Yeyou Shen (Night Patrol God)

Yeyou Shen and Riyou Shen alternate duties between night and day, jointly overseeing the mortal world: Yeyou Shen patrols exclusively after dark, watching for demons, evil spirits, and petty criminals, while safeguarding those who travel by night out of virtue or necessity. In the classic Ming-dynasty novel Fengshen Yanyi (Investiture of the Gods), Qiao Kun is deified as Yeyou Shen, greatly enhancing the deity’s renown. In traditional folk belief, the prohibition against loud noise or unauthorized movement after curfew—known as fan ye (‘violating the night’)—was justified by the presence of Yeyou Shen on duty. This notion harmonised with the urban institution of night watchmen who struck the hour bells; ancient people believed that just as human society maintained order through the rhythmic tolling of the night watch, divine vigilance likewise ensured that no act of virtue or vice could escape detection beneath the veil of darkness.