The Mortal's Tribulation

Li Ren, originally named Li Fan, was a poor orphan from a fallen scholarly family. At seventeen, he found an ancient toad jade in a mountain stream, and his fate changed drastically. The jade could sense ill intent and devour purple qi; anyone who harbored evil thoughts toward him would have their luck drained and be plagued by misfortune, while he himself gained fortune and turned danger into safety. With this treasure, Li Ren rose from a humble scholar to a court official, passing the imperial exams in quick succession. But beneath his glory lurked danger—he stumbled upon a century-old secret of the Great Jing Dynasty: anyone named 'Li Fan' would be secretly executed by the royal family before age fifty. In crisis, he met Shen Qishuang, a woman with multiple identities—a censor's daughter, a royal spy, and a cultivator tasked with tracking down 'Li Fan'. They fell in love amid suspicion, but when their identities were exposed, they were forced to flee the capital and enter the Xuanzhou cultivation world. Yet there, a prophecy circulated: 'When Li Fan appears, cultivation ends.' All sects formed the 'Zhu Fan Alliance' to hunt him. From court conspiracies to sect pursuits, Li Ren gradually discovered that this kill order spanning mortal and immortal realms originated from the celestial realm. — Description from novelcodex.org