Ascension is a lie, and resources are shackles. Lu Chen, a lowly unaffiliated cultivator, struggles to survive in a brutal cultivation world with half of a forbidden technique that shortens his life and a mysterious iron token. When he accidentally uncovers the truth behind the “Ascension Pact,” which has ruled this world for three thousand years, a shocking conspiracy that requires the blood sacrifice of the age’s most gifted young cultivators, he faces more than pursuit by the sects. He must also confront the cage built into the world’s very design. With no powerful bloodline or backing, he has only his cunning and ruthlessness. On this dead-end path, he will carve out a true way forward, both for himself and for all the cultivators trapped here.
