In the third year of Chuping in the Eastern Han dynasty, Cao Cao established the Gold-Touching Commandant, financing his campaigns with tomb treasures.
Chen Linyuan, a Colonel of the Mound-Raising, was ordered south with a four-person team to delve into an ancient tomb in Chen and secure military funds. A suspected tomb on Mount Mangdang, a Warring States noble’s tomb in Qiao County, and an unnamed grand tomb in the Tongbai Mountains: three tombs, bound together by a clue deliberately buried.
The strange events began on the very first day in the mountains.
Tendrils burst from the ground in the forest. A chant that had echoed underground for a thousand years rang out, and blood-red ancient inscriptions appeared on the bronze compass he carried: “The dead are not dead; the living are not alive. The Gate of Tongbai opens in the ninth month.”
Fifty years ago, a hundred tomb raiders entered the forbidden grounds of the Tongbai Mountains. Not one returned.
Fifty years later, the compass in Chen Linyuan’s hand was inching toward that very same tomb entrance.
But when they finally stood before the door, they discovered a truth that made their scalps crawl:
The door was open.
Someone had come before them. Or perhaps something had come out.
