Ghost Curse

Ghost Curse is an urban supernatural mystery novel by web author Nianxiang, roughly 5.52 million characters long, serialized on Chuangshi Chinese Network starting in 2014–2015 and now complete. The story begins in Mupendi Village downstream of the Yueya River in Lingshan County, Jiangnan: Ding Ermiao, the seven-year-old youngest son of the Ding family, suddenly "dies of illness" after the winter solstice, and on the night of the burial the wandering Daoist priest Qiu Sanpin sees a green aura over the grave, concludes the child is not dead, digs up the grave, and performs a rite, calling him back with the words "There is no road to the Yellow Springs; soul, return." After that, ghosts surround the house and black mist blocks the roads, drawing out a hidden old matter between the Mu and Ding families and revealing Ding Ermiao's strange fate: he must enter either the Buddhist or the Daoist path. Ding Ermiao studies Daoism under Priest Sanpin, masters Maoshan arts, descends the mountain into the world, and becomes a true-lineage disciple of the second Maoshan branch. Using talismans, formations, and incantations, he deals with a succession of eerie incidents in the city, fighting alongside his wife Ji Xiaoxiao, his sworn siblings Gu Qinglan, Wu Zhanzhan—a true-lineage disciple of the third Maoshan branch—and the irreverent old Daoist Li Qingdong, punishing evil and promoting good while step by step investigating the mystery of his own origins. The book uses a long-form structure of linked standalone cases, blending folk ghost and deity legends and Daoist spellcraft with urban life and human entanglements; eerie atmosphere alternates with bantering light comedy, and compared with similar works its characters' wisecracking dialogue and central mystery are relatively distinctive.