The Spirit and Supernatural Affairs Bureau

[Chinese folk customs + ensemble cast + no romance + high intelligence]

At eighteen, while others are falling in love on campus, Shen Du has immersed himself in the classics of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism and studied folk tales of the uncanny. Traveling far and wide, he has made himself a living “encyclopedia” of the occult.

In the snowy wilderness of the Northeast, he guides spirit mediums who serve the Immortals of the Five Directions, helping disciples who established their altars incorrectly set them up again.

In the remote mountains of Yunnan, he plans every move carefully, helping an ostracized Miaojiang witch emerge victorious and reclaim her family's voice. Along the way, he gathers people with extraordinary talents and establishes a secret organization.

Yet when these uniquely gifted people, each with their own eccentric personality, finally gather together, Shen Du looks at the yellowed fragments of ancient tales of the uncanny on his desk, and an inexplicable shiver always rises in his heart.

It is as though, somewhere beyond mortal sight, a pair of invisible giant hands is using all living beings as a chessboard and these nine people as pieces, driving him forward with precision and pushing them step by step toward a game where their fates are intertwined.

Whose hands are manipulating the destinies of these ordinary people?