The Yin Trades of the Nine Gates

In the chaotic Republic of China era, a “dragon-patterned black coffin” appeared in the precipitous mountains of western Hunan. Inside lay a general's body, untouched by decay for a thousand years. But carved into the bottom of the coffin was a chilling line in blood: “Whoever opens my coffin shall take my place, eternally guarding the underworld.”

The Four Tomb Raiders: Chen Qiyuan, the connoisseur; Hu Shanhe, the feng shui master; Yang Tiegu, the strongman; and Jin Wantang, the brains. Acting on a secret order from the Nine Gates, they set out to explore the tomb. On their first night inside, the general's corpse, which should have been still and silent, sat at the foot of Jin Wantang's bed and slowly opened its eyes...

Worse still, Jin Wantang discovered a blood-red curse mark, identical to the one on the coffin, appearing in the palm of his left hand.

The corpse's reanimation was only the beginning. Deep in the general's tomb, an ancient map tanned on human skin pointed to the truth behind the disappearance of the Nine Gates' founders. Everyone who had come into contact with the black coffin was eerily “becoming” the tomb's occupant, their minds consumed by the same resentment as they relived the agonizing cycle of being buried alive as a sacrifice a thousand years ago.

When the four of them saw a sacrificial stele at the bottom of the tomb, covered in names, they finally understood. The last unfinished name on it was slowly appearing, stroke by stroke, as the curse in Jin Wantang's palm grew stronger. This was no tomb raid. It was a sacrifice spanning a thousand years. The road to life might be even more despairing than the road to death.

Whoever opens the coffin will, in the end, become the one inside.