Ink Bones, Seal-Hearted

Chen Mo, a down-on-his-luck restorer of ancient books, takes a mysterious job from Hanhai Group to cover the exorbitant treatment costs for his younger sister's “word blindness.” He must restore a page from the Yongle Encyclopedia whose origins are unknown. The moment blood stains his fingertips, the seal-script character for “burn” on the page bursts into real flame. He realizes he has awakened the power to command written characters: Chinese characters can take physical form beneath his brush, be broken apart into blades or joined together into shields, and their meanings can summon wonders of nature. When his roommate dies in a bizarre accident, his death matching the character for “fall” on Chen Mo's draft, Chen Mo becomes the prime suspect. While fleeing, he encounters Lin Xi, an archaeology PhD and daughter of a leading scholar of ancient books who spent a decade investigating the disappearance of the “Cangjie Fragments.” The bronze seal bearing the character for “Cang” in her possession mysteriously resonates with the mark on the page. The page turns out to be one of the “Nine Scrolls of Cangjie,” containing the “souls of the characters,” the source of Chinese writing. Collecting all nine scrolls will form the “Nine-Character Array,” which can both seal away the chaotic remnants eroding civilization and restart the world. The Chaos Society, the power behind Hanhai Group, closes in at every turn, hoping to seize the scrolls and awaken Chiyou. Inside Chen Mo, good and evil personalities clash fiercely, while the evil side is steadily corrupted by the chaotic remnant. With his sister's life ticking away and the survival of Chinese civilization hanging in the balance, Chen Mo holds fast to the belief that “characters have bones, and writing has a heart.” Along with Lin Xi, a former hacker seeking redemption, and a former rival who has seen the error of his ways, he journeys through the Terracotta Warriors, the Forbidden City's secret archives, and the ancient Luoshui ruins. He deciphers Cangjie's code through clues hidden in the ancient books he restores, wielding brush and ink as weapons and seal script as a shield against the power of character souls twisted by desire. This is a battle for redemption fought by ordinary people.