"Master Hua, a shadow is born of light, and naturally follows it wherever it goes."
"For love of a famed flower, I would gladly die. I only fear the wind and sun will ruin its crimson bloom. By night I petition the Palace of Brilliant Light, begging to borrow spring's shade to protect the crabapple. So Lu Fangweng wrote this poem for me, a blind man."
"Master Hua, for a tomb raider to die inside a tomb is a blessing in its own way."
A crabapple hairpin of exquisite craftsmanship, a tomb of eternal life absent from the history books, a band of desperate men each harboring their own schemes, a youth of incomparable beauty, and a promise to follow like a shadow: together, they set in motion a strange and extraordinary tale.
