Nine Nails, One God

In Linhai City, a person without a spiritual root counts for nothing, and Lu Changsheng has none. He takes the humiliation that comes with that, and his younger sister is badly hurt by a poisoned whip. What nobody knows, Lu Changsheng included, is that nine soul-quelling nails are driven into his body, and they are there to hold down the power he carried in a previous life as Yama, lord of the underworld. The nails begin to break. His heavenly eye opens, he can see where anything is weak, and a single word from him will put ten thousand ghosts back in their place. The Pavilion of Heaven's Mandate intends a blood sacrifice on the dragon veins that would take the world with it. Lu Changsheng reopens the Three Lives Hall to fund himself, takes medicine off the black market to keep his sister and his dying spirit beast alive, and starts tracking down the coordinates of the nine great dragon veins. Each nail he draws out brings the thing sealed inside him closer to the surface.