High school student Lin Ye falls into a deep sleep during a dull history lesson and dreams of entering an ancient Western Han tomb reeking of damp earth. The dripping water in the dim passage, the eerie murals on the walls, the scattered bones beside the coffin, and the terrifying figure crawling on all fours, making a hoarse “heh, heh” sound, all feel so real they leave him breathless.
When he jolts awake from the nightmare, he discovers that reality is eerily overlapping with his dream. A cluster of Western Han tombs has been found behind the school, his history teacher has died under mysterious circumstances, and marks resembling those left by the monsters in his dream have appeared on his classmates. Even more chilling, a tomb robber named Chen Mo, whose face looks just like his, suddenly appears and claims that Lin Ye is the reincarnation of a Chen family tomb guardian, as well as the vessel chosen by the ancient ferocious beast Taotie.
As the night of the full moon draws near, the seals in the tomb gradually weaken, and puppets controlled by the beast roam the school while the shadow of death closes in. Lin Ye is forced into a fate-bound struggle spanning a thousand years. Armed with a bronze bell and a yellowed diary, he moves between reality and illusion, battling the monsters lurking in the tomb while confronting the secrets hidden in his own bloodline.
When the red light of the Soul-Suppressing Stone illuminates the burial chamber and the bloodlines of the three clans are about to complete their final sacrifice, he finally understands: the deep sleep that began in the classroom was never an illusion. It was an ancient pact to be repaid with a life…
