The Death Mechanism

The day the entire Shangguan family was wiped out, Shangguan Yu was sixteen. A genius in the alchemical arts, a daughter of heaven, she wore the golden token of the heir at her waist. She had dazzled everyone at the alchemy tournament, only to return home and find the mountain gate burned to cinders. Three hundred and twenty-nine lives, their fates severed in a single night. A boy crawled out of the ruins, covered in blood, and handed her a charred golden token. “They’re gone. I memorized every one of their faces. From now on, I’m your blade.” He was Mo Yuteng, the bellows boy she had taken in before her family was slaughtered. In front of her, he was as obedient as a wolfdog that had accepted its master, the tips of his ears turning red when he called her Senior Sister. Where she couldn’t see, he snapped a weasel’s neck with ruthless efficiency, and his gaze was as cold as if he were sizing up prey’s carotid arteries. Twenty years later, “Mr. Mu” burst onto the scene, producing Foundation Establishment Pills that outclassed those of the three great families. His origins were a mystery. Everyone sent to investigate her background died in an accident: a cultivation deviation, a bout of pill poisoning, or a mishap during training. There were no external wounds, and no cause of death could be found. It was the backlash of karma. She had come to collect a debt. This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.