Ink-Stained Tales of the Strange: The Soul Ferryer

On a stormy night, Chen Yan, a folklorist, tries to save a unique manuscript of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio from the rare-books archive, only to be dragged into another world by ink that moves like a living thing. When he wakes, the inky tea at the Mengpo Inn and the gruesome disembowelment outside the Judge Lu Temple prove that this is no gentle world from Pu Songling's tales. It is a “trap within a mirror,” rewritten by the “Underworld Pavilion”: spirits are being controlled, humans are having their “soul essence” drained, and the world's boundaries are crumbling amid a plot to resurrect soul-devouring beasts.

The manuscript wrapped around his wrist is his only clue. Words appear on its pages by themselves, guiding him to uncover the secret behind the fox demon Qing Li's curse and meet the scholar Liu Sheng, who fights puppets to save his younger sister. The three join forces to investigate, following the trail from human-skin masks in the City God Temple's underground palace, to the out-of-control sound spirit Xiao Qian at Lanruo Temple, to Ying Ning, whose tears are locked away on Smile-and-Forget Slope. Step by step, they unravel the plot of the Underworld Pavilion's “Faceless Man”: gathering Judge Lu's heart, the Painted Skin's face, Xiao Qian's voice, and Ying Ning's tears is all meant to use the “World of Longing,” created by Chen Yan's mother, a hereditary guardian of the boundary, to sacrifice his soul essence and resurrect the soul-devouring beasts.

Caught between his determination to return home and the ever-deepening bonds with those around him, Chen Yan grips the bloodstained manuscript. Combining modern forensic thinking with folk rituals, he faces a deadly struggle between humans and demons and must ultimately choose: break through the final gate and return to reality, or become the “Soul Guide” who protects the people of Strange Tales? Wherever the ink's light falls, a story of salvation and resistance begins.