Southwest China Archaeological Notes, 1990

In 1990, the mountains of the southwest tremble, and the dragon vein of the Min Mountains stirs. An ancient Shu king’s tomb is unearthed beneath the Chengdu-Chongqing railway. The burial mound sinks three feet overnight, hardened steel probes snap clean off, and everyone on the excavation team falls into a waking nightmare. The national archaeological excavation grinds to a complete halt. Chen Xun, heir to a family that has served in the Imperial Observatory’s Water Clock Office for generations, enters the fray with his family’s copy of The Southwest Water Dragon Classic, annotated by a late Tang dynasty Imperial Preceptor. Using the art of locating dragon veins and dividing gold, he breaks the deadlock. Six dragon-subduing sites stretch across Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. Bronze cauldrons fill with water, murals shift position, and caves loop back on themselves. Each bizarre event is tied to the thousand-year-old secrets of the southwest’s dragon veins. He seeks not gold, but to protect national treasures and suppress the dragon energy. He must also uncover the ultimate fate his ancestor buried in the dragon’s head eight hundred years ago.