During the Great Jing era, Chen Jiu'an is a twenty-two-year-old Taoist priest at Qingxuan Temple on Maoshan. Since childhood, he has been raised by the reclusive master Xuanjizi. He has spent twenty-two years in Maoshan, a sacred Taoist site, studying the legacy of Ge Xuan, Jiang Ziya’s secret movement techniques, and Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng’s feng shui arts. He cultivates a pure Yang Daoist body and practices talisman magic and swordsmanship. His amusing adventures learning the Way in the mountains are many, and his Taoist arts grow ever more profound.
As the world’s spiritual veins fall into turmoil and ancient seals begin to weaken, the three great zombie progenitors, Jiangchen, Houqing, and Yinggou, are on the verge of breaking through the barriers between worlds. Demons rise across the Nine Provinces: strange beasts awaken in Kunlun, Yin energy pours from a corpse cave in Changbai Mountain, serpentine dragons run rampant in the Taihang Mountains, poison and Gu magic plague the hundred thousand mountains of the southwest, snow demons devour people on the Tibetan plateau, and vengeful spirits wreak havoc in the barren marshes of Lingnan. The sacred Taoist sites of Maoshan and Longhu Mountain can barely fend for themselves, and the mortal world teeters on the brink of collapse.
Obeying his master’s order to descend from the mountain and gain experience, Chen Jiu'an ventures into the mortal world with only a basic grasp of Taoist arts. He slays demons, breaks deadly feng shui formations, and explores ancient secret realms. Along the way, he meets Su Kexin, a woman skilled in the mystical arts. The two face danger side by side, bound together through life and death. But midway through the story, a deadly trap that threatens the entire Taoist world is sprung. To protect Chen Jiu'an, his master Xuanjizi uses a century of cultivation and his soul to withstand the zombie progenitor’s fatal attack, sacrificing himself in a heroic death.
Devastated by the loss of the person closest to him, Chen Jiu'an loses heart and falls to the demonic path. He cultivates bitterly, proving his Dao through slaughter and establishing his power in blood. He survives one heavenly tribulation after another, and his cultivation skyrockets. He traverses the famous mountains of the Nine Provinces in search of the ancient sites of Jiang Ziya, Li Chunfeng, Yuan Tiangang, Ge Hong, and other sages. He obtains supreme Taoist scriptures, commands dragons, phoenixes, and strange beasts, battles ancient zombie progenitors, and quells demonic uprisings across the land. With the force of thunder, he wipes out every demon, monster, and ghost in the world, ends a millennium of paranormal chaos, unifies the entire supernatural world, and becomes the one and only Dao Venerable Jiu'an of all time.
