(A somewhat slow start) Chen Shuo, an autopsy coroner with the Soul-Locking Bureau of the Great Yin, possesses the supernatural ability known as [Touch of the Nether]. By touching a corpse with his hands, he can glimpse the deceased’s lingering thoughts, and he stumbles upon a few minor skills. A rotten skeleton hidden in the beams of the imperial examination hall for ten years leads to a shocking miscarriage of justice: a poor scholar was accused of cheating and struck from the rolls. An oilcloth-wrapped corpse, traces of pine-soot ink, a dark-red ring... The clues form a bloodstained web, ensnaring noble factions, scheming eunuchs, and remnants of the previous dynasty. The Netherworld Blood Key appears, the Twelve Divine Fiends take their places, and a coffin sinks into an ink-dark sea to seal the underworld! As blood seals eat into Chen Shuo’s bones, cases pile upon cases and ghosts cling to him. With a coroner’s hands, he probes the messages left in bones and breaks the schemes of the imperial court. In a capital teeming with demons and ghosts, he carves out a netherworld road paved with blood and ink! Blood debts must be paid in blood!
