Fierce Ghost

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Fierce Ghost
Original Name	厉鬼
Species/Race	Ghost; a supernatural being formed through unresolved grudges and resentment 11.
Occupation/Role	Frequently a vengeful, dangerous spirit that attacks the living; nonlethal exceptions exist 11 36.
First Appearance	Chapter 2, through Qin Liu, the ghost occupying the mansion 2.

Formation and Growth

• Unresolved grievances: Fierce Ghosts do not arise without a cause. Their formation stems from one or more unresolved grudges associated with their deaths 11.
• Resentment and strength: A Fierce Ghost’s power is almost directly proportional to its resentment. Greater strength ordinarily means greater danger to humans 6.
• Environmental influence: Dense resentment within a haunted location can produce an exceptionally dangerous Fierce Ghost. Continued exposure can erode a ghost’s remaining identity and turn it into an indiscriminate killer 4 6.
• Growth through attacks: The White-clothed Female Ghost attacks passersby to accumulate strength and resentment, seeking enough power to escape the restrictions imposed by her corpse and reach her murderers 13.
• Possession: The Ouija Ghost possesses a woman, devours her consciousness, and transforms into a murderous Fierce Ghost that kills her family 58.

Consciousness and Behavior

Fragmented Awareness

• A person’s “seven souls and six spirits” scatter after death. Fierce Ghosts usually cannot preserve them completely, leaving most mindless or only partly conscious 27.
• Apparently coherent behavior may be instinctive rather than evidence of intact awareness. The square-faced ghost driver submits to armed ghost hunters out of a residual survival instinct 31 32.
• Obsession can preserve limited sanity. Liu Xiaoxiao’s hatred and Liu Haoyu’s promise help sustain her last shred of awareness 44.
• Some Fierce Ghosts can still communicate, recognize danger, retreat, and accept agreements 13 32 211.

Violence and Restraint

• Most Fierce Ghosts are described as bloodthirsty beings driven by revenge, willing to attack innocent people rather than only those responsible for their deaths 36.
• Agreements do not necessarily remove the underlying danger. Liu Haoyu warns that the White-clothed Female Ghost’s prolonged resentment may make her attack indiscriminately again 13.
• Qin Liu is an exceptional case: she retains personal emotions and clear communication, and primarily frightens intruders rather than killing them 32 36.

Appearance

• No uniform appearance: The White-clothed Female Ghost has a decaying face, maggots, tangled hair, and an eyeball slipping from its socket 9.
• Monstrous manifestations: The Ghost Messenger appears with a green face, fangs, horns, and severely distorted features 68.
• Humanlike exception: Qin Liu resembles a beautiful maiden with a living person’s skin tone. Her floating body and red wedding dress are more conspicuous than any corpse-like features 2 67.

Abilities and Skills

Concealment and Manifestation

A ghost’s strength affects how difficult it is for humans to perceive it.

• Stronger Fierce Ghosts require higher spirit sight to see. Even voluntary manifestation may not make them visible to an inadequately gifted observer 6.
• Talismans can help an exorcist sense a ghost’s approximate location without seeing its appearance 27.
• A ghost that withdraws and conceals itself can become difficult to locate again, particularly after learning an opponent’s strength 13.

Environmental Distortion and Illusions

• Ordinary Fierce Ghosts can use resentment to alter their surroundings and create illusions 28.
• The White-clothed Female Ghost presents Liu Haoyu with a supernatural replay of her murder inside the warehouse where she died 12 13.
• Qin Liu exceeds the ordinary standard by directly invading dreams and creating experiences difficult to distinguish from reality. Liu Haoyu believes she could trap Deng Xiaolin in endless terrifying dreamscapes if she wished 28.

Restraint and Physical Attacks

• A Fierce Ghost’s gaze ordinarily leaves its target unable to move; the White-clothed Female Ghost is surprised when Liu Haoyu fights back 9.
• Ghostly hair can bind victims or extend across an entire room to attack them 13 68.
• Fierce Ghosts can physically interfere with objects: the White-clothed Female Ghost grabs Liu Haoyu’s motorcycle tire and causes a crash 10.

Possession and Mental Influence

• Encountering a Fierce Ghost is considered a likely explanation for the apparent possession of two dead exorcists 48.
• The Ouija Ghost’s possession destroys its host’s consciousness 58.
• Qin Liu can soothe nightmares and place Deng Xiaolin under suggestive control. Liu Haoyu explicitly identifies this degree of influence over reality as beyond an ordinary Fierce Ghost 26 28.

Ghost Servants

• People killed by Fierce Ghosts can often become their ghost servants 32.
• Ghost servants can be substantially weaker than Fierce Ghosts. Zhu Xingxue, a servant driven by eating flesh and drinking blood, is completely outmatched by Liu Xiaoxiao 44.

Limitations and Countermeasures

Corpse and Location Restrictions

• The White-clothed Female Ghost cannot freely reach her enemies because of the shackles associated with her corpse 13.
• Her hair provides a means of connecting her to her murderers: the Black Book instructs Liu Haoyu to place it on them 18.
• Qin Liu is confined to her house unless she travels using Red Jade, showing that even an unusually powerful ghost can face movement restrictions 180.

Exorcism Tools

Tool	Documented effect
Thunder Shock Talisman	Injures and repels Fierce Ghosts, but does not guarantee their destruction. Two talismans fail to suppress the White-clothed Female Ghost 9 13.
Talismans and barriers	Can seal ghosts inside a room. Qin Liu is exceptional in being able to tear talismans apart and break through barriers 27 68.
Talisman-treated Fire Axe	Used to kill the possessed Ouija Ghost and the Ghost Messenger through repeated blows 58 68.
Red Jade / Ghost Jade	Used to seal or subdue ghosts. Qin Liu can enter and leave Red Jade voluntarily; Elder Deng’s normally red Ghost Jade turns black after subduing a powerful Fierce Ghost 9 93.
Shrine	Its vicinity is unpleasant for Fierce Ghosts. Qin Liu avoids retrieving her shoes even though the Black Book says the shrine’s seal should not be strong enough to stop her 15.
Exorcising candle	Warns of ghostly activity; ordinary ghosts and even dangerous Fierce Ghosts cannot extinguish it 6.

Yin Energy and Sunlight

• Ghosts are creatures of extreme cold. Prolonged contact can allow yin chill to invade an ordinary person’s body and eventually kill them, even without a deliberate attack 2.
• Supernatural activity is concentrated at night, when yin energy is dense. Ordinary ghosts retreat from sunlight’s yang energy, although powerful Fierce Ghosts such as Qin Liu are exceptions 67.

Communication and Appeasement

Ghost Questioning

• Allows communication with nearby wandering spirits, including questions about their killers, grievances, and regrets 6.
• Personal belongings can serve as a medium, but unusually powerful Fierce Ghosts may resist the summons 5 6.
• The ritual attracts other ghosts as well. Liu Haoyu draws spirits from several kilometers away without successfully summoning Qin Liu 5.

Ghost Sacrifice

The Black Book recommends Ghost Sacrifice when ordinary Ghost Questioning cannot reach Qin Liu 15.

Requirement or outcome	Black Book’s instructions
Preparation	Light red and blue candles when yin energy is strongest; prepare offerings the ghost likes 15.
Invocation	Pray sincerely and use blood to call the ghost’s name; the ghost arrives at midnight 15.
Accepted offering	The ghost extinguishes the blue candle and meets the practitioner 15.
Rejected offering	The ghost extinguishes the red candle and strips the practitioner’s soul from their body 15.
Risk	Heavy blood loss can leave the practitioner almost unable to move or defend themselves 20.

• Qin Liu’s anomalous result: Liu Haoyu survives with the red candle burning and the blue candle extinguished. Despite its earlier instructions, the Black Book interprets the remaining red candle as anger and cannot explain why she spared him 20.

Resolving Grievances

• Liu Haoyu considers avenging the White-clothed Female Ghost’s death necessary before laying her to rest or subduing her; resolving her resentment may allow reincarnation 13.
• Negotiation can temporarily prevent further attacks. Both the White-clothed Female Ghost and Liu Xiaoxiao accept help pursuing their enemies in exchange for refraining from harming others 13 32.
• Such restraint is fragile while the underlying obsession remains unresolved 13 32.

Notable Examples

• Qin Liu — Red-clothed mansion ghost with exceptional power, unusually complete consciousness, and a largely nonlethal approach to intruders 2 28 32 36.
• White-clothed Female Ghost — Murdered and dismembered woman whose resentment drives attacks near a reservoir; accepts Liu Haoyu’s one-week agreement 11 13.
• Liu Xiaoxiao — Killed by another Fierce Ghost; seeks revenge while retaining a desire to see her parents 32.
• Square-faced ghost driver — Dead for ten years; reacts to threatened exorcism through residual survival instincts 31 32.
• Possessed Ouija Ghost — Devours its host’s consciousness and kills her family before being destroyed with Liu Haoyu’s talisman-treated axe 58.
• Ghost Messenger — Possessing entity with extending hair; trapped in a formation and killed by Liu Haoyu 68.
• Longshan Vocational High School ghost — Appears beneath Liu Haoyu’s bed and is struck directly by a Thunder Shock Talisman 107.

Increasing Activity

• Fierce Ghosts capable of harming people are described as exceedingly rare, making several encounters in quick succession suspicious 23.
• After arriving in Jiangquan City, Liu Haoyu’s supernatural encounters increase from roughly monthly to weekly or even multiple times daily. He suspects something is awakening ghosts and connects this possibility to the Black Book’s warning of “terror spreading outward” 32.