The Mystery of the Nine Gates

In Beijing during the Guangxu era, the first disemboweled prostitute is discovered deep in the Ghost Market. Her abdomen is covered in bloody Manchu writing and an eerie Taiji Eight Trigrams design. The impoverished imperial clansman Yi Chen realizes this is no ordinary murder, but a perfect crime combining the most brutal techniques of East and West.

Meanwhile, the female physician Su Jiu'er slips into the capital disguised as an apprentice. The scent of medicine lingering in her sleeves and her precise dissection skills are astonishingly similar to the methods used in the serial killings.

When a dismembered woman is found arranged like a puppet at Liulichang, with zodiac codes carved into her skin; when the Ministry of Revenue's silver vault is robbed by kite-flying thieves; and when a deadly chessboard formation at the Beile Mansion leads to a theft at the Grand Council, the two are forced to form an alliance of life and death amid suspicion and probing.

Traditional coroner techniques clash with Western anatomy. Feng shui compasses calculate bullet trajectories, while secret Peking opera scripts decode astrological ciphers.

As the truth draws near, the dark underside of power struggles in the Forbidden City slowly comes to light. Star charts drawn by foreign missionaries at the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, a chess game played by a veteran vice minister of justice, and the secret arts of the White Lotus Society's Nanyang branch all point to a shocking experiment that could overthrow the dynasty...