Ghosts Touch the Lantern

The four tomb-raiding schools each have their own legacy. An old saying goes: Faqiu has its seal, Mojin its talisman, Banshan its arts, and Xieling its armor. Most people believe that the Faqiu Heavenly Seal was forged by Emperor Wu of Wei, using the words "Heaven Official's Blessing, no taboos under heaven" to suppress evil and break into tombs. Few know that the seal's origins lie in the Nine Elixirs and Golden Liquids Scripture of Zuo Ci, from the end of the Han dynasty.

In the chaos at the end of the Han, yin and yang fell out of balance, and ancient tombs teemed with corpse poison and malign energies. Ordinary talismans could not suppress them. Zuo Ci secluded himself on Mount Tianzhu, mastered ancient alchemy, and learned the secret arts of refining yang within yin and attaining immortality through death. He could harmonize the life-and-death energies of dragon veins and draw spiritual energy from the earth's veins to cultivate the Nine-Turn Golden Liquid Elixir art.

To ward off the evil spirits lurking in tombs, Zuo Ci cast a bronze seal from nine-turn cinnabar, stabilizing the earth's veins and suppressing malign energies. He used ancient tombs as his cauldron and the earth's veins as his fire, tempering his elixir with yin corruption. After nine complete refinements, he ascended.

Because the elixir art defied the heavens, Zuo Ci hid the complete scripture in a secret tomb on Mount Huo and set up a nine-layer elixir-and-miasma barrier, leaving only an incomplete seal formula to be passed down. The Cao Wei regime copied the fragmentary method to reproduce the Faqiu Seal, losing the origins of the alchemical art. Over a thousand years, the seal was reforged again and again, while the secrets of ascension sank into obscurity. My ancestor happened upon a fragment of the scripture, and that is where my story begins.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.