Crime and Punishment on the Loess Plateau

In 1998, the sky was filled with yellow sand in Shahe County, northwest China. The corpse of a young man was discovered on the back wall of a teahouse on Laobei Street. The marks on his neck and the hidden Taoist charms on his chest revealed a serial murder case that spanned twenty years. The three victims were all born on "odd months and even days". Behind the strange death pattern lies the crazy obsession of his father Ma Mingxin - in order to awaken his vegetative son, he sacrificed blood to "lead the soul" according to the ancient Taoist book "Zi Wu Yin and Yang Lu", and became a cold-blooded killer. Sun Fangwu, a recommended student from Tsinghua University, gave up his career due to the tragic death of his best friend. Carrying photos and files, he grinded out clues under the desk lamp late at night at the university. After graduation, he resolutely returned to his hometown to pursue the murderer. Sun Yaozu, an old policeman, burdened with the pain of losing his son and the regret of a broken marriage, held on to the cigarette with his calloused hands and stayed on the road of investigation filled with yellow sand for twenty years. The two spanned youth and old age, looking for the truth among adobe walls, the Yellow River beach, and abandoned brick kilns. Following the ink marks on the broken pages of ancient books and the sacrificial knife marks on the murderer's arms, they gradually approached the father who was driven crazy by despair. When the fifth victim's crisis comes quietly, when the dusty family tragedy intertwines with the sins of Taoist mysteries, a final showdown in the yellow sand begins as scheduled. Sacrifice and redemption, sin and repentance, perseverance and revenge, collide in the wind of the Loess Plateau. After twenty years of chasing the murderer, the yellow sand serves as evidence, and the Taoist talisman finally turns out to be evidence of guilt. Justice and perseverance will finally bring peace to the lost souls on this heavy land.