In the Great World of Xuanhuang, status is determined by one's fate mark. The Heavenly Mandate Sect rules over the distribution of fate on Heaven's behalf, while those born with mortal bones at the bottom are branded useless from birth. Lin Yan, an adopted son burdened with the worst kind of mortal bones, has endured scorn since childhood. His childhood sweetheart unilaterally breaks off their engagement, his family's ancestral spirit-vein grounds are seized through collusion between a powerful clan and a merchant guild, his cousin's dantian is crippled, and his clan leader is thrown into prison. At the brink of despair, the inheritance of the Ancient Reversal Sword, dormant for sixteen years, awakens, and its spirit, the old Swordmaster, appears. Lin Yan has the special ability to improve his cultivation whenever he is humiliated and devour other people's heavenly fate. From then on, he refuses to believe in Heaven's will or destiny. Wielding the long sword of fate reversal, he repeatedly delivers face-slapping comeuppances to arrogant clans, gradually exposing the Heavenly Mandate Sect's plot to collude with powers from beyond the realm and harvest humanity's fortune. Determined to use his mortal bones to sever the shackles of fate marks, he sets out on a sword cultivator's path of defying Heaven and striking down the Dao.
