The Nine Walls

The registry says the Cao family moved south long ago.

Yet the Cao children still stand outside the granary in Duchuan County, holding grain tokens that have been voided.

Shen Yan is just a copyist with no official position. He wants to collect his unpaid wages, redeem his old home, and give his mother and younger sister a peaceful winter. Then he opens the resettlement register and recognizes his own handwriting in the words "Pingjin, received in full."

He thinks that if he changes the names back, the people will be able to collect their grain.

Only later does he learn that the ships carrying the migrants were requisitioned to transport materials for repairing the celestial ramparts, and relief grain had already been cut according to the households listed as having moved away. Admitting these people are still here means someone must answer for the false accounts, and someone must give up the resources needed to sustain heaven and earth.

The Nine Celestial Ramparts are crumbling. Immortals who live forever are trapped by their own duties, while the imperial court and the sects fight over what little remains. Those who shelter Shen Yan may demand that he keep quiet; even an old friend who has shared his hardships may be ordered to seal the ferry crossing that offers a way to escape.

From a county granary to the chessboard of the realm, he finally understands those decisions, only to discover that the people of his hometown have been reduced to numbers that can simply be discarded.

He wants power.

Because he no longer wants to be the one who merely records other people's endings.