The Mortal Iron Returns to Its Origin

Liu Shang comes from a family of blacksmiths in Zuo County, Wu Kingdom. For three generations, his ancestors have made their living forging metal. Located in a region steeped in martial culture, Zuo County has a strong demand for weapons and a thriving blacksmithing trade. The Liu family’s craftsmanship is well regarded locally.

This is a world where primordial energy reigns supreme. At birth, everyone receives a primordial mark during a rite of sacrifice. It determines their cultivation talent and their very nature. Primordial marks include the five-element type, mutation type, living-spirit type, void type, and others. Their talent ranks range from one to nine.

Cultivation is the process of absorbing the primordial energy of heaven and earth through one’s own primordial mark. The path runs from the Perception Realm to the Origin Return Realm, growing more difficult with every step.

The protagonist, Liu Shang, bears a Blood Demon primordial mark, the most difficult kind of living-spirit mark to cultivate. Its core must mature before it can function properly, so as a boy he absorbed primordial energy at less than a tenth the rate of ordinary people. Cultivation also brought him excruciating physical pain. While his peers made breakthrough after breakthrough, he remained stuck at the very bottom and was dismissed as a good-for-nothing.

Only after obtaining a high-grade cultivation manual does the true power of the Blood Demon primordial mark begin to awaken. Its ability to devour and assimilate primordial energy transforms Liu Shang’s cultivation speed. Yet the Blood Demon conceals a secret powerful enough to shake the entire world.

This world is rigidly stratified. Powerful clans and great families monopolize cultivation manuals and resources, leaving commoners little chance to rise. The spirit of the world, the source of primordial energy, rarely interferes in worldly affairs. Its one manifestation is a blessing bestowed upon a true leader: when someone understands their mission to lead the world toward a better future, their primordial mark receives its recognition.

What will become of the boy dismissed as a good-for-nothing and mocked in a blacksmith’s shop in Zuo County? A path of iron and fire, defying fate, begins here.