After Leaving Dabeijian Prison, I Followed Adviser Yao Through the Passes

This is an oral history of the tomb-raiding underworld beyond the Shanhai Pass in the 1990s, as well as the story of half my life, told by me, Chen Mo.

In 1999, I walked out of Shenyang Dabei Prison after serving my sentence. I was penniless and notorious, with only one skill to my name: the Yang Gong feng shui passed down through four generations of my family.

With nowhere else to turn, I became a disciple of Yao Fengxian, known throughout the region beyond the Shanhai Pass as “Master Yao,” and his final personal apprentice.

There was no golden finger out of nowhere, no superpowers that could take me to the heavens or beneath the earth. All I had were real skills: finding dragon veins and locating burial spots, reading the earth to identify tombs, and cracking mechanisms. And there was the dangerous path I walked, forever balanced on the edge between life and death.

Following Master Yao, I traveled every inch of the mountains beyond the Shanhai Pass with nothing but a Luoyang shovel.

From tombs of Liao dynasty military governors to Yuan dynasty princes' mausoleums, from Jin dynasty generals' graves to the hidden burial grounds of tribes deep in the mountains, we made our living in the underground world and fought to survive amid the treachery of human nature.

I saw the fiercest blizzards beyond the Shanhai Pass, and the most treacherous mechanisms in ancient tombs;

I had brothers who would risk their lives for me, and met snakes who stabbed me in the back;

I handled priceless cultural relics, and lived through tomb chambers collapsing when I nearly died.

Over thirty years in the underworld, I went from a down-and-out kid fresh out of prison to the respected Mr. Chen of the region beyond the Shanhai Pass.

I also watched with my own eyes as a generation's greatest tomb-raiding master went from a legend who dominated the underworld to his final resting place.

The wind still blows beyond the Shanhai Pass, but those days spent roaming the underworld with Master Yao have become memories etched into my bones and blood.

This isn't some wish-fulfillment tomb-raiding novel. It's simply the story of half a life spent on the road by an old feng shui master in the region beyond the Shanhai Pass during the 1990s.