On a stormy night, Ning Zhao, a scholar on his way to take the imperial examinations, ducks into the abandoned Lanruo Temple for shelter, only to stumble into a tangled affair dating back a century.
The sound of a pipa draws him into the trap. A woman beneath the moon is gentle as water, yet conceals murderous intent: she is actually a nine-tailed fox demon!
At the brink of death, an ancient mirror awakens between his brows, revealing secrets of the underworld and uncovering the mystery behind Granny Tree Demon’s soul-binding seal.
The fragment of the Great One’s Art of Divination in his arms is sharp as a blade, while bloody characters in his palm point to the mystery of his fate.
In an underground chamber, a bronze mirror reveals Nie Xiaoqian’s past and present lives, and an altered Book of Life and Death begins to emerge...
From failed scholar to traveler between yin and yang, Ning Zhao struggles to survive in the rift between the netherworld and the human realm.
That night, he is no longer merely a scholar on his way to the examinations, but a man who communes with the underworld, armed with talismans and burdened by karma.
