Shen Yan, a boy from a frontier town, is dismissed as a useless talent because of his mixed spiritual roots. But he unexpectedly awakens the ability to "See the Tracks," allowing him to perceive the invisible spiritual tracks that govern the laws of cultivation, lifespan, and opportunity. Scorned by those who follow the tracks and hunted by those who alter them, he uses his mortal body to scheme his way forward: selling monster materials for spirit stones, exploiting gaps in the tracks to break through above his level, and using street smarts to fight the sects' schemes.
He meets A Ying, his rule-abiding childhood sweetheart, who spends ten years' worth of savings on him. He befriends Cang Xuan, a rebellious "Trackbreaker," and learns firsthand the terrible backlash of defying the tracks. He also discovers that the spiritual tracks are shackles laid down by ancient cultivators. From a remote frontier town to the nine great sects, from the Qi Condensation stage to standing against the "Heavenly Track," Shen Yan navigates the narrow divide between "obey and live" and "defy and go mad." With a fraction of his spiritual power, he pries open the rules; with a body covered in scars, he forges a path against fate. The road to immortality is no circle drawn by the spiritual tracks, but the mark left by those who shatter their shackles.
