The Pawnshop of Cursed Objects

The Cursed Pawnshop

Everything in the world can be pawned, but cursed objects are paid for with lives and secured by obsessions.

The young Daoist Lin Xuan inherits a strange pawnshop hidden among the bustle of the city. It accepts no gold or jewels, only cursed objects steeped in resentment, obsession, and karmic ties: a mandarin-duck mirror that lets people relive old dreams at the cost of their lifespan; a shadow puppet that grants wishes in exchange for memories; a jade hairpin haunted by grievances from a past life, weeping every night…

Every cursed object is bound to a tangled web of karma. Armed with Daoist arts and a manner both clear-eyed and carefree, yet concealing unfathomable depths, Lin Xuan deals with the “customers” who come to pawn their belongings: a lovesick fool hoping to win back a lover, a politician hungry for power, and vengeful spirits carrying a blood feud. At the same time, he uncovers the eerie truth behind each cursed object and averts the dangers lurking within.

The pawnshop has just one rule: “Equal exchange. Heaven’s law allows no cheating.” Some trade half their lives for a brief reunion; others wager their conscience on a chance at wealth, unaware that cursed objects are easy to obtain but karma is hard to repay. As more and more cursed objects gather, the secrets long buried by the pawnshop gradually emerge, and Lin Xuan discovers that he has long been caught up in a contest between the living and the dead that began a century ago.

Should he uphold the righteous path and sever the ties of obsession, or sink into the currents of karma? Follow Lin Xuan as he takes charge of the cursed pawnshop amid the mist where humans and ghosts intermingle, uncovers one chilling, uncanny tale after another, and finds his own path.