The Three Judges

He is no Daoist priest, but a Judge of the Three Realms, one who governs the Heavenly, Earthly, and Human Ways and passes judgment on the cause and effect that shape the mortal world.

Zhang Yang descends the mountain with A Detailed Guide to the Five Arts of the Daoist Tradition, bound by the precept: “Speak the truth with unerring precision; save only those who are destined to be saved.” He does not save the suffering; he simply reads their fortunes. He does not defy heaven to change fate; he goes with the flow. He reads a lifetime’s blessings and calamities and sees the causes and effects spanning three lives. Whether he saves someone depends entirely on merit and the rules.

Amid the bustle of S City, he sets up a fortune-telling stall in a park, identifies an elderly woman’s chronic ailment with a single remark, and refuses to save a dying old man, only to make an exception and treat him with acupuncture because of his devoted adopted son. He lets the Heavenly Dao ensure that evildoers suffer the consequences of their actions, and even demands the title deed to Qingfeng Temple, stolen twenty years ago.

When Wang Dashan’s invitation arrives, old grudges come to the surface, and a contest over fate, merit, and cause and effect quietly begins. Carrying a cracked compass and the burden of a Judge, he walks among the mortal world, seeking only to restore “justice.”

This is a struggle between reason and emotion, rules and the heart.

This is a Judge’s chronicle blending the Five Arts of the Daoist tradition, real-world cause and effect, and the contest of human nature.

He does not speak of good and evil, only of what should and should not be done.

He is Zhang Yang, Judge of the Three Realms, master of cause and effect.