Master Yao, the Tomb Guide

Even the most legendary figures cannot escape the shackles of fate. Master Yao was obsessed with the secrets of tombs all his life, arrogant and self-assured. He once boasted, “Give me enough time and I’ll find the entrance to Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum. A hundred experts couldn’t match me.” He spent half his life plundering treasures from underground, yet was hopelessly addicted to gambling. Everything he earned from decades of tomb raiding went straight onto the gaming table. To cover his gambling debts, he had no choice but to survey and rob tombs with ever greater abandon, until at last he fell into the hands of the law.

His ending proved the old saying of the underworld: “If you keep walking by the river, you’re bound to get your shoes wet.” After ruling the roost for half a lifetime, he ultimately ended up behind bars. Master Yao, once so dazzlingly successful, disappeared from the underworld stage for good. The tomb-finding techniques and legends he left behind are still passed down by word of mouth among practitioners of the Northern School. Some marvel at his peerless skill and lament that he went astray; others fear his ruthless methods and respect the power he once wielded.

Master Yao’s life is a legendary microcosm of the underworld’s hidden world. From a poor boy to the foremost boss beyond the Pass, from boundless glory to his final downfall, he stirred the underworld with his unique skills, only to lose everything to his own greed. He was a grandmaster revered by those in the trade, a lost soul consumed by greed, and an unforgettable, morally ambiguous legend in the history of the underworld.