
by ohiodawn
In a world where spiritual roots determine destiny, Lin Xuan has none.No root means no qi. No qi means no cultivation. No cultivation means you are less than the dogs that guard the herb fields — because at least dogs can bite.Lin Xuan is a "Bone Scavenger," the lowest caste in the Azure Peak Sect. His days are spent kneeling in mud, harvesting紫心草 for inner disciples who kick him for sport. His nights are spent in a frozen stone hut, hiding the truth: his left shoulder bears a red mark that is not a birthmark, and the jade pendant he has worn since infancy is identical to one owned by a crippled old man everyone fears.That old man is Elder Mo — the last survivor of Black Bone Peak, a place the sect slaughtered two centuries ago for "practicing heresy." Elder Mo gives Lin Xuan a fragment of bone etched with forbidden runes and a single warning: *"Your bones don't need roots. They eat them."*The first time Lin Xuan uses his Void Bone, he doesn't cultivate.He *consumes.*An enemy's arm withers to dry wood in seconds. The spiritual root inside — the very thing that defines a cultivator's soul — flows into Lin Xuan's bones like water into a grave. And for the first time in sixteen years, he feels *power.*But power has a price. The more he devours, the more his own flesh dies. White spots spread across his hands. His blood turns cold. He is becoming a skeleton that walks — and the sect is beginning to notice.
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