Vengeful Ghost

Biodata

Nature and Origins

• Indestructibility: Vengeful Ghosts cannot be killed. Dealing with them requires suppression, Binding, confinement, or avoidance of their killing conditions 19 43.
• Different levels of danger: Their strength is described in terms of terror level. Nyepa identifies Indra’s Hand as exceptionally dangerous even though it is only part of a larger ghost 63.
• Fragmented existence: Separate body parts can retain supernatural power. Qu Zan suspects that Indra’s Hand, Eye, Bone, and Skin originated from a single dismantled being 146 180.
• Object forms: Some uncanny objects are themselves Vengeful Ghosts, rather than ordinary ritual implements imbued with supernatural influence 101.
• Repeated encounters: The Sutra Academy Abbot warns that someone who has encountered a Vengeful Ghost is very likely to encounter another. Qu Zan interprets this as a possible mutual attraction between ghosts 23.

Names of Gods and Buddhas

Many Vengeful Ghosts bear religious names, including those of Guanyin, Taras, Arhats, and guardian deities. Duo’erna gives three competing explanations; none is established as definitive 84:

• They are given divine names in the hope that they will become compassionate.
• They were once gods or Buddhas who died and became Vengeful Ghosts.
• Gods and Buddhas are themselves Vengeful Ghosts.

Appearance

• Corpse-like features: Examples have lifeless eyes, livor mortis, withered flesh, exposed bones, or decomposing bodies 19 53 174.
• Religious imagery: Multiple arms, human-head necklaces, tiger pelts, scripture banners, and ghost-god heads appear on different ghosts 13 19 65 116.
• Composite bodies: The Iron Tree Corpse-Piercing Vidyaraja combines women’s corpses and iron branches into a towering mass 116.
• Environmental signs: Darkness, cold, corpse stench, corpse oil, and changes in nearby matter can accompany manifestation. The Great Black Protector’s arrival causes offerings to mold and rot 13 21 47.
• Psychological impact: Their appearance can provoke instinctive nausea and terror. Qu Zan gradually becomes more accustomed to encountering them 116.

Abilities & Skills

Rule-Based Killing

Each ghost has particular conditions governing its attacks. Discovering those conditions can allow a weaker person to survive without overpowering it 19 161.

• A warning sign is not necessarily the killing condition itself: Ghost-Fallen Guanyin replacing its head on its spine signals an impending attack, but recognizing that movement alone does not make escape safe 20.
• A plausible theory can still be wrong. Mirror Granny initially appears to kill according to whether a group contains an even number of people; Qu Zan later identifies a spatial rule instead 53.
• Knowing the pattern does not eliminate danger. A small mistake while acting on that knowledge can still be fatal 21.

Ghost Domains and Spatial Effects

Some incidents involve supernatural spaces that trap victims or obstruct escape.

• In the mirror’s Ghost Domain, Basang’s group finds no known exit. He also cautions that the roaming killer may not be the same ghost that brought them inside 51.
• Mirror Granny travels inside walls, where Qu Zan’s projected Ghost Hand initially cannot reach its body 53.
• Red Guanyin’s Ghost Domain prevents Qu Zan and Bianba from escaping through the temple doors, leaving them in an apparently endless space 160.
• The isolation around the Weeping Arhat incident disappears after Qu Zan suppresses the out-of-control Danbai 100.

Perception and Impersonation

• Visual interference: At Cai Xiangdangzhi manor, Qu Zan determines that the apparent blood on a letter is an illusion acting on visual consciousness, not newly created blood 69.
• False identities: The Discipline Academy head identifies Formless Tathagata as the likely source of the false Dzongben 98.
• Physical likenesses: The suspected Indra’s Skin produces doubles resembling other people and controls paper-like human skins 178 180.

Suppression of Other Ghosts

The principle that “only a Vengeful Ghost can subdue a Vengeful Ghost” underlies Binding and supernatural combat 19 63.

• Strength matters: Qu Zan’s projected Ghost Hands cannot suppress Danbai once his revival has progressed too far 99.
• Direct contact can be stronger: Pressing the source Indra’s Hand against a ghost can succeed where remotely generated hands fail 99 116.
• Suppression can provoke backlash: The Vidyaraja tears apart and absorbs Qu Zan’s Ghost Hands, triggering a deeper awakening of Indra’s Hand 116.
• Several powers may be necessary: Qu Zan combines Indra’s Hand, Indra’s Eye, and the Ghost Rope to completely suppress the Vidyaraja 117.

Revival and Binding

Revival

Revival is the awakening of a ghost’s power, including within a vessel. Dormant and fully awakened ghosts differ enormously in destructive ability 21.

• Qu Zan’s panel records Indra’s Hand’s revival rising through 10%, 30%, and 60% while he suppresses Mirror Granny 54.
• Delaying revival does not necessarily reverse damage. Each near-revival leaves Xia Ba with more of his body consumed despite his use of Ghost Medicine 180.
• Nightfall and additional killings are expected to further strengthen Ghost-Fallen Guanyin; its daytime manifestation disproves Rinchen’s assumption that ghosts cannot appear under the sun 19 21.

Binding Methods

Binding seals a Vengeful Ghost inside a body or object. A Binding Monk can draw on part of the ghost’s power, but assumes the risks of consumption and revival 43.

Perfect Control

Nyepa defines Perfect Control as equilibrium between the uncanny powers inside the body. A compatible power of the same kind that also complements the existing ghost offers a desirable balance, but is extremely difficult to obtain 63.

• Indra’s Hand craves eyes, leading Nyepa to recommend a power connected to visual consciousness 63.
• Qu Zan later achieves Perfect Control over Ghost Hand and no longer fears exhausting its power in a prolonged contest with Doji Cizhu 80.
• Equilibrium can still be disrupted by a sufficiently powerful opponent, as occurs against the Vidyaraja 116.
• The Bamboo Grove Vihara helps Qu Zan stabilize the resurgence caused by absorbing Red Guanyin, protecting his body and mind from the invading power 161.
• Binding does not grant unrestricted access to every ability: Duo’erna states that her own rank and stage limit how much of her high-standing ghost’s power she can use 163.

Nonhuman Vessels

• Alech’u’s horse is a breathing animal that has bound a Vengeful Ghost, not simply a ghost taking the shape of a horse 175.
• Its corpse oil restrains Wet-Print Boy, blocks Qu Zan’s attack, and protects Alech’u during his escape 175.
• Qu Zan suspects the ghost marks anyone positioned above it and resists other uncanny powers attacking that person; this remains his hypothesis 176.

Containment Items

• Golden Benba Bottle — Used to imprison Vengeful Ghosts through Binding 39 43.
• Three-Pronged Vajra — Indra’s Hand’s Binding Artifact; driving it into the hand can suppress revival 55.
• Corpse-Wrapping Khata — Compresses and restrains the Weeping Arhat, allowing it to be placed in a Golden Coffin 100 101.
• Ghost Rope — An uncanny object used alongside Indra’s Hand and Eye to suppress the Vidyaraja 101 117.
• Golden Box — Contains the Vidyaraja after suppression; a blacksmith seals its gaps with molten gold before Qu Zan buries it 117.
• Grave-Mound Soil — Xia Ba’s bound power can seal a ghost and restrict its movements, although numerous false doubles overwhelm his ability to identify the true target 180.

Documented Vengeful Ghosts

Notable Quotes

“First: Vengeful Ghosts cannot be killed. Second: only a Vengeful Ghost can subdue a Vengeful Ghost. Third: discern the pattern by which the Vengeful Ghost kills.” 19

“Drawing close to the uncanny and gaining supernatural power—this is the price!”
— The steward, explaining Binding 43