Officials of the Mountains and Rivers

In the autumn of the thirteenth year of Tianyou, the Red Flame Army slaughtered 3,700 people in Qingshi Town. By the time the news reached Suiye Town, the city was still ablaze with lights, but no one dared look north. Shen Wangshu was nineteen, the only son of the Shen family and its sole heir. The Shens were the wealthiest family in the northwest. He wore brocade robes and jade pendants, drank wine, and listened to music. Everyone in town laughed at him as a good-for-nothing. That changed when his father returned from the north with a black iron token bearing a single character: Soldier. He entered an underground auction house on Old Warehouse Street. There, a Strength Fruit could transform a nobody into a seasoned novice, while a Breakthrough Fruit could help a grandmaster knock on the door to the Soldier realm. The authorities kept a tight grip on these fruits, and only those at the Soldier realm or above were allowed access. Grandmasters? Even they were out of luck. This world had ten realms: Mortal, Soldier, Horse, Elephant, Cannon, Chariot, Advisor, General, Transcendent, and Definer. Each time someone advanced a realm, they automatically gained that realm's level of attack, defense, speed, and perception. But a realm only set the minimum standard. Progress beyond that depended on study, training, and potential. Potential came in five grades: low, medium, high, supreme, and legendary. A person with low potential who ate a fruit could advance from entry level to the peak of entry level. Someone with high potential could go from entry level to the late stage. The difference could decide your fate. Heavenly treasures were hard currency, but they could also be a death sentence. The black market traded defective goods from the Soldier realm, while fruits were almost unheard of. Silver was useless. Everything was traded for something else, or for a life. Even the best bodyguards were only at the early or middle stage of the Soldier realm. That was their limit. From pampered young master to player in a deadly game, Shen Wangshu walked every step on the edge of a blade. He was a pawn. Once across the river, there was no going back. But he had never planned to turn back anyway. In a world where everyone was expendable, simply standing your ground was an act of defiance.