Nobody living in Roiling Ocean City expected that an ordinary day would become the dividing line between the old world and the new.
The explosion came without warning, tearing open the sky itself. By the time the chaos settled, part of the city had merged with an unfamiliar world, bringing back things humanity had only imagined in myths and games. Monsters wandered ruined streets, people awakened strange abilities, and the old rules quietly stopped mattering. Levels, attributes, skills, professions, none of it sounded believable at first, until surviving meant understanding how those things worked. Years passed, the city changed its name along with everything else, and Demonic City became a place where strength was no longer admired, it was expected.
Fang Xingjian grows up in the middle of that reality.
He isn’t remembered as the most gifted member of the Fang Clan, nor the one everyone places their hopes on. If anything, he spends more time trying to catch up than standing out. While others rely on talent that seems almost unfair, Fang Xingjian returns to the training grounds day after day, repeating the same sword swings until his hands ache. It isn’t glamorous work, but it is the only thing he can truly call his own.
That stubbornness carries him farther than most people expect.
Life inside the Fang Clan proves just as difficult as life outside its walls. Old prestige still hangs over the family, yet the cracks are obvious once someone looks closely. Ambition hides behind polite conversations, personal interests outweigh family bonds more often than they should, and a person’s worth is measured almost entirely by what they can contribute. Before Fang Xingjian ever faces the monsters beyond the city, he has already learned that people can be just as dangerous.
Then an opportunity appears, the kind that almost sounds like a cruel joke.
The price is impossible to ignore. In exchange for unimaginable talent with the sword, he must surrender something that most people would never willingly lose. It is not the sort of decision that can be taken back once made, yet for someone who has spent his entire life struggling against limits placed on him by others, the answer feels strangely simple.
From there, the road only becomes harsher. Stronger opponents appear, forgotten secrets surrounding the transformed world slowly begin surfacing, and every step toward greater power asks for another sacrifice. Fang Xingjian keeps walking anyway, not because he believes the journey will become easier, but because turning around stopped being an option long ago.
