Spooky Season is here on Tiger Talk. We’ve come from broadly examining the mythical monsters of Asia; Yōkai(Japan) or Yāoguài (China) to drilling down into specific creatures and cases. This will be a treat for fans of KPop Demon Hunters, Trese or Mononoke – as we begin our deep dives into their lore with translations from some historic texts and ancient works of fiction.
The Face Swiper (Shuāliǎnguǐ 刷臉鬼).
Translated from Records of Anomalies ( Shù yì jì 述異記) by the Master of the Eastern Veranda (Dōng xuān zhǔrén 東軒主人)
It is said that during the year Wushen (Wùshēn 戊申 1768 CE), the regional magistrate of Pingyue, Zhu Shi of Shimen recorded strange occurrences throughout the entire provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou, even reaching as far as Chuyun and Xiang. Mysterious individuals seemed to be practicing bizarre face-erasing sorcery. They looked and spoke no differently from ordinary people and sometimes dozens of them entered cities together. Other times, they wandered alone in rural areas, appearing and disappearing unpredictably. They seemed to arrive as seeds dropped through roof cracks, spinning and expanding until they burst open into human form.
Unknowingly people would pass them on the streets only to suddenly collapse. Upon inspection, their face would be gone, leaving only the back of their skull. These attacks happened everywhere — in cities, countryside, mountains, and secluded dark rooms. No one knew why these face-swipers were collecting the faces. The disturbances lasted until the eighth or ninth lunar month, by which time thousands had been afflicted. Civil and military officials patrolled through the night, while households beat drums and gongs to defend themselves. On one occasion, several of these strange figures carried a large wooden barrel into a city. Soldiers surrounded them — but in a flash, the figures vanished, leaving only the barrel. Upon opening it, more than a hundred human faces were found inside, preserved in lime.
Some say these faces were used by black magicians in sacrificial rites to appease evil spirits or for spells meant to subdue enemies. Others claimed it was the doing of evil Yaoguai who emerge during leap years. Whatever the case, it was a bizarre phenomenon not of this world.
When the denizens from the underworld run rampant among the living, there are no mortal warriors who can withstand that horde. But there is one among them who’s spent his whole life in training, so as to spend his after-life in combat as the Undead Kungfu Ghost Killer!
