In the fifth month of the Tang dynasty, a month considered inauspicious due to clashing yin and yang energies, Princess Wanshou dies suddenly of an illness that strikes within two days. As the beloved daughter of Noble Consort Xue, she was the focal point of Emperor Xuanzong's grief, having been raised with privileges surpassing all other royals. The Emperor, ignoring protocol and ministerial objections, buries her hastily in a repurposed tomb at Mount Zhongnan, employing soul-suppressing talismans and a grotesque four-eyed mask on her corpse. This extreme measure, combined with the execution of forty-two palace attendants, suggests a conspiracy far deeper than simple mourning.
Wei Xun, a skilled but unlucky tomb raider who learned his trade from the late Chen, infiltrates the burial site with his junior partner, Thirteenth. While searching for a specific, unnamed artifact, Wei Xun discovers that Princess Wanshou was buried alive. Her body is warm, her breathing faint but present, and the tomb is filled with signs of ritualistic suppression rather than standard imperial burial rites. Realizing she is not dead, Wei Xun rescues her from the coffin, carrying her out of the sealed underground palace as dawn breaks. He takes her to the dilapidated Cuiwei Temple, a former imperial palace turned ruin, where he nurses her back to health over several days.
Upon waking, Princess Wanshou, whose personal name is Baozhu, learns the horrifying truth: she was poisoned, her attendants were massacred, and her father refused to investigate her death, instead rushing to suppress her soul. The political context is tense; her brother, Prince Shao, was recently demoted and exiled to Youzhou, and rumors suggest the poisoning was linked to factional struggles within the court. With no one left in the palace she can trust and her identity legally erased as a deceased royal, Baozhu decides she cannot return to Chang’an. Instead, she resolves to travel two thousand li to Youzhou to reunite with her brother and uncover the conspiracy behind her attempted murder.
Wei Xun, initially indifferent to her plight, agrees to escort her, driven by curiosity about the strange circumstances of her burial and the artifact he failed to retrieve. The journey begins with limited resources; Baozhu sells her jewelry to fund their travel, while Wei Xun uses his underworld connections to acquire supplies, including a scrawny donkey that proves surprisingly durable. Along the way, the dynamic between the three shifts. Baozhu, stripped of her royal status and forced to navigate the harsh realities of the common world, begins to shed her aristocratic naivety. Wei Xun reveals glimpses of his deeper knowledge and skills, hinting that his interest in her case extends beyond mere companionship. Thirteenth serves as a foil, providing comic relief but also loyalty to his senior.
As they leave the capital, the group encounters the stark contrast between imperial luxury and the suffering of refugees fleeing drought and banditry. The narrative establishes a tone of mystery and political intrigue, with the past haunting the present through the secrets buried in the tomb. The story sets the stage for a perilous journey northward, where Baozhu must rely on Wei Xun’s cunning and martial prowess to survive threats both human and supernatural, while Wei Xun seeks answers to the ancient mysteries that have drawn him to this fateful encounter.
