The Failed Scholar Sees Through It All

Ji Pengye failed the imperial examinations. Dragging along the ten taels of silver he'd borrowed, he returned to Taohuadu Village, where creditors blocked his door, villagers looked down on him, and the landlord came demanding payment. His father fell ill from worry, his mother wept, and the family couldn't endure another blow.

Just when he was at the end of his rope, his eyes suddenly gained the ability to see through walls and read writing hidden beneath sheets of paper. He could hear the schemes in other people's hearts, and he never forgot anything he read.

A village thug tries to fake an injury and extort money? His X-ray vision spots the fake blood pouch hidden against the man's chest. Landlord Zhou Demao forces grain prices down? His mind-reading ability reveals the man's bottom line. And then there's the old water buffalo that refuses to plow. Ji Pengye lays a hand on it, its eyes glow with spiritual light, and by morning it has plowed thirty mu of wasteland.

Spirit beasts rid the fields of pests, a transport team crosses the mountains, and wells turn dry fields into paddy land. The villagers go from laughing at Ji Pengye to begging to work with him.

With a bumper harvest in sight and his debts nearly paid off, Ji Pengye sets his sights on the autumn examinations. If he passes and becomes a juren, no one will be able to touch his business.

But when he opens a book, he discovers the imperial court is secretly hunting for people whose spiritual essence has awakened, and the spirit beast by his side has already attracted someone's attention.