Jiangshi: A Disciple of the Taoist Altar's Vanguard from the Start

[Some movie plots are heavily altered, so this may not appeal to readers who care about staying true to the films.] [The author borrows some characters and events from movies, but changes a lot and diverges from the films.] Ji Zhong transmigrated and became a little beggar. The good news: He had a spiritual spring dimension where anything he planted thrived, so he’d never go hungry or thirsty. The bad news: It required “merit” to renew, and without merit it would turn into an ordinary vegetable patch. Ji Zhong slapped his thigh. “Merit? That just means exorcising demons and doing good deeds. But I’m a lazy bum…” Before he could finish, he saw a Taoist priest flying through the sky on his sword, chasing a hopping vampire. Ji Zhong changed his tune. “Master, are you looking for a disciple? I can eat, sleep, and crack jokes.” He became Daoist Priest Qianhe’s disciple, thinking he could just coast along with a powerful master. Then his master asked, “Can you draw talismans?” “No.” “Can you perform incantations?” “No.” “Then what are you good at?” Ji Zhong thought seriously. “I… am pretty good at staying alive.” Qianhe: “…” Later, Ji Zhong discovered that his bargain-bin master was a fellow disciple of Uncle Jiu, the renowned Taoist priest famous in both the yin and yang worlds. Later still, he found out he had transmigrated into a world combining every vampire movie. Renjia Town, bronze-armored corpses, the Vampire Family, The Taoism Grandmaster… One plot after another came crashing down on him. Ji Zhong complained as he sprang into action. “If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve kept begging for a living! Why am I risking my neck with you people?” Then he charged in first and hammered the vampire into the ground. Years later, Qianhe looked at his “laziest” disciple and sighed with emotion: “When you said you were good at staying alive… you really meant it.”