The Maoshan Life-Extender

【1980s × Folk-Custom Mystery × Taoist’s Growth × No System】 Born in the early 1980s, Chen Mo bears the “Debt of Fate to the King of Hell.” He brings misfortune to his family and attracts ghosts, and was abandoned in the mountains to be eaten by wolves before he was even a month old. At death’s door, he was rescued by Xu Chenzi, an heir to the Maoshan tradition. With a “Fate-Sealing Talisman,” his rescuer forcibly bound the underworld spirits demanding repayment, then taught him Maoshan’s secret arts of drawing talismans and capturing ghosts, allowing him to cling to life. Ten years later, his master is at the end of his life. Carrying only half a tattered manuscript and a worn-out brush, Chen Mo descends the mountain and returns to the human world. The winds of reform and opening up sweep across the land, but the shadows of the old era have not yet faded. Haunted houses lurk in the corners of towns, strange rumors circulate deep inside factories and mines, evil forces stir beneath the qigong craze, and ancient taboos still pass from village to village. Armed with his clumsy talisman skills, he presses on amid doubt and contempt. He face-slaps ignorant villagers, exposes swindling tricks, and crushes demonic practitioners of the unorthodox path. Zombies worship the moon, spirits seek recognition, ghost ships haunt the Danjia people, and Miaojiang witchcraft brings disaster... One bizarre case follows another, and time and again he narrowly escapes death. Burdened with a debt to the King of Hell, he is pursued by every evil spirit. Each month, he must draw talismans with his own blood to reinforce the seal binding his fate. He must also recover the lost Maoshan Secret Canon and reverse the deadly fate he was born with. This is the passionate story of a young Taoist, condemned to die, who rides the tides of the 1980s, wielding talismans like a sword and staking his life as his wager. He strides between the worlds of the living and the dead, ultimately sealing coffins and subduing demons. 【Traditional Taoist Arts × Heart-Stopping Perils at Every Turn × Period Mystery】