The Keeper of the Ledger

Before his grandfather disappeared, he sent Shen Guan a burned, tattered old ledger—The Ledger of Folk Taboos. Weddings and funerals, home and dwelling, travel and journeys, seasons and festivals… each volume records taboos that the ancestors exchanged their lives for. When paper money burns backwards, someone is collecting debts for the other side; when the mourning procession has one extra person, it's not a person who came. Those who break the taboos fall into the inside; only the Keeper of the Ledger can read the ledger, verify taboos, enforce taboos, and restore taboos. Each time Shen Guan restores one entry, he grows stronger—but each entry must be exchanged for the thing most important to him. Only when he has kept it to the final volume does he learn: the one who completes the Ledger of Taboos must take on the next new sacrifice. And the previous Keeper of the Ledger was his grandfather. — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: The Keeper of the Ledger — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠