The Gods Died Last Night

The corpse of a god has arrived, while the living god remains at the birthday banquet. Lu Shenwei, an examiner at the White Coffin Court, receives an old body that must be cremated within an hour. The cremation order, divine seal, and transfer documents are all in order. Only the temple attendant escorting the coffin says that this very morning, the dead person was waiting for a visitor. Lu Shenwei can make the dead reenact the last spell they completed in life. But he gets only one chance. He cannot read their thoughts or make them speak. If he uses it incorrectly, that sole opportunity is gone. When the faint wound on the corpse’s wrist appears at the birthday banquet, he realizes he must not only discover why a god was killed, but also decide how to save another god, whose hands are not clean, before the next wound appears. Gods have bodies, consciousness, rank, and covenants. But who inhabits a body, and who should be held responsible for a divine decree? The living can never be the only ones whose word counts.