The Sect Leader Is Solving a Mystery

The old sect leader was like a candle guttering at the end of its wick, on the verge of death. Yet suddenly, in a final rally, he chose a kitchen maid to attend him.

Late at night, when all was quiet, the old sect leader had her kowtow three times, offer him a cup of tea, and call him "Master."

But there were conditions attached to that "Master." He wanted her to trust one person’s loyalty, protect one person from harm, and save one person in their hour of need. He also wanted her to keep a compassionate heart and help all the people of the world.

Tang Li, utterly bewildered, agreed to each request. By dawn, the old sect leader had passed away, and Tang Li had somehow been pushed into the position of sect leader. She was the only bewildered fruit on the bewilderment tree, with bewilderment all around her.

Now that everything was settled, mysteries had to be investigated and cases solved; those she was meant to protect had to be protected, and those she was meant to save had to be saved. She couldn’t just ignore what she had promised the old sect leader.

Tang Li sighed up at the sky. "I can’t go on like this... Master, you’re not messing with me, are you?"

---The Sect Leader Is Thinking Through the Case---

Rumor had it that Sect Leader Tang of the Yunmi Sect had pulled off some astonishing stunts just three days after taking office.

First, she got herself a male lover.

Then she went to the pleasure quarter every few days.

She even went on a gambling spree and lost one of her subordinates’ underwear.

Tang Li was twice as bewildered. "Where are these rumors coming from? I’m innocent!"

---A Divider for the Sect Leader’s Hard Work Solving Cases---

1. The main storyline is about solving mysteries and cases.

2. The female lead has no romance plotline, though some supporting characters do.

3. The plot goes completely off the rails, with no limits on either sweetness or angst.

4. The entire novel is already written! Read with confidence!

---Plot-Focused Synopsis Below---

Volume One: The Ex-Husband Returns from the Dead (Complete)

At the old sect leader’s request, she has to look after his great-grandson and the boy’s "male" wife.

One is a miser, the other a gambling addict. Through a twist of fate, they become "husband and husband." Penniless and buried in debt, they somehow expect Tang Li to support them.

Her "ex-husband," missing for two years, returns from the dead, but his murderous hand has not let up. Their past kindness still weighs on her. What should Tang Li choose?

Volume Two: Three Beats of the Grievance Drum (Complete)

The "ex-husband" case has barely been solved when her maid, Li Dong'er, submits a petition. She claims to have suffered a terrible injustice and insists that Tang Li judge her case.

The crime took place in the neighboring settlement, so Tang Li must cross into someone else’s territory and travel over mountains and rivers to hear the complaint. But once the grievance drum sounds, something seems wrong.

Is the criminal simply shameless, or is the maid lying?

Volume Three: Moonlight Soaks the Towers Like Water (Complete)

Twenty years ago, there was a beautiful woman...

Stories that start like this usually don’t end well.

To Chancellor Liu, Shui Canling was a mystery. She was beautiful and mysterious, arriving in haste and leaving just as quickly. Aside from bringing him unbearable pain, she seemed to have left nothing behind.

Volume Four: The Cuckoo (Complete)

Cuckoo birds don’t build nests of their own. They always lay their eggs in other birds’ nests.

Tang Li doesn’t dislike cuckoos or cuckoo flowers. After all, the idea of blood-red blossoms stained by a bird’s mournful cries sounds rather romantic.

But Tang Li’s fondness for cuckoos doesn’t mean Chancellor Liu’s wife, Feng Shu, likes them. The cuckoo’s call makes her feel uncomfortable all over, and she even pulled up every cuckoo flower in Qingyun Palace, replacing them with the golden trees she prefers.

Because she is the cuckoo.

Volume Five: The Abandoned Pawn (Complete)

There’s a mad beggar in the prison, babbling so incoherently he can’t get a single complete sentence out. Ask him who his parents are or where his family is, and he can’t answer at all.

The mad beggar dies and is buried; the mad beggar comes back to life and kills someone. But no one knows who he is or what his past was.

Tang Li can’t stand watching him suffer, so she cleans him up. Only then does she discover that he’s actually quite handsome.

That face... where has she seen it before?

Volume Six: The Seven-Star Tower (Complete)

During the rebuilding of an old bridge, Chancellor Liu dug a set of bones out from beneath one of its piers.

But the bones could not be moved. If they were, the bridge pier would collapse too. With no other choice, Chancellor Liu buried the bones again.

One stake takes one life; a bridge needs ten lives to hold it fast. One tower takes ten lives; seven towers need the souls of seventy people.

Fed with bones, drenched in blood, and offered souls as sacrifice, the bridge does not collapse and the towers do not fall, for centuries and millennia.

Yet the evil buried in the earth will never die.

Volume Seven: The Mother-and-Child Gu (Complete)

The mother-and-child gu: the child longs for the mother, and the mother teaches the child. The child gu must obey the mother gu.

Liu Jun hates this poison. The mother-and-child gu controlled him for nearly twenty years.

In his life, he loved only one person and regretted only one thing. He was poisoned by a gu long ago, but the gu he had contracted was one of love.

Volume Eight: Twin Lotuses (Complete)

Only after Shui Furong died did Tang Li discover that she had a younger sister.

Born as two halves of one body, twins are each other’s other selves.

If she had been the one chosen back then, would the story have ended differently?

Volume Nine: Different Destinies (Complete)

Tang Li can hardly believe that someone in this world has the same background as she does.

She and Bai Mian are two sides of one person. Bai Mian is like another version of her, and she is like another version of Bai Mian.

Fate is a mirror, reflecting two different lives.

The future is a dream, and in the end their paths diverge.

Volume Ten: The Deluge (Complete)

The flood six years ago changed Tang Li’s life forever, taking away everything she once had.

Only after becoming sect leader did she learn that the flood had not been a natural disaster, but a man-made one!

Volume Eleven: Painted Faces (Complete)

Twenty years ago, the Eastern Isle’s Entertainment Bureau had the finest plays, the most enchanting music, and the most moving dances.

Now it is Bai Lai’s private pleasure garden, a den of vice notorious across the Eastern Isle.

Rampant evil and rivers of blood are intertwined, and the road to revenge is covered in thorns.

Fortunately, someone still remembers those flowers that withered in the dark of night.

Volume Twelve: The Crucifix (Complete)

There is a bloodstained crucifix in the Yunmi treasure vault.

Tang Li has always wanted to know why the old sect leader kept it, but she never expected it to be connected to Chang Huan’s past.

This is the final ending of the story, and the beginning of every story.

Epilogue: The Elixir of Immortality

Tang Li’s revenge.

Theme: The debts of kindness and hatred are never set in stone; the past flows toward the future.