A Weird Adventure

The Nine Desolate States are a graveyard of dreams. In a backwater city so forgotten it doesn't even have a name for its only tavern, Jiang Chen works. He kneads dough. He pours wine. He wipes tables where traveling cultivators leave their crumbs and their arrogant laughter. He has never held a sword. He has never thrown a punch that mattered. He is twenty-three years old, and he has already buried his future. Until three farm boys walk in, talking about an entrance exam for a third-rate sect called Martial Hall. Their robes are patched. Their shoes are falling apart. Their hopes are so desperately bright it hurts to look at them. And Jiang Chen realizes something terrible and wonderful: he wants what they have. He leaves before dawn. His adoptive father, Qi Wuhui, pretends to be asleep. Thirty-seven silver coins wrapped in cloth. Six loaves of bread. An empty gourd that will one day hold endless wine — but not yet. Not for a long time. Five days of walking. Sleeping in trees. Hiding from demonic monsters. One shoe falls apart. He ties it back together with strips of his sleeve and keeps going. When he arrives at Martial Hall Town, he has two days before the exam. Two days to explore. Two days to become something more than a tavern worker with a dream. But he is not alone. Somewhere in this town, a shameless lecher named Long Ao is causing trouble in a wine shop. Somewhere, a quiet strategist named Ye Feng is reading a book that might get him killed. Their paths have not crossed yet. But the Jianghu is small, and fate has a sense of humor. This is not a story about immortals. Not yet.