he left.

However, many years later when Shuurei's daughter was a young child he showed up to her as a black crow. Although, Ryuuki didn't quite like him as the crow's purple eyes gave him the vision of a cold hearted man with sardonic eyes whom he didn't know which is Shi Shou's real appearance.

Ryuuki's daughter Shi Chouka later even escaped the castle with her father and his escorts to pursue the crow. According to her, the crow was an unhappy old man in disguise who sleeps on the tree much to Shou's shock as she was supposed to see him as a plain crow. Nonetheless, he helped her out few times in danger while she was travelling the country. He was loathed deeply by Ran Shijaku who was jealous of the attention he got from Chouka. He even suggested they should tie him up and drag him along which caused the 'Crow' to cower in fear. One night, he found Ryuuki sitting on a boat and perched beside him. While Ryuuki was wondering if the old man was Ou Ki's ghost suddenly they both froze and watched as Shijaku proposed to Chouka. However, when she rejected him unknowingly, Ryuuki sighed thinking that she might become a crow's bride afterall and looked at Shou thinking about his being his son-in-law. Soon, he fell asleep and started mumbling about himself and Shuurei while Shou in his crow form suddenly told him not to talk in his sleep, waking him up in the process.

Later, when Chouka decided to return to the palace, he paid her a visit and she hugged him and kissed him making his cold body warm which he liked a bit. Then he looked at her eyes and noted that for over 1000 years he never had anyone by his side who has such eyes. At the palace, Chouka caught him walking away one night and pursued him. While at it, she saw a vision of Shou walking mercilessly over the skulls of countless emperors of past, soaked in blood. She stopped him and kissed his cheek, shocking him beyond words. Chouka got distracted for a second by the wind and he immediately disappeared from her sight. He was later seen remarking that he would've told Chouka not to do such unnecessary things if she was still a child.

Although the Immortals decided not to meddle with human affairs for at least a century, when Shi Shou heard Chouka decided to become a ruling empress instead of being an official like her mother, he decided to return to the court. Thus, he participated in the national exams and passed as the Jougen. This action implies he might've chosen Chouka as a worthy ruler to serve. In the new year's greetings, when Ryuuki collapsed and nearly died, he as the current Jougen Sho Yosei beat him with 'Kanshou' to wake him up. While in the nether world, he and Ryuuki started an argument with each other. He chastised him for not thanking him for babysitting Chouka while Ryuuki told him to take responsibilities for his daughter. He offered him 300 gold for it (referring to how Sho got Shuurei for him) and Shou angrily ordered him to empty his Treasury for that. Finally, he sent Ryuuki back to the living world from the death's door with a roundhouse kick.

Keen Intellect
During his time as an official, Shou had shown his extremely keen Intellect in the court which eventually made him one of the three Grand Advisors. As Senka's Prime Minister, he used many devious plans to keep Senka safe and help him establish his rule. In this way, he got rid off many assassins sent after Senka by Kou Reishin.

The Immortals
Shi Shou is particularly severe on the Blue Immortal for his carefree and impudent behaviour. He appears to be closer to the Yellow Immortal as the two of them are seen drinking quite often. He thinks quite highly of the Black Immortal.

Sou Gen
Sou Gen was the first human that Shi Shou had been fond of. He had earned great respect from Shou. Shou, along with the other Immortals had aided him in founding Saiunkoku.

Shi Senka
He respected Senka deeply for a human as he greatly resembled Sou Gen in actions and behaviours. He had chosen Senka as a worthy emperor and dedicated a human lifetime to serve him as his Prime Minister.

Shi Chouka and Ran Shijaku
He finds Shi Chouka quite interesting, watching over her since her early childhood. As she growed up, Shou is rather at a loss about her display of affection and desire to chase after him despite knowing his true nature as an Immortal. However, he helped her out few times in danger while she was travelling along with her escorts, and even had accompanied or comforted her when she was depressed. When looked Chouka, Shou noted that for over 1000 years he never had anyone by his side who has such eyes. He decides to return to the court ignoring his promise about staying away from human affairs for another century when Chouka decides to ascend the throne as the Empress. His action implies he might've chosen her as a worthy ruler.

On the other hand, Shou feels deep contempt for Ran Shijaku, which is rare for him. This is shown when he feels the urge to punch him with his fist in human form rather than pecking him on the head in his crow form.

Kou Shouka
He finds Kou Shouka interesting. But whenever he is in his true personality they often get into feuds as both of them are equally foul tempered. Regardless, he helped Shouka out a few times.

Shi Ryuuki
During his life as grand advisor, he always liked to tease Ryuuki and angered him by feeding him lies knowing that Ryuuki was just a puppet for Ou Ki. However, his attitude changed after Ou Ki's downfall as he left the world taking everyone's memory of him along with him. When he met Ryuuki again he was always seen harshly talking to him like Ryuuki did in the past.

Kou Shuurei
Unlike his attitude towards most other humans, Shou didn't hate Shuurei and cared for her to some degree. In his human form, he was always seen enjoying her handmade steamed buns. He once showed up in her house in his Immortal form when Shuurei passed out from exhaustion and he was seen worried about her. The last time he was seen in the human world was at Shuurei's funeral before Chouka grew up. He silently observed her funeral as a crow and left the world only to return again few years later to observe Chouka.