Is the “penis shrinkage” rumor real?

Yes, it is a documented culture-bound mass delusion known as Koro syndrome, with recorded outbreaks in China and Southeast Asia, including a major panic in Hainan in 1984-85.

Why didn’t Li Huowang’s sword cut the ghost?

The ghost was not a conventional yin spirit; it was an entity with a physical, reinforced body that required a specific sealing ritual (a talisman) rather than brute force.

Ghost Comes

1,263 words

Chapter 277: Ghost Comes

“Hahaha, the people of this county are idiots. Can they really believe bullshit like penis shrinkage?” Gouwa sneered freely.

“Put you in a situation where everyone’s saying the same thing, and you’d probably be no better off.”

Seeing that the streets, which should have been quiet, were now bustling with noise, Li Huowang set down his cup of tea and walked outside.

“All of you, follow me. Bring your weapons. Stay at the edge of the crowd and keep watch. I don’t want any complications.”

Whatever method Yang Hongzhi had used to notify people, the Pi County yamen was now packed tight with terrified faces. Many people were standing on walls and rooftops as well.

Thousands upon thousands were squeezed together, buzzing like a swarm of flies.

Yang Hongzhi sidled up close to Li Huowang, his face alight with excitement.

“True Man, look—is this enough? Almost every household sent someone.”

He had just gone back to check and found that his son’s manhood really hadn’t shrunk. He was already seventy to eighty percent convinced by this man’s words.

Looking at the dense sea of heads beside him, Li Huowang nodded, took two steps, and leaped onto the stone lion at the yamen’s entrance.

“Good people of Pi County! Everyone, don’t panic! I’m here to tell you—there is no ghost stealing people’s manhood! You’ve all been tricked! The shrinkage of men and women is fake! It’s nothing but a rumor!”

The moment Li Huowang’s words left his mouth, the crowd erupted. A thunderous roar of discussion swept across them.

“Ring-ring-ring~!” A piercing bell sound instantly drilled into everyone’s ears, making them all instinctively cover them.

Once the noise was suppressed by the bell, Li Huowang stopped shaking his Daoist bell and tossed it to Chun Xiaoman beside him.

Watching the people slowly lower their hands from their ears, Li Huowang thought for a moment and then raised his voice again. “Everyone! As for that so-called spirit-dancer who died from shrinkage—County Magistrate Yang and I have already examined him! He was only in a pretend death state. He fled long ago, who knows where!”

“And think about it carefully. Have any of you actually SEEN with your own eyes someone’s member retract into their belly? Remember, not what your son said, not what your neighbor said, but what you yourselves have witnessed! Is there anyone?!”

Hearing Li Huowang’s question, the entire population of Pi County wore hesitant expressions.

Just as Li Huowang thought they would cast aside this fear and panic, a different voice emerged from the crowd.

“There is!” A woman with graying hair, clutching a swaddled infant in her arms, stepped forward unsteadily.

She trembled as she peeled back the layers of cloth, hoisting the naked child high in the air, and frantically showed it to the others.

“Do you see this? My child’s manhood has been shrunk! This man is a liar! Don’t believe him!”

Li Huowang scrutinized the woman carefully. When he confirmed she wasn’t a Zuowandao in disguise, he shifted his gaze to the child in her arms.

“This is your child? A ghost stole its manhood?”

“Yes! Look! Where is his manhood? It’s gone!! Wuwuwu~ My poor son~” The woman wailed, hugging the child and sobbing loudly.

“It really shriveled up?” Li Huowang stared at the empty space below, his mind jolting hard.

But a second later, he snapped out of it. His expression turned odd as he looked at her and asked a very ordinary question.

“Auntie, have you considered the possibility that your child might be a girl?” That looked way too natural. No amount of shrinking could achieve THAT.

As soon as he said this, the woman seemed frightened and, clutching her child, retreated back into the crowd.

“You’re full of shit! When I was pregnant, my belly was pointed! How could I give birth to a useless girl! I gave birth to a son!”

After saying this, the woman knelt directly before an old man, her expression frantic as she defended herself. “Husband, don’t listen to him. This really isn’t my fault. I DID give birth to a big, fat boy who can carry on the family line! It was the ghost that took the child’s manhood! This really isn’t my fault!”

The woman’s words made unease spread across everyone’s face. The murmuring grew louder.

“To avoid suffering in your husband’s home, you forced your daughter to pass as a son. When you faced the Zuowandao, why weren’t you this clever?”

Hearing the noise level rising, Li Huowang was about to stabilize the situation when a scream suddenly erupted from the crowd.

The densely packed people instantly cleared a wide space. In the center stood a beggar in tattered clothes, holding a rusty short knife high in the air.

Amid a man’s agonized howl, he brutally sliced off the victim’s manhood and, satisfied, hung it on his own body.

The beggar with the trembling, one-stroke eyebrow stood up, a sinister grin spreading across his face as he looked at the terrified crowd around him.

“Hehehe~~~ Manhoods… manhoods are all mine… With a manhood, I can be reincarnated~”

As he spoke, his body actually floated up like a ghost, lunging toward another man nearby.

“Ahhh!!” Accompanied by a woman’s scream, everyone panicked, scrambling to flee in all directions.

Just as the man was about to be tackled, one of Li Huowang’s fingernails shot through the air.

A crisp “clang” rang out. The fingernail struck him, producing the sharp sound of metal hitting metal.

Amid the chaotic scene, Li Huowang fought his way toward the man. But by the time he reached him, several men and women were already lying on the ground.

“Clang!” Li Huowang raised his sword and charged, slashing directly across the man’s body.

To Li Huowang’s surprise, the Purple-Tasseled Sword—a sharp weapon forged for warfare—didn’t even break his skin. It only produced a clear, metallic ring.

Seeing Li Huowang in trouble, the others also surrounded him.

Gao Zhijian stomped over with heavy footsteps, his wolf-tooth club already swinging through the air in a blur.

As they crossed paths, Li Huowang matched the opponent’s movements blow for blow.

But the more he interacted with this man, the more something felt wrong to Li Huowang. This ghost… it was very strange.

If this thing really was a ghost, then wasn’t it just too bizarre?

A ghost that’s impervious to swords? Even a sword meant to slay evil can’t cut it? And on top of that, it appears in broad daylight?

Just as Li Huowang was trying to figure out how to deal with the man, he wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he felt the other party blink at him. A torrent of thoughts rushed through his mind.

Under the watchful eyes of all Pi County’s citizens, they saw the man in the copper-coin mask fighting the ghost evenly, trading blows back and forth.

Their hearts rose and fell with the rhythm of the battle.

After a stalemate that lasted about fifteen minutes, Li Huowang kicked forward, driving his foot straight into the man’s chest.

Then, he pulled out a yellow talisman from his hand and slapped it onto the man’s forehead. Finally, everything settled down.

Breathing heavily, Li Huowang held his sword and swept his gaze across the area, speaking with firm resolve. “You’re right. There IS a ghost stealing people’s manhood. He is that ghost! And now, I’ve killed him!”

Fun fact: This rumor actually exists, and its recent spread date is far closer than you’d think.

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Reading Guide Decoding

The Horror of Mass Hysteria

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

The “Suoyang” (Penile Retraction) Panic — Believe it or not, this is a documented folk panic phenomenon in parts of rural China and Southeast Asia. Known medically as “Koro” or “genital retraction syndrome,” it is a culture-bound mass delusion where men (and sometimes women) believe their genitals are shrinking into their bodies, often blamed on supernatural causes. Entire villages have been gripped by it. The novel’s decision to frame it as a social-horror trick is frighteningly grounded. The Copper Coin Mask — More than just a disguise, a mask made of threaded old coins carries exorcistic symbolism in Chinese folk Daoism. Coins themselves are considered “yang” currency; a mask made of them can both conceal identity and ward off yin spirits. Li Huowang wears it as both a tactical tool and a psychological weapon. The Daoist Talisman (符箓) — In xianxia and folk Daoist tradition, a talisman is a written charm empowered by the caster’s cultivation. Slapping it on a spirit’s forehead is a classic method to seal or immobilize it. The fact that Li Huowang’s sword cannot cut the ghost but a talisman can stop it reinforces the rule: some supernatural threats require ritual, not steel.

Koro Syndrome

A culture-bound mass delusion where people believe their genitals are retracting into their body; documented in rural China and Southeast Asia.

Suoyang (缩阳)

The folk Chinese term for the perceived shrinking of a man’s penis; often attributed to supernatural causes in rural legends.

Chapter Overview

Li Huowang tries to debunk the mass hysteria gripping Pi County—only to have reality twist under his feet once more. Just when he thinks he’s killed a lie with logic, a genuine “ghost” emerges from the crowd, forcing him to confront something far more unsettling: a horror that weaponizes the town’s own fear against them. Get ready for a chapter where the monster isn’t the ghost—it’s the collective delusion, and the brilliant, sickly light it casts on human nature.

Key Plot Points

Li Huowang gathers the entire town of Pi County to tell them the “shrinking ghost” is a lie. A woman interrupts with a baby she claims has been cursed—but Li Huowang calmly points out that the child is, in fact, a girl. Her desperate denial exposes the bitter social pressure women face. Just as the crowd begins to hesitate, a genuine supernatural attacker appears: a beggar who rips off a man’s genitals and floats like a ghost. He is completely immune to Li Huowang’s sword, fighting the protagonist to a standstill. After a prolonged battle, Li Huowang pins a talisman on the creature and kills it—then doubles down on the lie, telling the townsfolk the ghost was real and he has slain it. The chapter ends with an author’s note: this rumor is historically real and frighteningly recent.

Reading Guide

Here’s the gut-punch of this chapter: Li Huowang is right, but right doesn’t save anyone. He debunks the lie perfectly, and yet a real monster still shows up to make the lie true by force. The chapter is a masterclass in how fear rewrites reality. Pay close attention to the woman with the baby—that’s an expertly crafted social micro-horror: she would rather believe a ghost stole her son’s organ than admit she had a daughter. And Li Huowang’s final move? He kills the ghost and then lies to the town that the ghost was the one they feared. It’s a brilliant, morally gray end: he extinguishes the immediate terror by feeding the very delusion he was trying to dismantle. That’s the Dao-Twisted World for you—sometimes you win by losing.

Deeper Dive: The Koro Epidemic of 1984-85

For the culturally curious—and if this chapter made your skin crawl—you should know that a massive Koro panic swept across China’s Hainan Island in 1984 and 1985. Thousands of men believed they were being poisoned or cursed into genital retraction. People grabbed strangers on the street, demanding antidotes; families tied ropes around their men’s waists to prevent the organs from “disappearing.” The government treated it as a mass sociogenic illness. The author’s final “fun fact” isn’t a joke—it’s a direct nod to this real, documented mass hysteria. The line between fiction and folk horror is thinner than you think.

Quick Q&A

Lore recap (TL;DR) drawn from this chapter's Cultural / Xianxia Notes — same text as the FAQ structured data on this page.

Is the “penis shrinkage” rumor real?: Yes, it is a documented culture-bound mass delusion known as Koro syndrome, with recorded outbreaks in China and Southeast Asia, including a major panic in Hainan in 1984-85.
Why didn’t Li Huowang’s sword cut the ghost?: The ghost was not a conventional yin spirit; it was an entity with a physical, reinforced body that required a specific sealing ritual (a talisman) rather than brute force.