Chapter Text
Just as there must always be Four Famous Tales, so too must there always be Four Great Calamities. These are the most feared and dangerous ghosts to exist in the mortal realm, said to be capable of destroying entire nations overnight with their terrible power. Remember well their names:
The first is the White-Clothed Calamity. He is known by many titles: White No-Face, Lord of Mt. Tonglu, Plaguebringer, the once crown prince of Wuyong, the false Jade Emperor. The most ancient of the Calamities, he is responsible for the murder of the first King of Yong’an, the fall of the Kingdom of Xianle, and the end of the previous heavenly dynasty through the wholesale slaughter of its gods. For his crimes, he was sealed under Mt. Tonglu by the new Jade Emperor, where he remains imprisoned to this day, more than four centuries later.
The second is Crimson Rain Sought Flower, Scourge of the Heavens, consort to the Scrap Immortal, Lord of Ghost City, Nameless, Hua Cheng. A being of devotion and fury, he watched the man he loves suffer at the hand of his own people, and he raged. He challenged 33 gods who wronged his beloved to a duel with their divinity as collateral, and when upon his victory those gods refused to hold up their end of the bargain, he burned all their temples in a single night. He is a true king of ghosts, a figure of respect and leadership, and as a result the spirit realm bends to his command. He is the most sociable of the Calamities, and will strike deals and wagers with any mortal who finds their way to his realm, but be warned: he never loses a bet he doesn't choose to forfeit. And when the outcome is guaranteed, luck becomes fate, and the rattle of dice becomes a promise.
The third is Black Water Sinking Ships, the Lord of the Seas, the Mad Scholar, Fate-Stolen, he who lurks in the blackened depths, the demon He Xuan. He is reclusive, posing a danger only to ships foolish enough to enter his waters, with one exception: every so often, he emerges from beneath the waves to seek the reincarnated soul of his eternal enemy, the one who stole his fate. It is said that when he finds them, he spirits them away to his Black Water Demon Lair, where they are never seen or heard from again, until they reenter the reincarnation cycle and his search begins anew.
Lastly, the fourth and youngest Calamity: Broken Zither Snapped Strings. The Light that Casts Long Shadows, Ender of Four Clans, Hanguang-Jun, Lan Wangji. He is known for driving the elders of his own clan to madness, destroying the Nie sect’s seat of power, haunting and tormenting the Jiang sect leader, and annihilating the Jin main line. With those acts, he leveled the four great sects, and with them the inheritance-based structure of the Jianghu itself. He is said to be the Yiling Patriarch’s last and greatest act of revenge, born from the ashes of the Burial Mounds to punish those who brought about the necromancer's fall, an unholy purveyor of a cruel and merciless justice.
Of course, what is said is not always to be believed.