Xiang Yunfeng, a young man from Northeast China, sees his family’s fortunes collapse and is left burdened with enormous debts. With nowhere else to turn, he stumbles into the secretive and perilous world of the Northern School treasure hunters. He becomes an apprentice to Wang Xiansheng, a Northern School grave-robbing leader, and sets out to learn the trade.
Starting from scratch, he studies feng shui and tomb-finding, investigates the secrets of ancient tomb mechanisms, and learns the rules of the underworld. With his master and fellow apprentices, he ventures into desolate burial mounds and ancient tombs, embarking on one near-death expedition after another. The horrors of the tomb at Moth Mountain have barely faded when poisonous insects swarm the secret realm in Miao territory. Southern School tomb raiders close in at every turn, while the shadows of the Changchun Society lie in wait. Crisis follows crisis.
From a naive, inexperienced boy, he grows into a steady and resolute man of the underworld. He braves sinister underground palaces, breaks deadly evil formations, endures the grief of losing brothers, and suffers the heartbreak of betrayal by his fellow apprentices. He also sees the greed and wickedness lurking in people’s hearts when treasure is at stake.
The road of the underworld is long, and fame and fortune are as sharp as knives. After half a lifetime of wandering, he is covered in the dust of the road. When the ultimate treasure appears and all sides clash to the death, Xiang Yunfeng finally lets go of everything after the dust settles. He washes his hands of the trade and leaves its conflicts behind.
This volume of Northern School treasure-hunting notes records the strange dangers of underground tombs, recounts the bonds and grudges of the underworld, and captures the most genuine growth and homecoming of a young man amid a turbulent world.
