The Book of a Hundred Ghosts

The Book of a Hundred Ghosts is a long supernatural mystery novel by the web author "I'm Not Sharp, Who Is." The title's "Book of a Hundred Ghosts" is both a mysterious ancient tome running through the whole story and the author's general framework for drawing on Chinese folk legends. Using the various ghosts and monsters of folk tradition as prototypes, the work creates a cast of ghostly figures steeped in everyday street life—the Poverty Ghost, the Foolish Ghost, the Fierce Ghost, the Toilet Ghost, the Shoe-Eating Ghost, and others—and places them in an alternate world where technology and gods coexist, driving forward two parallel threads of mystery-solving and fantastical cultivation. The story interlinks multiple characters across multiple eras: the protagonist Ling Hao, after accidentally obtaining the ancient Book of a Hundred Ghosts, is drawn into a ceaseless string of supernatural incidents—first falling into hardship because of the "Poverty Ghost," then relying on the guidance of a spirit artifact to recover lost items and subdue the Miserly Ghost, step by step unlocking his demon-expelling powers; Zhao Liping in the Republican era, likewise after obtaining this ancient book, ignores the repeated warnings of his friend Xue Kai and insists on investigating the truth hidden within its pages; and Long Yi summons the poet-immortal Li Bai to possess him through an invocation spell and confronts a Fierce Ghost head-on. Most characters are born with a "demon-expelling halo" and can refine ghosts and boost their combat power through the Great Art of Demon Refining, while fortune and fate are regarded as hidden laws that decide victory and defeat. The book uses a unit-based structure, with short stories of one ghost and one case stringing together the main plot; the ghosts are mostly classified by method of subjugation, and the narrative mixes banter and whimsy into a chilling atmosphere—well suited to readers who enjoy folk tales as casual reading.