Ye Chen is a mortal, born in a small town beneath Mount Qingyuan. His parents died young, and he lives alone by gathering and selling medicinal herbs. In the first month of the Bingwu year, the immortal sect Qingyuan opens its gates early to recruit disciples. Eager to pursue the Dao, Ye Chen goes to be tested, only to trigger a strange phenomenon in the spirit-testing disc: seven-colored light shoots into the sky, then suddenly vanishes. The sect's steward declares his aptitude "unclear" and admits him only as a menial disciple.
Within the immortal sect, ranks are rigidly enforced. Outer sect prodigies regard him as an insect, while fellow menial disciples bully him for having no backing. He spends every day chopping wood, carrying water, feeding beasts, and sweeping. With few cultivation resources, his future seems as dark as an endless night. Yet Ye Chen clings to a heart unwilling to accept an ordinary life and a steadfast resolve to pursue the Dao, struggling to survive from the lowest rung.
By chance, he discovers that the "ordinary stone" left behind by his parents can resonate with an abandoned ancient formation in the sect, drawing out a wisp of mysterious energy. Unlike the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, this energy belongs to none of the five elements, yet it can slowly temper his body and nourish his soul. Meanwhile, the outer sect steward who conducted his test secretly investigates and discovers that Ye Chen's "spirit-testing anomaly" vaguely matches a lost taboo constitution recorded in the sect's ancient texts. It seems connected to a buried sect secret and an ancient karmic debt.
From rivalries and schemes among the menial disciples to the brutal competition of the outer sect tournament; from life-and-death trials in secret realms to hidden factional struggles and ancient conspiracies within the sect...
Only as he gradually uncovers the truth about his bloodline and the ordinary stone does he realize that he has long been at the center of a vast web spanning ten thousand years and tied to upheavals between heaven and earth. The path to immortality is a ruthless contest, and the road of cultivation is fraught with danger. Will he accept being a pawn and go with the flow, or, with the body of a mortal, carve out his own path to the heavens from the depths of despair?
