My father had been missing for three years when I received a package with no return address.
Inside were an old notebook, an ancient jade, and an old photograph of Heizhugou.
On the back of the photo, in my father's handwriting, were the words: "If they find you, come here to find me."
They came, just as he said they would.
An organization called the Eternal Life Society showed up at my door, claiming they could help me find my father.
Their condition: I had to hand over what he left behind.
I pretended to cooperate while secretly following the clues my father had left.
What I uncovered was more unbelievable than the last:
The Classic of Mountains and Seas isn't mythology. It's an archive of prehistoric civilization.
The recipe for the immortality elixir sought by Qin Shi Huang came from King Mu of Zhou.
The double-fish jade pendant from Lop Nur was a token given to King Mu of Zhou by the Queen Mother of the West.
The dragon that fell from the sky in Yingkou was the Queen Mother's old cast-off shell.
The wild men of Shennongjia were failed attempts to reproduce the Queen Mother's technology.
Deep in the Death Valley of Heizhugou, the Queen Mother of the West is still waiting for King Mu of Zhou.
Every clue points to the same thing:
The secret King Mu of Zhou brought back from Kunlun Void is hidden in my bloodline.
The Eternal Life Society wants to open the Gate of Heaven, kill the Queen Mother of the West, and seize the ultimate secret of immortality.
They think I'm the key.
They're wrong.
King Mu of Zhou has been late to his appointment for three thousand years.
This time, I'll go in his place.
And I'll bring it to an end for him, too.
It's okay, it's okay. You can read it when you're short of books.
This could have been okay