Gravekeepers

The Gravekeepers are one of the Three Great Guardian Clans, along with the Untitled Sages and Nightwatchers. They are reputed to be the strongest Guardian clan after the invention of lightbulbs severely weakened the power of the Nightwatchers.

Background
Gravekeepers are special organisms that are considered intermediates between humans and demons, as they give off auras similar to both races. Throughout history, they frequently alternated their roles between the two worlds; sometimes they would serve as guardians for the humans and take care of affairs in the human world while acting as the human ambassador for the Underworld, other times they would serve as demon generals and take care of affairs in the Underworld while acting as the demon ambassador for the human world. After the invention of artificial lighting, demons that once only came out at night were forced to adapt to daylight while humans became accustomed and no longer feared the darkness of the night. These evolutions caused both races to become extremely arrogant, and only show patience towards those from the same race as them. This made the relationship between the human world and the Underworld increasingly difficult. Consequently, Gravekeepers became the most essential people when regulating relations between the two realms due to being accepted as equals by both humans and demons, and are treated with absolute respect by both sides as a result.

Structure
Not much is known about the Gravekeeper clan. It is mentioned that main branches and side branches do exist within the clan. Since the two other Guardian clans do it, it can be assumed that the main branch Gravekeeper families are responsible for selecting and sending the strongest Gravekeeper to the Department of Night as a representative of the Gravekeeper clan, while the side branch families are responsible for sending their Gravekeepers to governmental agencies, if needed, to take care of sudden supernatural incidents that the Department of Night isn't available for.

Traditions
In the Gravekeeper clan, the firstborn of the new generation is deemed the clan's heir, and receives priority in everything. They are the first choice for representing the clan in the Department of Night, and succeeding the position of family head. As such, the firstborn is educated and trained separately from other children of their generation, although they are allowed to interact with them once per week.

While the firstborn may enjoy these privileges for themselves, they are allowed to transfer them to others. Ximen Guanren, for example, transferred his authority and power in the family business and in the family senate to Ximen Ruxin.

The firstborn of the Gravekeeper family is afflicted with the "Bachelor's Curse", which causes anyone they are romantically engaged with to die suddenly if they do not marry them within three months. The only way to prevent their partner's death is to terminate their romantic relationship before the three-month limit is reached. There are no possible methods of saving their partner from death.

One of the responsibilities of the firstborn is to succeed the previous Family Gravekeeper in attending to the Gravekeeper family's ancestral catacombs when they retire. To attend to their own family's grave is considered the greatest honor for a Gravekeeper, as Gravekeepers only watch over the graves of others. For at least sixty years, the Family Gravekeeper is not allowed to leave the catacombs, and other people are not allowed to enter them. The Gravekeeper family is progressive, as they allow the Family Gravekeeper to take any electronics with them to the catacombs, and regularly supplies them with food. Despite being undeground, there are places within the catacombs that have access to direct sunlight.

Due to the low population of Gravekeepers, the succeeding Family Gravekeeper usually marries beforehand and brings their spouse with them to the family catacombs. Fornication in the graves is not considered sacrilegious and is instead regarded as a good deed for increasing the clan's numbers. However, if they are unable to have a child, the firstborn will not be acknowledged by the clan as a worthy heir, losing their honor and status as a result.

According to the traditions, Gravekeepers that are the family heir's peers or younger are not allowed to be disrespectful towards the heir's spouse, including physical assault.

Morals
The most derogatory term to call a Gravekeeper is a "Hermaphrodite" (阴阳人), as seen when Ximen Guanren instantly became malicious and shredded the demon who called him that into pieces.

Abilities

 * Zombie Gas Absorption (吸尸气): Gravekeepers have incredible resistance to poison, allowing them to absorb zombie gas and not be affected by it.


 * Negative Energy Retrace (阴气回流): Gravekeepers are able to see negative energy, allowing them to retrace the energy and find the producer.


 * Arm Enlargement/Finger Elongation: Gravekeepers are able to enlarge their arms and hands and elongate their fingers and fingernails, which become sharp and are able to easily cut through flesh.


 * Spirit Channeling (还魂托梦): Gravekeepers are able to channel a deceased person's spirit and make them appear in someone's dreams. Requires at least 90% of the deceased person's remains to be able to use this technique.


 * World Hopping: Due to being a special entity that exists between humans and demons, Gravekeepers are able to go to the Underworld and survive the Limbo, a separate space between the human world and the Underworld that is impossible for organisms other than Gravekeepers to survive in. This technique will forcefully teleport Gravekeepers to the Underworld seconds before their death in the human world if the animal they spiritually bonded with is alive and healthy, keeping them alive after the process. To return to the human world, the Gravekeeper must run across the Limbo, which usually takes a few minutes. With more practice, the Gravekeeper can return to a location closer to the location they died and will feel less exhausted.
 * Spirit Bond (灵魂连接): Gravekeepers are able to spiritually bond with a trusted creature of their own, sharing a part of their soul with said creature which allows the creature to replicate their healthy bodies in the Underworld when they die in the human world and get teleported due to World Hopping. Therefore, as long as the bonded creature is alive and healthy, a Gravekeeper is impossible to kill. However, if the bonded creature is hurt or killed in the human world, the teleported Gravekeeper will have the same wound or remain dead when they arrive at the Underworld.
 * Mortician (送葬者): The ultimate form achievable by a Gravekeeper. While in this form, a Gravekeeper's skin will become extremely dark, their hair will turn white, and their eyes will glow red. The Gravekeeper also gains a significant boost in power, and their ability to enlarge their hands is greatly amplified, as Ximen Lianyin hands were large enough to crush all the demon soldiers in Demon Lord City after gathering them into a large ball. They also gain access to the technique "Species Extermination".
 * Species Extermination (种族灭杀技): By killing an organism and memorizing the trait of the organism's species within their blood, the Gravekeeper can then telekinetically attract all organisms of the same species within a few kilometers together into a sphere and attack them all at once. Anything that even has the smell of the targeted species will be attracted towards the Gravekeeper when this move is used.
 * Shadow Hiding: While as a Mortician, the Gravekeeper is capable of hiding within the shadows of anything, and emerge from the shadows at will to ambush their enemy. This was shown when Ximen Lianyin hid in the shadows of the huge boulder Huang Yuanqing threw at Che Yongtai's previous incarnation and attacked his Inferno Mount.

Members
Ximen Guanren: The current representative guardian of the Gravekeeper clan and the main branch families. Born in a main branch Gravekeeper family. Possesses King's Aura. The student council president of Bozhou's Xiahou High School who's secretly part of the Department of Night.

Ximen Ruxin: Current head of the Gravekeeper clan and twin sister of Ximen Guanren.

Ximen Lianyin: The representative guardian of the Gravekeeper clan back in 1860. She was part of the group that assassinated Che Yongtai's previous incarnation.

Ximen Lan: The representative guardian of the Gravekeeper clan during Xi Sha's previous incarnation's reign. He voluntarily became a demon general for the Underworld and served under Xi Sha's previous incarnation. He quelled revolutions and worked as her butler.

Ximen Chicken: Despite not being a Gravekeeper, it possesses abilities similar to a Gravekeeper, as it is able to absorb zombie gas and spiritually bond with another creature to ensure its immortality.

Trivia
Historically, gravekeepers in ancient China are responsible for keeping watch over the graveyard of a family (presumably wealthy) by cleaning the tombstones and preventing grave robbers or wild animals from disrupting the graveyard.