Qu Lingshang (female lead): deadpan, sharp-tongued Umbrella-Hell Judge PK Xiao Yan / Umbrella Spirit (male lead): unhinged, devoted hound, bound by blood debts and a fateful love
The constable she saved by cutting out her heart and taking his soul was the son of the enemy whose clan she wiped out a century ago.
Qu Lingshang's oil-paper umbrella collects vengeful spirits, and demands a price.
One rainy night, after laying the spirit of a drowned girl to rest, she is hunted by the constable Xiao Yan.
To break the curse, she coldly cuts away half a wisp of his soul. “Half your soul in exchange for three years of service. Deal?”
Xiao Yan doesn't know that
As he nods, coughing up black blood, the thousand-year-old evil spirit in the umbrella chuckles in his ear:
“It's time to repay that blood debt… Next, it's her turn.”
[Uncanny cases rooted in intangible cultural heritage × Trials of human nature]
The Corpse-Poison Red Candle Case: Poison hides in the birth mother's tears, blood seeps into the bride's wedding dress. “Was it wrong to trade my stepdaughter's life for my own daughter's?”
The Ink Puppet and Spirit Pen Game: A teacher steals poems and takes lives, while ink chokes a scholar. “A scholar stealing words… isn't that called borrowing?”
The Needle in the Umbrella Bones Massacre: Her senior brother smiles as he unfurls a curtain of blood. “Look! These hands of yours are already stained with the blood of everyone you hold dear!”
As the array of ten thousand spirits spreads over the city, Qu Lingshang dips her brush in blood and draws the final talisman:
“The umbrella gathers souls, people capture hearts. Pity that neither you nor I can hold on to either.”
