Chapter 1

Yin Mountain Sect, mysterious and unfathomable within the Daoist Sect, a strange and ever-changing school; its doctrine emphasizes Yin, emphasizes commanding the five ghost soldiers with the command flag. The sect passes down the Five Ghosts Transporting Wealth, Bewilderment and Opening, Five Ghosts Driving Souls, Soul Lock, Throat Lock, and Dragon-Drawing Methods. They like to cultivate in extremely Yin places such as graveyards and impure lands, borrowing graveyards, bones, human blood, etc., this Yin energy to promote cultivation— the command flag inserted upside down, the talisman head also upside down, the altar set on the ground as a Yin altar. Their method is called the utmost Yin of the Daoist Sect; part of the Five Ghosts' writings have spread outward, and over time merged into other sects—for example, the famous Haohao's Five Ghosts Driving Souls, Soul-Subduing techniques. Their Ghost King's writings also once spread to Thailand, merged into Malaysia, among Thailand's head-lowering masters; they formed their own lineage, not acknowledging any master, calling themselves the Ghost King Sect.

Before I started writing this story, I hesitated for a long time, because someone once told me a sentence: in our line of work, what matters is a hidden character. But I discovered that with the passage of time, some things remain hidden and hidden until they disappear. So I intend to blend some real events, real culture into the story—whether to promote, to communicate, or to unveil this mysterious veil for everyone, or simply to write a story—I will persist all the way.

First, let me introduce myself: my surname is Chen, and I am called Hai Sheng. My familiar friends like to call me "pitfall goods" and "pit god". Because when I divine for these friends, often the good outcomes show no sign while the bad ones come true. Another reason is that I often fall into pits.

I am called Hai Sheng, not because I was born by the sea, but because at birth the Yin Granny said my eight characters favored wood and water assisting each other; according to the five elements of the eight characters, she gave me this name.

The name looks refined, but my appearance bears no resemblance to refinement; many people around me say I am an omen of death, a lonely soul and wild ghost possessing the world, they avoid me as much as possible, seeing me is like seeing a plague.

Because I am a child's fate, an innate ghost child, my left eye was blind from birth.

Child's fate is a destiny predicted through the four pillars of yin-yang, the twelve waxing and waning, and the punishments, clashes, unions, and harms. Ancient people believed that spirit controls the body; assuming a person, besides their own soul, has another soul residing in the flesh, then it is called "someone on the body, someone above the person"; some places also call it a substitute, an incarnation.

The general idea is that in a past life one was a young attendant beside the immortals of palaces, observatories, and temples—such as sweeping boys, tea-pouring and watering boys, rank-standing boys, horse-leading boys, and book boys. One maintains a child's body throughout life, and later, for various reasons, is reborn as a human.

Later scholars of divination divided child's fate into five major categories: household deity child, Daoist child, Buddhist Sect child, scholarly child, and ghost child. Household deity child refers to one whose past life was a guardian immortal or a horse-summoning immortal's household deity child. Daoist child refers to one whose past life was a child in a Daoist temple, either reincarnated or a fragment of the child's spirit reborn. The children coming from Daoist temples commonly include five kinds: the child of the Fire God temple, the child of the King of Hell temple, the child of the Mountain God temple, the child of the Earth God temple, and the child of the Lord Lao temple. Buddhist Sect child is the same as Daoist child, except that their past life served the deities of the Buddhist Sect. Scholarly child refers to one whose past life was a companion-reading child of a certain Confucian great scholar. Ghost child refers to a resentful spirit or evil ghost that, without permission from the underworld, illicitly reincarnated. Among ghost children, they are further divided into debt-owing ghosts and debt-collecting ghosts. Debt-owing ghosts are mostly those who, in a past life, owed debts that were not repaid; thus, most of them, having just crossed the Yellow Spring Road, turn back to look upon the nether path. Debt-collecting ghosts need no further explanation; folk tradition has long held that infants born with congenital defects or bearing unusual marks, who from birth cause turmoil in the household and only leave after the family is ruined and its members perish, are called by people as coming to collect debts from their parents.

Among the various child fates, the ghost child's destiny is the most miserable: congenitally deficient, it is hard to survive past a hundred days; even if it survives past a hundred days, it will suffer outsiders' strange gazes, endure bullying and contempt, be regarded as a plague god, a wild ghost possessing the world.

And my destiny is precisely the most miserable debt-owing ghost child among child fates; this unfortunate eight characters caused me, at birth, to painfully lose my father, go blind in my left eye, and frighten the nurse at the health station into fainting.

Next, please allow me to slowly recount my strange experiences from childhood.

……………………

On a very ordinary night, I was born in a three-no health clinic in a remote small town. According to my mother's recollection, the night I was born was extremely cold; even wrapped in several layers of clothing, one could feel the chill spreading from inside to outside the body.

My mother was sent to the clinic in the middle of that night. My birth caught everyone off guard. The village's barefoot doctor said I was a ten-month baby, but my mother actually gave birth to me at seven months; thus, in southern dialect, I am a premature baby born before full term, a "seven-star baby".

My father also left this world on the night I was born. My birth did not bring joy to this impoverished family; instead, it brought endless nightmare and sorrow.

According to my mother's recollection, when I was just born, I did not cry and fuss like other children; I merely lay quietly in the swaddling clothes, not crying nor fussing, and did not even open my eyes.

My abnormal appearance frightened my mother. Although it is not strange for a newborn to be unable to open its eyes, not crying nor fussing makes it easy to worry that the child will grow up to be mute.

Later, the nurse and my mother said: "Big sister, give the baby's face a good slap; slap it until it hurts, then it will cry and that'll be fine."

My mother decisively heeded the nurse's advice, gently exerting force and slapped my wrinkled cheek twice. But after slapping, my mother felt heartbroken, fearing she had hurt me, and hurriedly blew air onto my face.

The next scene completely shattered everyone's expectations. I not only did not cry, but I also cracked open my mouth and gave a giggling, squeaky laugh; however, in that silent night, my laugh was hoarse and even a bit raspy, causing a chill to rise spontaneously in people's hearts.

Seeing me like this, my mother furrowed her brows. Although this scene was abnormal, my laughing out loud proved I could speak and was not mute; thus, my mother's heart eased a little.

But what happened next was beyond everyone's expectations. Using my mother's words to describe everyone's expression at that moment, I can only think of three words: astonishment, a chill despite no cold, and dread.

In the midst of that abnormal giggling, I slowly opened my eyes, letting everyone see my appearance clearly.

My two eyes: the right eye is normal like anyone's, but the left eye can make people break out in a cold sweat from head to toe. Because my left eye lacks pigment, only the white is visible; I was born blind in one eye.

You can imagine: on a night when the north wind is bitterly cold, you are staying in a dilapidated ward with a hanging oil lamp.

Above, the oil lamp swayed to and fro with a creaking as the wind blew; on the bed, in my mother's arms, the newborn child giggled at you, slowly opening his eyes. An eye with only white and no black stared fixedly at you. I don't know whether you would feel afraid, whether your heart would tremble.

I don't know whether you are scared, but that nurse certainly was. When I opened my eyes, my face was turned toward her; frightened, her face turned pale, she let out a loud "Ah!" and fainted. My mother, too, was frightened, her hand trembling, almost dropping me to the ground.

The two people who brought my mother over were a father and son from the village; they had a distant kinship with my mother's ancestors eight generations back. Seeing me like this, they both jumped in fright.

The older one was the village's storyteller. With broader experience, upon seeing my appearance he jumped up as if someone had dug up his ancestral grave, pointing at me and shouting:

"Innate ghost eye, most ominous. This child cannot stay; you had better send him away quickly, otherwise he will surely bring disaster to your family."

My mother glared at him: "Old Uncle Xu, what nonsense are you spouting? My child is just a bit unusual in appearance, having nothing at all to do with ghosts or non‑ghosts."

After all, it is her own flesh and blood, carried for seven months. Even though my appearance frightened my mother, even though she had little education and limited experience. Even though she grew up in a village where technology was undeveloped and filled with talk of ghosts and gods.

Yet she stubbornly protected me, disregarding her frail body and arguing with the elders.

Or the elder named Old Xu, the storyteller, could not convince my mother; in the end he could only resentfully give up.

But this does not mean the matter is over; on the contrary, it is merely the beginning of a nightmare.

That same night, my mother received news that filled her with anguish to the point of despair. My poor father, on his way back to his hometown, was run over by a speeding truck, his body severed from his head.

Hearing this news, the mother, weak from just giving birth, fainted from tears. After waking, her stubborn self still forced her frail body to go and look at my father one more time.

Leaving me, I lay alone on the hospital bed.

Also that very night, I, who had just crossed the Yellow Spring Road, again turned back to gaze upon the nether path; on my first night in the world, I nearly reported once more to King Yama.

Because that night I contracted a taint, a corpse taint.

What is taint? No one explains it clearly; we only know that taint, like the fetal spirit, is an intangible killing energy. Children in their early years often run afoul of the fetal spirit, and when they are less than a hundred days old they are especially prone to attract taint. If a child once incurs serious taint and cannot find a way to resolve it, then that child is likely to die shortly after birth, having just crossed the Yellow Spring Road and then returning to the nether path.

For example: cattle taint, frog taint, and corpse taint. Cattle taint resides on cattle; if someone outside touches a cow or sees a cow, then comes to look at a newborn infant without having washed the eyes and feet with mugwort or pomelo leaves, the taint easily transfers to the child's body; in metaphysics it is called cattle taint, in science it is jaundice, which can be cured.

And frog taint, as the name suggests, resides on frogs. During the period when a child is less than a hundred days old, there are days that are particularly taboo; on those days one must not slaughter frogs or carp and the like at home. Once a frog is slaughtered, the child's son is highly likely to grow up to be a "four-eyed field frog." Here the four-eyed field frog does not mean four eyes; rather, above the eyes, between the foreheads, two masses of fire‑cloud protrude, resembling a frog.

And I, upon birth, contracted the most severe of the taints: corpse taint.

I am not clear on the exact circumstances; I only later happened to hear my mother mention it.

That night, my mother left in such a hurry that she forgot to close the ward door.

Until midnight, a man and a woman rushed into the hospital holding a child; it was said that the child cradled in the woman's arms was one whom the hospital's doctor had treated to death. The parents, grieving the loss of their flesh and blood, came to settle accounts with the hospital's doctor.

They tugged and struck, shouting insults. The doctor was beaten and fled in panic. The dead infant was tossed onto a hospital chair, ignored. The direction the dead infant faced was exactly toward the room where I was, toward the bed on which I slept.

The next day, when my mother dragged her exhausted self back to the hospital, she was frightened by my appearance to the point that her heart seemed to leap out.

My entire lower half was a dark, blackened patch that had spread up to my arms; when I checked my breath, I was inhaling little and exhaling much.

Because of my eye condition, no nurse or doctor dared to come see me that night; when my mother returned to the hospital, I had already turned into a figure with a black lower half and a yellow upper half.

At that time my mother was furious and angry, but to save me she swallowed her indignation and begged the doctor to treat me.

Yet, despite being hooked up to an IV, I not only did not improve, but continued to worsen, black spots spreading across my body; later, following the doctor's advice, my mother transferred me to the county hospital, but the result was the same as the village clinic.

With no avail, my mother could only return to consult the village elders. Upon hearing, they knew I had incurred taint, and besides, my mother had gone to the hospital to inquire about that night's events. The elders confirmed that I had contracted the most severe of the taints: corpse taint.

Through the elders' introduction, my mother summoned the locally famous Yin Granny.

The Yin Granny used charm water, adding yellow‑tooth tree leaves, pomelo leaves, Taozi leaves, red and white cloth… altogether seven items, and she rubbed them hard on my body, actually wiping away the black spots; she cured the mysterious ailment that the hospital staff were helpless against, and she pulled me back from the brink of death—having only a breath left—then, according to my eight characters, gave me the name Hai Sheng.

This allowed me, blind in one eye, to barely cling to life in this world.

It is said that to live is to have hope. As long as one does not die, there is nothing to fear in this world. Yet I often feel that my existence in this world is merely a calamity, bringing disaster and ill omen to those around me. From childhood to adulthood, aside from my mother, no one in the village likes me.

Since the storyteller Old Xu loudly spread my background in the village, and after the Yin Granny's words that I am a debt‑owing ghost child circulated, the villagers all regard me as a broom star, a jinx. Upon seeing me from afar, they will pretend it is natural to shut their doors, waiting until I have passed. Then they will take out a broom and sweep away the inauspiciousness from the doorway.

Because of my eyes, no matter how hard I studied or how good my grades were, the teachers at school still refused to give me even a half‑smile. While other children formed groups to play games and throw sandbags, I could only silently hide in a corner, peeking. When I got excited, I couldn't help letting out a loud shout. But after shouting, I would worry they'd notice me and throw dirt at me, so I had to quickly pull my head back.

The cold environment shaped my unsociable personality; I became withdrawn and grew to despise the world. At that time, aside from my mother, I could find no second person who treated me well.

If things continued this way, perhaps later I would commit suicide from depression, or perhaps my coldness would twist my personality, leading me to do irrational things.

Later, a bad old man opened a door I had never encountered before, changing my life.

The appearance of this bad old man, however, must be traced back to an incident that happened during my childhood.