On the ice plains, every cultivator is digging up graves.
They excavate ancient ruins, fight over peerless treasures, and search for the secret of ascension.
Only Qin Jin is collecting corpses.
He is the last heir of the Burial Flame Sect, a gravekeeper whom the entire cultivation world considers mad.
He came to the ice plains only to bury a civilization that went extinct tens of thousands of years ago.
Then, in the deepest layer of frozen earth, he found the last Frost Coffin.
A hand reached out from inside and clutched him tightly.
"Don't bury me. I don't want to die."
The voice said, "I'm afraid of what comes after death."
Qin Jin fell silent for a long time.
"Then don't die," he said. "Come up with me and see what the world has become since your people died."
1. What is an ember?
Embers are not an ore, not a metal, not any naturally occurring substance.
It is the crystal powder remaining after the remains of Sui people were completely burned in the burial fire.
When Qin Jin buries the remains of a Sui man with a funeral fire, the remains will turn into a translucent ice crystal seal. But not all remains will be preserved intact. Those fragments of remains that are too damaged to form a complete seal will collapse into a handful of fine crystal powder after the burial fire is burned out - this is the embers.
Each ember is a crystal formed from the bones of the Sui people under the dual effects of tens of thousands of years of time and burial fires. It is not a relic, and there is no concept sealed in it, but it carries the most basic energy - heat.
An ember can continue to dissipate heat for about an hour. The temperature is not high, approximately equivalent to human body temperature. But on frozen soil, this temperature is the distance between life and death.
2. Level of Ember
The value of the embers depends on the integrity of the source of the remains and the purity of the burial fire:
Level name source value
One grain of the core crystal after burning the complete remains of first-class white embers can be used for heating for an entire winter.
The burned crystals of the incomplete remains of second-class green embers (no more than 30% missing) are the highest grade in the market. One grain can be exchanged for a permanent residence in a supply station.
The remains of third-class yellow ember fragments (more than 50% missing), the burned crystallization, the main currency of daily transactions, one grain is enough for a casual cultivator to live and eat at a supply depot for three days.
Fourth grade red ember powdery remains, the crystallization after burning, the smallest trading unit, one grain can buy a bowl of hot soup
3. Why can embers become currency?
1. It cannot be faked. The generation of embers requires two conditions: the remains of Sui people and burial fire. The remains can only be dug out under the frozen soil, and only Qin Jin can bury them. These two things combined determine that the scarcity of ember is absolute. No monk can create false embers through "cultivation" or "refining".
2. It has practical use value. The most scarce thing on the frozen soil is not spirit stones, but heat. Embers are the only substance that can continue to generate heat without consuming souls. A casual cultivator digging for remains on the ice sheet can survive the bone-eroding wind for two more hours with a yellow ember hanging around his waist.
3. It is naturally graded. Remains of varying degrees of completeness produce different grades of ember, requiring no agency to "mint" or "grade" them. The color and luster of each ember directly determines its value.
4. Its supply is controlled and steadily growing. Every time Qin Jin buries a remains, new embers will be created. The more remains buried, the more embers remain. This means that the money supply is directly bound to the protagonist's action progress.
4. Deep setting of Ember: Warm
The heat emitted by the embers is not an ordinary temperature. The monks gave this kind of heat a special name - "warmth".
"Warm" is different from the heat of hot beads. The heat from the hot beads is physical and can only warm the body. "Warm" is the residual energy after the bones of Sui people are burned in the funeral fire, which can warm the soul. A monk who has been on the frozen soil for too long and whose soul has been eroded by the cold air has cracks. If he sleeps with an ember in his hand, the cracks will heal. It's slowly but surely healing.
This discovery multiplied the value of the ember. It's not just fuel and currency, it's medicine.
Qin Jin himself is the only one who cannot use embers. The reason is simple: he bought the embers with his lifespan. He burns the funeral fire to consume his life and produce embers. If he continued to use the embers to warm himself, he would be using his own life to warm his own life - a meaningless cycle.
Training system: Engraver
1. Source of power: the concept of incompleteness
Practitioners in this world do not absorb spiritual energy or practice golden elixirs.
They unearthed "relics" from the ruins of the Sui people - not magic weapons or elixirs, but incomplete concepts.
Before the Sui people's civilization perished, everything they understood - "sharpness", "time", "fear", "growth", and "forgetting" - were sealed in artifacts. Their definition of "sharpness" is sealed in a broken sword, and their understanding of "time" is sealed in a broken ring.
The concept of sealing in relics is not complete. Because Suiren himself did not fully understand these concepts. They only understand 70% of "sharpness", so the broken sword can only cut through tangible things, but it can't cut through invisible things.
What the engraver has to do is to imprint these incomplete concepts into his own soul, thereby gaining power beyond mortals.
2. Boundary division: one mark to nine marks
The realm of an engraver is not divided by the depth of spiritual energy, but by how many concepts are imprinted in the soul.
Realm Name Ability Remarks
The first inscription imprints a concept and acquires a single ability beyond mortals. Most monks stay here throughout their lives.
The two-mark double-engraved person imprints two concepts, and the concepts begin to be linked, such as "sharpness" + "speed" = piercing the air.
The three concepts of Three Marks and Three Marks Master form a closed loop, and you can create your own exercises. This is the threshold for establishing a sect.
The Four Marks and Four Marks masters began to come into contact with abstract concepts (fear, loneliness, time). Abstract concepts are extremely rare, and most relics only contain concrete concepts.
Five Marks Five Mark Masters can put their concepts outside and form a "domain". Within the domain, your concept is a temporary law.
Six Marks and Six Marks masters began to understand the relationship between concepts (for example, "fire" and "heat" are two concepts). Most people understand that "fire" includes "heat", but Suiren separates them.
The Seven Marks Master can dismantle and reorganize concepts and completely separate a concept from the relic. This is the pinnacle of the Suiren civilization.
The Master of Eight Marks and Eight Marks touches on concepts that Suiren has not understood (such as "death"). Suiren does not have the concept of "death", so there is no relic that contains it. The Eight Marks Master must understand it himself
The Legend of Nine Marks and Nine Marks Master. No one has ever seen it. It is said that Jiuhen Master is no longer a "brand concept", but "becomes a concept"
3. Specific operations of cultivation
The practice of an engraver is not to meditate on luck, but to visualize the relic.
After finding a relic, the engraver must use his soul to "read" the concepts sealed in it. This process is extremely dangerous because:
1. Concepts will bite back. If you try to brand "sharpness" and your will is not strong enough, "sharpness" will in turn cut your soul. More monks die every year during the process of visualization than on the ice fields.
2. There will be conflicts between concepts. "Burning" and "freezing" cannot coexist in the same soul. Which two concepts to choose to match is the most important decision for the engraver.
3. The concept is "incomplete". Suiren's "sharpness" is only 70%. When you imprint it, you inherit its imperfections—your perception becomes distorted. People who have been branded "sharp" for too long will become more and more callous, because the concept of "blunt" is disappearing from their worldview.
4. Levels of relics
The value of the relic depends on the completeness and rarity of the concepts sealed inside:
· Ash level (completeness 1-30%): The most common relic, which seals the most basic concepts of the Suiren civilization (sharp, hard, light, heavy). Most casual cultivators have been using ash-level relics all their lives.
·Crane Moon Level (completeness 40-60%): Already quite rare, usually containing compound concepts (burning, freezing, growth, decay).
·Sunday level (70-90% completeness): Extremely rare, each piece can trigger a war between sects. High-level concepts (gravity, sound, light, dark) are sealed.
·Frost Coffin Level (completeness unknown): a legendary relic. It is said that it contains the last and most complete concepts of the Suiren civilization - such as "time", "causation" and "self". But no one has seen the Frost Coffin-level relic. In other words, none of the people I met have come back.
1. What is an ember? Embers are not an ore, not a metal, not any naturally occurring substance. It is the crystal powder remaining after the remains of Sui people were completely burned in the burial fire. When Qin Jin buries the remains of a Sui man with a funeral fire, the remains will turn into a translucent ice crystal seal. But not all remains will be preserved intact. Those fragments of remains that are too damaged to form a complete seal will collapse into a handful of fine crystal powder after the burial fire is burned out - this is the embers. Each ember is a crystal formed from the bones of the Sui people under the dual effects of tens of thousands of years of time and burial fires. It is not a relic, and there is no concept sealed in it, but it carries the most basic energy - heat. An ember can continue to dissipate heat for about an hour. The temperature is not high, approximately equivalent to human body temperature. But on frozen soil, this temperature is the distance between life and death. 2. Level of Ember The value of the embers depends on the integrity of the source of the remains and the purity of the burial fire: Level name source value One grain of the core crystal after burning the complete remains of first-class white embers can be used for heating for an entire winter. The burned crystals of the incomplete remains of second-class green embers (no more than 30% missing) are the highest grade in the market. One grain can be exchanged for a permanent residence in a supply station. The remains of third-class yellow ember fragments (more than 50% missing), the burned crystallization, the main currency of daily transactions, one grain is enough for a casual cultivator to live and eat at a supply depot for three days. Fourth grade red ember powdery remains, the crystallization after burning, the smallest trading unit, one grain can buy a bowl of hot soup 3. Why can embers become currency? 1. It cannot be faked. The generation of embers requires two conditions: the remains of Sui people and burial fire. The remains can only be dug out under the frozen soil, and only Qin Jin can bury them. These two things combined determine that the scarcity of ember is absolute. No monk can create false embers through "cultivation" or "refining". 2. It has practical use value. The most scarce thing on the frozen soil is not spirit stones, but heat. Embers are the only substance that can continue to generate heat without consuming souls. A casual cultivator digging for remains on the ice sheet can survive the bone-eroding wind for two more hours with a yellow ember hanging around his waist. 3. It is naturally graded. Remains of varying degrees of completeness produce different grades of ember, requiring no agency to "mint" or "grade" them. The color and luster of each ember directly determines its value. 4. Its supply is controlled and steadily growing. Every time Qin Jin buries a remains, new embers will be created. The more remains buried, the more embers remain. This means that the money supply is directly bound to the protagonist's action progress. 4. Deep setting of Ember: Warm The heat emitted by the embers is not an ordinary temperature. The monks gave this kind of heat a special name - "warmth". "Warm" is different from the heat of hot beads. The heat from the hot beads is physical and can only warm the body. "Warm" is the residual energy after the bones of Sui people are burned in the funeral fire, which can warm the soul. A monk who has been on the frozen soil for too long and whose soul has been eroded by the cold air has cracks. If he sleeps with an ember in his hand, the cracks will heal. It's slowly but surely healing. This discovery multiplied the value of the ember. It's not just fuel and currency, it's medicine. Qin Jin himself is the only one who cannot use embers. The reason is simple: he bought the embers with his lifespan. He burns the funeral fire to consume his life and produce embers. If he continued to use the embers to warm himself, he would be using his own life to warm his own life - a meaningless cycle.
Training system: Engraver 1. Source of power: the concept of incompleteness Practitioners in this world do not absorb spiritual energy or practice golden elixirs. They unearthed "relics" from the ruins of the Sui people - not magic weapons or elixirs, but incomplete concepts. Before the Sui people's civilization perished, everything they understood - "sharpness", "time", "fear", "growth", and "forgetting" - were sealed in artifacts. Their definition of "sharpness" is sealed in a broken sword, and their understanding of "time" is sealed in a broken ring. The concept of sealing in relics is not complete. Because Suiren himself did not fully understand these concepts. They only understand 70% of "sharpness", so the broken sword can only cut through tangible things, but it can't cut through invisible things. What the engraver has to do is to imprint these incomplete concepts into his own soul, thereby gaining power beyond mortals. 2. Boundary division: one mark to nine marks The realm of an engraver is not divided by the depth of spiritual energy, but by how many concepts are imprinted in the soul. Realm Name Ability Remarks The first inscription imprints a concept and acquires a single ability beyond mortals. Most monks stay here throughout their lives. The two-mark double-engraved person imprints two concepts, and the concepts begin to be linked, such as "sharpness" + "speed" = piercing the air. The three concepts of Three Marks and Three Marks Master form a closed loop, and you can create your own exercises. This is the threshold for establishing a sect. The Four Marks and Four Marks masters began to come into contact with abstract concepts (fear, loneliness, time). Abstract concepts are extremely rare, and most relics only contain concrete concepts. Five Marks Five Mark Masters can put their concepts outside and form a "domain". Within the domain, your concept is a temporary law. Six Marks and Six Marks masters began to understand the relationship between concepts (for example, "fire" and "heat" are two concepts). Most people understand that "fire" includes "heat", but Suiren separates them. The Seven Marks Master can dismantle and reorganize concepts and completely separate a concept from the relic. This is the pinnacle of the Suiren civilization. The Master of Eight Marks and Eight Marks touches on concepts that Suiren has not understood (such as "death"). Suiren does not have the concept of "death", so there is no relic that contains it. The Eight Marks Master must understand it himself The Legend of Nine Marks and Nine Marks Master. No one has ever seen it. It is said that Jiuhen Master is no longer a "brand concept", but "becomes a concept" 3. Specific operations of cultivation The practice of an engraver is not to meditate on luck, but to visualize the relic. After finding a relic, the engraver must use his soul to "read" the concepts sealed in it. This process is extremely dangerous because: 1. Concepts will bite back. If you try to brand "sharpness" and your will is not strong enough, "sharpness" will in turn cut your soul. More monks die every year during the process of visualization than on the ice fields. 2. There will be conflicts between concepts. "Burning" and "freezing" cannot coexist in the same soul. Which two concepts to choose to match is the most important decision for the engraver. 3. The concept is "incomplete". Suiren's "sharpness" is only 70%. When you imprint it, you inherit its imperfections—your perception becomes distorted. People who have been branded "sharp" for too long will become more and more callous, because the concept of "blunt" is disappearing from their worldview. 4. Levels of relics The value of the relic depends on the completeness and rarity of the concepts sealed inside: · Ash level (completeness 1-30%): The most common relic, which seals the most basic concepts of the Suiren civilization (sharp, hard, light, heavy). Most casual cultivators have been using ash-level relics all their lives. ·Crane Moon Level (completeness 40-60%): Already quite rare, usually containing compound concepts (burning, freezing, growth, decay). ·Sunday level (70-90% completeness): Extremely rare, each piece can trigger a war between sects. High-level concepts (gravity, sound, light, dark) are sealed. ·Frost Coffin Level (completeness unknown): a legendary relic. It is said that it contains the last and most complete concepts of the Suiren civilization - such as "time", "causation" and "self". But no one has seen the Frost Coffin-level relic. In other words, none of the people I met have come back.