One is waiting for a shadow; the other just happens to leave a trace.
Quiet strength, brazen sincerity.
What else could this be but fate?
In the mid-Ming dynasty, Shang Wei of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau goes by the alias Luo Ying and carries a secret order to travel west in search of an immortal's ingredients.
She is a solitary yin-yang practitioner and spirit-walker. But while catching a ghost in a brothel, she meets Xue Jun and unexpectedly loses her chastity.
Afterward, Luo Ying feels responsible and wants to buy Xue Jun's freedom, but the ransom is exorbitant. She has no choice but to devise a plan and take Xue Jun away at night.
She intends to set Xue Jun free once she has paid the ransom, but out of gratitude, Xue Jun insists on accompanying her. Since losing her chastity has left Luo Ying's body unbalanced and more vulnerable to harassment by yin spirits, the ordinary little ghosts dare not approach when Xue Jun is by her side.
So the two travel together disguised as men. Luo Ying gives Xue Jun the name Hong Ying, taken from the verse, "Wherever life takes us, how can it be anything but a swan's tracks in snow?"
They cross the misty rain of Jiangnan, the lakes and rivers of Hubei and Hunan, and the green mountains of Shu, gathering seven immortal ingredients and encountering one eerie folk tale after another, each born of an unshakable obsession.
This is a story about searching: for ingredients, for the truth, and for a way home.
But the scariest thing in this world isn't ghosts. It's obsession.
Fortunately, in the end, they both find someone.
Notes:
1. I promise there are no scary plotlines. (If you're mainly here to see a spirit-walker do professional spirit-walking, you may be disappointed.)
2. They take turns topping, and both are each other's first.
Theme: Coexistence and redemption. The strong don't have to be strong forever, and the weak can become someone's salvation.
