In June 2030, a comet passed close to Earth. Electromagnetism fell silent, energy changed form, and 99 percent of humanity perished!
The old world order vanished completely. Humanity marked that day as the beginning of a new era, and civilization was forced to retreat to the age of coal and steam.
The cataclysm rewrote the human body's meridians and constitution. The heat from burning refined coal could be used for cultivation.
And so, a world of martial might arose.
Powerful factions seized coal mines one after another, building city conglomerates modeled on sects and monopolizing the resources needed for cultivation.
The upper classes wielded formidable martial power, while the lives of the poor were worth less than grass.
Zhang Ran, born before the new era, cultivated using the intense heat produced by burning purified fuel, allowing him to scrape by for a thousand years without dying.
But a thousand years later, resources are on the verge of running dry. When steam engines roar across the wasteland and blazing martial fire burns the last of the snow, an endless rebellion will sweep across the entire wasteland.
