[Infinite flow + Chinese-style + rules]
Trapped in a desperate situation with a sea of flames sealing the door, Shen Yan, a restorer of ancient books, opened the half-ruined volume his grandfather had left behind.
The next second, he stood beneath a colossal tower whose summit was nowhere in sight: the Gui Xu Tower.
Nine levels of mortal trials, nine stages of bone tempering, and eighty-one layers of otherworldly realms, all deadly rule-based traps that devoured people.
All who entered had their Dao marks sealed. The higher their cultivation, the harsher the suppression. Only the knowledge carved into their minds could never be taken away.
Shen Yan smiled.
Reading oracle bones, recognizing ancient script, restoring damaged texts, and seeing through illusions: after ten years spent studying ancient books, he was best at finding the truth in what was incomplete and carving out a way to survive from a dead end.
His mutated qi-reading eye opened, and all he saw was incomplete ancient script. There were no answers or hints. He had to piece it together, one character at a time, and test his way forward, step by step.
In Paper Figure Alley, he discerned genuine talismans from fakes. In the City God Temple, he rose through the ranks by turning the rules against themselves. In Mirrorflower Village, he shattered the obsession of a mirrored illusion...
While others ran for their lives, he crouched down to calculate. While others died by touching the rules, he used the rules to strike back.
Choose between the righteous path of guiding souls onward and the sinister path of seizing fortune, with two possible endings. Three major factions vie for power, seven players move their pieces, an ancient seal conceals a spirit of chaos, and the mystery of his origins is tied to the fates of two generations.
From an unknown novice to a breaker of deadlocks feared even by the players, Shen Yan climbs ever higher for one reason alone:
"The rules in this tower need to change."
The male protagonist sets up a good mood [admiration]