[Not a power fantasy] + [No female lead] + [Cultivation]
Beyond Yanmen Pass, hundreds of thousands of barbarian cavalry pressed against the border. The buzzing of the Corrosion Soldiers stirred murderous urges in the hearts of men, and the city was on the verge of falling.
A moon-white figure appeared silently at a perilous spot on the city wall.
He paid no heed to the battlefield below. He merely tapped a weathered brick with one finger.
The character “Qi” appeared. The Corrosion Soldiers melted away like snow, the enemy troops broke apart, and their horses scattered as they fled in a panicked retreat.
The wind was clear, the moon bright. Only the character etched into the brick remained, glowing faintly. No one knew his name.
Three days later, at Verdant Cloud Temple on Mount Zhongnan.
The same young man was crouched in the courtyard, loosening the earth around an old pine. A plain, pale-green cicada emblem rested inside his robe.
An arrogant disciple of the Xuan Zhen Sect pounded on the door. “The sect master wants to see you. Come with me if you know what’s good for you!”
Without looking up, he brushed the morning dew from a pine needle and spoke as softly as the breeze:
“Pines have their spirit, and people have their hearts. To force them is to lose the Way.”
Once, a single thought from him could determine the fate of the world. Now, all he wished was to keep one temple clear and peaceful.
But when the mountain storm gathered and old friends fell in blood, the cicada who could save the world could no longer remain hidden in this secluded place.
