Marshal Yin (Yin Jiao)

Marshal Yin Jiao, originally Crown Prince Yin of the Shang dynasty under King Zhou, rose up against the tyrannical ruler after his mother was murdered. He was later ordained and trained by the immortal Guangchengzi. In the classic novel Investiture of the Gods, Yin Jiao was dispatched from the mountain to assist the righteous cause but broke his oath en route and aided King Zhou instead; consequently, he fulfilled his sworn fate—death by ploughing—and was posthumously enfeoffed as the Yearly Tai Sui Deity, commanding the sixty Jiazi Tai Sui stars. In Daoism, he is venerated as the Earthly Department Tai Sui Marshal Yin Yuan Shuai, depicted with three heads and six arms, entrusted with overseeing the ebb and flow of fortune and calamity across the human realm for each year. Folk rituals such as pacifying the Tai Sui and worshipping the Tai Sui all fall under Marshal Yin’s jurisdiction.