[Classic spiritual qi revival + ordinary protagonist + no formulaic tropes] Please skip if that’s not for you.
Spiritual qi revives, and the world undergoes a cataclysmic transformation. Rifts into the Ancient Profound Realm reappear, demon beasts run rampant, and order collapses.
Lin Fan takes his younger sister, Lin Xue, to hide in Niuwei Mountain. Using an ancient family heirloom, he quietly cultivates and builds up his strength. He has no desire to be a hero. He only wants to protect his family.
At the ruins of Laojun Mountain, he happens upon a mysterious girl in white. Her name is Bai Xiyue. She looks seven or eight years old, but her eyes are as deep as an ancient well. Her true strength is unfathomable.
The Black Wind Pavilion comes after them, and Lin Xue is gravely wounded while protecting her brother, barely clinging to life. Bai Xiyue saves the siblings with ten-thousand-year-old spiritual marrow liquid, then quietly leaves. Lin Fan owes her his life, and he owes her a piece of candy, too. For the first time, he realizes that some things cannot be avoided.
A rift opens in Changbai Mountain, and the Scarlet Radiance Immortal Ruins appear. Seeking a chance to break through and form his core, Lin Fan enters the ancient ruins. Foreign forces, remnants of the Demon Sect, Kyoto’s five great families, and official combat teams all converge, and a bloody battle begins.
He ascends the nine tiers of the Heavenly Ladder, carries a Qingmu Sect elder through the Thunder Prison, carries a young woman from the Bureau of Abnormal Affairs as he fights his way out of encirclement, comprehends the Sword Intent of Protection in the Mirror Hall, and faces his inner demons on the Path of Conviction.
Deep within the secret realm, an elder from the Shadow Church treats him with a curious mixture of respect and unease, claiming to owe him his life. The remnants of the Demon Sect lurk in the shadows. The Qingmu Sect’s warrant for his arrest is still out there.
And Bai Xiyue has been watching him from the shadows all along, never once showing herself...
