In the Nine Heavens' Ashen Lands, cultivators soared through the sky on their swords, yet could not sever the shackles binding all living beings.
At fifteen, the beggar Lin Jin swallowed a demonic beast's fire core. Black flames that could scorch the heavens ignited in his right arm, branding him a "demon" for life.
On the run, a dying rogue cultivator shoved a scroll into his hands: the Ashen Flame Art, a forbidden technique that traded life for power. With every breakthrough, three parts of his flesh turned to glazed crystal.
"The Tianxu Academy doesn't accept beggars."
Mocked, the boy's embers smoldered with laughter beneath his mask.
He refined the remnant soul of a Flame Demon, trampled the holy city's prodigies, and burned the merit stele in front of everyone. "They say the path to immortality is heartless? Today, I'll burn this man-eating Heavenly Dao to the ground!"
Ling Shuang, bearer of the Profound Ice Sword Bone, was meant to slay demons and vanquish evil. But while hunting Lin Jin, her demonic blood ran wild.
Ice and fire entwined in their desperate struggle, unveiling the cruelest truth:
The demonic clan's curse mark glimmered on her nape, while ash poison scorched his heart. The so-called "orthodox immortal sects" were nothing but a lie, one watered by the flesh and blood of millions of mortals at the hands of the Nine Heavens Alliance!
As the blood sea's dead broke through the northern frontier and abyssal demon dragons tore through the eternal night,
Lin Jin stood amid the ruins of Tianxu City, his right arm turned to glazed crystal and raised aloft with flames that could burn the world.
Behind him were the vengeful souls of the sacrificed. Before him stood the sanctimonious "Immortal Venerable."
"You want to refine my Ashen Vein into a pill and ascend to immortality?"
The boy laughed as black flames consumed the divine altar of the Nine Heavens.
"Let's see if these bones can burn through your three-thousand-year-old false golden body!"
