Synopsis of The Tomb of the Southern Han Emperor
In Guangzhou in 2008, a bloodstained Annotated Supplement to the Classic of the Green Crow sends Chen Yan on a journey to uncover the truth behind his grandfather Chen Jiuzhen's disappearance after entering a tomb. Tucked inside the book is a map of a dragon-shaped kiln site, along with an eight-character secret message scrawled at the edge: “Red Emperor's Fire Jade. Keep the dragon sealed; do not touch.” It binds Chen Yan to Su Xiaotang, a mechanical expert; Lao Gui, a veteran weighed down by his past; and A Man, a girl from a Miao village who can read the earth's veins by listening to a bone whistle.
Following the clues deep into Zhaoqing's Seven Star Crags, they risk their lives to seize a finger-bone flute from a formation of ceramic figures in the abandoned “Dragon-Sealing Kiln.” In the “Nuo Mask Village,” where people perform exorcist dances day and night, they unravel a water-mirror mechanism and draw ever closer to the imperial tomb of Liu Yan, the last ruler of the Southern Han. This ancient tomb blends the Central Plains' Big Dipper feng shui with the witchcraft and poison arts of Lingnan. It conceals Liu Yan's ambition to be reborn in the flesh, as well as the central secret behind Chen Jiuzhen's disappearance: he was not trapped. For twenty years, he had stood against Lord Hei, leader of the “Shadow Hands,” who coveted the secret artifact, to protect the “Red Emperor's Fire Jade.”
As blood silkworm bricks in the blood-curse corridor devour their way forward, a dried corpse beside the rebirth cauldron clutches a letter about a reunion, and the Fire Jade's heat scorches both greed and the chance of redemption, the four finally understand: this tomb-raiding expedition was never about finding treasure. It was about uncovering the family secrets of three generations and breaking a tomb-guardian curse that had endured for a thousand years. In the end, the Fire Jade cools and the Nuo masks come off. They swear before the tomb to protect the ancient site. But a map to the tomb of the King of Wuyue in an anonymous letter brings a new mystery into view...
