At the Hukou Ferry on the Yellow River, the Chen family has passed down the duty of “spirit ferrymen” for generations: ferrying vengeful ghosts, upholding the rules, and protecting the land. Sixteen-year-old Chen Yan inherits his grandfather’s peachwood sword and soul-subduing banner. He abides by the ancestral rule of “ferry none of three kinds,” but soon encounters one eerie incident after another: a blood-red river lantern leading the way, an ancient coffin with nails that bind souls, and wronged spirits wailing beneath the ice.
The arrival of cultural relic researcher Su Qing unravels the mystery of his grandfather’s disappearance thirty years ago and draws Chen Yan into a curse spanning a century. From the corpse-rotting vines of the Blackwater River to the drum spirit of a Warring States battle drum, from a water ape seeking revenge to the phantom of a ghost ship, the depths of the Yellow River conceal too many unresolved grievances and unsolved secrets.
Aboard an ancient boat, they travel through mist-shrouded waterways, using cinnabar to dispel evil and their own blood to subdue spirits. At the boundary where the living and the dead intertwine, they hold fast to their principles. Every crossing is a struggle against obsession; every solution safeguards the peace of the Yellow River. When the resentment of the thousand-year-old River Lord awakens, this adventure of legacy, justice, and redemption will face its ultimate test. A spirit ferryman has never truly ferried souls, but the obsessions and kindness deep within people.
The Yellow River flows on, and the spirit ferrymen’s duty will never end.
