The Old River Gatekeeper

Lin Qinglan, an emergency room doctor, becomes the seventh generation gatekeeper after touching the palm mark of a dead person. The Old River system: The Heavenly Dao forged the river to seal the evil god, whose remnants turned into the river water; the gatekeepers maintain its flow. The power system has five stages—Perception, Integration, Expansion, Shared Chain, and Petrification—each with increasing cost, and petrification is irreversible. Main instances: Bone Bell Tower—thirty-seven stone steps piled with white bones; one ring of the bell equals one year, seven rings equal a lifetime. Blood Moon Well—the well walls are embedded with stone beads that are the eyes of the dead; the inscriptions record the truth of the Old River, with the latter half shattered at the bottom of the well. Faceless Shrine—those who remove their masks lose their faces; the six generations of phantom shadows appear, leaving a line of witnesses. Main enemies: Black Nether Society (inverted river pattern, plan of six reverse wells), Gray-Eyed One (a collection of negative emotions stripped from the first generation, with a black crystal in the left eye as a sealing fragment). Key turning point: After the Gray-Eyed One devours its own kind, it merges into the protagonist's body; an infant embryo takes shape, named "Changshi"; the seven-link golden chain is complete, and the seal is rewritten from "seven generations relay" to "Changshi center". Ending: The seven rings are complete; Tie Rong returns to patrol the river, Su Xiao collects the eyes, Zhou Yan records the ledger, and Mo Yuan sleeps. Lin Qinglan transforms from a gatekeeper to a person living by the river. The Old River flows on, no longer needing human intervention. — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: The Old River Gatekeeper — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠