The protagonist, Lin Huang, is the son of the current Lin family patriarch. He has no spiritual root and cannot cultivate, so he's known as the "good-for-nothing young master." Tensions escalated after disciples from a rival family repeatedly bullied the Lin family's disciples. Lin Huang's father was summoned by the rival family to mediate, but in truth, they had enlisted an even more powerful faction to kill him. They then began exterminating the entire Lin family. Lin Huang's second uncle risked his life to protect him and help him escape. Hunted all the way, Lin Huang fell into the Burial Abyss, where he awakened the golden finger: the power to devour the heavens. He then devoured monsters and enemies, formed the Heaven-Eater Army, and uncovered the truth that this world was a ranch. His journey took him from revenge and washing away his shame, to fighting even more powerful cultivators, and finally to confronting the so-called gods who controlled and fed upon this world.