Sword in Hand, I Question the Haunting

Amid the mountains and rivers of the south, humans and ghosts live side by side.

Ordinary people cannot see the evils, but the evils can decide who lives and dies.

Gu Changye is the last heir of the Qingshuang Sword Altar. After his master dies suddenly, his appointment is left incomplete, and his official credential lacks the altar's seal. He can wield a sword, but has no recognized status, and cannot even take on the altar's assignments.

All he has left is a broken sword, black from tip to hilt.

The sword devours evils, swallowing them whole and growing sharper. From their lingering thoughts, he can see fragments: who fed them, whom they attacked, and what they fear.

But every time he devours one, its hunger and malice flood into his mind. If he goes too far, he will be transformed into something inhuman.

He starts by investigating a massacre blamed on a mountain demon, and uncovers a nest of evils that someone has been carefully feeding, a secret plot to raise evils and steal someone's position, and a person who should not exist.

The sword is in his hand, the evils are inside it.

He asks the evils how much longer he can hold out, and asks himself the same.