MTL - Lord of Ashes - ~ Fanwai·Mid-Autumn Festival

“I don’t care about how people in this world live, whether they have enough to eat, whether they can wear warm clothes, whether they have dreams and hope. I don’t care about their likes and dislikes.”

“It’s just that if you want to go to the sky, you need a complete advanced industrial system, a set of related research institutes, the most advanced materials science laboratory, and a big government that can coordinate all departments. It needs countless people who don’t have to worry about food and clothing. Dedicating wealth for this requires millions of high-level intellectuals to contribute their minds, and tens of thousands of different supporting manufacturers supply the best parts.”

“In short, it takes a world of abundance, and a great civilization to accomplish it.”

— Ian

A world reborn from its ashes.

An era that is coming to an end.

A group of prisoners fighting for power and power in the land.

A young man staring at the sky.

Prisoners peered out of the window of fate, mostly gazing at the dirt.

Only one is looking up at the stars.

- Description from novelbuddy

In the world of cultivation, countless tales follow righteous protagonists, fated heroes blessed by destiny, or those chosen by heaven to walk the path of immortality.But what of those who stand in their way?What of the villains? The so-called obstacles to the hero’s journey—do they not bleed, dream, and struggle as well?Xiao Ning was never meant to succeed.From the very beginning, the Grand Dao wove him as a stepping stone—a necessary sacrifice to elevate another. His path, like that of all designated ‘villains,’ was doomed to failure by design.But what happens when that design is defied?After death, Xiao Ning awakens—not in the cycle of reincarnation, but in the cold silence beyond it. There, he is offered the Eternal Paradox Codex—a forbidden artifact containing the hidden truths of the Grand Dao System itself.Rules. Loopholes. Vulnerabilities.Knowledge not meant for those like him.With this power, Xiao Ning is granted a single, impossible choice: accept oblivion, or step outside the Grand Dao entirely—to abandon fate, sever karma, and cultivate a path unbound by heaven or law.It is Xiao Ning’s journey, from ashes to something beyond comprehension.Not to become an Immortal among men.But something even the heavens dare not bind.If fate is a chain…Then let him forge his own path in the void beyond.Welcome to this humble tale.The cultivation world is vast and unkind.Let us begin again—on our terms.

Jiang Xinyu transmigrates into the 1950s without parents. In a time of famine with nothing to eat?But she just wants to live the life of a happy-go-lucky slacker...So she has to roll up her sleeves and fight!Carrying space, full of blessings!Heaven's favor, what you think is what you get.While others starve, she gains weight, determined to live out the luck she didn't have in her previous life.

Upon transmigrating, Su Xing awakens in a highly advanced game-like martial world.This world is populated by extraordinary beings known as Awakeneds. Favored by Heaven, these Awakeneds can level up and increase their power by clearing dungeons and slaying monsters.Su Xing receives a hidden profession, a Cultivator. However, due to unknown reasons, he is unable to gain experience or level up like other Awakeneds.Unable to level up, he can only cultivate. But in this era of declining spiritual energy, where cultivators are nearly extinct, even acquiring spiritual energy is a luxury. After four years of university, Su Xing is still at the puny Qi Refining stage, struggling to even graduate.Fortunately, he awakens a golden finger, the “Life Simulator,” which allows him to simulate the future by paying energy. He can bring back the cultivation and items obtained in the simulation to the real world.