The Ember Cauldron Chronicles

In the 372nd year of the Great Ember Dynasty, the founding emperor melted the Nine Tripods to forge the Ember Cauldron, establishing a ancestral rule: every emperor must sacrifice their soul upon ascension to sustain the dynasty. The world praises the emperor's martyrdom for eternal peace, but the royal family knows the secret: the cauldron never consumes souls, only the emperor's lifespan. The current Emperor Cheng'en, only twenty, is already decrepit. At the Winter Solstice Soul-Burning Ceremony, Crown Prince Xiao Chengji goes mad, screaming that there is a ghost in the cauldron, and is imprisoned in the Sky-Piercing Tower. The imperial grandson Xiao Jin, born with the ability to sense Ember Qi, intends to follow his father's dying wish to survive, but cannot hide his true heart and decides to uncover the truth. He meets Xie Mingzhu, the premier's daughter, who bears the mission to destroy the cauldron and possesses the secret art of extinguishing embers. Together, they navigate the Ember Cauldron Bureau, court nobles, and border warlords. The cauldron imprisons a Taotie, and the emperor is the sacrifice. Will they feed the cauldron to prolong the dynasty's false peace, or shatter it to welcome a new, chaotic world? Beneath the ashes, all are trapped; only those who defy fate can stand without kneeling to the masses.