This Play Is Not on Stage

Three thousand years of ancient catastrophe, heaven was reshuffled, and the boundaries of the human world collapsed. Shadow puppets, story telling, and Nuo opera—the three great traditions of Chinese folk customs were forcibly split up and their inheritance was cut off. The Shadow Gate guarded the cracks, and everyone died in battle; the Shu Zong changed history, and was slandered as false; the Nuo God suppressed evil spirits, and was regarded as superstitious by the world. On the last shadow puppet stage in Sangu Town, 23-year-old Lin Yanci is the only remaining boundary keeper in the world. He guards a thousand-year-old well, a stage that no one cares about, and a black cat drinking tea. The world thinks he is guarding outdated craftsmanship, but they don't know that the seven inherited shadow puppets in his sleeves are holding down the false cracks that are opening up the entire earth. On the day when the first guard shadow puppet was burned in the Shadow Eclipse Garden, Lin Yanci finally stood up from the stage. Silhouettes become soldiers, words are followed, masks are worn to invite gods—— Not only is he the last guardian of the Shadow Clan, he is also the only one in the world who has full access to all three meridians. Shadow puppets shape shapes, storytelling determines destiny, and Nuo noodles calm gods. When he is lazy, he is a shadow puppet maker basking in the sun on the old street; when he is crazy, he is the last sacrificial wine maker who wears a mask to kill ghosts and gods. The day when the three meridians return to their original positions, it will be the time for him to reestablish the order of the world as a mortal.