Lu Xuan is a paper craftsman.
But he doesn't believe in ghosts or gods. He believes only in rules and the words of the sages. To him, the art of paper crafting is an extension of the teaching to "respect the ghosts and gods, but keep your distance from them," and the supreme art of upholding ritual propriety and guiding people's hearts.
His goal is to reproduce every step in the ancestral manual, The Exploitation of the Works of Nature: The Yin and Yang Volume, down to the smallest detail, and reach the highest realm of "investigating things to gain knowledge."
Following the ancient methods, he crafted a tomb-guarding qilin for Grand Tutor Wang. He thought it was the highest form of respect for the deceased... But the authorities told him that a band of tomb-raiding heretics had been purified into ash by the paper qilin's "high-temperature, directional explosive combustion effect."
When faced with a century-old female ghost's endless wailing, he figured it was "an environmental and psychological trauma left over from history" that called for a highly ceremonial form of "counterbalancing psychological counseling." So he crafted a paper groom for the poor woman, completing a wedding that had been a hundred years in the making.
Han Buli, a captain of the Jingye Bureau: "Consultant Lu, this place is overflowing with demonic energy, and the resentment won't disperse. What should we do?"
Lu Xuan: "Don't rush. Before taking action, we first need to examine how the area's humidity, geological structure, building materials, and duration of sunlight affect the human mind..."
Han Buli: "...Please, speak like a normal person."
In a strange world where the underworld has collapsed and ghosts roam by night, one craftsman uses the strictest rules to restore order to heaven and earth, insisting all the while that "we should settle things reasonably."
