The Seventeenth Book Stolen from Nezha

An absurd ancestral rule turns Juefan, a young monk who went down the mountain to beg for alms, into the son-in-law of a wealthy family. He only wanted a proper meal, but was forced to marry a concubine-born daughter he had never met. Born with a fatal constitution and only two years to live, he planned to keep a low profile and extend his life. But the mortal world is vast, and demons run rampant.

The legitimate daughter, who looks down on him, constantly makes things difficult for him. He turns the tables and converts a vengeful ghost, making it kneel and beg for help. A metaphysics master tries to show off in front of an expert, but Juefan shatters every illusion with a single Buddhist verse. His Nine-Leaf Bodhi constitution quietly awakens, granting him Buddhist wisdom and healing arts with which to save others and himself.

But little by little, he realizes none of this is coincidence. His kindly master, the mysterious demon prince... He seems to be a pawn caught up in a world-shaking scheme.

“You all say I’m the one destined to overcome this tribulation, to cross the vast sea of the mortal world.”

“But I just want to save myself first!”

When the final reckoning of fate arrives, will he become a Buddha and patriarch, or attain rebirth through nirvana? The young monk Juefan sets out on a mad monk’s path of his own.