The Green Bamboo Scroll of the Phoenix Tail

(The working title is The Green Bamboo Slip and Phoenix-Tail Record. It may change later.)

(Opening in 2027 or 2028. The full manuscript is complete.)

The peace under Emperor Chengzu is an illusion.

Chen Hezhen, daughter of the capital's Vice Minister of Justice, steps into the martial world over a long-forgotten case in which a female hero killed an official.

She thought it was a chivalrous legend polished into something beautiful, but gradually discovers that...

What passes for justice is merely violence that has been permitted.

War has raged along the borders for years. Li Luchen, who placed last in the imperial examinations, goes to the frontier as a soldier.

What he sees is not military glory, but rows of nameless tombstones.

The sword in his hand is called Green Bamboo Slip. It should record history, yet it is used only to kill.

Deep in the mountains of the Southern Range, ghost fires roam at night.

The swordsman Lu Xingzhi is escorting a shipment under orders when he encounters the Divine String Ceremony, a ritual to slay mountain spirits.

Only after his sword falls does he discover that the so-called mountain spirits are not the commoners being controlled.

People wear the skins of ghosts, and ghosts are called gods.

Three fates that should never have crossed paths finally meet at an old jade mine in Lanxi.

Buddha statues, spiritual jade, government granaries, and the co-opting of the martial world...

Every lie points to the same truth:

This world is committing evil deeds legally, in the name of justice.

When the truth comes to light,

what is more frightening than lies is that everyone uses the truth to serve their own interests.

Reader's guide:

1. Chen Hezhen is not a savior, but a witness. The male characters' stories run in parallel: Li Luchen and Lu Xingzhi. The older generation's martial arts trio consists of two women and one man; this generation's consists of two men and one woman. (The novel is also known as Procedural Justice Kills Substantive Justice.)

2. The martial world, the imperial court, and folk beliefs are interwoven. Ghosts and gods are the narrative's outer shell; at its core are personal growth, moral dilemmas, and conflicts of belief.

3. The novel extensively adapts imagery from Li He's poetry. The imagery is also adapted from the neighboring wuxia short-story collection Water Dreams and Shocks of the Soul. Li He's poetic imagery forms the novel's central motif, and his imagery, narrative logic, methods, and bleak aesthetic are used freely. Unlike the short-story collection, where characters are made to read poems, this novel leans more toward adapting imagery and sensory impressions.

Theme: Justice will always exist