Glazed glass may shatter, but the furnace fire never dies.
On the road fleeing famine, Shen Yanxing carried his younger sister into an immortal sect. The spirit-testing bell rang nine times, and his sister was given two words: furnace vessel.
The sect said being a furnace vessel was a blessing, and that she would be well cared for. He believed them.
Only later did he discover the truth: a furnace vessel was a furnace, an ingredient for pills, and a name swallowed by one alchemy furnace after another over three hundred years. His sister was next.
For three years, he sharpened a hatchet in the furnace room. By day, he shoveled out the ashes. By night, he counted the bowls. He learned every path the sect took to consume people. Someone advised him, “If you want to live, ask fewer questions.”
He replied, “I don’t want to live. I want my sister to live.”
The blade was sharp. Now it was time for blood.
Core theme: The sect’s compassion is a blade wrapped in sugar. Mortals must demand answers for those swallowed by the furnaces. This is a story of siblings clinging to each other through an age of chaos, bound by one obsession: I don’t want to live. I want my sister to live.
