Shanghai, 2032. Beneath the surface of a prosperous modern metropolis, an evil force dormant for a hundred years is quietly stirring. A series of bizarre murders rocks the old city district. Each victim bears signs of the Five Elements thrown into chaos, a vermilion mark between the brows, and no soul left behind.
Chen Shu is an ordinary young employee at an ancient-text restoration institute. He has been living a quiet life, until a tattered notebook left by his grandfather and a Bagua compass draw him into a metaphysical catastrophe spanning a century. He gradually discovers that he is a true heir to Dunjia, born at midnight in the Bingwu Year of the Horse (2026), carrying a legacy from the Qimen Dunjia lineage that has all but died out.
To uncover the truth and save himself, he has no choice but to follow his grandfather’s clues and reopen the door to the arcane arts. With the help of Lu Li, an antique-shop owner who walks the line between good and evil, and Bai Zhi, a policewoman of mysterious origins, he studies the hidden verses of The Fisherman’s Song in Misty Waters and the secret diagrams of The Jade Mirror in the Golden Casket. Step by step, he masters the three great arts of Qimen, Liu Ren, and Tai Yi, wielding yin and yang, discerning the Five Elements, laying out the Bagua, and driving out evil spirits.
But as his investigation deepens, an ancient, sinister sect called the Nine Hells emerges, its sights set on the legendary Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Formations. Chen Shu gradually realizes that this is not merely a battle between good and evil, but a race against time. If all the Earthly Fiend Formations are unleashed, the human world will become a living hell.
From a spirit-binding web in an old Shanghai mansion to an ancient sacrificial altar deep in the Zhongnan Mountains, from the feng shui death trap known as the White Tiger Devouring a Corpse to the Blood Moon Soul-Calling Formation that reverses yin and yang, Chen Shu is forced, amid acts of protection and sacrifice, to face one final choice: follow Heaven’s Way and do nothing, or use his mortal body to defy fate and change his destiny?
