Qiusheng was abandoned at a Taoist temple on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month and adopted by Master Xuanzhen. Over eighteen years, he mastered the Soul-Subduing Bell, the Ghost-Slaying Sword, and the secret arts of talismans, becoming a rising star of the Taoist sect.
- **Exploring a Desolate Village at Night**: After Master Xuanzhen passed away in meditation, Qiusheng descended the mountain for the first time to vanquish demons. At the ancestral hall in a desolate village on a stormy night, he encountered a madwoman possessed by a water ghost and discovered that the swaddled baby she was protecting had been born on the very same day as him.
- The cinnabar mole on the baby's neck was identical to Qiusheng's, and the ancestral tablets in the hall concealed a mystery. When the madwoman cried, "My child," the truth struck like thunder, and the mystery of his birth, buried for eighteen years, began to surface.
