Cloistered in a remote sanctuary, Shan Tao Yun has received shattering news. A teacher revered by the oppressed has been found slain. One by one, her orphaned students have followed her to her grave, victims of a child-killer harboring unfathomable motives. Abandoning his mountain hermitage, Shan embarks on a search for justice--one carved out of the treacherous borderlands that have been shaken by perilous upheaval. But now, shadowed by bizarre tales of an unleashed "demon", Shan braces himself for even darker imaginings as he stalks a killer and fights to restore spiritual balance to the ancient and tenuous splendor of Tibet.