The Physics of Thunder Magic

[Synopsis]

While other Daoists form hand seals and chant incantations, Chen Mo works out formulas for thunder magic on scrap paper. When his opponents summon ghost soldiers and generals, he sets up a homemade electromagnetic generator. A graduate student in history, he believes everything can be explained by science, until a mysterious iron seal left by his grandfather lets him witness thunder taking shape in his palm.

Behind a string of murders across the city lies an ancient cult devoted to “all things returning to the void.” The sinister formations they lay can twist space and time, and the evil spirits they summon defy the laws of physics. Traditional Daoist arts are steadily losing ground, but Chen Mo deciphers the electromagnetic nature of thunder magic from ancient texts and uses laboratory equipment to recreate the lost secrets of the Divine Heaven sect.

“You call this a Five Thunder Formation?” He adjusts the frequency generator. “To me, it’s just a directional plasma blast.”

A stuffy Daoist forced to work with him, a beautiful consultant trying to deconstruct ghosts with psychology, and a bad friend who turns livestreamed exorcisms into viral hits: when this ragtag bunch faces the “Abyss of Annihilation,” which can swallow light, Chen Mo activates a Tesla coil covering the entire city.

Tonight, he will prove to the world that when science explains the supernatural, even gods are nothing more than physical laws operating in higher dimensions.