★ He is Cheng Xi, the eunuch who wields power over the court, coldly treating lives as pieces on a board; she is Ji Chan, a young woman who wields the Guan Chan sword and kills corrupt officials. Weighed down by chains, he gives the one soft spot of his life to her alone.
★ "A Chan, I'm a eunuch." "So what?"—two brief lines capturing a devotion that crosses status and fate. The book unfolds through dual points of view, the heroine's and the hero's, with dense emotional tension.
★ The cicada lies hidden in dark soil, breaks its shell, spreads its wings, and is born toward death. Each act of endurance and transformation is like the cicada, writing the shadow and the light of human nature, and reflecting the redemption of "letting go of attachment to find the true self."
★ This book is the grand champion of the fourth Zhihu Yanyan Stories "Long-Form Creation Marathon," praised by the jury for "taking the cicada as its central image, exquisitely conceived." Mi Hua is an exclusive Zhihu Yanyan Stories writer and a Top 10 author of the first Short-Story Influence Ranking, called by readers "Mi Hua's work, always a gem."

The young woman Ji Chan was confined in a cage as a child, yet never lost her good nature. She mastered martial arts, wielded the Guan Chan sword, and, making it her mission that "all the people under heaven should have enough to eat," devoted herself to assassinating corrupt officials. Li Baoji, a noble heir, was ruined in one stroke and became the grand eunuch Cheng Xi. He trusted in the fickleness of fate, sought to secure the realm by ruthless means, and treated human lives as pieces on a board—yet for Ji Chan alone he kept a soft spot and an attachment he would carry all his life.

The two depended on each other from a young age, and love took deep root. They guarded one another, but, divided by their means and estranged by others, they were forced to choose again and again between love and duty, attachment and conscience...

The cicada lies hidden in the dark earth, endures its trials, and at last cries out and lives; a person sees through illusion, lets go of attachment, and then sees the true self.

This is a story of impermanence and redemption.

Mi Hua
With nearly 30 works to her name, her style is distinctive and delicate, spanning urban romance, historical romance, and fantasy. In 2023 she was honored as Zhihu's "New Knowledge Creator" and named a Top 10 author of the first Short-Story Influence Ranking. Her representative works include "Yidu: A Record of Strange Demons," "The Fish-Lantern Guide to Souls," "Tangmu Still," "The Crow's Bell," and "Lang Huai You Yu." Drawing inspiration from the "Shan Hai Jing," she has built a distinctive world of strange tales and earned the reputation among readers of "Mi Hua's work, always a gem." "Yidu: A Record of Strange Demons" is published in print, its radio-drama adaptation is airing, and its film and TV rights have been sold. "The Fish-Lantern Guide to Souls" has sold both its film-and-TV rights and publication rights, and an audio-drama adaptation is now streaming.

Chapter 1 Luojia Village
Chapter 2 The Foolish Bun
Chapter 3 First Meeting
Chapter 4 Chang'an City
Chapter 5 Lady Xu
Chapter 6 The White Fox
Chapter 7 Taiping Ward
Chapter 8 Dried Plum
Chapter 9 The Chu Family's Daughter
Chapter 10 Tasting the Golden Peach
Chapter 11 Following My Brother
Chapter 12 Arsenic Salt
Chapter 13 The Five Offices
Chapter 14 Like the Sunrise
Chapter 15 Lord Jue
Chapter 16 Wishing Qingshan Well
Chapter 17 The Difficulty of Study
Chapter 18 Rather Cry Out Than Be Silent
Chapter 19 The Guan Chan Sword
Chapter 20 Face to Face
Chapter 21 One of Our Own
Chapter 22 The Seventh Prince
Chapter 23 The Leaf Game
Chapter 24 Testing the Golden Elixir
Chapter 25 Jade Perfected
Chapter 26 The Rites Completed
Chapter 27 A Talk on the Way
Chapter 28 Plum Blossom Lane
Chapter 29 Inconstant Fate
Chapter 30 The Tenth Prince
Chapter 31 Wishes Fulfilled
Chapter 32 The Mark of No-Self
Side Story 1: The Cheng Xi Chapter
Side Story 2: The Zhu Qingshan Chapter
Side Story 3: A Long-Cherished Wish