The Gatekeeper Unties the Eight-Dragon Knot: Discover the Truth and Forget It

Longjiazhai, a hidden stronghold of an ancient clan that calls itself the “Guardians of the Scaled Ones.” The Scaled Ones guard the underground palace with golden buckles. Each seal they break allows the “Erosion of Forgetting” to devour another memory. The Erosion has seven stages, from forgetting trivial matters to forgetting loved ones, and finally reaching a state of total emptiness. No one has ever returned from the seventh stage. Long Hao is the only key bearer of his generation. Accompanied by Long Xiao, a Scaled Guard, he sets off to find the seven dragon-vein anchors. The deserts of Yanqi, the Buddhist caves of Dunhuang, the ancient city of Zhangye, the dense forests of Songpan... Each time he solves a mystery, he loses a memory: his grandfather's face, his mother's voice, Long Xiao's name, his own name. Forgetting rises like water. Long Xiao records everything he forgets in a notebook. She had hated him, his grandfather, and the fate of their entire bloodline. Yet she is also the only one willing to wait for him at the end of forgetting, hoping he will return. When forgetting is the price, keeping a record is an act of protection. When all memories are gone, the body still remembers how to love. Choosing to keep going after forgetting everything takes more courage than choosing to give up while remembering it all.