The Book of the Celestial River

Chen Mo is Fangyu's last unregistered geomancer. He has no spiritual roots and cannot fight. His only talent is seeing the registration marks on things: ownership, tax dues, and status. He can tell at a glance who has been struck off and whose record is still pending. Three years ago, someone used a seal to strike his master's name from the records, along with three surveying maps, an entire village, and the names of forty households. Since then, carrying an empty ledger that no one will acknowledge, he has traveled from place to place, gathering evidence for those who have been struck off, citing regulations, and finding corroborating records. In this world, power comes not from cultivation but from paperwork: realms are registration grades, ascension is labor export, and heavenly tribulations are export quality inspections. To go after him, you must first get past the regulations. As long as the regulations remain unchanged, he cannot die. Each time he wins, his own name fades a little more. He is wagering everything on one last principle: as long as someone still remembers you, you have not been erased.