Record of Subduing Ghosts

Li Sijiu, a Heaven-tier ghost exorcist of this era, is an unconventional oddball.

While others collect ghosts for rewards and make a grand show of it, she only asks for five dollars. She also loves taking her pitifully small share and using it to give the unfortunate a little peace.

While other exorcists care only about results and never ask why, she insists on taking up her talisman papers and forcing justice out of the cracks in the cold, rigid law, for the wronged dead and the suffering living alike.

In terms of ability, she clawed her way out of the mud, all wild spirit and bound by no taboos.

As for her methods, she infuriates her fellow exorcists and leaves evil ghosts questioning their very existence.

At last, after countless acts of audacity, she got what was coming to her: exorcists from all walks of life and evil ghosts jointly filed a complaint against her with the underworld.

In its fury, the underworld dispatched Du Zheng, its coldest and most merciless ghost official, whose specialty was striking names from the rolls.

He was supposed to watch her with a cold eye, find fault, and put an end to her career.

But when Du Zheng took on a mortal body and fell into the human world, amid one bloody ghost case after another, he gradually came to see the truth:

What the world called her defiance of convention was nothing but her sincere, burning compassion.

The underworld has countless rules.

But as this once-heartless spirit gradually regained his senses amid the bustle of human life and her tears, he finally understood:

He had long since fallen deep into it, and was willing to become the place she could call home.

------A Bickering Couple Mini-Scene------

Having just escaped a bloody battle at the Duan household, Li Sijiu promptly toppled backward.

Du Zheng caught her just in time, but he hadn't eaten a thing either. Both of them went woozy and collapsed onto the broken steps by the roadside, utterly devoid of dignity.

Li Sijiu weakly curled her lips and fished a wooden cup out of her clothes, stuffing it into his arms.

"Fine old nanmu wood. A replacement for your cup... I'm so hungry and sleepy."

As soon as she finished speaking, her eyes rolled back and she fell asleep in an instant, resting her head on his shoulder. Her wooden hairpin nearly poked the ghost official's eye out with pinpoint accuracy.

The mighty Heaven-tier ghost exorcist and the underworld's ghost official now looked like a pair of miserable souls stranded on the street.

"Clink!"

A crisp sound rang out.

A passing older woman looked at them with pity and casually tossed two copper coins into the broken wooden cup.

Du Zheng stared at the two coins at the bottom of the cup, closed his eyes, and sank into a long silence.

*Reader's Guide:

Unorthodox Heaven-tier ghost exorcist vs. restrained, patient underworld ghost official

1. Episodic stories. Some ghost and monster lore is based on folk tales, and some is original. Please don't nitpick the details.

2. The female lead is human.

3. Both are each other's first, happy ending, one-on-one romance.

Theme: May the dead find a place to rest, and the living a way forward.