In the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu's reign in the late Qing Dynasty, the Gengzi Revolution occurred and the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing. The treasures of the Forbidden City were scattered, and a legendary "Nine Dragon Secret Box" also disappeared. Legend has it that this box contains the last secret of the Dragon Vein of the Qing Dynasty. If you get it, you can control the destiny of the world, and you can also open a treasure that can subvert the world.
Twenty years later, in a humble antique shop "Tingyu Zhai" in Liulichang, Peking, the young shopkeeper Chen Qingshu lived a seemingly peaceful life. He has a pair of "yin and yang pupils" that can see the "qi" remaining on the artifact under certain conditions - the obsession of the maker, the memory of the owner, and even the fragments of the artifact's experience. This is a secret talent passed down from generation to generation in the Chen family, and it is also the real secret skill of the "Qi Sect" among the "Eight Outer Sects". He thought he could live a stable life guarding his ancestral property, until one rainy night, a Jianghu man covered in wounds broke into the shop, leaving behind a blood-stained bronze key and a last word: "Nine dragons appear, eight gates gather, heaven's secrets are revealed, and the calamity of life and death..."
Overnight, the legend of the "Outer Eight Gates" that had disappeared for twenty years reappeared. The snitch from the Gu Gate, the witch from the Gu Gate, the craftsman from the Organ Gate, the liar from the Thousand Gates, the actor from the Orchid Gate, the shaman from the Divine Tune Gate, the killer from the Red Hand Gate, the strongman from the Life-seeking Gate... Strange people with their own unique skills, both good and evil, are either involved in this key, or they take the initiative to find it. In order to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance and to protect the secrets that may affect the peace of the world, Chen Qingshu was forced to embark on a treasure hunt...
From the secret passages in the deep courtyards of Peking to the thousand-year-old tombs in the dense forests of western Hunan; from the conspiracy of the ten-mile foreign market in Shanghai to the lost ancient city deep in the vast desert. Not only do they have to crack numerous incredible ancient institutions and deal with the open and secret attacks of all forces, but they also have to face the test of mutual suspicion, betrayal and desire. Chen Qingshu gradually discovered that the process of searching for the "Kowloon Secret Box" was more like a cruel trial and redemption journey for the descendants of the "Outer Eight Sects". The real secret in the box may not be wealth and power, but a shocking mystery about the fate of Chinese civilization and an ultimate multiple-choice question left by the ancestors of the "Outer Eight Sects"...
Intention: People cannot help themselves in the world
