Before undergoing corpse-release ascension in his previous life, Jiang Shu had sealed his memories and left himself two Daoist scriptures and an Immortal Sword.
After his corpse-release ascension, he went to be reborn into a family he had chosen beforehand.
Several months earlier, he had visited them in Daoist robes and said that they would have an immortal for a son. He told the head of the household not to stop the child from seeking immortals and pursuing the Dao; the whole family would be blessed in the future if he complied, but calamity would strike if he did not.
The head of the household took him for a master beyond the mortal world and believed every word he said, agreeing to everything. He also asked him to name the child, and Jiang Shu gave him the name "Jiang Shu." Before leaving, he left a considerable sum of gold and silver, enough for the child to grow to adulthood without ever worrying about food or clothing.
After his Reincarnation, he forgot all his memories of his previous life and had no recollection of having a master. With only his Immortal Sword, he roamed unhindered through Fujian and Guangdong, slaying many Monsters, evil spirits, and corrupt officials and earning considerable fame in the martial world.
Those two Daoists were no nameless petty villains either. They were disciples of Reverend One Lamp of the Western Demon Cult. The one seated on the bed was Red Lotus Taoist Bixi, while the fortune-teller on the street was Hundred-Demon Taoist Fengwu. They dressed as Daoists because they had originally been Daoists before entering the demonic fold, and because a Daoist guise still made it easier to operate in the Central Plains.
Ordinarily, they would never have accepted that such a young boy was Jiang Shu.