Ye Liao

Ye Liao was a Nightwatcher, as well as the ancestor of Ye Yan and the husband of Xiahou Shan.

Background
In the original timeline, in the year of 1860, Ye Liao was part of the assassination team sent to assassinate Che Yongtai's previous incarnation, and succeeded since he survived and eventually married Xiahou Shan. His cold attitude and the rumours about Nightwatchers caused Huang Yuanqing to believe that Nightwatchers are all arrogant, and his introverted personality caused him to not bother clearing the rumours and assume that Huang Yuanqing also believed in them, this resulted in the two never interacting at all during or after the mission. He would later marry Xiahou Shan.

In the new timeline alternated by Ye Yan, Ye Yan's actions caused Huang Yuanqing to gain a new perspective on Nightwatchers, and caused her to greet Ye Liao when meeting him, and resulted in a greeting in response from him. This caused a change in history, as the two became close allies who would care for each other and were even willing to block deadly attacks for the other person. Their relationship eventually evolved into love, and as a result, Ye Liao married Huang Yuanqing and Xiahou Shan (polygamy was allowed back then), causing the disappearance of Huang Xiaoyan in the original timeline.

Personality
Ye Liao initially seems cold and emotionless, though it is later revealed that he is in fact an introvert, and doesn't like to talk much. Due to the rumours of Nightwatchers being arrogant and prideful when in reality they just aren't able to meet most people's expectations, Ye Liao prefers to act cold instead of humble in response, which resulted in him not interacting much with the rest of the assassination team during the mission or after it in the original timeline.

Appearance
Unlike his ancestor Ye Chong and his descendant Ye Yan, Ye Liao has black hair instead of blonde hair, though the rest of his facial features bear resemblance to them, such as the turquoise eyes and the mole under his left eye. While as a Night Conqueror, he wore the black robe that appears on Nightwatchers whenever they become Night Conquerors by manifesting it through energy.

Abilities and Powers
Ye Liao was the representative guardian of the Nightwatchers and part of the assassination team sent to kill Che Yongtai's previous incarnation, proving that he is formidably powerful. He wields five Demon Flags, an extremely difficult, but incredible feat, as even those who wield four flags are considered prodigies.

Nightwatcher exclusive techniques

 * Penta-Shockwave (五方烈震 Wǔ Fāng Liè Zhèn, lit. "Five Corner Violent Quake"): By slamming the Soul Mallet onto the ground, a Nightwatcher can create a shockwave strong enough to send debris flying everywhere. This move is used to create an opening for attacks or kick up debris to obscure one's position.
 * Night Conqueror (黑夜主宰 Hēi Àn Zhǔ Zǎi, lit. "Dark Night Overlord"): The ultimate form only achievable by a Nightwatcher after conquering their inner darkness. After transforming into a Night Conqueror, a Nightwatcher's power is vastly increased. By throwing their Soul Mallets, they can create tremendous explosions at the points of impact, and completely obliterate a monster's body and soul with a direct hit. They can perform the Timed Knockout attack without the aid of objects, such as through a stomp. Additionally, while in natural darkness or darkness created by themselves, the Nightwatcher can intuitively locate and sense the movement of anything within it, even if their five senses are hampered. The abilities of their Darkening form are also accessible, such as channeling green energy. The power of a Nightwatcher while in this mode largely depends on the power of their bloodline, which is directly proportional to the number of Demon Flags they can wield. Due to the disruption of natural energy brought about by artificial lighting, the Night Conqueror transformation is incredibly unstable in modern times, requiring true darkness as a catalyst for the transformation. Even if transformed, the form is short-lived, and the Nightwatcher will lose consciousness afterwards as well as have no recollection of their actions while transformed.
 * True Spirit Clothing (真气化衣 Zhēn Qì Huà Yī, lit. "True Qi Clothing Conversion"): When a Nightwatcher assumes the Night Conqueror form, they don a black hooded robe with red borders around the edges either by reconstructing their clothing or manifesting it through energy. This transformation is automatic, and usually acts as an indicator of their transformation.

Ye Liao's Techniques

 * Golden Scale Seal (金鳞绝咒): A sealing technique that allows the user to gain three times their original power, and awaken latent abilities within them for one hour by releasing the energy other people stored within them beforehand, at the cost of lowering their power to less than one third of their original strength while the power is sealed. Once released, the user will release a pillar of destructive light, as well as have their powers tripled.
 * Midnight Soul Gong (暗夜镇魂锣): After awakening his Night Conqueror form and having his power tripled, Ye Liao was able to significantly enlarge his Soul Gong and use it as a shield, which was durable enough to break through materials created by Che Yongtai 's previous incarnation's Earth Magic.
 * Almighty Soul Mallet (神通镇魂锤): After awakening his Night Conqueror form and having his power tripled, Ye Liao was able to elongate his Soul Mallet at will, increasing its range and power as well.
 * Soul Shattering Mallet (碎魂锤): Ye Liao's strongest attack. By gathering energy into his Soul Mallet while it is elongated, the front of Ye Liao's Soul Mallet will glow green and its destructive power will increase significantly.

Equipment

 * Soul Gong (镇魂锣 Zhèn Hún Luó, lit. "Soul-Reposing Gong"): A main branch Nightwatcher exclusive weapon. If struck by the Soul Mallet, it can produce a sound that either renders anyone within close proximity to the gong unconscious or temporarily immobilizes anyone who heard the sound other than Nightwatchers, who have certain levels of immunity to losing consciousness and paralysis. However, if repeatedly struck within a short timeframe, the immunity will start to weaken and eventually the Nightwatcher themselves will be affected by the sound, showing signs such as extreme fatigue and nose bleeding. Even if they are shattered, Soul Gongs can still produce the immobilizing sound if the pieces are taped back together and can be welded back together through unknown methods. The immobilizing effect only works on the receivers' bodies, therefore it can not stop someone from mentally controlling or summoning a weapon.
 * Soul Mallet (镇魂锤 Zhèn Hún Chuí, lit. "Soul-Reposing Hammer"): A main branch Nightwatcher exclusive weapon, it can be used to strike the Soul Gong to create an immobilizing sound or physical attacks. When a Nightwatcher assumes the Night Conqueror form, the Soul Mallet's power increases drastically, becoming capable of producing large explosions upon impact when thrown and destroying a monster's soul along with its body in one direct hit.
 * Demon Flag (煌妖幡 Huáng Yāo Fān, lit. "Brilliant Demon Banner"): A Nightwatcher exclusive equipment. It is used to capture monster by atomizing their bodies into green fog along with their soul and enslave them as Flag Demons for eternity, courtesy of the numerous formulae programmed into them. Flag Demons are capable of making themselves invisible and intangible by turning themselves into green smoke, or solidify themselves to physically attack. Nightwatchers are also able to telepathically communicate with their Flag Demons within a few hundred meters. Nightwatchers are also capable of telekinetically moving Demon Flags within a few dozen meters of themselves, which allows them to hide their flags around the battlefield for sneak attacks with their Flag Demons. Main branch Nightwatchers possess purer bloodlines and are thus usually able to control multiple Demon Flags. According to Wang Shengli, a Nightwatcher that can control more than four flags is able to store three Flag Demons at most in one flag.