Please, Spirit, Possess Me

Dark aesthetics, Chinese folk-horror.

Synopsis:

On the first day of He Jinxia's life, a magnificent rooster with phoenix eyes died in her home. On the second day, two black-horned rams died. On the third day, three red-eyed oxen died... The village's immortal maiden read her fortune and immediately laid her in a wooden coffin, sealing it shut and cutting off her breath.

"She's been marked by the Lady Si. If she survives to the ninth day, she'll become one of the dead!"

Two zhang underground, He Jinxia's mother could no longer bear to hear her child crying. She dug her out, nursed her once, and then died.

From then on, a little girl lived in the village's shrine to the Lady Si. Her pretty face was covered in tiny pockmarks. When she grew up, He Jinxia received offerings of incense from hundreds of li around, and walked the world bearing the fate of the Lady Si.

She read feng shui, recognized curses, drove out blue corpses, performed soul-walking rites, summoned underworld soldiers, called upon the Five Immortals, made white paper offerings, and broke ghost banquets... Everyone said He Jinxia was possessed by the Lady Si, slaying demons and exorcising evil. He Jinxia would only give a cold laugh when she heard them.

"I'm the one who catches people, and I'm the one who kills ghosts. The Lady Si has never possessed me, not even once. We can't get her to come!"

One day, a young master covered in bloody holes was thrown into the shrine to the Lady Si. Standing on the altar, He Jinxia gave the half-dead offering a thorough once-over.

"What's your name?" He Jinxia approached, smelling of rot.

The young master moved his lips, nearly gagging at the stench. "Zhou Bie... Miss, what's wrong with your face? I know a little medicine. Would you like me to treat you?"

Many years later, two lonely graves stood on Solitary Mountain. The gravekeeper told the children who came to gawk, "In the end, this young lady finally got the Lady Si to possess her for this young master. That day, the whole world trembled, and the river turned blood-red."

A child asked, "But doesn't being possessed by the Lady Si greatly shorten your life? My mother says anyone who summons her is sure to die."

The gravekeeper nodded. "That's right."

The child asked again, "So are these their graves?"

The gravekeeper smiled. "Who can say? Perhaps that young lady and young master have already retired from the world and gone off to live happily ever after."

Notes:

* Happy ending

* Lots of folk customs, feng shui, and the Eight Characters; I did my research, but most of it comes from folk legends

* Set in the same world as The Hungry Ghost Grounds. You don't need to read the rest of the series to enjoy this story

Theme: Loving each other as equals