Meng Chang, the Jade-Faced Hero: Tian Sanjiu's Road Through the Martial World

[An audiobook-style narration is now available] In the late 1980s, in the forests of Northeast China, 16-year-old Tian Tian, later renamed Tian Sanjiu, is forced into the dangerous business of tomb robbing to save his gravely ill mother. A boy struggling at the bottom of society, he unexpectedly reveals a remarkable talent for cracking tomb traps and a ruthless decisiveness in the face of danger. But on his very first job, his master betrays him, and he narrowly escapes death.

In the ancient tomb complex of Changbai Mountain, he meets the love of his life, Luojiashan. The two later join forces to plunder great tombs from across the ages, carving out a glorious legend from one life-or-death peril after another. He rises step by step to become the chief field leader of Luojiashan's crew, and the two come to know and love each other, weathering countless storms together. But the Mysterious Sound Bird incident in Blackwater City, in the Alxa Desert, leaves Luojiashan with badly injured legs. She eventually falls ill, her strength fading away until she is near death. For love, he holds a wedding of the century and even resorts to the forbidden blue potion, hoping to keep his beloved alive, yet he still cannot escape the cruel whims of fate...

Over more than twenty years of rise and fall in the underworld, Tian Sanjiu earns the nickname “Jade-Faced Meng Chang” for his legendary “one-time slipup” and his generosity and loyalty to his brothers. His extreme ruthlessness toward his enemies also earns him the name “Jade-Faced Yama.” He builds a tomb-robbing empire spanning ten provinces, yet spends his whole life torn between loyalty and affection. He can charge alone into enemy territory for a brother, yet coldly remove the medicinal bait from a hostage. He loves Luojiashan so obsessively that he would defy fate itself for her, yet remains as hard as iron toward Little Azure Dragon, who has waited for him for twenty years.

Through the perspectives of Ji Baitou, Xiang Yunfeng, and others, the full arc of this Northern School legend gradually comes into focus: from struggling at the bottom to reaching the pinnacle of glory, from losing himself to seeking redemption. In the dark trade of tomb robbing, the struggle between honor and survival never ends...