The wrongfully accused scholar Xie Zhibai dies, but his soul is bound by a contract under the Statutes of the Underworld and forced to become a contract employee of Fengdu: an underworld prosecutor. Wielding a judge's brush and enforcing the laws of yin and yang, he is compelled to travel between the perilous divide of the living and the dead, where monsters and spirits run rampant, and a world of human turmoil, investigating one bizarre and terrifying supernatural case after another.
From the shadowy ghost market of the Gray Realm, to the decaying, hidebound underworld court of Fengdu, and then to the war-torn battlefields of the northern frontier, Xie Zhibai wields the law as his blade and the passage of time as his guide, dispelling the fog and righting wrongs in the face of despair. But as clues to the injustice that took his own life come to light, he is drawn into a shocking conspiracy spanning all three realms. The mysterious Rebirth Pavilion has allied with the Eye of the Black Serpent, seeking to restart the flow of time through an evil sacrifice and overturn the natural order.
Bearing a fragment of the ancient Principle, Xie Zhibai finds a glimmer of hope in the frozen wastelands of the northern frontier, aided by his dear friends and beloved. Yet powerful enemies surround him, and an evil god whispers in the dark. The path to awakening is long and perilous. This is an epic tale of law judging demons and order battling chaos. How will a humble underworld prosecutor use the scales of justice in his heart to measure yin and yang and determine the fate of the world?
