Ashes of the Withered

Buried in the cold soil outside Red Pine Town, Lin Ziyan should have died with his mother—forgotten, unloved, a waste without a future. In a world where cultivation is everything, a spirit root is the gate to destiny. Without one, you're less than a dog. But when Ziyan touches the Spirit Measuring Pillar during the Azure Mist Sect’s Selection, it doesn’t glow. It screams. A forbidden power stirs within him—ancient, sealed, and hungry. The stone shatters. Shadows awaken. The world begins to remember a name long erased from the annals of history: Ash-Born. Now, Ziyan is marked. Hunted. Feared. With no sect to shield him, no master to guide him, and only whispers of a curse-laced legacy in his blood, he must carve his path through a world of merciless cultivators, corrupted sects, and heaven-defying secrets. This is not the story of a hero. This is the story of a grave-born boy who will drag the heavens into the dirt.