The Mystic Nine, Book Two

A suspenseful adventure centered on the power struggles among the Nine Gates, beginning in Changsha in 1939.

Late one night on the east bank of the Xiang River, a mysterious ghost train bearing the number 007 appears without warning. Inside its carriages are seven bronze coffins inlaid with meteorite bronze, eerie runes, and clues pointing to Black Python Valley in western Hunan, drawing Zhang Qishan, known as Foye, into the fray. The “Soul-Sealing Lock” on the coffins, traces left behind by the Japanese army, and the legends of western Hunan intertwine: the “Path of the Dead,” said to lead to the underworld, and the “Stone of Rebirth,” which can summon the souls of the dead. The mystery also touches on Er Yuehong’s obsession with his late wife, Yatou. The legend of the Stone of Rebirth makes him determined to venture into danger.

As the Nine Gates gather, the secrets behind the abandoned mine at Black Python Valley gradually come to light. The Japanese army once searched there for meteorite fragments, while the hidden “Wang” character discovered by Qi Tiezui points to a Wang family plot from twenty years ago: they commanded ghost soldiers and used meteorite bronze as the key to open a bronze gate. In rain-shrouded Changsha, gunfire and the uncanny go hand in hand. The wasteland Zhang Qishan and his companions are about to enter is not merely dangerous, but a vast web of intrigue involving both the living and the dead, and a clash of competing powers. The power of meteorite bronze, the legend of ghost soldiers, and the feuds of the Nine Gates will reveal, amid the mists of Black Python Valley, a shocking secret spanning life and death, and the fate of the nation.