Chapter 1

On the day I was born, auspicious signs appeared in the sky, with clouds resembling dragons, and sparrows perched on every branch.

The fortune-teller said this was a sign of good fortune, indicating that I would be an outstanding person, bringing blessings to my family!

My parents were so delighted that they gave him 3,000 yuan as a reward, enough to buy a whole floor of a building back then!

My father drove a tiger-head Benz, and all the businessmen he dealt with were from Hong Kong. Money wasn't the issue; what mattered was that the fortune-teller spoke so well, and it was a generous reward!

In the following years, our family's wealth grew, and my parents became busier, often only returning home once every two months. I grew distant from them.

Until I was eight years old, the fortune-teller suddenly said I would face a life-threatening crisis at the age of nine!

My parents made an important decision to retire from their business.

They said that no matter how much money they earned, nothing was more important than being with their child.

But something major happened the next day.

A skinless woman's corpse, drenched in blood, was hung on our front door.

The police came and deduced that the corpse was my mother. My father's whereabouts were unknown, and his fate uncertain.

My mother's tragic death and the sudden change in our family left me heartbroken.

The relatives seemed to be avoiding something, and no one took care of me. I had to stay at the police station.

After crying for a long time, I accepted the reality. My father was probably gone too.

From then on, I would be an orphan.

The police decided to send me to an orphanage.

It was at this moment that my uncle appeared!

With red-rimmed eyes, he choked out, "Xianshen, you've had a hard life. From now on, you'll live with Uncle!"

As the saying goes, an uncle is as close as a parent, and blood is thicker than water.

My uncle was the closest person to me.

After moving in with my uncle, he and my aunt treated me very well.

My cousin had a strange illness and was paralyzed on one side, but he often made me laugh and always shared his food with me.

My cousin said I was his little brother.

Even though he couldn't stand, he could still protect me from the wind and rain!

I was deeply moved!

Before I knew it, a year had passed.

The day before the Winter Solstice, it was my ninth birthday.

My uncle bought a big cake, and the whole family gathered around the table in a warm and happy atmosphere.

I was about to blow out the candles when my uncle grabbed my head and slammed it on the table with a "bang"!

Caught off guard, I was knocked unconscious!

When I woke up, my hands and feet were tightly bound to the bed, and sixty-four white candles were burning in a special pattern around me.

My paralyzed cousin sat in the middle of the candles, the candlelight casting his shadow on the wall, making him look like a hungry demon!

My uncle's face was full of disgust as he said, "Did you really think I raised you for nothing?"

"Considering what your parents did, it's a miracle you didn't die back then!"

"Do you know why you've been able to live for a year?"

"It's because at the age of nine, your life force is at its peak!"

I was terrified and struggled frantically.

My uncle took out twelve thick and long silver needles, piercing them through my body and into my internal organs!

I screamed in pain, begging my uncle to spare my life.

My uncle ignored me, grinning wickedly as he said this was called the Twelve Palaces of Life.

After the twelve needles were inserted, my cousin would be able to stand, and my good fortune would be his!

I felt my bones being drilled, and something indescribable was flowing out of me, causing me unbearable pain.

My cousin's face was filled with a smile of rebirth.

In the end, I was thrown into the countryside like a dead dog by my uncle.

As my uncle said, in the northern winter, with temperatures below minus twenty degrees, people freeze to death every day.

When the police notified him the next day, he would say I had run away from home, and after a simple procedure, my parents' inheritance would be his.

In the freezing cold of winter, the ground was covered in ice, but this cold was nothing compared to my uncle's!

That night, there was a thunderstorm, with rolling thunder almost splitting the sky, and black smoke rising from the ground, which was terrifying!

The cold and pain tormented me, making me lose consciousness and faint...

When I woke up, I found myself lying on a single bed.

The room was warm, with a faint smell of blood.

Twelve blood-stained steel needles stood at the head of the bed!

An old man with a red nose, messy hair, and crab-like eyes sat beside the bed, looking drowsy.

I recognized the old man; his name was Qin Weizi!

He was the one who read my fortune at birth, and my parents would always invite him to predict their fortune before going out.

They mentioned several times that they wanted him to take me as his apprentice.

But Old Qin always smiled and refused, saying, "Xianshen's fate is too heavy, a dragon's fate. I can't take him on now!"

As I thought about this, I struggled to get up, wanting to bow in gratitude for Old Qin saving my life!

But as soon as I moved, the pain in my bones made me scream.

Old Qin reached out, stroking my head, and sighed, "Xianshen, your life has been too hard. I'll take you as my apprentice, and no one will dare to bully you again."

...

I cried, sobbing uncontrollably.

After that, I became Old Qin's apprentice.

He never let me call him Master, only "Old Man."

Although he was a fortune-teller, the things he taught me had nothing to do with fortune-telling.

Chopping trees, sawing wood, making coffins, boiling glue, laying paper, and making paper figures.

Worse still, he would take me to dig up graves at night and shave the heads of corpses!

At first, I was so scared that my face turned white, and I wet my pants.

Old Qin said, "If you're scared now, how will you take revenge in the future?"

"If you don't have the courage, those who do will spend your parents' hard-earned money and live a smooth life, never encountering any trouble."

My eyes welled up, and my courage grew!

No fear could match the hatred in my heart!

Ten years passed, and the skills I learned were more than enough to run a funeral parlor.

I asked Old Qin why he didn't teach me fortune-telling. He was a fortune-teller, so it didn't make sense for him to teach me funeral skills.

Old Qin sighed and said, "Your dragon's fate was taken, and you absorbed the qi of the three broken days, making you look like a plague god. I barely managed to change your fate to a yin fate, allowing you to learn some of the nine trades. Don't be greedy."

I was stunned, and my mood sank.

My cousin was living a comfortable life with my good fortune and my parents' inheritance.

But I was in so much pain, as if my heart had been pierced!

"Old Man, when will the time come? When can I take revenge?" I asked, my eyes red.

Old Qin patted my shoulder and said, "Don't think too much. Go and bring out the coffin, clean it, and where are the eight paper figures?"

I pointed to the storage room.

I went to the backyard, feeling dejected.

Under the eaves, a dark coffin was placed.

The wood grain was fine, and the texture was heavy.

Three years ago, Old Qin made me cut down more than twenty old willow trees and used the tree cores to make this coffin.

Willow trees are yin in nature, and the tree cores can preserve corpses.

Old Qin always said that he was getting old and might pass away at any time. Preparing the coffin in advance would ensure a proper send-off by the eight pallbearers, and he wouldn't have lived in vain!

I always said that Old Qin's words were inauspicious.

But Old Qin just smiled without a word.

I wrung out a cloth with cold well water and carefully cleaned the coffin.

The surface of the coffin was shiny and reflective!

I rubbed my temples and sighed deeply.

I was clear-headed.

Old Qin was very meticulous. When I couldn't control my emotions, he would have me clean the coffin.

The cold well water would naturally calm me down...

I was thinking about asking Old Qin if he wanted to have a drink that night.

I would invite the widow from the village to sing for him.

When I walked to the front yard, I saw an extra chair, and eight lifelike paper figures stood on either side.

Old Qin was dressed in clean funeral clothes, his head slightly lowered, and his eyes unfocused.

I was shocked and shouted, "Old Man!"

I rushed forward and knelt in front of the chair, my heart pounding with fear!

Old Qin trembled slightly and slowly raised his head.

"Ah, I was a bit sleepy and fell asleep."

He smiled, but his face was pale, and even his red nose had lost its color.

"Damn... Old Man, you scared me to death!" I blushed and spat, "What are you doing... wearing funeral clothes and setting up paper figures? Do you want to scare me to death and become a white-haired person sending off a black-haired one?"

Old Qin looked at me with eyes full of fine wrinkles, filled with reluctance.

"Xianshen, the time has come," he said dryly.