Daomu Biji (The Lost Tomb / Grave Robbers’ Chronicles) Novel English Summary – Masterpost
As of 2020, the official English translation of Daomu Biji novel is still incomplete (only the first 6 books have been released). In addition, as the title is not well-known outside of China, the English paperbacks seem to be not easily obtainable for fans living in certain countries. With that understanding in mind, I’ve decided to create summaries of all the books in English.
These summaries are created & translated based on the actual raw content, my memory of the novel and resources that I gather from the internet. I hope they will help international fans have an easier understanding of the main events that take place in each book. Also, get ready to be surprised at how much the book differs from the drama adaptation (๏ฝกโขฬแด-)โง.
If you are entirely new to the novel and somehow land yourself on this page, you may want to check out these important links to get started! ^^
Quick introduction to Daomu Biji
Which order to read & watch everything Daomu Biji
Needless to say, major spoilers should be expected in all the summaries. Other than that, enjoy!
Main Story
[Daomu Biji]
Book 1. The Seven-Star Palace Of Lu Shang Wang
Book 2. Sands Hidden In The Raging Sea
Book 3. Qinlingโs Sacred Tree
Book 4. Heavenly Palace On The Clouds
Book 5. Ghost Kingdom Of The Snakes (Part 1)
Book 5. Ghost Kingdom Of The Snakes (Part 2)
Book 6. Homecoming
Book 7. Ancient Mansion Down Under
Book 8. Deadly Mansion, Mystic Cave
Book 9. The Grand Finale (Part 1)
Book 9. The Grand Finale (Part 2)
_______
Tibetan Sea Flower
[Zang Hai Hua]
_______
Sand Sea
[Sha Hai]
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Book 4
_______
Ten Years Later
[Shi Nian]
(to be updated)
Translator and reviewer at Strictly Bromance blog. In essence, she lives to indulge in plot-driven stories sprinkled with camaraderie and slow-burn drama-free romance, especially more so if they belong to adventure, mystery or supernatural genre. A trope that she always thirsts after: “Comrades who go through life and death together”.
And if I may know where I can get permission from the original author.
Email : [email protected]
Please contact me with the email above.
hello sis, I want to ask if I can translate the story of Daomu Seed into Indonesian and if it is made into a book, is it allowed, thank you.
Hi. Just want to thank you for your summaries, they are super helpful and very condensed + concise.
Hi Fiona,
Thank you for visiting the blog and checking out these summaries. I’m glad they’ve been useful. ^_^
hi i just ask where can i read the mystic complete?Thank u
Hi Jjjjan,
I apologise that this reply came rather late as I was away from this website for the past few months. There’s a fan translation by MereBear, where you should be able to read all the available Mystic Nine chapters. Please find the link here: https://merebear474765851.wordpress.com/daomu-biji-vol-12/
I hope this helps!
Oh nooo! The link for book 3 is broken ๐ญ or is it only me? Help, pls!
Oh no, the same goes for the book 1 of the Tibetan Sea Flower…
Hi Jaz,
I apologise that this reply came rather late, but I just want to let you know that the links for Book 3 and Tibetan Sea Flower Book 1 have been updated. Thanks so much for flagging the issue!
I just want to leave an encourage message here. I want to thank you for creating this blog. I became hooked up to The Lost Tomb series after watching the first one (The Lost Tomb). I have watched โalmostโ all of them and always keep wanting more. I discovered the series was an adaptation from Daomi Biji novel and I really wanted to buy the books and read them. Abu ideas where I can purchase the books that are already translated?
Thank you for your hard work and dedication. Iโm bookmarking this blog โค๏ธ
Hi , I’m really sorry to message here I’m just new in this fandom also I’m mira from Philippines i really love the story i love how they value their friendship even each of them are misterious to each other still . but after finishing watching ULTIMATE NOTE i feel hanging theirs a lot of questions left in my mind like others here . I want explain my side but im not good in english ๐ฅบcan i ask witch season i watch after i finish ultimate note I’m really confused i already back read but theirs a lot of episodes suggested i don’t know which i start please i really want to continue watching until the next air of ultimate not wired๐ฅบ
Thank youโค
Hi Mhira gumaga,
Please don’t be sorry at all. It’s me who has to thank you for visiting the site.
As one always says, if you’re in this The Lost Tomb (the big universe which Ultimate Note is a part of) abyss and feel confused, you’re actually doing it right. Almost everyone here feels confused at one point xD
For the right order to watch the different dramas, actually Ultimate Note isn’t the first one in line. If you scroll through the second section on this post of mine https://strictlybromance.com/which-order-to-read-and-watch-dao-mu-bi-ji/, you will be able to see a rough order of how to watch the dramas ^^ Basically you may consider this order:
Now all the above 4 dramas belong to what we’d call The Lost Tomb Main Story series. Following those 4 dramas, you may want to check out the following:
A lot more dramas are still being planned and will be produced at one point in the future. It may take some time to get familiar with the whole universe since the plot is really gigantic… But in any case, I hope this reply of mine is useful! ^^ Have fun watching!
Thank you for the translations! I got hooked after watching Ultimate note also and then started watching sea sand and sound of providence and also your translated copies because I still have so many questions lol.
Whatโs behind the bronze gate? I still canโt seemed to find the answer!
Also is Daomubiji completed or is the author planning to continue writing sequels to sound of providence?
Thank you for your hard work.
Hi Callie,
I’m so sorry for the late reply, I was away from the website for a while.
It’s okay to have a lot of questions about the series. It’s very very normal in fact.
Now on your first question: What is behind the Bronze Gate? That is exactly the biggest mystery of Daomu Biji that no one has an answer for T_T After 16 years of writing, the author still hasn’t revealed this secret, so I guess we can only wait.
On your second question: Is Daomu Biji completed? Technically, no. At this very moment, the author is still writing a lot of extras, depicting Iron Triangle’s (the 3 main characters Wu Xie, Men You Ping and Pangzi) life in ‘retirement’. Saying so, he also recently completed a sort-of sequel for The Sound of Providence, it’s called ไธๅฑฑๆๅค (you may find all his latest writings here: https://wemp.app/accounts/52993374-9fb5-4bde-9828-8b501dfbe281). Who knows? Maybe one day this sequel will get a drama adaptation too!
I hope this helps! ^^
You are a legend Michelle! Thanks heaps for the link on ไธๅฑฑๆๅค. I used google translate to read the sypnosis. Its quite funny. Our Wuxie turned into a farmer, Xioge into a cashier and Pangzi now a chef. Too funny. I finished it in 2 days :)) You’d mentioned there are extra chapters about their life in retirement – do you have the links for it please? Have you read it yourself? I hope he keeps writing and keep our characters alive forever ๐
Hi Callie, any chapter that he writes where the title says ้จๆ็ฌ่ฎฐ (translated as “Rain Village Diary”) is about their life in retirement haha.
Basically, after everything is all over, the three of them retreat to this place called Rain Village and live there as three ultra-free, technically-jobless guys who just laze around, do gardening, cook and make lame jokes =)) There isn’t really any significant plot for this “Rain Village Diary”, mainly just there daily life records. Nan Pai San Shu has written a few different parts on this Rain Village Diary, you can check out below:
Part 1, chapter 1: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/dSAw-Lx1-WDJIslBroo9AA
Part 2, chapter 1: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/UM3yqeTUEgioUG7e1Otl4A
I hope this helps. Have fun! ^_^
Michelle, I am confused about something. I am reading the links your sent me (the rain village diary – through google translate) but I also found another link with translated copies of rain village by Merebear translation. But the content of Rain Village here is different to the one you sent me. The one in Merebear is a story of the Iron Triangle building a farm house in Rain Village. The links you sent me starts with the farmhouse is already built. Did I miss something? Most importantly, I almost finished reading everything you sent me HAHAHa. Is Xu Lei writing more of Yucun – or that’s the end of it? I am falling so in love with the story, its not funny.
Hey Callie,
I’m so sorry for the late reply T.T Rain Village has multiple parts actually, and the links that I sent you in the previous comment is just the latest part that was written in 2021 ^^
I think the first mention of Rain Village appeared back in 2016 or 2017, with multiple short stories that happen in this town. I can’t dig everything up because they’re buried super deep in Nan Pai San Shu’s Weixin account, and they’re seriously just… all over the place (เฎ๏นเฎ`๏ฝก). I managed to find some short stories that take place in Rain Village on different sites, perhaps you could give them a try?
The “Mid Autumn Festival Short Story” is super hilarious by the way xD Wu Xie is quite literally married off to the Zhang family, like, for real (ใ๏ผโฝ๏ผใ)ใ
I hope this helps!
I’m new to this fandom. Thank you for this summary. ๐ฅบโค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ
I started watching Ultimate Note, actually my only target to watch is Ultimate Note but after watching the series the ending left me hanging. So many questions left unanswered. So i search the story and i found out that it has many season and ultimate note is season 3. So i watch The Mystic Nine and now I’m currently watching Explore with the note. I still have many questions in my mind, i hope after watching all the series i get the answer. I will definitely read the novel after watching all the series. I just have one questions what series is the continuation of Ultimate Note? Still not aired right?
Thank you again.
Hi Judy,
Congratulations on getting pulled into a gigantic, bottomless, you-won’t-get-out-any-time-soon abyss haha. Please embrace yourself, it’s gonna be confusing down here ๐
Warnings aside, here’s a warm welcome to the fandom เฌ(เฉญ*หแตห)เฉญ* ฬห
Ultimate Note ends right before the last book of Main Story (The Grand Finale), and as of now, that book hasn’t yet been adapted. Is there any plan to adapt it already, you may ask? That remains unanswered at the moment, to be honest. I’m sure it will be adapted one day, but as to when/what year they will adapt it isn’t known currently. So let’s stay tuned together ^^
I hope this helps. And if you’re embarking on reading the books one day, here’s wishing you a great time reading! <3
Thank you for welcoming me ๐ญ๐ฅบ I don’t really have a Friend to share my excitement about Daomu Biji since they are not interested because it has many season haha ๐คฃ. That’s why i came here to your blog and you are the first one to welcome me in this fandom ๐ญ I’m glad that i came to your blog. Thank you so much โค๏ธ
Hey Judy, no worries at all! Daomu Biji franchise is still rather new in international markets, so we’re not big at the moment, but we’re definitely alive! ^_^ There’s a small community of us on Tumblr and Twitter.
Also, I believe there’s an active Discord going on where you should be able to hang around with other fans. Perhaps you would like to check it out? The link is here: https://discord.gg/WaQnj6nPKR (I found it on the Daomu Biji Wiki haha)
I hope this helps somewhat. Enjoy your time here โก
Thank you so much ๐ฅบโค๏ธ๐ค
Hi! ๐ฅบ
I’m back again. I’m now reading the novel. I just realized I’m too fast haha ๐คญ my comment here is just 1 month ago. I’m now on Sequel Tibean Sea Flower. I still have a long way to go before i finished all the Sequel, Prequel, Extras and Side Story. I don’t have any questions, i just want to inform you beacuse you are the first one who welcomed me with open arms . Thank you again ๐คโค๏ธ
Judy you are so sweet โฅ Thank you for letting me know.
Yes you’re such a fast reader indeed! Just one month and you’ve already finished the whole Main Story? ใฃ( ยบฮยบ )ใฃ (it took me 3 months!) I reckon that you must’ve had quite a fun time reading Daomu Biji then ^_^ glad to know this has been a novel you enjoyed.
If you want to chat about Daomu Biji any time, or honestly, to chat about any Chinese novels/dramas (bromance/thriller/BL are the genres that I’ve quite a bit of knowledge in), you’re always welcome to look for me on Tumblr or Twitter ๐
I followed you already on your Twitter ๐ฅฐ๐ค
Thank you again ๐โค๏ธ
Did mr.blck also immortal like zhang
Sorry Park Ri but I’m not quite sure which character are you referring to?
What is the secret of black glass is he from zhang family
What the truth of this world they mention as ultimate what is that
Hi again Park Ri,
Black Glasses’ identity is also one of the biggest secrets of Daomu Biji. He’s a myterious character, after all. Since the author never reveals this, I could only apologise that I don’t know what is his secret either.
But one thing is for certain, he isn’t from the Zhang family. His surname is actually Qi, but we don’t know his first name.
The “truth of this world” or “the ultimate” are even bigger mysteries. “What Is The Ultimate” is literally the no.1 mystery of Daomu Biji, one that the author has not revealed to us even after the novel has run for 15 years. So, once again, I wouldn’t be able to answer you on this. We can only stay tuned together (เฎ๏นเฎ`๏ฝก) Maybe the author will tell us in 5 years or so.
Did wu xie found the “it” also why third uncle or his cousin only drag wu xie not xie hun
Hi Park Ri,
Yes Wu Xie found “it” (“it” refers to the Wang family, descendants of Wang Zang Hai). Wu Xie actually managed to destroy “it” in the sequel novel Sand Sea. Sand Sea already has a drama adaptation, so if you watch the drama, you’ll get to understand better about the role of the Wang family, why they are evil and how Wu Xie manages to destroy them ๐
Hey i read the sand sea but i could not understand how wu xie destroyed it in that book it feel like finish in the middle of warin drama they mention about zhang ri but in book he didn’t appear and they didn’t tell what happen to that ling wang doctor did i read a wrong translation
Hi Park Ri,
The reason why you feel like it “finish in the middle” is because the novel version of Tomb of The Sea is incomplete. Yes, the author never finished writing it xD However, the drama has an ending. So to gain a better understanding and tie all the loose ends back to the main universe, I’d suggest watching the drama instead.
As u said i watch tomb of sea bit it little bit different from book right actually wang clan can predict future as said in tv series but book did not mention it
And why wang clan want to control others what so special about wu xie that wang clan so afraid
Similar to what I mentioned above, the drama contains more details than the novel because the novel is incomplete D:
The reason why the Wang family wants to control others and is hostile towards Wu Xie is because they have a completely opposite goal from Wu Xie. Wu Xie and The Nine Gates’ goal is to protect the secret of the Zhang family and the secret behind the Bronze Gate, while the Wang family’s goal is to expose those secrets to the world.
Can anyone explain to me that 3 uncle is good person or bad one
Hi Park Ri, thanks for checking out these summaries. In my opinion, Third Uncle is a morally grey character. He’s a good man in the sense that he actually cares about Wu Xie and he does try to fight against the organisation by working with Xie Lianhua, but on the other hand, he’s a not-so-good man because his method of fighting the organisation is… debatable.
After all, he brought back the members of the expedition team (in Volume 2) to Golmud and let them become experimental subjects, and he did manipulate Wu Xie into this whole grand scheme of things while keeping Wu Xie entirely in the dark. Not to mention, he just disappeared after the whole ordeal and never gave Wu Xie any clear answers to all this mess.
Third Uncle is a highly mysterious character throughout the whole course of Daomu Biji universe, so to discuss him remains a very difficult topic. These are just my two cents. Others might have a different way of looking at this character. I hope this helps somewhat ๐
Thank you ur explanation at the latest novel did third uncle die
Hi Park Ri, I’m sorry for the late reply.
Third Uncle never died, he only went missing. The last time Wu Xie saw him physically was in Book 6 (after the event where they went to Ta Mu Tuo to explore the tomb of Queen Mother of The West). We never heard from him ever since.
Hi. I’m glad that I found this . Daomu Biji really got me hooked ๐ญ now I’m really need to buy the novel. When the first season of the drama air past years, I don’t even interested . But after watching Ultimate Note ( actually because I like Zeng Shunxi as Wu Xie’s actor) then I totally like the story. What a big spoiler there. I don’t know how the story start and now I’m dying want to know the ending ๐ญ๐ญ ahh sorry for such a long texts. Thank you for the summary โจ
Hi i bought the 6 books of english translation i,e the grave robber chronicals. Do you have any idea when will the rest of the grave robber chronicals come . And even if it doesn’t where can i read in english after graveyard of a queen. Can u please say because i am confused. And i want to know the whole story.
Hi Nandini, welcome to the fandom, glad to have you onboard the novel๏ผโ๏ผพโฝ๏ผพโ๏ผPost Vol.6 Graveyard of A Queen, you can continue with MereBear’s fan translation here. I hope this helps, and have fun reading!
Hi there . Just wanted to say thank you so much for what you did and are doing for international fans worldwide. I became a fan of this IP not too lngo ago and you are absolutely right , despite having watched the drama adaptations in chronological order I was still lost so I thought about reading the original novel to understand what happens exactly . Just finished ultimate note today and was still a bit lost so I wanted to read to know what happens , thankfully I stumbled upon your blog and here I am . Just have one question, would you advise me to restart reading the novel from the very first volume or just start from the 5th book where the drama adaptation of ultimate note ended ? Thank you again .
Hi Abrar,
First off, welcome to the fandom, or, to be specific, congratulations on falling into a bottomless abyss! I wish you all the best in trying to crawl out of it *evil smirk
Ultimate Note ends right before the final book of the Daomu Biji: Main Story series. Considering that all drama adaptations of Daomu Biji: Main Story till day stray off (to varying extent) from the novel, especially The Lost Tomb 1 (2015), perhaps reading the novel from the beginning will give you some interesting perspectives. Not to mention, the dramas don’t connect well with each other, so reading the books will help you fill in the gaps.
I should also give you a heads-up that even after reading the last book of Daomu Biji: Main Story (aka The Grand Finale), you still may not get the answer you want. That is exactly why Daomu Biji is often joked to be a bottomless abyss… After Main Story, we still have plenty of prequels, sequels and extras. If you’re determined to explore till the very end, I wish you a great time reading! ใพ(๏ผพโ๏ผพ)
Thank you so much for your insightful thoughts, I will try to grasp it all as best as I can . Thank you so much, well then here I go , wish me luck.
Terima kasih banyak sudah menerjemahkannya dan merangkumnya dengan sangat baik dan mudah dimengerti, aku sangat penasaran dengan alur ceritanya setelah aku menonton drama-dramanya, senang banget ada yang terjemahin dengan sangat bagus, maaf tapi ada punya info terkait isi novel asli keseluruhan dengan translate yang bagus seperti ini?
Aku ingin membacanya, tapi yang aku dapatkan hasil translate membuat aku bingung, karena aku perlu menerjemahkannya lagi ke bahasa indonesia melalui google chrome, maaf bahasa inggris aku terbatas, jadi aku bertanya menggunakan bahasa indonesia, sekali lagi terima kasih sudah di ringkas ^^
tapi kalau ada punya info terkait isi novel asli keseluruhan dengan translate yang bagus seperti ini, boleh bagi infonya? Terimakasih ^^
Hi Naella,
For the first 6 books, you would likely need to get from the paperback official translation (Grave Robbers’ Chronicles). After that, you can continue from Merebear’s fan translation here.
Hai juga ^^
Terimakasih sudah dibalas, dan terimakasih juga infonya, semangat untuk terjemahan selanjutnya o(ใ๏ผพโฝ๏ผพใ)o
Hey. First of all, A very big Thank You for giving us info in english about this novel cause I was Really dying of curiosity about the actual story after watching the Dramas. My curiosity can definitely be compared to Wu Xie’s. ๐ So thank you for the translation. Sincerely.
And I just wanted to ask, I mean maybe you posted this info but I perhaps missed it somehow but – How often do you post the translation of one of the book in Daomu Biji’s series?
I wanna know when the Book 2 of Tibetan Sea Flower will be posted?
Ps: Thanks again. ๐
Hi TheDarkQueen, a very big thank you from me to you for checking this out too เฌ(เฉญ*หแตห)เฉญ*
I don’t really have a schedule for Daomu Biji summary releases because it takes quite a long time to create each of these summaries ๐ You probably already know, reading Daomu is a wreck to brain cells, so doing summaries isn’t exactly easy. For Tibetan Sea Flowers I’m actually re-reading the entire novel. In fact, I’m half-way through Book 2 right now, so you likely can expect the summary to come in another 2-3 weeks ^^
I’m sorry if this might be a long wait ๐
It’s not a problem if it’ll take 2 3 weeks, I’m happy it’s not gonna take months๐
This truly is a complicated novel indeed. I burned too many brain cells just reading the first 6 books๐
So at this point I’m just glad that I’m getting a chance to just read it.
Big thanks to you for all that effort. ๐๐
After seeing your two other works, I decided to take a look here too, but I’m very hesitant. The novel feels very complicated and has big time leaps (which I hate, something like a reunion of characters after 12 years or something).
However, I have the impression that once I started reading something similar. I just remember that some young guy went on a trip to some Lost Tomb with some other scientists and some young men with a sword. Only he and that young men came out of there alive. Is this the novel?
I don’t want to start something that I’m not sure I want to read, so after a few paragraphs, I couldn’t read anymore (I felt too unsafe). However, the novel is so long that I have the impression that it won’t do without some fun with time, forward or backward (I hate x1), leaps of many years (I hate x2). But the plot seems interesting… What to do, that is the question. โ( T๏นT )โ
I’m having PTSD because of the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint. โฅ๏นโฅ
Hello Donguri-chan, so I see that you’ve ventured to this part of the website xD
So, to help clarify on your concerns/questions:
This is indeed a pretty complicated novel, spanning 1400+ chapters (and ongoing), at least 50 years of timeline and an enormous cast. It’s been running since 2006, so… yes, you can imagine. Perks: With such a gigantic scale, this novel also enjoys a massive fandom (at the moment they mostly are in CN, but the international fandom is growing exponentially), tons of fan materials, buckets of adaptations, so on and so forth.
I’m quite sure the book that you picked up is this series. The series indeed started with with a young guy (Wu Xie, our MC) went on his first trip to a tomb and met a young man with a sword (Men You Ping, our second MC) and a few other tomb robbers. Most of them came out alive actually ^^
Of course, everyone’s taste is different ^^ I won’t forcefully drag you down this abyss, mostly because it’s… dangerous down here. People who fall down hardly ever get out, we’re sort of stuck here for an eternity, so, yes, very dangerous (๏ฟฃโฝ๏ฟฃ)
But if you’ve some other questions, or somehow I’ve managed to pique your interest, feel free to drop me a DM at my Tumblr (๏ฝกโขฬแด-)โง I’m always ready to entertain newcomers xD
P/S: I’m currently at c380 of ORV. With the amount of spoilers I have from the ending, I believe I can (at least somewhat) understand your PTSD… Yeah, what an emotional train ride T.T.
But a question. Are the books BLs or just Bromance?
Hi Fran, I’m not sure if you’re also the person who sent me the same question on my Tumblr, but here’s my reply to the question “Are Daomu Biji books BL or just Bromance?”: https://my-otp-list.tumblr.com/post/641371145436905472/is-this-a-bl-novel
I hope this helps ^^