Dream of the Red Chamber: The Ruthless System, A Collateral Branch Rises

Behind the lavish gates of the Rong and Ning Mansions lies the bitterness of countless people on the margins. Jia Heng, a distant branch member of the Jia family with only a faint trace of its bloodline, struggles to survive alongside his widowed mother amid scorn and abuse. When a deadly frame-up drives him to the brink, the rage and will to live slumbering in the young man's heart finally ignite. Blood spills in Rongning Alley, and the life of one of his tormentors unexpectedly awakens the dormant Slaughter Body-Tempering System.

Killing becomes his only path to advancement. Every drop of blood spilled turns into a cold “Slaughter Point,” tempering his bones and sharpening his claws. Escaping the gilded cage that devours all who enter, Jia Heng assumes a new name and joins the Northwestern army, where war rages without end. From struggling through the mud of the recruit camp to facing bloodied blades on the battlefield, he carves out a path through mountains of corpses with a physique far beyond the ordinary and martial skills strengthened by the System.

Squad leader, centurion, battalion commander... His name climbs steadily up the bloodstained military register. Through a hundred battles in the yellow sands, he strides over bones, rising from an obscure border soldier to a valiant general feared by his enemies. When he is bestowed an iron deed of honor, a python robe, and a jade belt, Marquis Jia Heng surveys the imperial court. The Jia family of his past is now like a fire at the height of its blaze, soon to collapse into ashes. With a mighty army at his command, will he save this doomed family from its inevitable downfall, or wield his sword to carve an entirely different path to the heavens for his despised branch of the bloodline? A tale set against the backdrop of Dream of the Red Chamber, where slaughter is the ink, telling of a poor, distant clansman who fights his way to a marquis's title with blood and steel