Culti Stories

Book Introduction: My Years as a Taoist Priest Part One: The Opening - Born with a "Child of Destiny" Fate, Haunted by Countless Ghosts The protagonist, Chen Chengyi, was born exactly at noon - a time that marks him as a "Child of Destiny" (tongzi ming). From birth, he is plagued by restless spirits, and he bears a blood‑red birthmark shaped like an eye on the back of his head. In desperation, his parents seek out a reclusive master in their village - a genuine Taoist priest, who later becomes Chengyi's teacher. From that moment on, Chengyi is destined to walk the path of a Taoist. Part Two: The Path of Cultivation - The Five Branches of Taoist Arts and Supernatural Encounters Told in the first person, the novel follows the legacy of Chengyi's school, the "Old Li Lineage," gradually unveiling the mysteries of the five traditional branches of Taoist metaphysics: Alchemy, Medicine, Divination, Physiognomy, and Numerology. Chengyi experiences all kinds of paranormal events - vengeful spirits, malevolent ghosts, serpent spirits, and the Tomb of Hungry Ghosts. His journeys take him to mysterious regions such as the Miao‑style sorcery lands of the Moon Weir and the corpse‑raising grounds in southern Sichuan, and involve the conflicts between factions like the Moon Weir Miao and the Black Rock Miao villages. Part Three: Distinctive Features - A Sense of Reality and Depth of Humanity The author, San San, often narrates in the first person, as if recounting "real experiences over more than forty years," giving the story a semi‑autobiographical feel. Readers have called it "the supernatural novel that feels most like r