There's a rumor in the jianghu about a scholar who sells paper effigies. Wherever he goes, people die.
Lu Chen, deputy commander of the Six Fan Gate, receives a secret report: in half a month, three cities and seven lives, all lost in bizarre ways. One victim was left standing after having his bones and sinews pulled out. Another was torn apart and devoured alive by the evil god he worshipped. A third was hacked to pieces in a locked room, yet not a single murder weapon could be found.
They all have one thing in common: the victims knew about the "Cai Sheng Hall" massacre twenty years ago.
The only suspect is a young man in white, with a gentle smile as warm as spring, who was more than fifty miles away when the crimes took place.
Shen Du carries his case of paper effigies into the next city.
He still has many people to kill, and time is short.
The Six Fan Gate is already right on his heels.
"I have this problem: when people owe a debt, I have to settle it for them."
It feels messy, and you switch perspectives too frequently, from the case to the protagonist.