The Zhong clan is a hereditary family of Celestial Masters, and a serious case of top-dog syndrome in the ghost-hunting world. Yet they somehow produced a good-for-nothing with not a trace of spiritual power.
There was nothing inside his body. It was as empty as a vessel.
He and his mother, who came from outside the clan, were immediately stripped of their surname and driven out, so they wouldn't bring shame on the Zhong clan.
Decades later, the newly risen young top-tier star Celestial Master Yan Nangui put up a bold advertisement: "We handle the ghosts the Zhong family can't."
The Zhong clan: "??? What makes you think you can?"
Yan Nangui: "Because I'm a vessel."
*
Other ghost hunters use spiritual power. Yan Nangui uses his body to catch ghosts.
Not that kind of body. His actual body.
His spiritually powerless body was a natural vessel for locking up spirits, able to absorb and contain excess souls without being possessed, until a way could be found to destroy or guide them to the afterlife.
The Zhong family: "That's disgusting. You eat ghosts!"
Yan Nangui: "How dare you slander our Grandmaster, Zhong Kui, as disgusting!"
*
But this method of ghost hunting has one drawback.
How easily Yan Nangui can absorb a ghost depends on the strength of its ghostly power. In theory, the stronger the ghost, the harder it should be to absorb.
In practice, though, Yan Nangui has never encountered a ghost he couldn't absorb.
Until one day, he met a ghost that didn't seem like a ghost at all.
*
The first time they met:
Ghost King: I'm huge. You can't swallow me.
Yan Nangui: I've been roaming the world for years, and this is the first ghost to make a lewd joke at me. If I don't beat you up, I'll be letting down my polluted ears.
Ghost King: ???
Later:
Ghost King: ...Be good. I'm really not that big.
Yan Nangui: Boohoo, I really can't swallow any more!
Retired, reclusive Ghost King gong x exiled good-for-nothing Celestial Master shou
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