Chapter One: The Paper Figure Awakens

When I told my parents I was going to work, they never doubted me. My mother, as she left the house, only reminded me not to offend my superiors, to get along well with colleagues, and most importantly, to see if I could spark some sort of office romance. Her words left me dizzy; I almost blurted out that I had changed jobs and was now helping at the Longevity Agency, where my boss was an old man in his fifties or sixties and I was the only employee—at least, I hadn’t discovered anyone else yet.

The next day, as I arrived at work, I found something that genuinely surprised me: there was another employee at the Longevity Agency besides myself.

She was a beautiful woman with a lovely name—Zhang Keqing. According to Chen Chuyi, she’d been dispatched from the Shanxi branch to help with our work in Chengdu. While she was to follow our instructions here, her abilities were said to surpass ours. Most notably, Chen Chuyi grinned mischievously as he added, “This young lady is still single.”

My heart instantly leapt with excitement.

On her first day, we naturally began by introducing ourselves. Soon after, Zhang Keqing headed out to survey the feng shui, saying she sensed a major upheaval was coming to Chengdu and needed to find the source before it erupted, so it could be resolved in time.

As for me, being a complete novice, my part was to stay in the office and read, spending my days amidst funeral wreaths and paper effigies—an utterly stifling existence.

Zhao Fifteen wasn’t around during the day either, leaving only me and Chen Chuyi.

Chen Chuyi took the opportunity to teach me the basics of the yin-yang practitioner's arts: yellow talismans, peachwood swords, the coin sword; incantations, movement techniques, and malevolent energy points.

In short, he spoke at length about the many aspects of feng shui and mysticism that most people in today’s society scoff at.

But I believed every word. Chen Chuyi spoke with such authority, and what truly astounded me was when he finished his explanation of yin-yang arts. He casually took a paper effigy, affixed a yellow talisman to it, then bit his middle finger and pressed it onto the figure.

“Spirit!”

As the word left his lips, the air in the room suddenly stirred, turning chilly.

But my attention wasn’t on the wind swirling around us—it was fixed on the paper effigy that began to swagger toward me.

Yes, that simple little effigy with hardly any discernible features had started to move, strutting as if it were a real person.

I was dumbfounded. If I could have dismissed everything Chen Chuyi said earlier as mere boasting, this sight—seeing the paper effigy walk—made me a true believer.

“This is called Spirit Channeling with Paper Effigies. But first, you must find a wandering soul and seal it within the Meridian Soul Talisman you create. Only then can you use this method to control the paper effigy, a wooden figure, or indeed any object onto which you place the talisman.”

Eager to learn, I asked Chen Chuyi to teach me the technique. He simply smiled and handed me a sample Meridian Soul Talisman he’d drawn, telling me to copy it a hundred times.

I gladly accepted. Chen Chuyi’s demonstration had left me in awe.

This was no parlor trick—it was genuine soul manipulation through the talisman.

I’d read about wandering souls in the books: after a person dies, among the three souls and seven spirits, the main soul is the soul of the heart. For many ghosts, their lifeline is their chest. Even the fiercest ghosts, terrifying as they appear, are weakest at this point. Destroy their lifeline, and even the most powerful will be utterly annihilated.

Workdays passed quickly—perhaps because I was truly beginning to accept my new path as a yin-yang practitioner, eager to learn more each day. Every morning, Zhang Keqing would leave the agency early and return late at night, while Zhao Fifteen had barely been seen since my first day.

Before I knew it, I’d been at the Longevity Agency for over a month.

In that time, I’d come to understand many things that upended my worldview. The existence of spirits and gods had taken root in my heart. I had made some progress in drawing talismans, but I still lacked a soul I could command—without it, my coveted spirit channeling was like a machine without an engine.

One evening after dinner, I received a call from Zhang Keqing.

I really didn’t know what kind of person Zhang Keqing was—she was always rather aloof, and because of her distant manner, I rarely spoke with her.

“Sister Zhang, what’s up? Grandpa Chen isn’t here—he’s at the mahjong parlor!”

“And so is Chen Chuyi. In that case, bring your gear and come to a place called Jewelry Tower on Xiaoxi Street. We might need to deal with a few little ghosts here!”

My blood surged with excitement. I immediately agreed, hung up, and dashed upstairs. I packed my best talismans into my backpack, grabbed two peachwood swords and a bottle of rooster’s blood.

With everything ready, I headed out, caught a taxi, and went straight to Xiaoxi Street.

I was exhilarated—after all, I felt I’d learned a lot in the past month and could handle minor spirits. The agency had received several assignments during that time, but I’d never been involved—either I wasn’t qualified, or I simply couldn’t act alone, so I’d always been left minding the shop.

This was my chance.

I had to take care of a few little ghosts; otherwise, how would I know if what I’d learned had any effect?

I called Chen Chuyi to let him know. The sound of mahjong tiles clacked in the background, and he told me we could talk later as he was busy. He hung up before I could say more.

I smiled wryly. When I arrived at Xiaoxi Street, I saw Zhang Keqing waiting for me under the street sign.