In the winter of the fifteenth year of the Zhenguan era, heavy snow seals the Yanmen Pass. Seventeen Hu merchants are found dead in a ruined temple, each with a blue-glazed lamp etched with a design of Wang Zhaojun over their heart. Their bloodstains look fresh.
The thousand-year-old zombie Gu Qingfeng guards this place in the guise of a general, having lived through three dynasties as he awaits the reincarnation of his deputy, Shen Qingci. The exorcist Wen Xuerou, the City God's runner Qingyi, and the demon-slaying swordsman Yan Chixia converge on Yanmen. Together, the four investigate a series of murders involving nine blue-glazed lamps and uncover a deadly plot by a Turkic cult to unseal the leyline beneath the Azure Tomb and bring down the Tang Dynasty.
The day the sword is drawn and snow begins to fall will be the day a thousand-year-old wish is fulfilled.
