Map of the Nine Seas

During an illegal underwater excavation off the coast of Shandong, six people descended to the seafloor. Only one came back. Three hours after reaching shore, the survivor died by drowning. But the autopsy found that the water in his lungs was not seawater. It came from a freshwater environment sealed off from the outside world for thousands of years. Gu Weichuan, a researcher in underwater archaeology and paleogeography, is drawn into the ruins submerged on the seafloor. There are no coffins or tomb owner, only rooms full of seeds, animal bones, and pottery, along with dozens of skeletons seated facing the walls. Even harder to explain, the remains of a man from the state of Qi in the Warring States period lie in a cultural layer far older than that era. At the end of the tomb wall, eight of nine ancient circular symbols have been deliberately blacked out. The same pattern once appeared on the last page of notes left by Gu Weichuan’s deceased mentor. When a fifth tomb raider vanishes with a mysterious stone fragment, a trail buried for thousands of years gradually comes to light: the state of Qi, the Jixia Academy, Langya Terrace, Qin Shi Huang’s eastern tour, Xu Fu, the Classic of Mountains and Seas... Perhaps Penglai, which people have sought for two thousand years, was never an immortal mountain at all. And what lies buried beneath the sea was never dead people.