The Akhlut, an Inuit spirit that is an orca in the water and a wolf on land, prowled the frozen shoreline. Land-Sea Shapeshift. It was a perfect ambush predator. It saw a large man in strange robes walking on the ice, reading a book.
"Meat," the Akhlut thought. It shifted to wolf form and charged, silent paws on snow.
Zhong Kui, the Demon Queller, did not look up from his ledger. He was auditing the northern spirits.
"You are not registered," he rumbled, his voice deep as a temple bell.
The Paperwork
The Akhlut leaped, jaws snapping for the throat.
Zhong Kui raised his brush. Demon-Catching Brush.
He didn't hit the wolf. He painted a single character in the air: BIND.
The ink glowed with red, divine authority. It slammed into the Akhlut mid-air like a net. The wolf froze, its shapeshifting magic locking up. It crashed onto the ice, paralyzed.
Zhong Kui walked over, dipping his brush in ink. He painted a seal on the wolf’s forehead.
"Wild spirit. Hostile. Conscripted into the Legion of Captives."
He waved a hand, and invisible chains dragged the whimpering sea-wolf into the spirit realm. "Next," Zhong Kui muttered, turning the page.