Ascending to Immortality

During a three-year drought, the city of Qingshi uses the dead to refine 'life-extending incense,' which the people believe can ward off plagues and prolong life, unaware that each lit stick is a sacrifice to a long-slumbering entity. Shen Yan, an apprentice at an apothecary, accidentally becomes entangled in a secret deal among cultivators while trying to save his gravely ill sister, and obtains a mysterious parasitic spiritual root. It allows mortals to embark on the path of immortality but also continuously devours the host's lifespan. In a world where sects vie for profit, the strong take lives, and the weak are used as furnaces, Shen Yan lacks extraordinary talent and a prominent background. He can only hide his strength, proceed cautiously, and seek a way to survive through life-and-death crises. From a border-town apothecary to the vast immortal realm, a mere mortal treads carefully, striving to carve out his own path to longevity. — Description from novelcodex.org