In this world, the sky is not a dome, but an abyss.
Thirteen hundred years ago, the sky cracked. A crack across the sky was torn open by an unknown force. Since then, the heterogeneous energy known as "Xu" poured down from the gap in the sky and soaked the earth like a tide. All things have undergone violent changes under the erosion of Xu Energy - beasts have developed scales and second hearts, vegetation has turned into human-eating traps, and humans have either become deformed bodies that have lost their minds due to the erosion of Xu Energy, or they have awakened from the temper of nine deaths and forged this destructive power into themselves.
After three hundred years of struggle between blood and fire, mankind has finally found a way to go upstream - using the flesh as the furnace and the will as the hammer, forging the violent ruin energy into a "gang pattern" that can be controlled. Patterns are engraved on the bones, and strength runs through the blood. Those who have cultivated to the extreme can break rivers with a raise of their hands, and split mountains with a single step of their feet. These people are respectfully called - Blacksmiths.
Nowadays, the mainland is divided and ruled by six forged gang sects. Countries are dependent on the sects and use the energy resources as bargaining chips to survive in the cracks. And outside the shadow of these behemoths, countless casual cultivators and small sects are still struggling on the ruins, trying to find a place in the apocalyptic world.
Our story begins in the northeastern corner of the mainland, on a forgotten cliff.
