Chang'an Nevernight

The most useless judge in the Dali Temple, nicknamed "Shrimp Slacker," hasn't solved a single case in three years. A courtesan dies in a locked room, poisoned by toad venom; an abbot is massacred in a temple, with blood lotuses framing the crime; exam leaks lead to a fatal fall, case files have names erased; a Hu merchant disappears from a kiln, alive or dead. Eight bizarre cases crash down one after another, and Xia Xiaoshuai breaks through with a single stroke. But every clue leads to a dead end or a blank. The Dark Night Order emerges, the Xuan Ye Sect appears, and the wrongful case of his father thirteen years ago surfaces. What secret does his partner Yun Qi's silver bell hold? Is Shen Mobo, the owner of Drunken Immortal Tavern who seems to be everywhere by coincidence, a good person or a pawn? Chang'an never sleeps, but hearts have turned dark. The night is long—but he won't let it stay dark forever.