In a primeval age when humans and gods lived side by side, divine authority towered over royal power, and blood-soaked altars for human sacrifice dotted the land. Zhao Yan, ruler of the Chilu Kingdom, styled himself a "Chosen One" and used the mountain god's name to enforce his tyranny. He had the skins of rebels stripped off and wrapped around straw figures as offerings, and cooked venison in the bones of prisoners of war to feast with divine envoys. The bloodstained deer-bone plates and the cries rising from the altars captured the savage nature of primitive tribes.
Three years ago, the Shang family, a clan of imperial chefs, was accused of "blasphemy" for secretly keeping a forbidden spirit-cultivation text. The entire family became sacrificial offerings, and the bones of the protagonist's parents and elder brother were turned into "feasting vessels" after Zhao Yan's sacrifice to the gods. He hid in the kitchens behind the guise of a chef. The sharper he honed his stone knife, the fiercer the hatred burning in his eyes. Li Ran, the closest friend of the strategist Yi Dao, possessed the power to purify spiritual energy, so Zhao Yan branded him a "traitor to the gods." Yi Dao watched helplessly as Li Ran was bound to an altar, where divine envoys tore the spiritual power from him in the name of "purification," killing him. From then on, Yi Dao made strategy his blade and maneuvered carefully through the tribe's power struggles.
Two souls burdened by blood feuds swore an oath in the dead of night, making a pact to kill their target within five hundred days. One would administer poison through meals; the other would clear the way through political intrigue. Their target was Zhao Yan and the shackles of divine authority. From brewing their first poison scheme to the chaos of a power vacuum, from rebuilding their tribe to their final confrontation with the gods, they struggled to choose between power and humanity. In the end, they transformed from avengers into founders of a civilization. Through their own strength, they broke the gods' hold over the people and restored spiritual power to its true purpose: survival, not enslavement.
The literary structure is clear to view the world.