Chapter 1: The Hundred Demons Claiming Lives

  One day in September 1983, my mother gave birth to me in the hospital. My father was almost scared to tears at that time. When other children were born, they would cry and make a fuss, but I came into this world with a loud laugh. The laughter sounded like a woman's, accompanied by endless desolation and sorrow, while my behavior was very strange, not at all like a newborn baby boy.

  I was only three catties when I was born, with a blood-red birthmark on the back of my head. I didn't eat or drink, nor did I cry or make a fuss, but instead stared at the people around me with wide eyes and a silly smile, which made the doctors in the delivery room feel anxious. In order to keep me alive, from birth to six months old, I was placed in an incubator with various tubes inserted into my body.

  The hospital was also unable to cure my strange illness, and several times suggested that my parents stop treating me. Later, the whole village knew that the old Meng family had given birth to a half-dead child. The superstitious old village chief asked my dad to invite a geomancer to take a look, wondering if there was a problem with the feng shui of our home or if we had offended some evil spirit.

  At that time, my dad was in a hurry to find a doctor and finally found a Mr. Chen in the surrounding area. This Mr. Chen claimed to be from Sichuan, a descendant of the Maoshan sect's founder, and had even caught ghosts and beaten zombies. My father brought good wine and cigarettes and said many nice things before he was allowed to see him. My dad didn't quite believe Mr. Chen's reputation, after all, people in this line of work like to brag, it's hard to tell what's true or false. Mr. Chen accepted the gifts, first looked at our house and said the feng shui was excellent, definitely had a high-ranking ancestor, then went to the hospital to see me, furrowed his brow, turned around and left.

  My dad was naturally unhappy, thinking that Mr. Chen was pretending to be mysterious and even scolded him as a swindler from the rivers and lakes. This made Mr. Chen angry. "Forget it, forget it, I'm destined to have a connection with this child, so I'll take him as my apprentice and also cure your heart disease." As he spoke, Mr. Chen took out a bottle of cow's tears and applied it to his own and my dad's eyelids. The two of them quietly watched me in the night, and when my dad saw a group of male and female ghosts hovering around me, crazily drilling in and out of my body, he was so frightened that he went limp all over.

  "Haha, you see? This child is surrounded by a hundred ghosts, if no one saves him, his life won't last long." Mr. Chen didn't show any fear, smiling at my dad and saying, "At that time, my dad knelt down and kowtowed three times nine times to ask Mr. Chen to save me, promising to agree to whatever conditions he set."

  Before I was born, having a boy was almost my father's heart disease. He and my mother were 40 years old when they gave birth to me, a boy, with three older sisters above me. Although the family lived in poverty, Father loved me the most. If something really happened to me at that time, Father would not be able to hold his head up in the village. At that time, it was like this, if you couldn't give birth to a boy, you wouldn't even dare greet people!

  Mr. Chen immediately helped his father up, "Since I've agreed to help you resolve your heart disease, I won't ignore it!", but saving him would cost me ten years of my lifespan, I only have one request, which is for him to become my disciple, and before the age of 18, he cannot be with his parents.

  When the old man heard this condition, he suddenly couldn't say a word. Mr. Chen continued to say: "If you can agree to this condition, I will save him and after curing him, I will take him to the mountain to learn Taoism with me. If not, then he will be surrounded by hundreds of ghosts and die 81 days later." After finishing speaking, he looked at the old man with a deep meaning in his eyes.

  Dad paced back and forth in the room for a long time, hesitated for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth and agreed to Mr. Chen's request. Although it was hard for parents to be away from their child for eighteen years, Mr. Chen had given up ten years of his life in exchange for mine, so Dad finally compromised.

  "Haha, look at your sad face. I just said don't let your child live with you, but you can still come visit him. And after he starts school, on weekends and holidays, he can still come home to stay." Mr. Chen suddenly explained: "I'm doing this for your own good too. This child was born with a hundred ghosts surrounding him, his birth chart is extremely yang, it's a body of nine yangs."

  The father seemed to not understand what the Nine Yang Body meant, and looked at Mr. Chen with some confusion. Mr. Chen continued to explain: "The Nine Yang Body refers to children born with a strong innate yang energy, but newborns are relatively fragile and most easily possessed by lonely spirits and wild ghosts. If they can obtain the body of the Nine Yang, even vengeful spirits and evil ghosts can be reincarnated, so this child will be surrounded by hundreds of ghosts."

  Dad nodded and finally understood that my strange behavior was due to having a body with nine yang, "This child is destined for hardship!"

  "Haha, then you're wrong. The Nine Yang physique is the best for men, and people with this physique are most suitable for cultivating the Tao. That's why I met him, because we have a good affinity. Mr. Chen seemed to be excited as he said: "As long as he passes through the Thirty-Three Calamities and the Ninety-Nine Tribulations, this child will become the supreme ruler of heaven and earth, and all of you will feel fortunate."

  Dad probably felt that Mr. Chen was bragging again, and didn't let him continue speaking, only asking what he needed to prepare for. Mr. Chen said he had to go on a trip to the northwest polar region to find something, and then he could save me.

  Mr. Chen left for three months, and Dad gave him a few hundred yuan for travel expenses and prepared some food. Then there was no news for three whole months, and later our whole family suspected that Mr. Chen was a swindler who had cheated us out of money and food and run away. Only Dad firmly believed that Mr. Chen would not cheat, as he had seen those ghosts with his own eyes.

  Three months later, Mr. Chen came back with a disheveled hair and a completely blackened body, where was the demeanor of a high-ranking Taoist from a few months ago? He looked like a beggar, sitting at our doorstep. At that time, my dad excitedly grasped Mr. Chen's hand, but he didn't say anything, just pulled out half a piece of charcoal-like wood from his pocket. The wood was very strange, with black texture and black outer skin, as if it had been struck by lightning.

  Later, Mr. Chen used this piece of wood to carve a square token, carving the Four Spirits Fumo Array on the front and two small ancient seal characters "Bai Gui" on the back.

  According to Dad, Mr. Chen picked me up from the hospital and brought me back home, then placed the dying me in the yard, set up a large array around me, opened the altar and performed the ritual, trapping those ghosts that were entwining me inside, and then collected them into that square token. At that time, all of our family members were arranged to stand at the four corners of the yard, except for my youngest sister, everyone in the family participated in this action.

  After catching the hundred ghosts, my body slowly recovered and I started drinking some milk. Mr. Chen personally accepted me as his apprentice at home, and my father also set up a full moon wine to celebrate. Three months later, I was taken back to Mao Mountain by Master. From then on, I learned to speak and followed Master to learn Taoism. For eighteen years, I gradually became a small Taoist priest. However, Master never taught me any magic or cultivation methods during the eighteen years. All I did was attend school, recite the Tao Te Ching, and practice a set of Dragon-Tiger external fist techniques.

  Later, I asked the master why he didn't kill those ghosts. The master said that killing people is against heaven and will be punished by heaven. Although those ghosts harmed me first, it was also my fate. Those ghosts were not guilty of death. Moreover, the master said that the wooden sign was made from thousand-year-old soul-nurturing wood, which collected these small ghosts and turned them into a magical instrument to subdue evil spirits. In the future, when merits are fulfilled, hundreds of ghosts can be reincarnated, and it is also possible to become an immortal or a Buddha, which is also a good thing. From then on, the Hundred Ghosts Summoning Order was born, and my life changed because of this order. Relying on this order, I gradually embarked on the path of becoming a king.

  The story began in high school, during which time the Lingnan region was frequently plagued by zombies. My master often went out to catch them, and for several years he wasn't around me. I started running into ghosts, and my master said this was my Sanzhen Zhinan, Jiujie Zhinan. What's known as Sanzhen Zhinan, Jiujie Zhinan refers to small disasters that occur every three years, and great calamities that occur every nine years.