Uncle Nine Teaches Me the Dao in Dreams, I Exorcise Demons in Reality

Zhang Shiyi never imagined that a dream could completely change his life. In the dream, he was the most diligent disciple under “Uncle Jiu,” copying talismans, learning to discern yin from yang, and practicing Maoshan arts. Each time he woke, the warmth of cinnabar lingering on his fingertips felt far too real to be a mere illusion. Then strange incidents began happening one after another in real life: a chance encounter with a female ghost in a cheongsam on campus, a theater club senior carrying a fake head dripping with blood, and a mysterious black cat that appeared from time to time. When he was on the brink of death, the various Daoist arts and talismans Uncle Jiu had taught him in his dreams saved his life. From then on, he became an “ordinary person” hiding in plain sight at school. At night, he studied under Uncle Jiu; by day, he wielded a peachwood sword and pasted up yellow talismans, turning what he had learned in dreams into weapons against demons in the real world. With a kindly mentor in his dreams and constant dangers in the waking world, Zhang Shiyi gradually realizes that this bond between master and disciple, spanning the divide between reality and illusion, is more than the inheritance of Daoist arts. It is also the destiny he must shoulder: protecting the peace of the human world. Whenever evil spirits appear, he remembers Uncle Jiu’s teaching: “Daoist arts may be in your hands, but your heart must remain righteous.” Then he raises his sword without hesitation, carving out his own path as a ghost hunter in the narrow space between the worlds of yin and yang.