In the fifteenth year of the Kangxi reign, the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories still raged, while currents of resistance and plans to restore the Ming stirred beneath the surface. Ao Tu, chief feng shui master of the Qing Imperial Astronomical Bureau, receives a secret order to lay the "Vein-Locking Grand Formation." With iron stakes to pin the dragon and a winding river to seal its qi, he aims to suppress the dragon veins of the Ming Thirteen Tombs once and for all, extinguishing the Han people's hopes of restoration. Yuan Wuji, the last heir of the Ming Astronomical Bureau, carries the authentic original of the Prophecies of Tui Bei and the prophecy that "the throne will ultimately return to the Han." Armed with his family's secret annotations to the Green Crow Classic and the Dragon-Settling Jade, he slips back into Tianshou Mountain, vowing to awaken the sleeping dragon veins through the arts of locating dragons, finding their vital points, and restoring their veins to guide their qi. Thus begins a climactic clash of feng shui arts spanning a century. Blood-soaked formations and the heaven-and-earth visions of a weeping Azure Dragon, the blood sacrifice of virgin boys and girls, and a deadly contest involving Seven-Star Life-Extending Lamps will ultimately confirm the prophecy of fate: "The Great Qing will fall after twelve emperors, and the throne will return to the Han."
