Against the Scales: Journey Across the Nine Provinces

In Pihuo Village, there was only one rule for three thousand years: every seven years, the Fire Phoenix descends, and the whole village gathers at the square to await the Phoenix. But the one that descended that year was no auspicious sign. Yan Qi overslept and survived by sheer luck. He swallowed the last egg spat out by the dying Phoenix; the fire seed took root in his belly, and he was also burdened with the suspicion of a clan-wide massacre: Who set up the killing array in the square? Why did everyone in the village stand by and wait for death? He picked up a rusted ancient sword that had been sealed for ten years from the black swamp mud. The sword still held a remnant of dragon malice. He abandoned his old name and called himself Ni Lin (Reverse Scale). As an orphan of Pihuo Village, he was rejected by the ancestral rules of the Wind Demon Valley. Carrying his sword, he strayed into the perilous 100,000 Black Pine Forest. As his fire meridian awakened, amidst surrounding monsters, he first came to know the power of the flame within his belly. Wandering through Tianyuan City, he witnessed a mix of fish and dragons, and understood the treachery of human hearts; ascending Qingtian Peak, he borrowed thunder to temper himself and cultivated the Phoenix Nirvana, which can mend broken bones. The Chiyou Sect, the Five Poisons Altar, the Pagoda-Slaying Temple, the Silver Turtle Island—he pursued his investigation all the way, gradually uncovering the truth behind the great fire of that year, yet repeatedly hitting dead ends. On another earth meridian, Hanyan of the Shennong Cult, who knew no martial arts and no spells, seemingly useless, was chosen by the Poison Elder. Her first lesson was to make the soul-breaking crabapple bloom in her palm. One fire, one poison; two earth meridians that should never intersect, two lives each walking their own path. In the dark, there will eventually come a time when they collide. — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: Against the Scales: Journey Across the Nine Provinces — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠