In the final years of the Guangxu era, the old Daoist priest of Sanyuan Temple passed away, leaving behind three apprentices and a three-stringed instrument.
Senior apprentice Shen Yexing takes over his master's work and leads his younger brother and sister across the land, investigating strange cases. When the three-stringed instrument sounds, ghosts are sent on their way through the night. When the soul-guiding lantern shines, it reveals what lies buried beneath the snow.
There are five rules in this line of work that must never be broken: Never answer the bell at the corpse-driver's inn. Once you put on a Nuo mask, you can't take it off. The person the cave bride is waiting for has been gone for thirty years. Don't pick up an extra lantern floating on the river at midnight. If a paper effigy's eyes are made wrong, it will turn its head on its own.
The junior apprentice, Tiezhu, is cursed by water and avoids it at all costs, yet every case somehow involves water. Second senior sister Su Nian carries half a copy of Miscellaneous Records of the Duangong, and though she can't see evil spirits, her predictions are always accurate.
No System, no cultivation, no golden finger. Every folk custom has a real source, and every case is an original tale.
If you enjoy it, add it to your bookshelf. If you don't, come back and smash my three-stringed instrument.
