In the Great Yong dynasty, beneath the appearance of peace, bizarre cases abound and demons run rampant.
I, Shen Qingci, enter the Bureau of Strange Cases with a fragmentary copy of the family heirloom Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang.
The fragment records the rules governing demons. I use human nature to break their evil schemes:
Shadow slaves stealing shadows, human faces collecting debts, ancient mirrors capturing souls, paper figures wiping out entire families, ghost soldiers crossing the road…
Case after case, I slay demons and drive out evil, each step fraught with danger.
But the deeper I investigate, the more chilling the truth becomes:
Demons arise from human deeds, and hauntings from the heart.
Behind every bizarre case stand corrupt court officials, princes fighting for power, and a treasonous Imperial Preceptor.
Demons seek my life from the front, while powerful ministers frame me from behind.
With one hand, I solve strange cases; with the other, I set the court in order.
I bow to neither Heaven nor Earth, nor to the powerful.
Break one rule, slay one demon.
Clear one wrongful case, bring down one patron.
When every demon has been destroyed and the court stands clean,
I will burn the tattered book and restore peace to the world.
