In the Water Margin
Fan Rui is the sixty-first hero of Liangshan, born under the star Diran (地然星). He comes from Puzhou and learned Taoist arts as a boy: he can call up wind and rain, and he leads troops like a spirit. In battle he swings a meteor hammer and carries a sacred sword. His nickname, Demon Lord of Chaos (混世魔王), is a boast he does his best to live up to.
When the novel meets him he holds Mount Mangdang with three thousand men and two sworn brothers, Xiang Chong and Li Gun, who fight behind round shields and hurl knives and javelins. The three let it be known that they mean to swallow Liangshan. Shi Jin and the Shaohua chiefs ride out first to stop them and are badly beaten. Then Song Jiang brings Gongsun Sheng, and for once Fan Rui meets a stronger sorcerer. Captured and freed, his brothers talk him into surrender, and he asks to become Gongsun Sheng's disciple. At the end of the novel he and Zhu Wu leave the world to follow Gongsun Sheng as Taoists.
Key episodes
Shields on the hillside. Shi Jin, Zhu Wu, Chen Da and Yang Chun attack Mount Mangdang and are thrown back by Xiang Chong and Li Gun, whose shield-bearers roll down the slope throwing blades. It is the Shaohua band's first defeat as Liangshan men.
Sorcerer against sorcerer. Fan Rui raises a black wind and a storm of sand against Song Jiang's army. Gongsun Sheng answers with his sword and an ancient eight-part battle array; the wind turns back on Fan Rui's own men, and Xiang Chong and Li Gun, charging on foot behind their shields, tumble straight into a pitfall.
The disciple. Song Jiang treats the captured brothers as guests and lets them go. They return to the mountain and persuade Fan Rui, who comes down, kneels before Gongsun Sheng and asks to learn the Five Thunders magic from him.
