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Black Market Guide to Immortality

Created by Nine Heavens Press

What are you willing to become for eternal life? The Black Market Guide is a 5e/PF2e sourcebook expanding the worldbuilding of Undying Corruption into the obsession of immortality that gripped East Asia. New subclasses, ancestries, and bestiary galore!

Latest Updates from Our Project:

June 2026: STLs, Undying Corruption PF2e ver. out!
5 days ago – Fri, Jun 05, 2026 at 02:45:03 PM

Hello all! Belated happy beginning of Pride Month!


I'm very excited to report that we've sent to everyone our current progress with the STL's and Undying Corruption's PF2e version! It's been a while coming, but we thank you all for your patience and your support in making this possible. 

From here on, we'll spend about 2 weeks waiting for people's feedback on the PF2e versions. If people catch anything noteworthy, we'll edit it before we send everything out to print this month. With the reprint of UC 5e of course.

Now that that's out of the way, we can resume work on completing Black Market Guide! We'll begin progress with the book's layout this month and make good progress through the start of Fall, likely. We're also a little less occupied, so we can really start work on the commissions the higher tier backers have been patiently waiting for. 

July's update will likely include the one-shot adventure. Expect us to chip away at fulfilling all of our promises. In addition to some new stuff! We're eager to put out stuff that didn't have room in the book as standalone releases very shortly. Here are some previews to that effect:

A short, but momentous update this time. Catch you all next time!

If you have any questions or comments, do reply here or contact us at [email protected].

May 2026: PF2e Playtest Doc finally out; Nightfell Collab out
about 1 month ago – Thu, Apr 30, 2026 at 03:36:58 PM

Hello, everyone!

Happy to announce that our PF2e Playtest doc is now available for digital download. Thank you so much for your patience and we look forward to hearing and responding to feedback from within our community. Our collaboration subclass for Grim Moon Studio's homebrew Lunar Cultist class is also available for download in the backer only content area at the bottom of the page.

Thank you for your patience and we hope you enjoy what we've put out!

Now, for your monthly backer review:

Minis


Wyrmworks has resumed work on the minis and here are samples of the huodou, per popular vote for 3d sculpted ancestries! We'll have more variants of her out with different weapons to suit play for different classes as well. Work is continuing apace with the Spiritborn and we're about to get started on the Kankandara, the most popular pick among monsters. Please look forward to more!

Books

We've just finished putting the PF2e version of Undying Corruption to layout! We're going to make some adjustments and send them out for digital download as soon as possible for community feedback. Afterwards, we will put both the 5e and PF2e versions out to print and get them to our distributors' warehouses!

Once again, a large order for 5e books has necessitated we focus on finishing the Undying Corruption side of fulfillment. We're fine-tuning Black Market Guide to Immortality with edits underway for both 5e and PF2e versions. I believe we're still on track to finishing and beginning work on layout around June to July.

Given that, I think after we conclude the PF2e version of UC, we'll knock out the one-shot that was unlocked as a stretch goal and then continue with BMG. I think the Artbook and NPC Guide will go very quickly once we finish the big books, which we place at a higher priority at the moment.


We're also very happy to share with you a preview of our Tsuchigumo! The gift of the sun is withdrawn from the arrogant who believe themselves greater than the gods. And so, they become earth spiders, beasts doomed to crawl on their bellies, consigned to their subterranean fiefdoms under cover of darkness. Though they're one of Kyougen's more frightful creatures, their weakness to sunlight keeps them in check.

Points for anyone who can guess which Sengoku warlord we based the design on lol

Soundtrack

I've been sent soundtrack samples by Dale and they're coming along nicely! He's working on them in between his obligations for different video game projects, so more updates to come there.

Side-Projects


We've been working on a number of things on the side including new ancestries to put out for sale. Here's a very rough sketch that I've been sent of our playable kamaitachi we're excited to put out. Though separate from BMG, we're keeping within the East Asian focused worldbuilding underneath the NHP umbrella, so do look forward to more from us!

If you have any questions or concerns, or would like to offer suggestions or present issues that you find in the doc, please comment here or contact us at [email protected]. Consider also joining our growing Discord community! Click the link below:

Apr 2026: Updates
2 months ago – Thu, Apr 02, 2026 at 02:10:50 PM

Hello all,

Congratulations on making it through the first quarter of the year! Here's your monthly Nine Heavens Press update on how the Black Market Guide campaign is going:


We've been going back into Undying Corruption to design monsters that for whatever reason we didn't illustrate. I'm particularly proud of the Cheonma for setting it apart from a pegasus. Initially, I thought there was little differentiating a cheonma from a pegasus, but I think we could play around with how fast it is. ZONE and I came up with the brilliant move then to make its true form a ball of light with multiple wings shaped like a horse. Very realistic angel.

  • BMG PF2e playtest: Due to health and personal life reasons, we'll need a little more time to finish this up. I expect we can see the document released sometime this month. Apologies and we really appreciate your patience.
  • UC 5e and PF2e: We received a big order for more UC 5e books, so we'll print these earlier than expected. While it's more cost-effective for shipping to have all books delivered to our various distributors at once, necessity demands expediency. On the plus side, we're prioritizing finishing the layout for UC PF2e ASAP. Arc 4 has been completed and we will likely finish the layout in time for the digital release and community proofreading sometime May 2026. 
  • Black Market Guide 5e/PF2e: Once the PF2e version of UC has been finished, we'll devote our fullest effort to completing the layout for BMG. As initially projected, we should either have a digital copy out by Q3-ish of this year. After getting some community feedback, they'll be set for print.
  • Nightfell collab: Edits have been finished and sent over to the Nightfell team. Everyone should be able to see the subclass we worked on soon!
  • One-Shot: Editing and illustration for the map have been completed. Once we get the chance, we'll commit the adventure to proper digital layout to send them out. 
  • Commissions/3D Minis: We're knocking these out with a delay from obligations having concluded. Folks for whom we have updates for have been contacted.

Global logistics: Speaking of printing and distributing, I imagine a number of people are curious about how recent global events might affect shipping for the books. I've talked with my printers and as things stand, shipping to our American distributors is as of yet unaffected.

Shipping to our UK hub, however, will require an additional 3 months from the time we put in the order. I imagine that's not something most people would like to hear, but considering how chaotic the situation is, we'll keep you all updated if there are any changes. Once we get closer to the actual distribution date, the actual costs behind shipping and customs associated with them will materialize. I figure then, we can discuss more tangible options.

That's it for this month. As said, we're adapting to slight changes in plans, but everything's moving smoothly for the book itself.

If you have any questions or concerns, or would like to offer suggestions or present issues that you find in the doc, please comment here or contact us at [email protected]. Consider also joining our growing Discord community! Click the link below:

Mar 2026 Update: 5e Playtest Doc, PF2e Arc 3 Undying Corruption released
3 months ago – Fri, Feb 27, 2026 at 04:20:48 PM

We're reaching the end of February and we've been busy!

The 5e Playtest Doc has been sent out! The link is also available in the backer's section in this update. This is to compensate for some technical issues where an incorrect download was sent out, so we've decided to make it available to all backers for review.

And the overdue Arc 3 of UC's PF2e version has also been sent out earlier this week! We're excited that we're making good progress there in time to send everything to print.

To share with you a bit of what's inside the playtest PDF, here's our Sangun Spiritborn representing BMG's Fighter subclass!



Work in Progress:

  • BMG PF2e Playtest: Edits are underway. We're hoping to release it by the end of March.
  • Undying Corruption PF2e: Arc 4 is being committed to layout. Arcs 1-3 are being edited based on comments received.
  • Commissions/STLs: Progress is underway despite some life issues popping up. We have progress for some of the minis coming out:
  • One-Shot Adventure: Edits are underway. Map is WIP. We project a release sometime early Q2.
  • Overall Print Progress: We still project finishing BMG by around mid to late Q3 to be sent to the printers immediately after the digital version is out. Things are going apace so far.

Once again, the proper download is being fixed and people can access the BMG 5e's Playtest Doc in the Backer Only content area, just to avoid significant delays. Thank you for your patience!

If you have any questions or concerns, or would like to offer suggestions or present issues that you find in the doc, please comment here or contact us at [email protected]. Consider also joining our growing Discord community! Click the link below:

Feb 2026: Month of Lunar New Year!
4 months ago – Tue, Feb 03, 2026 at 09:50:22 AM

Hello and we wish you an early Happy Lunar New Year!

Now that we're through January, in spite of flu season rolling around, we're getting back into our normal speed of work. Regardless, January has been busy and we're excited to let you in on where we're at. Late pledges are still open for anyone interested in getting in on that!

Here's where we are in terms of progress:

BMG 5e Playtest: Still set for late-Q1. Editing finished, together with the PF2e playtest.
BMG PF2e Playtest: Editing is underway. Set for late Q1.

Overall BMG Progress: Editing is underway. Art is largely finished minus a couple stretch goal-unlocked monster art anything new we'd like to add.

We had a big sale over January, so we've cleared another 5K preorder milestone! That means that in addition to our yaoqi, we will select another subclass, species, monster, or NPC to throw in.

NPC Guide: Stats and illustrations are underway! We'll be able to put out a version with a handful of national rulers and various faction heads estimating sometime mid-Q2. The BMG playtests are of course of a higher priority.

Legacy of the Wailing Souls one-shot: Writing is almost complete at 6K words! Map illustration is underway. Depending on when the latter is finished and how long layout might take us, we can hopefully get this out sometime Q2.

VTT Foundry 5e/PF2e: Work has begun in earnest. A first draft of all monsters have been imported into Foundry. I just need to go back in and make proper edits, make sure that all features are functioning. I reckon we'll be continuously updating the modules in case someone points out an issue. Regardless, we're thinking about releasing Undying Corruption in individual arcs to test things out.

Undying Corruption 5e Korean translation and PF2e: We've begun work committing PF2e's arc 3 into layout. I received a number of very positive responses after asking folks working for Paizo some questions, so we can speed up progress. Shao Han and I are also working on retooling the Tactician class. We thought the Commander class generally did a lot of what I wanted the Tactician to do, so it might be easier to start with the Commander class as a foundation.

As for the Korean translation, arc 3 is fully translated with arc 4 in the works. You can expect us to release arc 3 w/ proper layout within the month.

Higher tier commissions: Progress underway. The illustrator has fully returned from his vacation, so we're catching up to a normal pace.

3D Models: Work is underway with the first set featuring minis for playable Spiritborn and Huodou PCs! Will preview a full model once we can.

Soundtrack: The composer is just about to return from abroad and has been working on the tracks. Will update as soon as we receive something deliverable.

We're also excited to share a number of previews:



For our NPC Guide, Yu Yuhae serves as the Danguk government's Councilor of the Left and heads the reformist Polaris's Beacon faction. She works to wrest influence from the small collection of clans that aided in forming the dynasty. Her ruthless maneuvering of the court has seen the reformist faction grow in power over the years.


The Paradise Leshy is born from the flowers representing life or destruction formed by souls in the underworld like in the Flower Fields of Seocheon. Their bodies are shared by both a leshy spirit and the soul that was reborn as the physical body the leshy spirit entered. One can suppress the other and pursue more mortal ends. On occasion, the primordial nine-headed titans, the jihaguk daejeok, take the forms of leshies to sneak back into the material world and find a way to restore their bodies.

That's it for now! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reply here or contact us at [email protected]. If you'd like, we also encourage you to join our Discord channel by clicking the banner below: