Cold Inkstone Crossing the Underworld

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Cover artist: Ivy Draws Little Monsters

[Male lead's first-person narration, urban supernatural episodic story]

[Synopsis]

My name is Lu Yan, and I was born with eyes that can see both yin and yang.

Ever since I was little, the world I saw was full of demons, spirits, and all manner of sinister things. I have no orthodox training in the arts, nor a sect to back me up. The few unorthodox tricks I know were forged through betrayal, vengeful spirits turning on me, and desperate struggles for survival.

People in the trade say I'm ruthless and difficult to get along with.

Only I know that my decisiveness in killing and cutting comes from lessons I paid for with a soft heart in the past.

I abide by the boundaries between yin and yang: I do not harm the innocent, and I never show mercy to evil spirits. After roaming the supernatural world for so long, I thought all I had left was to endure the cold nights with evil spirits for company, alone, with no one ever coming close.

Until Su Qingyan came into my life.

She was like a solitary moon, looking on at the mundane world with cool detachment, aloof from all living things and never stopping for anyone. Yet she fell into my days, which had no light of dawn, put aside her icy reserve, and offered warmth to me alone.

Others feared my ill-fated destiny and avoided me at all costs.

Only she was unafraid of my old wounds or the cold, baleful aura that clung to me.

I use my imperfect arts to guide a hundred ghosts, and endure the world's corruption with my own flesh and blood;

while she guides me with her tenderness, filling the coldness that has consumed half my life.