The old gods have fallen and a new order is taking shape, but the real war has only just begun: a war over which “truth” should govern the world.
After Yun Zhao's team overthrows the system of financial exploitation, they collide with the harsh truth of building a new world: perfect rules do not exist. Loopholes in the algorithms are exploited, the ethics of ascension become mired in conflict between procedure and substance, and corruption quietly takes root within their ranks. Yet an even more dangerous enemy has emerged: the Qian Yuan Hall, a legacy of the ancient organization Tian Ji Pavilion. Its followers believe in Mo Entropy's cold doctrine of “absolute efficiency above all,” and see the new order as weak.
The forbidden object sought by Qian Yuan Hall, the “Black Stone,” can override the Heavenly Way and create a local “model zone of efficiency.” The key to opening the gate to the Black Stone is none other than Lu Qingjian's bloodline. Meanwhile, the rule-bound lifeforms nurtured by the new Heavenly Way are growing unstable, and “nightmares of the rules” are erupting across the land.
At the Ascension Ceremony marking the dawn of a new era, the two sides face off in a brutal clash of ideals. Yun Zhao must prove that an order which embraces the complexity and inefficiency of human nature is more resilient and more worthy of protection than absolute rationality.
