The Ghost Slayer: Chronicles of Zhong Kui

Zhong Kui, a brilliant but hideously ugly scholar from Mount Zhongnan, travels to Chang'an for the imperial examination. A street physiognomist named Yuan Youchuan reads his face and warns of disaster within ten days, but Zhong Kui laughs it off. His exam essays dazzle the chief examiners Han Yu and Lu Zhi, who rank him first. Yet when Emperor Dezong sees Zhong Kui's terrifying face at the palace interview, he balks at naming him champion. Han Yu pleads for talent over looks, but the treacherous

Zhong Kui, newly titled Demon-Quelling God after his unjust death, descends into the underworld seeking the King of Hell's guidance on where evil spirits hide. The King of Hell reveals a startling truth: the dead are strictly governed, but the living are the real demons. He shows Zhong Kui a register of "human ghosts"—flatterers, swindlers, misers, boasters, and more—wandering the mortal world unchecked. To aid his mission, Zhong Kui is granted two warriors, three hundred ghost soldiers, a repen

Zhong Kui and his three hundred ghost soldiers arrive in the mortal world on a spring day, disguised as ordinary travelers, and stop to rest at a temple called the Shrine of the Strange. Over wine and meat, he asks his two companions to recount their pasts. Cheng Yuan, a poor scholar, was named top candidate by the minister He Zhizhang, only to be stripped of his rank through the treachery of the prime minister Yang Guozhong, and took his own life in despair. Fu Qu, a skilled archer, saved the g

A swaggering braggart arrives at the temple to pay homage to the Maitreya Buddha with an absurdly self-important calling card, only to be confronted by Zhong Kui, who is outraged by the man's blasphemous pretensions. The stranger claims to be a supreme celestial commander before vanishing on a eerie wind, leaving Zhong Kui uncertain whether he faces a true immortal or a cunning fraud. Cheng Yuan steps forward, pointing out three glaring inconsistencies in the man's story, and proposes to disguis

Cheng Yuan leaves the temple disguised as a wandering physician and soon meets an old man named Tongfeng, whose daughter lies ill with a strange fever. Asked to treat her, Cheng Yuan instead probes the village for information and describes the swaggering impostor he saw at the temple. Tongfeng laughs and reveals the man is the notorious "Big-Talker Ghost," a descendant of the braggart Qi man from Mencius, who abandoned his wife, fled with his concubine, and now survives by bluffing and swindling

Zhong Kui's scout Cheng Yuan returns to the temple bursting with laughter after uncovering the humiliating secrets of the boastful ghost Dao Da Gui, thanks to a talkative old man. But the mocked demon soon arrives at the temple gates with a ragtag army of ghosts, demanding battle. As Zhong Kui and Dao Da Gui clash in a fierce duel, the old man's voice rings out from a cliff, exposing the demon's shameful deeds before both armies. Will the revelation break Dao Da Gui's fighting spirit and decide

Three wicked ghosts—the boastful Blind Ghost, the groveling Scrap-Grabber, and the vain Rag-Pauper—swear vengeance on Zhong Kui after he devours the Blind Ghost's eyes. Their ragtag army of ghosts and beggars besieges the temple, armed with razors, corn knives, and a tattered banner. When the temple's defenders ride out to reason with them, the Scrap-Grabber's shameless sophistry sets the envoy's teeth itching unbearably, and the Rag-Pauper's boastful lies leave the vanguard's sinews wracked wit

When Zhong Kui and his companions are left helpless by three vile ghosts wielding disgusting tricks, a rotund, barefoot monk strolls in with a laugh and a cloth sack. Mocked by the three demon kings, he faces their spears and blades without flinching, then swallows all three whole in a single breath. Yet even Zhong Kui wonders how the monk can bear to keep such filth inside. What the monk does next—and the true identity revealed in the rear hall—leaves the gods awestruck and kneeling in thanks.

When Zhong Kui and his companions stop at a temple, the abbot begs them to stay for a meal—then keeps them waiting all day. The culprit is a new fire-tending novice who moves and speaks with agonizing slowness. Summoned before Zhong Kui, the novice reveals he is no mortal but a wronged spirit from the underworld, one of the "Lukewarm Corpses" listed in the ghost registry. Before judgment can be passed, a second figure bursts in, crashes onto the seat of honor, and devours the feast without a wor

Zhong Kui and his three hundred ghost soldiers press on toward the next village, only to find the old man Tongfeng waiting in despair. His daughter, Sai Xishi, is wasting away, haunted every night by the Mianchan Ghost, a lecherous fiend from the Shameless Mountain who serves the Lord of No Shame alongside four vicious underlings. When Zhong Kui lies in ambush, the ghost proves maddeningly slippery, binding the warriors with flying snakes and ropes and returning no matter how often he is driven

The shameless king of the Barefaced Cave sets out to shake down his ungrateful disciple, only to learn that the demon-hunter Zhong Kui has already slain the wretch. Rather than lie low as his cunning advisor urges, the king vows revenge and marches to war behind a face that no blade can cut. When Zhong Kui and his archers unleash everything they have, their weapons shatter against an unbreakable hide, and the hunters must withdraw behind a truce flag while the king boasts of the secret behind hi

Zhong Kui and his troops scheme to defeat the brazen-faced demon, whose invincible thick skin makes him nearly unbeatable. Xian Yuan proposes forging an even thicker mask, secretly embedded with a "conscience" — the one thing that can melt the demon's shameless face. But obtaining a conscience proves difficult, as none of the underworld soldiers carry one, until a soldier named Pan You is found hoarding one he picked up in the mortal world. The next day, Zhong Kui wears the trap mask and challen

Two notorious misers, Niechu Gui and Zixi Gui, panic when they learn that the demon-slayer Zhong Kui has destroyed the Shameless King and is marching their way. Each schemes to protect his hoarded wealth while squeezing a free meal out of the other. Their stingy tricks and petty calculations collide in a battle of wits where neither will give an inch.

When Zhong Kui’s ghost-hunting army approaches, three notorious misers—Stingy Ghost, Filthy Ghost, and the slippery Quick-Witted Rascal—scheme to save themselves with a forged “Scare-the-Barbarians” letter. But first they must recruit the town’s so-called literary genius, a schoolmaster mocked as “Master Clueless,” whose absurd poems and self-pitying verse they praise as unmatched brilliance. Will their ridiculous plan fool Zhong Kui, or will their own stinginess and delusions doom them?

Three fugitive ghosts seek help from a pedantic scholar and his loud-mouthed friend, hoping a bombastic letter can scare off Zhong Kui, the demon-quelling general hunting them down. When the scholar finally produces his absurd masterpiece, the friend proudly volunteers to deliver it in person. But face to face with Zhong Kui, his arrogant tongue may prove far more dangerous than any blade.

Zhong Kui’s army marches on the haunted temple, only to find the miserly ghosts turning on each other over a few coins. As their hired guards desert them, the two villains fatally wound one another, each meeting a grotesquely fitting end. Meanwhile, the timid “Shrinking Turtle” ghost and his companion hear of Zhong Kui’s advance; one dives into a well, while the other bars his door and tries to stall with a sign reading “Surrender Tomorrow.” When Zhong Kui finally breaks in, the slippery ghost c

Two prodigal sons of the miserly misers run through their fathers' fortunes and take up with a crew of sycophants and swindlers. Meeting by chance at the Pleasure Pavilion, the sworn enemies' heirs drink away old grudges and gamble and carouse together, while their hangers-on scheme and cheat at drinking games.

Two wealthy young men are led by a cunning companion into the pleasure quarter known as the Fireworks Stockade, where the famed courtesans City-Toppler and Kingdom-Toppler await. Dazzled by luxury, flattery, and song, the naive newcomers are taught that silver is courage and gold is face. As the night descends into feasting, bawdy jokes, and shameless flattery, the two are drawn ever deeper into a world built to empty their purses. What begins as a night of revelry may cost far more than they im

Driven by boredom, two con men, Trickster and Big Lie, seek out a secret gambling den run by the crooked Wryneck Ren, whose sordid past and ruined family are laid bare. There they join a compulsive gambler named Lose-to-Death and a ruthless cardsharp, Skinflint, in a high-stakes game. As the gambling spiral tightens, Lose-to-Death wagers everything he has left, and the night hurtles toward a desperate, bloody act that will leave none of them unchanged.

Two spoiled heirs squander their fortune in a brothel until a powerful official's son drives them out in humiliation. Desperate for status, they are persuaded by two cunning swindlers to fund a lavish bribe for official posts in the capital. Months pass with no word—until one conman returns with a tale of rebellion, robbery, and death. But is any of it true?

Three former rich men’s sons, now reduced to begging, meet again as street paupers and swear brotherhood in a ruined temple. Their brief refuge is shattered when the demon-quelling judge Zhong Kui returns from a campaign, having learned of their misdeeds from a cowardly informer. As Zhong Kui’s troops surround the temple, the three brothers face a terrifying reckoning—and a chance to change their fate.

When the swindler Gui Pian-gui cheats two foolish young heirs out of ten thousand taels and drives them to beggary, he thinks he can start fresh as a respectable merchant in Nanjing. But his new business partner, the vicious miser Kou Qia-gui, has never forgotten an old grudge—and his ten poison-steel claws can flay a man alive. When the two fall out over the accounts, one dies screaming, and the killer's claws prove more than a match for the entire county constabulary. As the magistrate despera

At a lavish banquet, the county magistrate honors Zhong Kui and his two generals, even comparing them to the heroes of an opera. But the feast takes a literary turn when Zhong Kui examines two sets of poems by local scholars, one frivolous and one pedantic, earning their authors the nicknames "Gallant Ghost" and "Rotten Ghost." The respite ends when a swindler named Lying Ghost bursts in with a lawsuit, accusing his own thieving clerks of armed robbery. As Zhong Kui listens from behind a screen,

Zhong Kui is savoring tea and playing chess with the county magistrate when Dilu Gui rushes in with news of two pitiful ghosts in the west. Against the magistrate's advice, Zhong Kui sends his commander Xian Yuan west with 150 ghost soldiers to offer comfort. Moments later, the golden bat guide suddenly shrieks and flies east—a sign of a great demon in the East Sea. The magistrate again urges caution, so Zhong Kui dispatches his vanguard general Fu Qu east with the remaining troops. Now both of

A carefree scholar of great wit and charm, the Flirtatious Ghost invites the pedantic Mr. Pickle to a moonlit Mid-Autumn gathering, only to have the evening ruined by his pompous lectures. Shrugging it off, he and his cunning companion, the Clever Ghost, wander the streets and slip into a secluded garden, where a beautiful young woman appears at an upper window. One recited poem and one shy smile later, the scholar is hopelessly lovesick. His friend hatches a scheme, disguising himself as a flow

A charming scholar and his quick-witted companion scheme to win the favor of a wealthy squire by staging a literary encounter in a chrysanthemum garden. Their plan succeeds when the squire, impressed by the young man's painting and poetry, invites him to lodge in his private garden. But the scholar's true aim is the squire's secluded daughter, and a mysterious handkerchief with a romantic verse soon draws him toward a moonlit tryst. Before he can meet her, a summons from the county magistrate in

Five mischievous ghosts, led by the cunning Lingli Gui, plot to avenge their fallen comrade by infiltrating the county office and getting the demon-quelling deity Zhong Kui drunk. They steal his boots, sword, and hat, leaving him stripped of his divine dignity. But when the vanguard general Fu Qu returns and catches two of the culprits, the scheme begins to unravel. Can the remaining ghosts escape, and will Zhong Kui's honor be restored?

When five vengeful ghosts ambush Zhong Kui and leave him drunk and vulnerable, his two lieutenants cut them down and revive their commander. Reporting back to the county magistrate, Xian Yuan recounts his western patrol: a man plagued by baseless fears, cured with a single "broad-hearted pill," and a destitute spirit whose biting "Elegy to the God of Wealth" wins Zhong Kui's admiration. Fu Qu then admits his eastern campaign ended in retreat, for he could not bring himself to strike a loathsome

Low Dago, a disgraced servant forced to tend festering sores for the underworld troops, overhears that Lord Zhong Kui desperately seeks the whereabouts of the White-Browed God. Seeing a chance to escape his degrading labor, he claims the deity is worshipped in a brothel and leads the scholar-official Xian Yuan and a squad of soldiers through a fierce snowstorm to find it. Along the way, they seek shelter at a small shrine, only to be met by a vicious, foul-mouthed caretaker who refuses them even

When the stingy young master of the Jia household finally leaves the brothel after freeloading for weeks, the madam is left fuming and nostalgic for her old lavish spenders. Her complaints are cut short by the arrival of Xian Yuan, an officer of the Demon-Quelling Emperor Zhong Kui, who has come to borrow the house's enshrined deity, the White-Browed God. Xian Yuan soon discovers the idol's startling origin: the legendary Spring and Autumn bandit Zhi. After a mocking sacrificial address, the ido

Lord Zhong Kui discovers a hidden chamber behind a painting in the Wu Kong Nunnery, where dozens of women have been secretly kept by a depraved monk. After hearing their confessions, he executes them all and vows to hunt down the monk. A spy locates the monk's tryst with a prostitute, but when Zhong Kui confronts him, the monk narrowly escapes—thanks to a drunken vagrant who trips the god in the dark and refuses to let go.

Zhong Kui interrogates a small monk who reveals his treacherous past and is executed for betrayal, while a drunken ghost rallies hundreds of drunkards to besiege the temple. When Xian Yuan's moral persuasion fails, Zhong Kui persuades the local magistrate to ban all brewing and slaughter under the pretext of praying for snow, scattering the mob. Only the drunkard ghost, his body steeped in alcohol, wanders into the mysterious "Deep Land of Drunkenness," where he enlists the legendary poets and s

The Drunkard, having lost his revered wine immortals to Zhong Kui's scathing rebuke, flees in terror until he stumbles into the lawless "Straw Bag Camp," where he drowns himself in cheap liquor. There he encounters a charming monk with wandering eyes—none other than the "Color-Hungry Ghost" whom Zhong Kui has been hunting. The two quickly discover that the Drunkard once inadvertently tripped Zhong Kui in the street, allowing the monk to escape the demon-slayer's sword. Bonding over their shared

The dull-witted king of the Straw-Bag Camp lazes in his cave until a panicked aide bursts in with news that Zhong Kui and his divine troops are marching to wipe out his stronghold. Too muddled to grasp the warning, the king sends his shifty, cross-eyed underling to scout the enemy, but the rogue wanders off to gawk at a lavish birthday feast thrown by a penniless braggart who has spent his last coin on empty show. By the time the underling stumbles back with useless gossip, Zhong Kui's army has

Zhong Kui’s army faces the Blank-Eyed King, a foe whose body turns aside every blade and blast. When a cannon only leaves him more wide-eyed, the wily Di Liu Gui proposes a pit behind the enemy and a fake retreat. Meanwhile, the ruined spendthrift Huo Shi Gui, freezing in borrowed gauze, picks a fatal fight with Zhong Kui, and a cross-eyed spy stumbles into the camp with comic results. As the trap is sprung, the Blank-Eyed King proves far from helpless—and the final name on the underworld regist

Zhong Kui returns victorious from the mortal realm and is honored at a grand banquet in the underworld, where the Ten Kings of Hell reveal the karmic fates of the demons he slew: the villains and corrupt women were all reincarnations of infamous historical figures, each meeting a fitting punishment. But when Zhong Kui demands to face Lu Qi, the treacherous minister who once destroyed him, the King of Hell stays his sword, promising a far crueler sentence than death. After three days of purificat