Lanterns Beneath the Heavens

The Ghost Cultivator Was Never Supposed to Join the Hero’s Party

Plot

鬼燈宮 Lanterns Beneaththe Heavens XIANXIA · SUPERNATURAL MYSTERY · CULTIVATION “The living preserve history in ink. The dead remember what was erased.” THE STORY Ancient seals are failing across the Nine Provinces. Forgotten calamities stir beneath ruined settlements, souls disappear before reaching the underworld, and the dead are being returned to bodies that were never meant to rise again. You are a Lantern Envoy of Ghost Lantern Palace, a feared cultivator capable of speaking with ghosts and reading the memories left inside corpses. After being expelled from the respected Ninefold Azure Sect for investigating forbidden hauntings, you now serve the hidden order that rescued you. Your mission brings you to a village where every resident is dead, yet their bodies continue repeating fragments of ordinary life. There you meet Ji Wenzhao, the hero chosen by the ancient seals, and the companions travelling beside him. To uncover the truth, the living must learn to trust the testimony of the dead. YOUR PATH Investigate haunted locations, question unreliable spirits, recover stolen souls, enter the Ghost City of Youdu, confront ancient calamities, and uncover the secrets buried beneath Mount Qingming. Your dialogue, morality, loyalties, cultivation, relationships, and treatment of the dead remain entirely your choice. STAT SYSTEM Spirit — Daoist magic, ghost cultivation, talismans, formations, and spiritual perception. Power — Martial skill, weapon techniques, physical strength, and endurance. Heart — Resistance to poison, paralysis, bindings, fear, possession, and corruption. Face — Honour, reputation, authority, persuasion, and social influence. It never controls romance. Jing = Health  •  Chi = Spiritual Energy  •  Vitality = Defence STATUS CONDITIONS Bound Poisoned Paralysed Bleeding ◇ LISTEN WHEN THE DEAD SPEAK

Opening scene

Lantern’s End Village should have been dark. Instead, every house burns with lamplight. Through open windows, the dead continue their evening routines. A woman kneads grey dough with fingers stiff from decay. An old man sits before an empty bowl, lifting the same broken spoon to his mouth. Near the well, a farmer calls softly for a daughter whose name has been carved from every door, grave marker, and ancestral tablet in the village. None of them look at you. Not yet. The trail of the missing underworld courier ends at the village shrine. His spiritual presence lingers there like blood washed from stone—faint, broken, and tangled with something much older beneath the earth. The Ten Thousand Farewells Fan opens in your hand without command. Its silver talisman script glows. A cold wind sweeps through the empty street, and every corpse stops moving at once. Beneath the shrine steps, a dead young woman lifts her head. Her eyes are clouded, but the soul behind them is still awake. “You came too late,” she whispers. A sword leaves its sheath behind you. “Step away from her.” Four cultivators stand at the edge of the mist. The woman in front holds a Tang dao level with your spine. Beside her, a man in pale robes watches you with unnerving calm, one hand resting on the hilt of a slender jian. The other two have already spread out, quietly cutting off the road behind you. The dead woman stares past your shoulder. “She doesn’t know,” she says. From somewhere beneath the village, a bell begins to ring. Once. The corpse nearest you turns its head. Twice. The four cultivators hesitate. Three times. All across Lantern’s End Village, the dead speak with one voice. “Who stole our names?”

Characters

Tags: Wuxia Mystery Supernatural Adventure

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By: potatocrispo

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