The flames at Xianyang Palace are dying out. Hangu Pass has fallen, and the once-mighty Qin Empire that swept across the Six Kingdoms is teetering on the brink of collapse. All under Heaven mourns that the Qin dynasty is nearing its end. Yet amid the shadows of a crumbling empire, a group of soldiers, alchemists, and former officials who swore an oath to the “Soul of Qin” refuse to let the foundation laid by their late sovereign, the First Emperor of Qin, vanish completely. Using a secret art, they transform themselves into spirits of the netherworld and form the “Netherguard.”
Forsaking the boundary between life and death, they roam between the realms of yin and yang. They conjure visions of “the collapse of the mountain tomb” in enemy camps at night to cow the lords coveting Guanzhong; appear in the fading light of sunset, invoking the laws and majesty established by the First Emperor of Qin to rekindle the loyalty and courage of scattered Qin soldiers; and lay formations deep in the underworld, hoping to use the power of ghosts and gods to restore Qin’s military might and protect the surviving people of Qin and the ancestral rites.
As the Qin banners in the mortal realm are about to fall, these undying spirits take up arms, their souls as armor and their obsessions as blades. Amid the ruins of the dynasty, they compose a tragic battle hymn of loyalty, determination, and undying imperial majesty. Even if the empire has fallen, the Soul of Qin will stand guard once more, in both the netherworld and the mortal realm, over the awe-inspiring might once forged by the Emperor.
