Hellboy in the City

On contemporary Blue Star, Earth stands on the eve of a "spiritual energy resurgence." On the surface, it's a modern metropolis run by finance, medicine, the internet, and public security. Beneath that lies a hidden world where ancient martial arts families, secluded Taoist lineages, black-market auctions, and a handful of awakened people coexist. Blue Star is not an isolated world, but one of the three great domains of the "Mortal Realm." Above it lies the remnant cultivation world known as the "Spirit Abyss Realm," where spiritual energy is stronger but the laws are incomplete. Farther beyond lies the "Starsea Heavenly Domain," the sphere of activity of the myriad heavens' sects, starship merchant alliances, and descendants of ancient civilizations.

The ancient history spans tens of thousands of years. During the primordial "Heavenly Gate Era," the Mortal Realm was once connected to the Spirit Abyss, and immortal sects established altars and teachings here. Then came the "War That Severed Heaven," when the sects fought one another for the "Heaven-Measuring Seal," a supreme treasure capable of rewriting cause and effect. Their conflict brought down the wrath of Heaven's Way: the Heavenly Gate was destroyed, spiritual ley lines were severed, and spiritual energy in the Mortal Realm plummeted. Civilization suffered a rupture, while cultivators and countless texts were lost. Ancient martial arts became a substitute system suited to a world with little spiritual energy. Now the tides of spiritual energy are rising once more, and ancient ruins and forbidden lands are gradually "awakening." In coastal areas like Haicheng and Jiangzhou, the returning ley lines have given rise to "spirit eyes," sending black-market spiritual medicines and rare ores skyrocketing in price. In his previous life, the protagonist Lin Yuan was a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. Before his tribulation, his soul fell into the body of a young man in the city who shared his name. Carrying a damaged storage space, possibly a relic from an ancient battlefield, he practices medicine at a neighborhood clinic by day and cultivates connections among the elite behind the scenes, gradually uncovering the truth about the War That Severed Heaven and the clues surrounding the Heaven-Measuring Seal.