The Town Swept by Wind and Rain

Folk horror and mystery + Zhoushan island customs and local color + ancient shamanic rites and sacrifices + Lovecraftian horror + a new take on Chinese mythology

Shuoyue, an ordinary white-collar worker who moved to Beijing, suddenly contracted a strange terminal illness a year ago and was close to death. To save her life, she followed the recommendation of an online metaphysics guru and went to Huiyue Island, a small island in Zhoushan, Zhejiang, in search of the "elixir of immortality." This was the very place where Xu Fu, the fangshi sent by Qin Shi Huang with five hundred boys and girls to find the elixir, had ultimately disappeared. But after Shuoyue set foot on the island, she discovered that its customs were extraordinarily unusual. The islanders worshipped the moon instead of the sun and revered the female high priestess known as the "Moon Shaman." Strangely, however, the current Moon Shaman, Manyue, had vanished without a trace. After her disappearance, sinister supernatural incidents began occurring across the island. Behind it all was a woman consumed by resentment, whose face could not be seen...

[Warning 1: The heroine is not the fashionable, bold and capable type. She likes handsome men and is good at playing with people's feelings. (At first, her amnesia only makes her come across as a fangirl; her true nature is revealed starting in volume two.) She gets involved with several different male leads. She is not a fighter and has no combat ability. She has exceptionally strong spiritual vision, perceptiveness, and powers of logical deduction and analysis. The plot advances primarily through observation and deduction, not combat.]

[Warning 2: The story has a gentle pace and is slow to heat up at first. There are no sudden in-your-face horror scenes, and it isn't a thrilling adventure story (there's a little adventure, but not much). I'm good at creating atmosphere, psychological suspense, and mental contamination, combined with plenty of metaphysical and spiritual content. This is the kind of story that becomes more terrifying the more you think about it. There are no explicit horror scenes, but the core is extremely dark and eerie, and the story includes a sweeping history of civilizational change.]

[Warning 3: There are four male leads. The female lead is not exclusive to one man, and the male leads are not exclusive to one woman. (Only one of the four male leads is a virgin.)]

***The following is a setting introduction. Read it or skip it as you like.***

Highlights: Heng'e's flight to the moon, matrilineal shamanic rites, pre-Qin shamanic culture, Xu Fu's voyage east, the immortal mountains of Penglai, the Japanese legend of Tokoyo-no-kuni, and the maritime customs of Zhoushan, Zhejiang. The story blends numerous Chinese and Japanese myths and legends.

Content: The plot has a visible storyline and a hidden one.

The visible storyline (Shuoyue's story) follows the heroine Shuoyue as she searches for the elixir of immortality.

The hidden storyline (Manyue's story) tells how patrilineal civilization seized power and rewrote history on an isolated island where matrilineal shamanic customs flourished, and how the Moon Shaman, the heroine Manyue, spent decades plotting her revenge, even at the cost of sacrificing the lives of a second generation.

[Character warnings] This story includes many BG romance plots and is [not 1v1].

▷ Main viewpoint heroine Shuoyue (28): greedy and lecherous, with a great fondness for handsome men, but fickle and capricious, and good at lying. She has spiritual vision, is exceptionally perceptive, and is good at deduction, but lacks initiative and has no combat ability. The plot advances mainly through observation, deduction, and uncovering mysteries, rather than fighting.

▷ Secondary viewpoint heroine Manyue (28): divine and otherworldly, with an eerie, underworldly air. She is the nominal ruler of Huiyue Island, its Moon Shaman, and is currently missing. Her name and portrait have become taboo, erased so that they cannot be mentioned. She is the spiritual heart of the plot throughout the story, and has some romantic plotlines in the middle and later parts, but not many.

▷ Male Lead 1, Zong Bai (26): A ritual officiant in the shamanic tradition. Steady, perceptive, gentle, considerate, and patient, he is also widely learned and an excellent cook. However, he likes both heroines.

▷ Male Lead 2, Tian Dao Xunren (25): A descendant of Tian Daojianshou, the Japanese version of Xu Fu. He is of mixed Chinese and Japanese heritage, with an over-the-top, eccentric personality. He likes Shuoyue but also pushes her away, alternating between warmth and coldness as he keeps her at a distance. This is connected to what happened in his previous life. I'll leave that as a mystery for now; the reason will shock you.

▷ Male Lead 3, Xie Zhen (31): A medical doctor with a PhD from Zhejiang University, a fox-like man with charming eyes who calls himself a lifelong bachelor. Smooth and cunning, he loves sweet talk and teasing. His loyalties are ambiguous, and he claims he wants to make a deal with Shuoyue, but his purpose is unclear.

▷ Male Lead 4, Hou Yi (33): His name sounds like Houyi, so I'll let you guess who he's based on. A former serviceman, he now works as an aviator for a private aviation giant. He is Shuoyue's ex-boyfriend, who was abandoned, and has a bit of a macho streak.

Whenever people mention the elixir of immortality, they think of the story of "Chang'e Flying to the Moon." But is that story true? Perhaps Chang'e did not steal the elixir from Houyi, and perhaps she wasn't even his wife. The Guicang Yi, as famous as the Zhou Yi, was the first Chinese divination classic in history to mention "eating the elixir of immortality and ascending to heaven." But it only says, "Heng'e stole the elixir of immortality from the Queen Mother of the West and flew to the moon," without mentioning Houyi at all. Could this be the truth behind the ancient myth? Who was Heng'e, the first person in Chinese history to fly to the moon? Was she Chang'e?

What exactly did Xu Fu find when he sailed out in search of the elixir of immortality?

In pre-Qin China, vestiges of ancient matrilineal shamanic traditions remained. Spirit communication and divination were practiced, women controlled the priestly rites, and shamanesses held power. All of this culture was preserved on Huiyue Island. Shamanesses communicated with the gods through dance, while officiants recited prayers. When the minds of gods and mortals were aligned, the heavenly gods would descend... But during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, history underwent a dramatic transformation. The patrilineal rites supplanted the matrilineal shamanic tradition, and the same thing happened on Huiyue Island...

"A shaman is an officiant, a woman who can serve the unseen and bring down the gods through dance.", Manyue

"In ancient times, Heng'e stole the elixir of immortality from the Queen Mother of the West and took it to the moon.", Shuoyue

"An officiant is the one who leads the prayers at a sacrifice. Those who worship the moon compare themselves to jade rabbits. Men are named after towering trees, and women after creeping vines and flowers.", Zong Bai

"The emperor is gravely ill and wishes for a fragrant fruit that is not in season. Tian Daojianshou replied, 'I am willing to travel to Tokoyo-no-kuni to seek it.'", Tian Dao Xunren

"Where did Houyi shoot the sun? Where did the crow shed its feathers?", Hou Yi

The author is reliable and never abandons a story. Over 200,000 words are already written, and updates are daily. Feel free to start reading!

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Theme: Restoring the ancient matrilineal shamanic culture