Lin Shouzheng earns just 2,800 yuan a month as an apprentice at Jishitang, with room and board included. His master, Chen Banxian, is a raving eccentric whom the neighbors all think is insane. Then one night, his master's junior fellow disciple, Xuan Mingzi, arrives with a blood-red Yin Core and demands that Chen Banxian cultivate into a Corpse Immortal. When his master refuses, Xuan Mingzi attacks, and Chen Banxian is no match for him. On his deathbed, he fishes a golden Yang Core out from under the counter. “Swallow it.”
“What are my odds?”
“Thirty percent.”
Lin Shouzheng swallows the inner core. Thunder crashes down from the heavens, and his master dies shielding him from the tribulation.
He becomes a zombie. There are seven ranks, from Walking Corpse to Corpse Immortal, and he has no idea how far he can go. All he knows is that his master traded his own life for his, and he can't let him down.
Later, he meets Su Nianqing, the twenty-six-year-old CEO of Tiansheng Group, who is cold as ice. When everyone else treats him like a monster, she steps in front of him and says, “He's human. More human than anyone else.” Meanwhile, in the shadows, Xuan Mingzi holds the Yin Core. Behind him stand Qiansheng Life and Shen Qianqiu, the five body parts of Tai Sui, and the complete guide to becoming a Corpse Immortal, each more deadly than the last.
But this time, he won't have to face it alone. He has her, Lu Wenbin, Liu Rushi, and Qingyangzi. And he still has his master, waiting beneath the Nine Springs. A medicine shop apprentice, a zombie, a hapless fellow with an inner core shoved into him by his master: they've found someone worth protecting for the rest of their lives. Chen Banxian once said, “Your master traded his life for yours. If you don't dare live your life well, I'll come after you even as a ghost.”
