In the old lands of Yelang, where Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan meet, mountain ranges stretch as far as the eye can see and countless karst caves lie hidden. For generations, the tribes of the Southern Wilds have passed down a funerary manual known as the Southwest Burial Canon. It records no geomancy of imperial tombs in the Central Plains, only ancient methods for finding burial sites, breaking evil forces, and laying spirits to rest in the cave burials, cliffside coffins, tree coffins, hooded burials, and skyward tombs of the Miao, Yi, Bo, and ancient Yelang peoples.
The protagonist, Shen Yanning, is the last heir to the Southern Wilds' tradition of miasma-watchers. For generations, his family guarded the mountains and tombs, stealing no treasures, but keeping miasma, curses, and evil forces born in ancient tombs under control. Thirty years ago, disaster struck when an outsider sect of gold prospectors and tomb raiders called the Mountain Puppet Society entered the depths of the mountains, desecrated the tribal ancestral tombs, and released the witchcraft and evil spirits sealed there for generations. The elders of the Shen family died sealing the tomb, leaving only the young Shen Guanshan and half of a damaged Southwest Burial Canon.
Years later, the Mountain Puppet Society returns, intent on finding the legendary Yelang Witch Ancestor's Tomb of Ten Thousand Mountains. They plan to use an ancient witchcraft formation inside to seize the mountains' power and fortune. The miasma will consume the entire range of the Southwest, and every village will be destroyed. Shen Guanshan is forced to break with his ancestors' precepts and travel across the Southern Wilds to explore its eight extraordinary tombs, seeking the missing parts of the canon. He joins forces with a Miao poison-witch, a cave-dwelling mud shoveler, and a Yi Bimo priest. Together, they battle evil forces and poisonous curses while thwarting the Mountain Puppet Society's schemes, gradually uncovering the secrets behind the fall of the ancient Yelang kingdom and the thousand-year struggle for life and death among the ancient peoples of the Southwest. At last, he must choose: destroy the tomb and purge its evil, or protect the foundation of reincarnation for every living being in the mountains.
The writing is so spicy~