Tales of the Tang Dynasty

Chang'an, the sixth year of Yonghui in the Tang dynasty. On the surface, it was a flourishing age of prosperity, but beneath it stirred a strange undercurrent. That year, Empress Wang was deposed for using curse magic, and Wu Zetian ascended to the throne as empress. Meanwhile, countless curse plots were quietly set in motion among the common people. Some used them to seize power, others to exact revenge, and still others to prolong their lives. Pei Che, a fifteen-year-old novice from Louguantai on Mount Zhongnan, bore the Taoist name Bu Er. He had just entered the Dongshen realm when his master, Ye Fashan, sent him down the mountain with a letter. His master said, "You have already been caught up in the Tang dynasty's upheaval. You are destined to face a tribulation. If you survive it, great fortune awaits. If you don't..." His master left the rest unsaid. The Cui residence was haunted. Pei Che investigated it alone and discovered seven coffin nails buried underground, arranged according to the Big Dipper, their points facing down to pin an entity that should never have been restrained. He pulled out six, but the last was lodged in a roof pillar and would not budge.