The elements collapse, and the Twin Ancient Kingdoms turn to ash. Fifteen years ago, the two great ancient kingdoms of Yan Hui and Cang Lan burned their last sacred flames before the rift to protect the world. Their rulers died in battle, their divine artifacts shattered, leaving behind only cursed ruins and spreading corruption. Fifteen years later, Ling Jin, a boy from Yanluo Town, grows up in an ordinary way in his godmother's general store. He has a pale red birthmark on his left forehead and carries a warm jade pendant. His only memories of his parents are a bloodstained letter and their last words: “Go to the ruined city of Cang Lan.” Then, the moment he stands before the spirit-testing stone, a crimson-gold sacred flame shoots into the sky; at the bottom of Ghost Crying Pool, he obtains a crystal crackling with lightning; and in the Emerald Marsh, the daughter of Cang Lan's royal line lies on the brink of death from poison... For the first time, the world's sinister underside reveals a savage corner to him. Corruption-tainted demonic beasts whisper in the marshes, the shadow of faith spreads through the city-states, and knights under Moloch covet the ancient kingdoms' legacy from the darkness. Beyond the void, the gaze of the Brahma Sovereign has never left. Bearing the last bloodline of Yan Hui and inheriting the Sacred Flame Crystal, Ling Jin leaves his town and steps into a brutal world where elemental arts and body tempering coexist, light and corruption intertwine, and protection and betrayal dance together. In the Emerald Marsh, he saves Qing Yao and learns of the Cang Lan survivors' steadfast resolve. In Tongtian City, he meets Xing Tong, a mysterious amnesiac, and becomes entangled in an even deeper mystery. The Red Thunder Canyon, the city of body tempering, the City Without Borders... As he journeys onward, companions gather and the truth emerges piece by piece: the war between the Twin Ancient Kingdoms was not the end, but the prelude to a greater conspiracy. The trail of his parents leads straight to the concealed instigator of the war and the source of the world's collapse. “You seek your parents' trail and the truth behind the war. Is it for personal reasons, or for the sake of the world?”
