The Seven Sinister Slips

In ancient times there were seven evil thoughts possessing the power to beguile the human heart; all who came into contact with them would suffer a sudden change of nature and commit unforgivable murders. Legend has it that when Laozi went west through the Hangu Pass, besides leaving the five thousand characters of the Dao De Jing, he drew seven ominous breaths from tortoise shells and ox bones into seven wooden slips, sealed them with a phoenix clasp, and suppressed the sinister slips in a corner of the world. After thousands of years, the seal finally began to loosen; the seven sinister slips reappeared in the world, each possessing, luring, and twisting whoever it encountered.

The story opens with the "Fishing-Line Puppets," a horrific case spanning more than twenty years: by Luoma Lake, a family of three is strung up with hundreds of fishing lines, arranged between nails and wires on the wall into a bizarre tableau. To investigate the knot that has vexed her adoptive mother Huo Zihong for half a lifetime, the martial-arts girl Mudai sets out to inquire, and crosses paths with Luo Ren, who has come following the case. Soon the thoroughly jianghu-flavored Yiwansan, the fiery and brisk Yan Hongsha, and the honest, loyal Cao Yanhua are drawn in one after another; the five take their places according to the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, forming what readers call the "Phoenix Squad." They travel from place to place following case after bizarre case grounded in folk custom and ancient punishments, from "Fishing-Line Puppets" and "The Immortal Points the Way" to "Rouge Amber," "Wind Rolls Up Dust," "Fine Rain over the Qin Pit," "Hunting Shadows, Leopard's Cry," and on to "Phoenix Nirvana" and "Watching the Four Mirages," pursuing the whereabouts of the sinister slips while each facing their own old wounds and obsessions.

This book is the 2017 revised edition published by China Friendship Publishing Company, collecting the two volumes "Fishing-Line Puppets" and "The Immortal Points the Way"; it is an important transitional work in Wei Yu's "Swindler Universe," blending folk suspense, road adventure, and ensemble growth.