The Poet Immortal’s Cat and the Mountain-and-River Sign-In System

After transmigrating to the Wu Zhou dynasty, Lin Xiaozhou becomes a descendant of the Poet Immortal Li Bai, generations removed. Perched on his shoulder is Jinzun, a booze-loving, endlessly chatty spirit cat. Bound to the “Mountains and Rivers Poetry System,” his journey is destined to be extraordinary: he climbs Mount Tai to grasp the meaning of “Gazing at Mount Tai,” then arrives in Luoyang to unravel a “blood pact.” Every step takes him across the verses of history and into its conspiracies. This is no simple sightseeing trip. The mountains and rivers are alive with spirit, and the souls of poetry never die. Ancient scrolls in Du Fu’s Thatched Cottage conceal the secrets of the earth’s ley lines, while the “Dragon-Suppressing Stakes” beyond Jianmen Pass imprison a thousand years of mournful cries. His companions include Lu Qingjian, a spirit fox skilled in ancient restoration techniques, and the enigmatic Zhuge Liang, the Crouching Dragon, who can foresee every move. From the Buddha’s radiance at the Longmen Grottoes to the Daoist spirit of Mount Qingcheng, from Luoyang’s water banquet to cold-pot fish from the gorges, they savor the finest flavors of the mortal world even as they wage a silent war against the “New Poetry Alliance,” which seeks to overthrow the traditions of Chinese literature. Wu Zetian’s “dragon-vein blood pact” has brought disaster for a thousand years, and the five-direction dragon-suppression formation is riddled with danger. With poetry as his sword and his heart as his mirror, Lin Xiaozhou sets out on a magnificent journey across the splendid mountains and rivers of the High Tang, aided by the spirit cat’s wisecracks, the white fox’s cleverness, and the Crouching Dragon’s strategic genius. Suspense builds, delicious food abounds, and poetry guides the way as they compose a legend of verse, wine, mountains and rivers, and fiery courage. Ahead lie the perilous roads of Shu, the misty rains of Jiangnan, and the lonely smoke over the northern frontier… The vast land awaits, every mile a poem yet to be written.