During the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army period, a famous anti-Japanese unit led by Cui Erkuai learned that the Japanese were secretly excavating Emperor Huang Taiji's tomb. Cui and his men, after enduring countless difficulties and dangers, successfully stopped the Japanese operation.
To protect national relics, Cui’s team transferred all treasures from the mausoleum. However, when they removed the gold mask covering Huang Taiji's skull, they found an additional hole in the middle of the forehead above the eyes — what is known as the "heavenly eye." This shocked Cui Erkuai. Simultaneously, they also realized that this grave didn't seem like an emperor's tomb at all.
Cui Erkuai, who stayed behind to cover the retreat, was captured by Xian Jianan, a detective from the puppet Manchurian police investigating the tomb raid. Upon discovering that the captured man was the renowned Cui Erkuai, Xian Jianan risked his life to rescue him and escorted Cui back to the mountains.
Upon their return, they learned that several comrades who had participated in the operation and entered the royal tomb had mysteriously died. More unexplained deaths continued to occur. Within days of their return, more people inexplicably met their end. Detective Xian Jianan was tasked with uncovering the truth amidst great peril, and after overcoming numerous obstacles, he successfully identified hidden Japanese spies.
The matter seemed resolved, but the mysterious deaths did not cease. The brothers were on the verge of breaking down, and Xian Jianan was at a loss. At this point, the bandit stronghold was attacked by Japanese forces. Cui Erkuai knocked out Xian Jianan and hid him in a cave before engaging the enemy in a desperate fight. Due to being outnumbered, the entire stronghold was annihilated without a single survivor.
Over the next sixty years, Xian Jianan, who narrowly escaped death, spent his entire life trying to uncover the truth behind these events. It wasn’t until Xian Jianan's deathbed that his grandson Xiao Wei learned about the incident.
Xiao Wei, along with his friends Gao Yang and Zhao Ying, began an investigation. They endured great hardships, including locating the descendants of Cui Erkuai, named Cui Chuang, and finding the mnemonic left by Cui Erkuai which led them to the entrance of the old tunnel. They entered the mausoleum, retrieved the skull for forensic examination, and finally solved the mystery that had plagued Xiao Wei's grandfather for over sixty years. All the mysterious incidents were scientifically explained:
It turned out that many of the brothers who had died mysteriously on the mountain had been killed by Japanese spies who had infiltrated the group. The last few victims were unexpectedly killed by Cui Erkuai while sleepwalking. A series of mysterious deaths intensified the superstitious fear within Cui Erkuai, leading him subconsciously to try to protect himself by killing his own comrades during sleepwalking episodes. Cui eventually learned the truth but was stopped by his elder brother just as he prepared to commit suicide as penance. At this moment, the Japanese began their attack, and Cui fought them to the death.
As it turned out, the tomb was not actually Huang Taiji's imperial tomb. The "heavenly eye" on the corpse's head was believed by Xiao Wei and others to be caused by external injuries. However, things took a strange turn when forensic reports showed that the hole in the skull was made by a bullet from a Type 24 rifle fired from 300 meters away, penetrating the skull. How could someone from four hundred years ago have been shot?
At this time, news came that Cui Chuang, who had also entered the tomb passage, had died mysteriously on his way home. The mysterious curse seemed to have descended upon them, leaving Xiao Wei nearly broken.
In a daze, Xiao Wei was suddenly kidnapped by a group of mysterious individuals and taken to the mausoleum. It turned out that all the mysterious events were orchestrated by Lame San, a gang of antique dealers from Panjiayuan, who had been scheming to steal the treasures left behind in the tomb by Cui's men. When Xiao Wei helped the gang activate the tomb passage mechanism, he cleverly used the mechanism to trap the bandits inside. In the final confrontation, Xiao Wei discovered that bullets rebounded off the ceiling, killing the bandits. Thus, the truth was revealed: the "heavenly eye" on the skull was formed when a stray bullet ricocheted off the ceiling into the coffin when Cui's men originally entered the tomb chamber.
With the matter finally settled, Xiao Wei and Zhao Ying visited a cultural exhibition in Russia. At the exhibition, they saw the gold mask worn by the skull from the tomb. But strangely, there were no bullet holes on the gold mask!
It seemed the story had come full circle...