The 1980s were a golden age of transition and revival, but also an era of crumbling rites and rampant ghosts, when the old laws had lost their power. Chen Xun, a sent-down youth returning to the city, had barely had a chance to embrace the new life ushered in by reform and opening up when he was drawn into a bizarre death case. The only clue was a battered ancient book left behind by his grandfather: The Daoist Canon of the Human World. There were no immortals in its pages who could summon wind and rain, only a compass for reading feng shui, cinnabar for drawing talismans and issuing commands, and black dog blood for warding off evil and suppressing curses. When science reached its limits, the occult began; when the calm of ordinary streets was torn apart by terrifying shadows, Chen Xun was forced to become a “barefoot Celestial Master.” He used Taoist arts as his spear and wisdom as his shield, walking between the dawn and darkness of the Republic. From century-old zombie fungi deep in the mountains to evil things sunk beneath the ancient Yellow River channel; from haunted houses that devoured people in urban legends to ancient seals buried underground.
What he sought was not only the truth, but also the fragments of the fabled broken “Dragon Vein That Protects the Nation.” For he gradually discovered that he was not facing isolated evil spirits, but a shocking conspiracy to overthrow the order of the human world and establish false gods anew! ---
