Chen Du, heir to a family in the funeral business, discovers that “throat-locking saliva” has resurfaced while handling the body from a bizarre murder case. To protect his family, he defies his ancestors' rules and uncovers the secret of the “opening of the Yin Gate,” only to become entangled in a curse spanning thirty years. A Republican-era book called The Sealed Gate Register guides him in his search for the truth, but each of his companions has secrets of their own. When the long-sealed “gate” begins to open again, Chen Du realizes that he is facing more than vengeful ghosts: he is up against an abyss capable of swallowing reality itself. The story weaves together the eerie strangeness of Chinese folk customs, the unknown horrors of Cthulhu-esque fiction, and tangled family grudges.
