Bird Beak

鸟嘴 / Bird Beak (Title of the Fowl-Soul Warden)
被猛禽啄食致死 / Pecked to death by raptors
Era of Death: Not recorded (pre-dates Ming dynasty folk records)
Current Gui Tier: Li Gui (Vengeful Spirit)
Underworld Affiliation: You Ming Di Fu (Netherworld Court), Si Zhi Gong Cao (Four Duty Deities)

Niaozui appears in the Ming-dynasty compendium *Sānjiào Yuánliú Sōushén Dàquán* (三教源流搜神大全) as one of the Si Zhi Gong Cao, holding the specific title "Niaozui" (Bird Beak). Folk shrines in rural China, particularly in mountainous areas known for raptor attacks, sometimes include a small niche dedicated to "the Bird-Catcher Spirit" (捉鸟神), and local tradition advises that after a mass death of farm birds, one should burn a paper effigy of a leather pouch to appease him. In some Daoist funeral rites for poultry, a priest recites a brief incantation asking the Bird Beak Warden to receive the soul gently. These traces are faint but persistent.

This entry is closely linked to the organizational framework of the **Si Zhi Gong Cao** (Four Duty Deities of the Underworld), of which Niaozui is one specialized member. His signature item, the **Yang Ling Dai** (Feather-Rearing Pouch), is used for collecting captured fowl souls and serves as his primary means of restraint and transport. His conflict with an anonymous **San Xian** (散仙, rogue immortal) demonstrates the tension between Underworld functionaries and independent cultivators who shelter animal life. The **Nie Jing Tai** (Karma Mirror) and **Pan Guan** (Underworld Judge) involved in his recruitment illustrate how the Netherworld assimilates dangerous ghosts, not through destruction, but through institutionalization. For further reading on the Underworld's department structure, see the entry on **Si Zhi Gong Cao**; for the broader logic of ghost recruitment, see **Gui Chai**.

Niaozui currently occupies the Li Gui (Vengeful Spirit) tier, a level defined by permanent loss of original self and the contamination of consciousness by foreign memories. Unlike most Li Gui, however, his identity has not fragmented through voluntary consumption of other souls, but through a single, overwhelming obsession: the hatred of birds. This obsession was deliberately preserved and reinforced by the Underworld when he was recruited, turning his distorted mind into a precise instrument for fowl-soul retrieval. His longevity is unknown, but his existence as a Li Gui has been stabilized by his official function—he no longer needs to consume other ghosts to survive. The price is that he can never forget the sensation of being torn apart by beaks, and he relives that death with every bird he captures.

His death occurred on a sheer cliff face in an unnamed mountain range. He was a caizyaoren (herb gatherer), climbing for a thousand-year lingzhi guarded by a giant raptor. The eagle struck without warning, tearing into his back mid-climb. He fell a hundred zhang, his body breaking against rock ledges before the birds—drawn by blood and movement—descended to finish him. As his soul left his body, his final sensation was not pain but the rhythmic tug of beaks removing flesh. He saw his own body below, a red mass that birds still tore at, and he tried to scream, but he had no throat. He reached toward the sky, and his ghostly hand passed through the wind. That was when he understood: he was no longer in the world he could touch.

Still weak and disoriented, his ghost fled into the deep crevices of the same cliff where he had died—a hollow worn by wind and snow. The Gang Feng (Cosmic Gale) tore at his form even in shadow, but the narrow space offered minimal protection. His hatred of birds became the anchor that kept him from dissolving. Every time he felt himself fading, he forced himself to remember the eagle's talons, the tearing beaks, the sensation of falling without ground. This single thread of fury and terror became his sole source of Yin Qi (阴气). He did not consume other wandering souls—there were few near these desolate peaks. Instead, he survived on the sheer intensity of his own grudge. But soon, even that was not enough. The cosmic erosion was relentless. To endure, he began hunting the living birds that flew within his range, draining their life-force directly. This act—killing while already dead—drew the Underworld's attention.

As a Li Gui, Niaozui's awareness has not been fragmented by consuming other human ghosts. That is what makes him an anomaly. His consciousness remains singular, but it is a singularity of rage. He has no lost memories of others—only his own, replayed ceaselessly: the flight of the eagle, the first impact of the beak through his shoulder, the taste of his own blood, the darkening sky as consciousness drained away. Every bird he captures triggers the same sequence in his mind. He does not know if the images he sees in his memory are accurate anymore; they have been worn down by repetition into a kind of sacred script. He no longer remembers his own name from before—only that he was a man who climbed cliffs. The rest is birds. He is not many souls stitched together. He is one soul that has been ground into a single, sharp point, and that point is all that remains of him.

There are two ultimate paths for a Gui who refuses reincarnation: the Gui Wang (Ghost King), built on the consumption of thousands of souls, and the Gui Xian (Ghost Immortal), built on the impossible generation of Yang within pure Yin. Niaozui has walked neither path. He was intercepted by the Netherworld before his power could reach the threshold of a Ghost King, and he lacks the patience or discipline for the Ghost Immortal's thousand-year meditation. The Underworld offered him a third option: a fixed office, a permanent role, and a stable supply of Yin Qi in exchange for his continuous service. He accepted without hesitation. In doing so, he traded his potential for an eternity of a single task—a trade that the more ambitious Gui would call a trap, but which Niaozui considers a mercy. He no longer needs to grow stronger. He only needs to keep working.

His first encounter with the Underworld was not through the usual soul-escorts. He was far too dangerous to approach by a simple Niu Tou Ma Mian (Ox-Head and Horse-Face) pair. A Pan Guan (Underworld Judge) was dispatched—a high-level functionary who offered him a deal: stop terrorizing the mortal realm's bird populations, and accept a position among the Si Zhi Gong Cao (四值功曹), the Four Duty Deities of the Underworld, as the specialist for fowl souls. Niaozui agreed. He was brought before the Nie Jing Tai (Karma Mirror Platform), not for judgment—his case was already sealed—but for a diagnostic scan to map the extent of his obsession. The mirror showed, in stark clarity, that his hatred had no other object. It was pure. The Netherworld Courts found him useful. He was given a set of iron shackles that bound him to the office, and the ability to sense at any distance the moment a bird's life ended. No Meng Po Tang (孟婆汤) was offered; his memory was too valuable to erase. He remains a Li Gui in the employ of cosmic order.

Relations across the Seven Paths are minimal but telling:
— **Xian Dao (仙道)** : He once clashed with a San Xan (散仙), a reclusive immortal who had built a retreat among a flock of cranes. When Niaozui descended to collect the crane souls, the immortal attacked, wielding talismans of celestial light that burned his ghostly form. Niaozui sustained heavy injuries but escaped by unleashing his Yang Ling Dai (养翎袋) in a desperate full discharge, scattering thousands of fowl-souls in a storm of necrotic feathers. The immortal did not pursue, and Niaozui has since avoided areas with known immortal residents.
— **Shen Dao (神道)** : His position as a Duty Deity places him in a peculiar limbo: he is a ghost by nature but holds divine office. Local earth gods and town guardians regard him with a mix of caution and respect. He ignores them entirely unless a bird dies on their turf.
— **Fo Dao (佛道)** : Buddhist monks have attempted to conduct Chao Du (超度) rituals to deliver his soul to reincarnation. These attempts always fail. The ritual chants twist his obsession but cannot dissolve it, and he responds by leaving the area until the chanting stops.
— **Mortal and Yao (人/妖)** : He has no interest in human souls. Mortals who see him mistake him for a large, predatory bird in the mist. Yao (妖) that take avian form—such as bird-spirits or feather-demon cultivators—are his only living targets, but they sense him coming and usually flee before he arrives.

Niaozui continues to serve his office. He has not been considered for reincarnation, as his function is too critical to the smooth operation of the Netherworld's soul-recycling system for avian beings. His current state is one of stable monotony: he roams the skyways of the Three Realms, sensing each bird death as a faint tug in his chest, and descends to collect. The process has become mechanical. He does not think about where the souls go after he delivers them to the appointed station. He does not recall his own childhood, his family, the herbalist's hut where he once lived. When asked by a Qingzhu (Underworld functionary) whether he misses being human, his answer was silence—a silence that lasted long enough to be an answer. He is, in every sense, a specialized tool of the afterlife. The man who climbed cliffs for herbs is gone. Only the beaks remain.