**The Three Worms (三尸 / San Shi)**: Shou San casually dismisses the Daoist concept of the "Three Corpses" or "Three Worms"—malevolent spirit-entities that live inside the human body, craving decay and reporting a person's sins to heaven. Traditional Daoist cultivation aims to starve or expel them through asceticism and good deeds, as a prerequisite to immortality. Shou San's mockery of this doctrine is a signature of the novel: *every* sacred path is hollow or corrupted. The "Way of the Five Pecks of Rice" he mentions is a real historical Daoist movement from the Han dynasty, one of the earliest organized Daoist sects, known for its communal practices and healing rituals.
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Definition
**The Three Worms (三尸 / San Shi)**: Shou San casually dismisses the Daoist concept of the "Three Corpses" or "Three Worms"—malevolent spirit-entities that live inside the human body, craving decay and reporting a person's sins to heaven. Traditional Daoist cultivation aims to starve or expel them through asceticism and good deeds, as a prerequisite to immortality. Shou San's mockery of this doctrine is a signature of the novel: *every* sacred path is hollow or corrupted. The "Way of the Five Pecks of Rice" he mentions is a real historical Daoist movement from the Han dynasty, one of the earliest organized Daoist sects, known for its communal practices and healing rituals.
Story context
Oh, so you thought the Ao-Jing Sect was just another bunch of Bashe-worshipping weirdos? Get ready to have that assumption gutted like a fish. This chapter isn't about a fight—it's about a conversation that peels back the sect's real agenda, and it's far more disturbing than simple worship. Li Huowang enters looking for a cure for Danyangzi and leaves realizing these "healers" might be offering a prescription from hell itself. Shou San, the charred and cheerful cult leader, lays out a philosophy that redefines every rule we thought we knew about power, pain, and what it means to be "sick" in the Dao-Twisted World. Buckle up, fellow sufferer—this one gets dark in a whole new way.
Why it matters
Okay, here's the real gut punch of this chapter: the Ao-Jing Sect's "cure" isn't a medical procedure; it's a *ritual of desecration*. Shou San doesn't want to help Li Huowang—he wants to use Li Huowang to perform an act of such profound emotional and physical violence that the resulting pain becomes a offering to Bashe. The girl isn't a victim of the ritual; she is *the ritual*. The pregnancy isn't about creating life; it's about creating the perfect moment to destroy it.
Quick facts
Source novel
Dao Gui Yi Xian
First appearance
The Price of a Cure
Chapter references
1
Type hints
dao gui yi xian, li huowang, ao-jing sect
Guide tags
Body Horror, Psychological Horror, Cult Weirdness
Appears in chapters
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