Jiang Li

Biodata

Power Progression

Background and History

Transmigration and the Supermarket

Before transmigrating, Jiang Li was an athlete. He arrives in Dachang City during the Hunger Ghost Incident carrying a mysterious Supernatural Treasure Chest. His knowledge of the world includes ghost killing rules and events he expects Yang Jian to experience 1 2 3.

Trapped on a supermarket’s first floor, he uses a phone alarm to lure away the Hunger Ghost’s derivatives and climbs a rope lowered by Wang Shan. After learning that He Lin’s revived Person-Hiding Ghost has already targeted him, Jiang Li isolates himself and catches it with the severed hand before its third disappearance can complete the fatal curse 2.

The clash disrupts the ghost’s rule and leaves Jiang Li in control of it. He then clears the supermarket’s first floor of ghost infants and children, securing supplies and shelter for Wang Shan, Yao Xiaoting, and Jiang Shangbai’s grandmother 3.

The Hunger Ghost Incident

Believing that waiting out the disaster offers little chance of survival, Jiang Li joins the operation at the haunted hospital. He challenges the team’s lack of information and offers his severed hand as a temporary suppression tool, on the condition that he retain freedom to act independently. The operation fails, and Yang Jian brings him and his companions to Guanjiang Residential Complex 4 6.

Jiang Li threatens the Human Skin Paper into revealing a method of stacking the Person-Hiding Ghost’s supernatural attacks. Working with Yang Jian, he stores this power in an implanted ghost finger and preserves it through the Wishing Ghost’s restart. Their amplified attack wounds the Hunger Ghost but does not contain it, while the strain causes the Person-Hiding Ghost to begin escaping his body 7 8 10 11.

He subsequently uses the Yin-Yang Ghost Rope to link Yang Jian and Zhao Kaiming. The rope transfers harmful supernatural effects to Zhao Kaiming, allowing Yang Jian to survive and temporarily relieving his revival crisis. Jiang Li’s own condition deteriorates, forcing Yang Jian and Zhang Han to move him while they search Hongfa Temple for the Coffin Nail 12 13 14 15.

During a later supernatural distortion, Jiang Li questions the false circumstances surrounding Yang Jian’s home. After recovering his memories, he discovers the Person-Hiding Ghost’s merger with the pale Ghost Hand and returns to the struggle against the Hunger Ghost. Headquarters ultimately loads the contained Hunger Ghost into a golden coffin 18 19 20 22.

Conflict with Headquarters

After the incident, Guo Fan attacks Jiang Li with gunfire and his spirit tablet. Jiang Li evades the shots, fulfills the Person-Hiding Ghost’s three-appearance condition, and suppresses Guo Fan without killing him. Zhao Jianguo subsequently offers him a satellite phone and candidate status as a city person in charge 21 22 26.

At the Hunger Ghost meeting, Wang Xiaoming reveals that Jiang Li’s wooden chest can turn ghosts into supernatural items. When Li Jun confronts him inside a Ghost Domain, Jiang Li uses the Drowned Ghost’s Finger Bone to bring in an attack beyond Li Jun’s ability to handle 28 29.

The dispute escalates into Jiang Li killing Wang Xiaoming and several officials. Elder Qin intervenes, offers to advance the wooden chest’s potential, and restarts the meeting, restoring the dead attendees. Wang Xiaoming abandons his attempt to obtain the chest and promises confidentiality, but Jiang Li decides not to join Headquarters 30.

Dayi City and Nut Cave

Jiang Li travels to Dayi City for He Tianxiong’s assessment on behalf of the Friend Circle. When He Tianxiong tries to provoke him, the Person-Hiding Ghost exhales foul, icy gas into his mouth and nose, leaving him choking 30 31.

Investigating Nut Cave, Jiang Li gathers information from gatekeeper Zhang Mao and concludes that multiple ghosts occupy the cave. Inside, he collects dormant ghosts for his chest, saves the wounded Daoist Priest Simu by grafting on a ghost arm, and recovers scattered Ghost Crow portions 34 37 39 42 45 46.

Recovering the crows destabilizes his supernatural balance. Jiang Li therefore targets the Corpse-Dragging Ghost as a counterweight. After making it submit to the Ghost Crow, he merges with it amid a violent clash of feathers, corpse spots, and blood 45 46 48.

The Two Incarnations

After leaving Nut Cave, Jiang Li honors his agreement with Liu Qingqing by explaining Zhang Youhong’s plan to revive through the supernatural items in her possession. He obtains an unsigned Ghost Post Office envelope and warns Zhang Mao not to open one himself 49.

Jiang Li then assigns separate roles to his two crow incarnations: Li Jiang will publicly act as Jiang Li and maintain contact with the Friend Circle and Headquarters, while Bai Li will enter the Ghost Post Office as a first-floor messenger. Jiang Li rejects concentrating all his strength in one visible identity, fearing the consequences of exposing himself to the entire supernatural circle 50.

Appearance

• Initial clothing: Wears a school uniform, leading others to regard him as a high school student; later changes into casual clothes 3 4 30.
• After controlling the Person-Hiding Ghost: Develops deathly pale, withered hands, a faint hollow smile, and eyes covered by a white film. A gaunt ghost face can protrude from his neck 3.
• Before the Nut Cave merger: Can still appear outwardly ordinary, without the obvious decay common among many Ghost Tamers 22.
• After the merger: Has an ashen, somber appearance and a thick, twisted, blackened right arm exposed through a burst sleeve. Black and white crows perch on his shoulders 49.

Personality

Jiang Li is pragmatic and survival-driven. He openly acknowledges fear, but studies supernatural rules and takes calculated risks rather than waiting passively. At the hospital, he insists on reliable intelligence, a containment method, and the right to withdraw from the group’s plans 2 3 4.

He repays trust and keeps agreements. He reveals his chest to Yang Jian, checks on the supermarket survivors after the disaster, and returns to help Liu Qingqing despite his deteriorated condition. His response to her surprise is straightforward: he gave his word, so he followed through 7 23 49.

His restraint depends on the threat. He deliberately leaves Guo Fan alive, but responds lethally when Headquarters attempts to seize his chest. Later, he chooses concealment and divided identities over displaying his full strength 22 30 50.

Ghost influence increasingly erodes his emotional responses. After the Hunger Ghost Incident, he feels detached from the city’s celebrations and withdraws into darkness because his urge to kill anyone he sees is growing stronger 23.

Abilities & Skills

Person-Hiding Ghost

Grants concealment, elusive movement, and a death curse governed by repeated appearances 3.

• Three-appearance curse: After appearing and disappearing three times before a target, Jiang Li can trigger a fatal supernatural attack through contact. Ordinary Ghost Tamers and derivative ghosts are vulnerable; more powerful ghosts may only be suppressed 3.
• Concealment and movement: Becomes indistinct within an invisible mist, vanishes from view, and reappears elsewhere. This allows him to evade ordinary gunfire 3 21.
• Supernatural perception: Can perceive ghostly presences through darkness; this becomes more pronounced after the ghost gains additional puzzle pieces 19.
• Offensive breath: Exhales foul, icy gas capable of incapacitating He Tianxiong 31.
• Later distribution: Its complete supernatural power is placed in Li Jiang 50.

Supernatural Stacking

Jiang Li learns to strengthen an attack by preventing the Person-Hiding Ghost from completing its disappearance 7.

• Yang Jian’s Ghost Eye Ghost Domain supplies the opposing force, causing attacks to accumulate rather than resolve normally 7 11.
• The implanted ghost finger stores the accumulated power 9 10.
• Concealing himself within his own supernatural power allows Jiang Li to preserve the stored attack through a forty-minute restart 10.
• Amplification through four layers of Ghost Domain wounds the Hunger Ghost but fails to contain it outright. Continued stacking accelerates the Person-Hiding Ghost’s revival 11.

Pale Ghost Hand

Operates through a shadow on the ground after becoming a puzzle piece of the Person-Hiding Ghost 19 20.

• Drags anyone touching the shadow underground 20.
• Combines with the three-appearance curse to produce a double supernatural attack 20.
• Restrains ghosts and suppresses a grafted ghost arm’s movement 42 45.
• Does not require its earlier condition of both feet leaving the ground after the merger, according to Jiang Li’s assessment 20.
• Its power is later assigned to Bai Li 50.

Ghost Crow

Provides detachable manifestations, supernatural disruption, and restart abilities 43 45 50.

• Crow cries: Disperse supernatural darkness. Four overlapping cries interrupt the Corpse-Dragging Ghost and break apart its chain of corpses 43 45.
• Detached portions: Can imitate Jiang Li and attach themselves to other ghosts, temporarily increasing their own strength 43 46.
• Ghost concealment: Attached ghosts’ killing rules appear to remain inactive unless the crow deliberately exposes them 46.
• Restart: Reverses the bodily decay caused by the Rotting Ghost’s attack 45.
• Incarnations: Produces Li Jiang and Bai Li, who receive portions of Jiang Li’s memories and personality and are intended to develop as distinct individuals serving him 50.
• Limit: Recovering its scattered portions creates increasing revival pressure when the Person-Hiding Ghost can no longer balance it 45.

Corpse-Dragging Ghost

Adds corpse-spot attacks, powerful single-target suppression, and a dark Ghost Domain 48 50.

• Can absolutely suppress and drag a single fierce ghost 50.
• Its corpse spots are identified as one of Jiang Li’s three guaranteed-kill attacks before he separates his incarnations 50.
• Supplies a dark Ghost Domain, but Jiang Li must use it cautiously because the Corpse-Dragging Ghost has not shut down 50.

Supernatural Analysis and Improvised Treatment

• Identifies ghost killing rules and manipulates their conditions, including sound-based lures and clashes between supernatural effects 1 2 7.
• Recognizes that Nut Cave’s changing space is a Ghost Domain rather than an ordinary route from which the group can simply walk out 40 42.
• Grafts a fierce ghost’s arm onto Daoist Priest Simu, then suppresses the arm with the Ghost Hand. Jiang Li explicitly states that this is his first attempt at such a procedure 42.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Supernatural Treasure Chest / wooden box — Accompanies him during transmigration and exchanges fierce ghosts for supernatural objects. Elder Qin offers to bring forward its latent potential; near Nut Cave, its inscription demands three more fierce ghosts before it will open completely 1 30 35.
• Pale severed hand — Temporarily suppresses a ghost by physically gripping it. Its fingers curl as its uses are consumed, and Jiang Li must approach the target directly. He uses it against the Person-Hiding Ghost, to threaten the Human Skin Paper, and to stabilize Yang Jian’s Ghost Eye 2 3 4 7 9.
• Implanted ghost finger — Originally supplied by Yang Jian; replaces Jiang Li’s right index finger and carries his stacked attacks. Jiang Li later cuts it off and feeds it to the chest 8 10 27.
• Drowned Ghost’s Finger Bone — Produced from the sacrificed ghost finger. Pointing it continuously at a target for ten seconds triggers an attack; a descending shadow indicates the attack’s arrival 27 29.
• Yin-Yang Ghost Rope — Links Yang Jian and Zhao Kaiming during Jiang Li’s rescue plan, transferring harmful supernatural effects to Zhao Kaiming 12 13.
• Ghost Crow Mask — Used to investigate supernatural figures within Nut Cave 42 43.
• Satellite positioning phone — Given to him by Zhao Jianguo alongside the Hunger Ghost meeting invitation 26.
• Unsigned Ghost Post Office envelope — A recruitment envelope for new messengers, later handed to Bai Li for his assignment 49 50.

Relationships

• Yang Jian — Trusted ally and partner in the Hunger Ghost Incident. Supplies the ghost finger, helps amplify Jiang Li’s attacks, shelters his companions, and promises support after the Headquarters confrontation 6 7 8 11 30.
• Wang Shan — Rescuer, liaison, and source of Friend Circle information. Arranges contacts and travel, and helps care for the supermarket survivors 2 23 30 50.
• Zhang Han — Crisis companion who follows Jiang Li’s instructions during the rope rescue and accompanies him to Hongfa Temple 12 14 15.
• He Lin — Deceased previous controller of the Person-Hiding Ghost. His revived ghost becomes Jiang Li’s first controlled ghost 2 3.
• Yao Xiaoting and Jiang Shangbai’s grandmother — Fellow supermarket survivors whom Jiang Li protects and later checks on. Jiang Shangbai sends two hundred million in thanks for saving his grandmother 3 23 50.
• Zhao Jianguo — Headquarters recruiter who regards Jiang Li as a promising, public-spirited young Ghost Tamer and offers him candidate status as a city person in charge 22 26.
• Wang Xiaoming — Collaborator during the Hunger Ghost crisis, later an adversary over the wooden chest. Jiang Li kills him during the meeting before Elder Qin reverses the deaths 4 28 30.
• He Tianxiong — Friend Circle evaluator and uneasy collaborator in Nut Cave. Initially tries to intimidate Jiang Li, then recognizes that his power exceeds expectations 31 43 45.
• Liu Qingqing — Exchanges information and favors with Jiang Li. He warns her about Zhang Youhong’s revival plan; she gives him an envelope and agrees to look after Zhang Mao 37 49.
• Zhang Mao — Paid informant and cave guide who waits for Jiang Li’s return after the others leave. Jiang Li warns him away from the Ghost Post Office envelope 34 37 49.
• Li Jiang — Black Crow incarnation carrying the Person-Hiding Ghost’s complete power. Assigned to act publicly as Jiang Li and monitor domestic developments 50.
• Bai Li — White Crow incarnation carrying the pale Ghost Hand’s power. Assigned to enter the Ghost Post Office as a first-floor messenger 50.
• Fang Shiming — Potential adversary. Jiang Li fears that the Friend Circle leader will attack once he recognizes Jiang Li as uncontrollable and considers striking first 47.

Notable Quotes

“You might think I have two paths to choose from, but in reality, there's only one path before me.” 4

“I gave my word, so I followed through. That's all.” 49

“I'm not foolish enough to think I can take on the entire supernatural circle alone.” 50