Chapter 1: The Hundred Days' Menace

  When I was very young, I experienced the famous "Hundred Days' Crisis". People in rural areas all know that within a hundred days of a child's birth, there is a possibility of being possessed by evil spirits. At this time, the child's heavenly eye has not yet fully closed, and their body and mind are at their purest, so cases of evil spirits taking possession or sucking away a child's "essence" and spirit are not uncommon. I not only experienced the Hundred Days' Crisis but also the severe "Absolute Hundred Days' Crisis".

  When I was in my swaddling clothes, a pair of red strings were tied to my feet, which looked like a pair of red strings. No one in the family could explain what specific effect they had, but it was said that they were specially used to break through the hundred-day barrier. My grandfather Han Leiping didn't have much culture and happily tied the red strings on me, saying: "Good grandson, our family's single-transmitted good grandson, I'll tie you up with a red string, don't run away with others!"

  My father has a big temper and is very straightforward. I was born in winter, so my family decided to name me Han Dong. It was my grandfather who first discovered that I was wrapped up in dirty things.

  Originally, my skin was very fair and delicate, with clear features. My mother held me in her arms, gently rocking me back and forth, trying to coax me from crying to sleep. As she rocked me, Grandfather's face also gradually turned unpleasant.

  My face's color changed from its original rosy complexion to a gradual yellow, bit by bit gathering at the center of my eyebrows. The center of my eyebrows kept deepening in color until my entire face turned a sickly pale yellow, pitiful to behold. And at the center of my eyebrows, it actually condensed into a round dot, forming a deep black spot.

  My mother didn't notice the change in my complexion and continued to coax me with her eyes closed, while Grandpa shouted "Put it down!" on the side.

  My mother gave a loud shout and put me on the bed. My eighty-year-old grandfather suddenly became young again, ran into the kitchen, held a vegetable knife, faced north, and kept slapping the vegetable leaves, shouting loudly: "What are you doing here?! Get out quickly!"

  The kitchen knife was chopping the vegetables, and my mother was curled up beside me, looking at me like a monster, the black spot between her eyebrows slowly fading away, her face slowly regaining its color, but it was still pale.

  Grandpa ran back from the kitchen, looking at me as if I had just recovered from a serious illness, and immediately hugged me in his arms. Suddenly, he burst into tears: "My good grandson! The only grandson of the Han family's single inheritance! You mustn't get into trouble! Grandpa would rather risk his own life than let that dirty thing take you away!"

  My grandfather is an old generation, a native rural person. Although many things are not 'refined' or profound, he indeed understands quite a bit. From then on, my grandfather knew that I was being targeted by unclean things. Within these hundred days, I must be strictly guarded. If I guard well, nothing will happen; if I don't guard well, it could be fatal.

  At that time, my father Han Tianya had just returned from outside and learned about my situation, also worried. That night, he prepared to catch the evil spirit with my grandfather together.

  As I was the only child in the family, my grandfather and father knelt before our ancestors' altar, ceaselessly kowtowing and praying for the protection of the household gods. The evening was cool, with flickering lights, and the dark winter night brought a desolate atmosphere. A chill wind blew through the house, causing the incense sticks for worshiping our ancestors to flicker on and off.

  Suddenly, the incense was no longer rising naturally, but drifted towards the window. Everyone knows that if there is a draft coming in, it blows from outside to inside. The direction of the incense should be following the wind direction, but inexplicably, it blew towards the window, and closest to the bottom of the window was me in my mother's arms.

  Many ghosts feed on incense, at this moment, Grandpa and Dad looked at me in horror, realizing that something was wrong.

  "Ah……!" My mom exclaimed, her arm trembling non-stop as she stared at me with a black face and a hint of red on my brow, while I was still smiling slightly at her.

  I really admire my mother's perseverance and strength at that time, and she didn't throw me off her arm. The first to react was still my grandfather, he immediately ran over, pushed my mother aside, put me in the center of the 'bed', and a talisman was stuck on my belly button.

  I bit my index finger, and a drop of fresh blood dripped onto the center of my brow. The fresh blood and that one crimson dot on my brow seemed to be engaged in a heavenly battle. I, who was less than a month old, actually let out a sly smile.

  Then, my grandfather made a strange movement, similar to a Tai Chi pose, muttering to himself: "Heaven has heavenly justice, earth has earthly condemnation, intelligent and upright, not biased or selfish, cutting off evil and eliminating wickedness, resolving difficulties and ensuring safety, like the anger of the gods, turning bones into ashes!"

  Then a palm patted the Zhēn Yī Qiè Chóng Fú (镇一切邪崇符) on my belly, and the talisman faintly glowed. With a humming sound, my grandfather was knocked back several meters, and my dad caught him. From my throat came out a sharp cry that was absolutely not a human voice. I felt something being 'extracted' from my body, and then I fainted.

  Even now, I still have a lingering fear when I think about it. My mom was telling me the story in vivid detail while I was eating my meal, and at that time, I thought it was just a myth.

  Grandpa was lying on the bed, his breathing a bit weak. In his youth, Grandpa had studied at a Taoist temple for a short period of time. Due to some cultural movements, he had to go up the mountain and down to the countryside. This time helping me drive out the evil spirit has already cost Grandpa his life's energy. Looking at me sleeping soundly on one side, Grandpa sighed: "Tianya, this child still didn't manage to pass safely this time, this isn't just an ordinary hundred-day barrier, it's a fatal hundred-day barrier."

  The lights in the house have stabilized, and the incense for worshiping ancestors is rising steadily. My parents thought they had successfully driven out the evil spirits and escaped disaster, but unexpectedly, my grandfather said this.

  "What is the absolute killing of the hundred days?" My father, who had always been an atheist, didn't understand these things, but due to my experiences, his views on these matters have become somewhat more relaxed.

  Grandfather took a sip of water, shook his head, and suddenly looked ten years older. He spoke slowly: "This is an absolute killer within a hundred days. The evil spirit is not ordinary, it's not just a small ghost. It could be the King of Ghosts or something non-human. If it's the King of Ghosts, there might still be a way to save him. Go find the blind Taoist priest in the neighboring village, he can handle it. But if it's something non-human..."

  Grandpa coughed and continued: "Then our child's life will be in danger!"

  Although Father didn't understand the difference between Gui Wang and Non-Human, he still listened to Grandfather's words. The whole family was shrouded in a sad atmosphere for several days. My mother, after all, was a "female" flow, and even during the day, she would turn on the lights and often wipe away tears. Grandfather lay on the bed, unable to get up because he had already exhausted too much physical strength the last time to save me.

  My father ran to the neighboring village, inquiring where the blind Taoist priest lived. Many people didn't know, and some who did said that even if my father went there, the Taoist wouldn't help. My father didn't believe it, or rather, he couldn't afford not to believe it - anyway, with his illness worsening, he desperately ran to the small hill in the neighboring village. Just as he was climbing halfway up the mountain, the blind Taoist priest surprisingly came down himself.

  "Stop climbing, I'll go with you." The blind Taoist walked away on his own.

  Dad was quite puzzled at the time, wondering if this was really a blind eye? This action is more agile than a normal person. The blind Taoist seemed to have sensed something: "Don't be stunned, I'm blind in my eyes, but not in my heart. Take me home with you, I owe your son a favor."

  "Dad said, 'Do you know why I'm looking for you? How did you owe my son a favor?' It's strange to say that a newborn baby who hasn't even reached full moon can actually make someone owe him a favor."

  The Taoist turned his head to look at my dad, although his eyes were blind, but he seemed to know exactly where my dad was, nodded: "That's what was owed in the previous life, this life may not be able to pay it back, no need to say more, hurry up and take me away."

  My father has been dealing with crops for many years, because he is straightforward and righteous, and has a good head for economics. He built several farms with the help of his friends and made a lot of money, so the villagers think my father Han Tianya is a man with a good reputation. Modern science and technology have become the greatest faith in my father's heart, and all superstitions are ignorant. However, the recent events have left my father somewhat 'perplexed', and his faith is gradually shaking.

  My dad brought the blind Taoist priest all the way to our home, and by the time they arrived it was already afternoon. The whole family had prepared a table of food and was waiting for this sole savior of the family, ready to treat him well.

  "This Taoist priest had just arrived when he shouted: 'Han Leiping, you still have the mood to set up this dinner party? What time is it now? You've also learned a few tricks, hurry up and kill a black dog, then bring me the broom that your family uses most often.'"

  Grandpa took a look and indeed invited someone who understood, it's already 5 pm in the afternoon, soon it will be dark, where can we go to catch black dogs? Fortunately, my dad has good relationships with people, he knows whose family has a black dog and wants to spend a few hundred yuan to buy one, but the villagers are also embarrassed, saying that they'll just have dinner together another day.

  During this time, the blind Taoist priest was kneeling under my 'bed', performing a grand ceremony of kowtowing to me non-stop. Just as my mother wanted to ask something, she was stopped by my grandfather.

  The blind Taoist muttered to himself, "Great kindness doesn't need to be thanked, this favor I never thought could be repaid. This time I'll try it out, if it really can't be done, don't blame me either. Anyway, one day we will still meet again."

  Mom was quietly asking Grandpa in the distance what this was all about, whether this Taoist priest was a madman. My grandpa knew something about this blind Taoist priest, nobody knows where he came from. Ten years ago, this Taoist priest helped someone break a haunted house and saved the lives of four people in that family.

  After one night, his eyes suddenly went blind. He knew this was retribution for forcibly interfering with the cause and effect between others. From then on, no matter who invited him, he would not come down from the mountain again. This time, he came here to repay the kindness of his grandson Han Dong, looking at it as if it were still a debt from the previous life.