When Night Curfew Falls in Chang'an

Not a power fantasy. (Historical fantasy, mystery, investigations, light supernatural elements, comedy)

She thought she would disappear from this world forever.

Instead, she arrived in Chang'an.

Gu Yue was seventeen when she died. A disaster destroyed her family and left her trapped in that year forever.

She sank into darkness, and her name was erased from the world.

But when she opened her eyes again, a man called Uncle Li stood before her and said, as if greeting a newborn, "You're here? Don't be afraid."

He opened a door.

Beyond it lay Chang'an.

It was no lifeless ghost city, but a vibrant Chang'an, more prosperous than the world of the living. The Vermilion Bird Avenue was bright as day, and the dead thronged through it like guests at a banquet that would never end. Standing before the city gates, Gu Yue forgot that she was dead.

She began learning how to live in the underworld: registering, finding her way around, and living alongside all kinds of ghosts. This place was so much like the mortal world, and somehow even more captivating.

Until she entered the Library Pavilion.

Uncle Li said the Library Pavilion had only one job: copying books.

On her very first day, Gu Yue realized something was wrong. As she copied the third page, a human face surfaced on the paper. The ink was still wet, yet the face seemed to be screaming.

Uncle Li blew out the lamp. "Don't make a sound. It hasn't realized it's died a second time."

Only later did Gu Yue gradually learn that the Library Pavilion's true name was the Spirit-Binding Bureau, which dealt exclusively with wild spirits unwilling to submit to reincarnation.

If these evil entities slipped into Chang'an's streets and alleys, they could at best bewilder the dead, and at worst make their souls vanish completely.

In the realm of the underworld, the monsters under Gonggong and the heroic spirits of the Tang Dynasty had been locked in battle for thousands of years.

Clutching her brush, she asked no more questions.

The city gates slowly closed behind her. A lamp lit on the gate tower, bearing her name.