The Splitting Blade Does No Harm

The Riftlands have never healed. The sky is split, the earth is cracked, and all things are wounded. A Cleaver swings a blade and opens another wound. If the wound doesn't fall on them, it falls on someone else, or on the world itself. That is the rule, and there are no exceptions. Shen Lie is one of the Woundfolk, a "walking debt" in the eyes of the great clans. His left eye bears a natural crack beneath its bandage. No one knows it's a remnant of the first slash that split the world. The first time he used his blade, the wound fell on his mother. She became a living wound, half her body split open, and slept for ten years. He wants to put down his blade. But the great clans mean to "settle their debt" with him, Master Zhuo wants to teach him how to "shut the door," Su Jue passes wounds on to strangers, and A Luo pursues him for three days and three nights. Every wound in this world must be paid for by someone. He wants to find a way that doesn't make someone else bear the cost.