Chu Jingyue is a cultivator who stands half a step away from ascending to immortality. During her thunder tribulation, the heavens declare that she is merely a wandering soul in another world and must find her true body to complete her ascension. She is given a cryptic clue about a true body that is half red and half white, which she eventually realizes refers to a ghost marriage—a union between the living and the dead.
The story opens at the Qi King's mansion, where a ghost marriage ceremony is being conducted. Chu Jingyue, who has been posing as a foolish madwoman in the Chu family, is forced to kneel before a spirit tablet. During the ceremony, supernatural events occur—dark clouds gather, paper figures burst into flames, and Chu Jingyue breaks down, revealing her true nature. She discovers that the deceased Qi King, Wenren Si, is actually still alive, trapped in a Sealing Breath Array that makes him appear dead. Using her cultivation powers, she shatters the coffin and revives him.
Wenren Si, the powerful King Qi, has been the target of assassination attempts through dark magic. Chu Jingyue realizes that one of the fourteen pieces of her life treasure, a magical artifact essential for her survival and ascension, is located within Wenren Si's body. She strikes a deal with him: she will protect him and help him uncover who is trying to kill him, and in return, he must promise to fulfill one request from her once his fate is stabilized.
Wenren Si accompanies Chu Jingyue to the Ning'an Earl's Mansion, her natal family, where she investigates the source of the grievance Gu worms that have been used to harm him. There, she discovers a soul-trapping formation that has been imprisoning the human soul of Wenren Si's deceased mother, using her accumulated merit to bless the Earl's Mansion for generations. The formation prevents her three souls from uniting and entering reincarnation, effectively turning her into a source of spiritual energy for the mansion's benefit.
Further investigation reveals that the Earl's Mansion is engaged in life-borrowing rituals. The Countess Zhuo Zhaofeng and her daughter Zong Zhitang are using jade bracelets infused with dark magic to siphon the lifespans of younger family members. Several young ladies in the mansion are found near death, their vitality drained to sustain the elderly matriarch. Chu Jingyue also discovers that Wenren Si's grandfather was strangled by a bone ghost—a resentful spirit seeking revenge for wrongs committed against it.
The bone ghost, which had previously been suppressed in an octagonal pavilion, escaped and attacked the grandfather. Chu Jingyue realizes that the grievance Gu incident, the soul-trapping formation, and the life-borrowing rituals are all connected to a larger conspiracy involving dark cultivators who oppose her presence. The Earl's Mansion is rife with resentment, black energy, and trapped souls, all maintained through cruel magical practices.
Chu Jingyue's true identity as a half-immortal cultivator becomes increasingly apparent to Wenren Si, who oscillates between suspicion and reliance on her powers. Despite his initial doubts about her sudden transformation from a foolish madwoman to a powerful Taoist priest, he acknowledges that she has saved his life multiple times. Their relationship develops from a pragmatic alliance into something more complex, with Wenren Si finding himself drawn to her cold, immortal demeanor.
The story direction points toward Chu Jingyue systematically dismantling the dark formations in the Earl's Mansion, freeing the trapped souls, and confronting the cultivators responsible for the life-borrowing rituals. She must also locate the remaining pieces of her life treasure while navigating the political tensions between the Qi Royal Mansion and the Ning'an Earl's Mansion. The conspiracy involving her true body, the fourteen life treasure fragments, and the various factions seeking to exploit her power sets the stage for escalating conflicts as she pursues her goal of ascension.
