I quit my job without a backup plan and went home, but my parents refused to acknowledge me.
The bookstore owner next door handed me an abacus. "You're the accountant chosen by the Heavenly Dao. Banbuzhai has been waiting for you for hundreds of years."
The abacus exploded into golden dust and burrowed into the space between my brows. From then on, I could see karmic accounts and touch the Book of Life and Death.
By day, I balanced and sorted accounts. By night, I drove off evil and guided spirits onward. I recorded the workings of heaven and earth and determined karma; the Four Pillars incantation suppressed the aura of evil spirits.
The first to come looking for me was a man who wept black tears. Two pupil demons lived in his eyes, and a Western demon stood behind him. I used abacus beads to lay out a formation, while Old Zhang summoned lightning. Together, we beat the devil back to hell. That was the first time I learned that foreign evil spirits had long been setting their sights on the Nine Provinces.
I thought I could finally take a breather. But then the fox clan came calling. The little foxes beyond the pass had all mutated, the three great clans within the pass were accusing one another, and the battlefield was filled with black, sulfur-scented fog.
Atop Luobei, I laid out a grand formation of heaven and earth. Abacus beads became bullets, a divine brush drew a pistol, and I marked the fox demon's tail root.
Six great formations overlapped, wind and thunder struck together, and the ninth bolt of lightning fell.
The old woman rushed toward the one whose blood was nearly gone, making no attempt to dodge.
Her granddaughter knelt in the ruins, crying "Grandma" in a heart-wrenching voice.
I am Mu Chen, the accountant of Banbuzhai.
I can't settle the accounts of karma, but I remember every single debt.
Not one of those who deserve to die will escape.
For those who don't deserve to die, I'll repay them with my life.
