I really didn’t plan to stay up late, but I just couldn’t stop reading... This nearly 500-page epic is packed with a multitude of fascinating puzzles. The initial wine-drinking contest and other small intellectual duels are very engaging. Halfway through, the pixiu’s strange illness, which involves a family feud, is a minor climax. Unexpectedly, the seemingly tragic flashbacks in the later part are full of hidden mysteries, with each case interwoven in a heart-stirring manner. The climax in the second half is even more intense. Besides the physical trickery of the pixiu’s grain consumption, it also elevates the capital cases to the rise and fall of the entire nation, giving this book a deeper and more profound meaning.

—Reader Mu Hai

This is the most complete novel I’ve read this year. The story is extremely gripping, filled with cases of all sizes. The key is that the cases are all interconnected, and the transitions between them are particularly smooth. However, it’s not a story where one case is solved after another. Instead, all the cases are resolved in one go at the end. What’s most brilliant is that, unlike many similar works that use unsolved cases to drive the story forward, this one uses the story to drive the cases. Although the cases are all classic, they are not particularly impressive when considered individually. But together, they form a powerful and astonishing large-scale trickery model.

—Reader Pindao Li Sanxiang

This book is “web-like.” The drought ghoul case, the missing princess, the pixiu grain seizure, the human head lantern case... The cases appear one after another without pause. Often, before one case is concluded, another one arises. Halfway through the book, you still need to take time to sort out and see how many cases Yun Ji is handling. The downside of this structure is that it can feel tiring halfway through, with the sense of wonder and surprise brought by the frequent cases diminishing. However, the advantage is that when you persist to the end and see that all the previous hooks can be connected into a large web, there is a feeling of sudden enlightenment and great satisfaction.

—Reader Zhe Shi Shui

★The 2024 Chinese Suspense and Mystery Masterpiece of the Year, it has sparked tremendous interest in specialized bookstores and mystery enthusiast groups, topping the recommendation list!

★Rights sold:Vietnamese and Japanese! Printed seven times within six months of release, it has attracted the attention of dozens of film and television companies, with many readers eagerly awaiting updates!

★A historical mystery novel set in the Northern Song Dynasty, where the “demon beast” drought ghoul and the “auspicious beast” pixiu stir up the city of Kaifeng!

★The Drought Ghoul Case at the Playhouse, the Charity Sale Case at Baifu Tower, the Arson Case at the Bookshop, the Human Head Lantern Case during the Lantern Festival, the Pixiu Grain Seizure Case, the Salt Note Case... Each case is thrilling!


The pixiu, with a mouth but no anus, absorbs wealth from all directions without leakage, and has always been regarded as an auspicious beast that brings fortune and guards the home. However, the pixiu punishment is a terrifying plague that quietly spread in the Xining era of the Song Dynasty.

Strangely, this plague only infects wealthy merchants and powerful officials, causing them to be terrified and unable to speak out. The source of the infection is a precious piece of black jade pixiu—no matter whether it is discarded or destroyed, it will return to the side of the infected person intact, like a ghost, following like a shadow...

Yun Ji, the detective from the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, is ordered to investigate this strange and bizarre punishment of the auspicious beast. Unexpectedly, this is just the beginning of a well-planned drama that has been in the making for years. The mastermind, with far-reaching influence, is hiding behind the scenes, waiting for the players to enter the game: the great merchants of the prosperous era, the important officials of the court, the royal nobles, the imperial relatives, and the supreme Emperor of the Song Dynasty.

Yun Ji, after going through life-and-death experiences, solves ten strange cases: the Drought Ghoul Case at the Playhouse, the Charity Sale Case at Baifu Tower, the Arson Case at the Bookshop, the Misprinted Books Case at the Imperial Academy, the True and False Snow Willow Case, the Burglary Case in a Sealed Room, the Human Head Lantern Case during the Lantern Festival, the Pixiu Grain Seizure Case, the Salt Note Case, and the Missing Noblewoman Case. As the fog clears, he shockingly discovers that the truth of the pixiu punishment may be an unsolvable heavenly punishment, and everyone is stepping onto the scaffold step by step...

Ji Wujie

Pursuing a bold, unrestrained, and fearless writing style, hence the name Wujie. His writing is sometimes as delicate and affectionate as a lady embroidering, and sometimes as sharp and cutting as the north wind sweeping snow. He is skilled in symbolism, metaphor, and satire, often claiming to have been a storyteller in a past life, determined to record the past and convey the present through solving cases, with frequent admonitions to the world.

He was awarded the 11th Dangdang Influential Author in 2025 and has successively won the 6th and 7th Wen Shirui Martial Arts Novel Award and the Grand Prize of the 2nd Jin Gu Chuanqi A90 Writing Contest. After years of studying Song history, "The Song Dynasty Mystery Chronicles" is his long-conceived work of admonition. Since the publication of "The Song Dynasty Mystery Chronicles: The Pixiu Punishment", it has been reprinted multiple times and attracted the attention of dozens of film and television companies.

Prologue One
Prologue Two
Chapter One: The Missing Record
Chapter Two: The Case in the Book
Chapter Three: The Wine Scheme
Chapter Four: The Pixiu Punishment
Chapter Five: The Midnight Knife
Chapter Six: Fake Becomes Real
Chapter Seven: The Colorful Play
Chapter Eight: Fishing for the Divine Beast
Chapter Nine: The Goddess of Mercy Earth
Chapter Ten: Settling Old Accounts
Chapter Eleven: The Flying Head
Chapter Twelve: The Fifth Birthday
Chapter Thirteen: The Pixiu Grain Seizure
Chapter Fourteen: The Ten Thousand Flame Candle
Chapter Fifteen: The Culprit
Chapter Sixteen: The Follower of the Way
Chapter Seventeen: The Rootless City
Chapter Eighteen: I Do Not Become a Saint
Chapter Nineteen: The Demon-Identifying Mirror
Chapter Twenty: What Night Is Tonight
Chapter Twenty-One: The Iron Evidence
Chapter Twenty-Two: The New Peach and the Old Talisman
Epilogue One
Epilogue Two
Postscript: The Human Smokes of the Song Dynasty
Main References