(No System + Not a wish-fulfillment novel + Fictional setting + Slow pace)
In the Great Sheng Dynasty, cultivators cannot cultivate through their own efforts. They can only "borrow the Way" from the remains of ancient immortals.
The more they borrow, the stronger they become. But every time they do, their bodies, habits, and even memories gradually grow to resemble those of the immortal who has long since died.
Gu Changan is a boy who writes epitaphs for the dead. He was born able to hear the final words lingering in their remains, and can distinguish which parts of an ancient immortal's legacy are power and which are will.
To treat his younger sister Gu Qingci, who has been infected by "immortal corruption," he enters the Tailing Sect, which guards the world's immortal tombs. During a trial, he borrows the power of the forbidden ancient immortal, the Formless Lord.
Afterward, Gu Changan discovers that his sister's strange illness was no accident, but the result of the Tailing Sect's secret "immortal cultivation experiment." Meanwhile, ancient immortals who have lain dormant for ten thousand years begin to revive inside cultivators who borrow the Way.
More terrifying still, those driving the ancient immortals' resurrection are not seeking immortality alone.
A "Noonday Tide" from beyond the heavens, capable of swallowing the entire world, is drawing near, and the ancient immortals may be the world's only barrier.
To save his sister and preserve his right to remain "human," Gu Changan must forge a path no one has ever managed to follow:
Borrow from no immortal, bow to no heaven, and prove the Great Way through a mortal's own strength.
Well written, the writing is quite fluent
The male needs to become stronger as soon as possible
The hero's sister is heartbreaking.
I came in after reading the introduction and looking forward to uncovering the conspiracy soon.