“He drinks with scholars and eats ghosts.”
A Cinnabar immortal of Diyu
3 known connections · an open question
A Tang scholar with a face like a thundercloud and a beard like a waterfall, who failed the imperial exams on looks and passed eternity on merit instead. Emperor Xuanzong dreamed him strangling a nightmare demon, woke up cured, and hired him on the spot — every demon in China has reported to him since. He drinks with scholars and eats ghosts.
He is on patrol tonight, beard flowing, hunting a demon that has been bothering an examination hall. The scholars inside are burning incense to Wenchang. Zhong Kui finds this hilarious.
One New Year the demons will all behave — every last one, reformed, repentant, employed — and Zhong Kui will hang up his sword, pour the scholars a drink, and finally sit the examination again. This time, they say, he will pass on the essay alone. The essay will be about merit.
“He drinks with scholars — it's tradition, it's in the job description. Last Ghost Festival he was seen at a wine shop, deep in conversation, toasting and laughing, across the table from an empty stool. Asked about it later, he said the scholar made excellent points. Judge Cui checked the registers. No scholar died that night. Zhong Kui has not explained. He has not stopped going to the wine shop.”
Zhong Kui drank with a scholar who wasn't there.
The ten Yama kings, the Black and White Impermanence, Judge Cui with his brush, Meng Po with her soup of forgetting. Justice here is thorough, the paperwork is eternal, and the bridge out is narrower than you remember.
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