Ask the Sword: Story Synopsis
The world's karma is a chain that binds all living beings, and the heavenly Dao is a game of chess from which no one can escape. Lin Zhi has suffered misfortune since childhood. His talent is ruined, and he wanders through the world, enduring contempt and scorn. No one cares for him or shows him compassion. Only a broken sword keeps him company as he watches over the darkness alone. Yet his fate is a forbidden anomaly unseen in the cultivation world for countless ages: the “Karmic Shackles.” He bears the karma of the heavens and is destined to sacrifice himself for others all his life.
Beneath the vast heavens, all beings are but grains of sand. Some bow their heads and become dust, while others take up their swords and challenge the heavens.
Though the young man's sword is broken, his sword heart burns like a torch. He dares to ask: “Who should decide the karma of this world? And who can break this game of chess played by heaven and earth?”
From that moment, the game of fate is thrown into turmoil by his presence:
He awakens in a deadly abyss, and the first glimmer of his sword shakes the heavens.
A mighty cultivator schemes against him, but he breaks free of his shackles step by step and carves out a path to survival with his broken sword.
Burdened by the debts of karma, he takes every step toward the truth, writing his counterattack in blood.
Countless ages later, when Lin Zhi stands at the peak of the heavens, he raises the sword in his hand, shatters every shackle, and roars at the sky:
“Today, I ask nothing of the living and nothing of fate. I ask only whether this sword can pierce the blue heavens!”
A sword rises beyond the azure clouds; one thought severs karma. Though fate binds me like chains, I shall challenge it with my sword.
