THE SHADOW’S DEBT: CHRONICLES OF THE OBSIDIAN CROW

"To survive the light, one must become the loudest shadow." In the 17th Year of the Jing-Xuan Era, the world is a stage of fading embers. While the Seven Great Pillars struggle for dominance, a creeping rot known as the Void Eater devours the memories of the living. Zhuo JiuYuan is a master of mediocrity. A "yapping" servant of the decaying CangShan Zhuo Sect, he hides his face behind silk and his genius behind a constant stream of nonsense. It is a vow he made ten years ago when his mother, Lady Zhāo Huá, vanished into the night: “Be the dust that no one sweeps. Be the crow that no one hunts.” He is content to remain nobody, as long as he has his sharp-tongued best friend, Mo Ran, by his side. But the Emperor is playing a dangerous game. To secure his treasury, the Emperor has drawn the opulent Ruì-Yún Pavilion into his inner circle, effectively turning the wealthy Su clan into his personal pawns. Now, a political marriage looms: Mo Ran is to be wed to Chéng JìngWěi, the golden heir of the Bei-Ming Chéng Sect. The balance tips during the Banquet of the Peaks. Chéng JìngXiāo, the legendary "Jade Exorcist" whose soul has been frozen in silence for a decade, arrives with a silver bell that never rings. But as he passes a talkative, "mediocre" servant, the bell screams. JiuYuan’s secret is leaking. The Obsidian Seal his mother left within his shadow is reacting to the one man he should avoid at all costs. As JìngXiāo hunts for the truth behind JiuYuan’s mask and Mo Ran navigates a deadly marriage with a man who smiles too much, the two duos will uncover a debt that spans generations. In a world where memories are currency and shadows have teeth, the greatest lie might be the only thing keeping them alive.