Built on the foundations of ancient Chinese mythology, this cultivation world weaves together bloodline totems and stellar gravity. Unlike the conventional overpowered-hero formula of traditional cultivation novels, the protagonist, Lin Yan, is a modern history graduate student with no talent for cultivation. After accidentally activating the star-blood array runes on the Sanxingdui Bronze Sacred Tree, he transmigrates to a cultivation realm rooted in the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Huainanzi.
The story revolves around the “Immortal and Divine Prohibition.” After the ancient war between the Wu and Yao, immortals and gods monopolized the power of star-blood, claiming that “star-blood devouring itself” would destroy heaven and earth. In truth, they were using mortal cultivators as reservoirs of power. Armed with the stubbornness and rigor of a historian, Lin Yan starts out as a prisoner in a woodshed and gradually uncovers the truth behind the Wu-Yao calamity and the conspiracy of the immortals and gods. He has no System, no wise old mentor, and no heroine to rely on, only a handwritten notebook of myths and an archaeological compass.
There is no exhilarating defiance of fate here, only the struggle and perseverance of mortal cultivators. It takes six years to draw qi into his body, yet he has only half the spiritual power of others at his level. When facing demonic beasts, he escapes through his knowledge of terrain and historical research. A companion dies in his arms because of a bloodline conflict. In the end, even after reaching the truth, he can only protect the mortal villages on the edge of chaos at the cost of losing his cultivation. Through the distinctive lens of “archival research-style cultivation,” the author transforms mythological elements such as the Qingqiu fox clan’s bloodline sacrifice, the merfolk legends of Guixu Valley, and the star-officer puppets in the ruins of the Heavenly Court into tangible details of cultivation. As readers follow the protagonist’s struggle to survive, they relive the mystery and cruelty of ancient mythology.
