Becoming a Poor Scholar and Taking Imperial Exams in a World of Ghosts and Monsters

Shao Yanzhe, a modern office worker who died from overwork, transmigrates into the body of a poor scholar named Shao Yanzhe in ancient China. The original host had died after being bitten by a large spider, leaving Shao Yanzhe with lingering venom in his system. Upon waking in a dilapidated home, he learns from his cousin-uncle that several scholars have recently died at the local Wenyuan Academy, their bodies reduced to bones, with rumors blaming a female ghost or a black cat. Shao Yanzhe, initially intending to live a quiet life, is forced to reconsider when he discovers the spider bite has left him vulnerable to supernatural threats. He visits a county clinic, where he spends his last savings on herbal medicine, and encounters a mysterious black cat with heterochromatic eyes, which he feeds. Later, while transcribing books to earn money, he receives a scroll from a frail scholar and hangs it in his study. That night, a beautiful woman in white emerges from the painting, introducing herself as Yun Weiyue, a court lady from the past. She attempts to seduce him but is repelled by his refusal, which shocks her. When she becomes enraged and attacks him with ink blades, the black cat, named Xuan Yao, intervenes, saving Shao Yanzhe but sustaining injuries from the scroll’s baleful energy. Yun Weiyue reveals that Shao Yanzhe possesses National Luck, a protective force from his status as a scholar, which can heal Xuan Yao if he writes an essay imbued with Literary Qi and burns it. Shao Yanzhe agrees, and under Yun Weiyue’s tutelage, he improves his writing skills rapidly. He discovers that Yun Weiyue was framed in a past examination scandal by her husband, Shen Moyuan, and they form a pact: she will teach him, and he will help clear her name. Their alliance is tested when Shao Yanzhe receives a cursed letter that inflicts a Soul Severing Curse on him, marking him with red veins and a mole over his heart. Xuan Yao identifies the source as Wenyuan Academy, where the deaths are occurring. Realizing he has only seven days to live, Shao Yanzhe decides to enter the academy with Yun Weiyue and Xuan Yao. At the academy, he finds that all students are under the same curse, having been lured by a beautiful woman who appeared to them in their studies. The Fuzi, the academy’s master, reveals that the curse is spreading, and those who leave the academy die within seven days. Shao Yanzhe, Yun Weiyue, and Xuan Yao prepare to confront the entity behind the deaths, seeking to break the curse and uncover the truth about Yun Weiyue’s past. The story follows their journey as they navigate the supernatural dangers of the academy, with Shao Yanzhe balancing his academic ambitions against the immediate threat of death, while Yun Weiyue strives to expose the betrayal that led to her demise.