Born with Ren and Gui water in a water-rich configuration, vast waters converge and flow east;
Without earth to contain them, metal brings honor and an eminent position.
The protagonist of this book, Zhan Renshui, has a water-dominant birth chart, commonly known as the “Long-Flowing Water fate,” a rarity in this world. His ancestry traces back to the Yellow Emperor, through the Ji clan. Born with extraordinary gifts, he has double pupils that let him observe strange phenomena, see through illusions, and discern truth from falsehood. From childhood, he received both Taoist instruction from Mount Longhu and a modern scientific education. He understands the Book of Changes and the Eight Trigrams, knows yin-yang and the Five Elements, excels at Zhengyi talismanic arts, comprehends the natural order of heaven and earth, and is well versed in scientific principles.
This book tells the story of a thousand-year-old town that was once prosperous and renowned for its literary culture. A change in the heavens cut off its spiritual energy, causing the feng shui dragon vein that had blessed it for a thousand years to collapse and its fortunes to decline. Worse still, the Nine Passes Dragon Gate formation that protected the region could no longer hold, and the demons sealed within threatened to wreak havoc on the mortal world. Zhan Renshui and his junior fellow disciple, Jin Zuan, carry out their sect’s final charge: they cleverly obtain the spiritual treasure, the Heavenly Master’s divination seal, from the founder and patriarch; bravely break into the “Nine Passes Dragon Gate” formation built to slay demons; suppress the evil spirits that have escaped their bonds; restore the dragon’s spirit; and replenish the spiritual energy at the formation’s core. This is the extraordinary tale of how they protect the region’s feng shui and preserve their hometown’s good fortune.
Set against real-life locations and folk legends, this book weaves together the Book of Changes and the Eight Trigrams, yin-yang feng shui, Zhengyi talismanic arts, local culture, historical sites, and folk customs. It is a work of fiction. Please forgive any errors, and any similarities are purely coincidental.
The Nine Passes Dragon Gate is the first installment in the Water-Fate series. If readers are willing to keep following along, the later installments, Goose Lake Spirit Temple and Ge Hong’s Immortal Mountain, will be released in turn...
