A Ghostly Pact with the Fate-Binder

A half-soul and a fading life, a blood-sealed pact with the underworld, a lifespan wagered to break the cycle of reincarnation! A fire razed Qiyun Abbey, wiping out everyone within. Jiang Xiaoyu, an orphan of the former dynasty, escaped with her life, but her soul was left incomplete. She drifted through the martial world and became known as the Half-Soul Maiden. Others exorcise ghosts for money. She casts spells by paying with her life, and every use of magic leaves her asleep for three days. One night, while exorcising evil spirits, she is dragged into the underworld by a vengeful ghost. When a colossal bronze gate appears, she stakes her remaining life on a pact with the dead and takes possession of the Book of Fate. It lets her investigate the causes and effects surrounding the dead, resolve injustices between the living and the dead, and alter the threads of destiny. The price is a steady drain on her lifespan. The end of the book is densely filled with the names of every previous Keeper of Fate. Not one met a good end. The underworld issues a warrant for her arrest. Her former master has become a soul-reaping envoy and now stands against her, while the Ghost King schemes in secret, treating her as the key to breaking the cycle of reincarnation. The fire all those years ago was no accident. It was a massive seal. Heaven and earth have laid out a game of chess, and the cycle of reincarnation has locked fate in place. But she refuses to accept the will of heaven. With the book in hand, she storms between the realms of yin and yang, determined to tear a beam of light from this dead end! This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.