In July, Hong Kong usually brightens quite early.
By the time everyone had finished setting up the preparations, the sky was already fully light.
However, the sunlight at this hour was not yet sweltering; it felt only slightly warm on the skin. Combined with the morning breeze and the silence of the remote neighborhood, it actually gave off a somewhat chilly feeling.
At this moment, in front of the studio building on the opening ceremony stage built by the Film Crew, a master looked up at the increasingly bright sky while forming hand seals. Everyone else stood motionless below the stage, waiting for the optimal moment to begin.
Opening ceremonies in Mainland China were generally simple: setting up an incense altar, offering some fruit, melon seeds, and peanuts, and then having everyone in the Film Crew go up to pay their respects, bow, and take a group photo. That usually completed the task smoothly.
Although people still followed some Feng Shui taboos, most didn't take this segment very seriously. For them, lighting incense was just going through the motions—no need to delve deep into Feng Shui or be picky about the timing; it was mainly for the sense of ceremony.
Furthermore, most opening ceremony promotions nowadays were mainly intended to showcase trending actors and billing order to pave the way for future publicity.
But this opening ceremony was different. After Zhuang Hongyi inquired about the Association's requirements, he made it very formal and invited several partners from Hong Kong to participate and observe the overall progress of the "Mang" Film Crew.
Because the subject matter itself carried a bit of a "wicked" nature, a stronger "energetic" sense of ceremony was needed to reassure everyone and suppress any "evil spirits" triggered during the filming process. Additionally, since the Film Crew was liaising with people from the Celestial Master Association who specialized in this field, Xiao He was participating in a truly formal and complete "Feng Shui version" of an opening ceremony for the first time.
First, there were requirements for the participants—those with clashing elemental attributes temporarily stayed away. Next was the placement of the incense altar and the direction of worship, all of which had to follow Feng Shui principles. The invited master himself also had to perform a series of metaphysical rituals on-site.
This entire process progressed step-by-step, including site cleansing, calming the spirits, and praying for blessings. With so many rules, the atmosphere became solemn. No one dared to make noise or joke around, let alone break taboos by casually discussing ghosts and gods.
As the lead actor, Xiao He's position was naturally quite prominent. Because of this, he had to maintain a serious expression even more diligently while observing the master's movements to learn a thing or two.
Although he had been in Hong Kong for five days and had spent the last few days seriously studying the hand seals of Celestial Master Daoist arts, Xiao He always felt that their imitations lacked that transcendent, immortal aura of a true master—whether it was because the others had "real skill" or just his own psychological bias.
This distressed Xiao He greatly. He practiced hand seals whenever he was free and would occasionally consult the teachers from the Association to check his hand positions.
—
Speaking of which, one must mention the protagonist of "Mang," that young Celestial Master named "Zhou Zhiyi."
Zhou Zhiyi's background was set as a disciple of an orthodox branch of the Lushan Daoist lineage, modeled after the Lushan Sect which originated in the ancient Minyue region.
This sect is an important school of Southern Chinese Daoism. It originated from the Minyue shamanic arts within the Jiangnan shamanic system during the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties—essentially a shamanistic folk belief. Later, as the eras progressed, it began to merge with Daoism. While retaining its shamanic characteristics, it absorbed orthodox Daoist culture and the talismans and rituals of other sects, eventually evolving into the Lushan Sect and becoming one of the most important sects in Southern China.
The Daoists within it were divided into Red-head Masters and Black-head Masters.
The Red-heads primarily worshiped the Lady of Linshui and handled rituals for expelling evil and bringing blessings—namely exorcism, suppressing malevolence, praying for fortune, averting disasters, and blessing homes. The Black-heads primarily worshiped Fazhu Gong and specialized in delivering the souls of the dead—guiding yin spirits, handling yin lands, resolving yin karma, and appeasing the yin malevolence of earthly ley lines.
Although practitioners nowadays dabble in all these abilities and the divisions are no longer as clear as they once were—especially since some inheritances have become difficult to maintain, leading those in the trade to become generalists who learn all related skills—it just so happened that Zhou Zhiyi was the type who was extremely specialized.
He was an orthodox disciple of the Black-head lineage. Even though he had followed his master to learn many rituals for expelling evil and bringing blessings and had seen many such real-world cases, he simply had no affinity for that path. He excelled at only one thing: "deliverance."
Ahem, to put it more simply, that would be "slaying ghosts."
In his master's words: "This boy has a unique innate fate. He is born with a heavy aura of slaughter and his own Yin malevolence is too strong. He is unfit for the arts of blessing, house-guarding, luck-boosting, or Feng Shui theory. He is only suited for delivering spirits, quieting souls, and entering the Dao through Yin affairs."
Thus, in teaching Zhou Zhiyi, his master taught him according to his aptitude. He didn't let him dabble in miscellaneous Yang arts but had him specialize in the Black-head lineage, using the Yin methods to align with his fate, playing to his strengths and avoiding his weaknesses.
As a result, Zhou Zhiyi went further and further down the path of a "specialized warrior," becoming a pure Black-head Daoist in name and reality.
So, truth be told, this point was actually somewhat similar to Xiao He's own fate.
This was the first exclamation the masters from the Celestial Master Association made after looking at Xiao He's birth chart and facial features.
If metaphysical ghost-hunting really existed in the world, there was no doubt that someone like Xiao He was a natural-born "ghost-slaying warrior."
Of course, with the development of the times, the Black-heads had almost vanished.
After all, most Celestial Masters nowadays practice a mix of exorcism, blessing, and soul deliverance, essentially staying in a state of all-around development. A "specialized" Daoist like Zhou Zhiyi, young and seemingly flighty, looked very unreliable to employers. Consequently, after descending the mountain, he met with rejection everywhere and was on the verge of being unable to afford food.
Yes, the protagonist of our "Mang" script had pockets cleaner than his face. He said he was descending the mountain for experience, but in reality, he was just a miserable "recent graduate" who couldn't find a job and was getting battered by society.
Besides, which industry isn't cutthroat nowadays?
Almost every single one is!
Even for the Celestial Master trade, it wasn't just orthodox disciples looking for work; it also included other fringe sects and thick-skinned scammers—
The worst were those scammers. They were truly silver-tongued, able to spout anything with a mix of truth and lies, coaxing employers into submission. Then they would comfortably ruin the reputation of the sects they were impersonating while taking the sweet money and doing disgusting deeds.
Meanwhile, the truly capable Zhou Zhiyi was squeezed out with no room for employment.
Thus, driven to a dead end, Zhou Zhiyi met two companions who were in the same situation.
All three of them, due to their respective issues, couldn't make a name for themselves in the metaphysical world and were even struggling to feed themselves.
So, the three of them put their heads together and made a decision that went against the Daoist sects—
Comments