A century-old abandoned temple, its Buddha statues faceless.
Su Lin, a professor of folklore, leads a team to investigate the ruins of Tianlian Temple. In the misty mountains, he runs into a one-eyed man whose left arm is made of cold machinery.
The man's name is Gu Zhou. He is like a ferocious beast that has just crawled out of a battlefield: dangerous and violent. Yet the instant he sees Su Lin, a sickly obsession and restraint surge in his eyes.
As a giant bronze cauldron boils and white-robed, eerie monks appear, space begins to fold and warp.
In the Scripture Repository, trapped at the brink of death, Gu Zhou plunges a black-gold dagger into his own heart to protect Su Lin. "Su Lin, don't be afraid. My blood can break every spell."
Su Lin's right eye throbs with pain, and memories of his past life surge back like a flood.
So he really was once a holy, exalted monk.
And Gu Zhou was his disciple, who had fallen in love with a mortal. His "Yin-Yang Buddha Bones" had been ripped from him, and he had been sealed beneath a Black Lotus Pool for a thousand years.
In their past life, Gu Zhou coughed up his heart's blood and wrote his final words on a scroll: [Master, I am willing to become your ink and remain in your scriptures forever. As long as the words remain, I remain.]
In this life, Gu Zhou pins him against a wall, pulls open his collar to reveal the black lotus mark over his heart, and whispers seductively: [Professor Su, I am your ink, and I am your boat. In every life, we are each other's cause and effect. You can't escape me.]
A cool-headed, rational, beautiful and frail bottom, wounded and ill × a fiercely devoted top with maxed-out combat prowess and an obsessive, unhinged streak.
Theme: Love and conviction can cross the boundary between life and death. Hold fast to your principles, and justice will ultimately triumph over illusion and evil.
