Martial Emperor

Martial Emperor is an Eastern fantasy novel by the web author Skyscraper, telling the story of Yi Li, a youth of the Yi clan. As a boy, Yi Li frittered away the golden years for laying his foundation through play, until an event that cut him to the heart finally woke him and made him turn over a new leaf. By chance he obtains a strange stone gate; through it he can reach the Southern Heavenly Gate at any time and from there step into the legendary supreme Heavenly Court. From this starting point, Yi Li sets out on the path of martial cultivation: from first forming a qi vortex and rising to martial artist, to learning the Green Lotus Art and comprehending the martial heart, to maneuvering among the four great families and rushing to auctions to compete for resources—step by step, through almost obsessive effort, he pays for his former idleness. Centered on the belief that "as long as I work hard, I will be the strongest," the novel unfolds along threads of cultivation-rank advancement, sect and clan strife, and the changing of authority in the Heavenly Court. It portrays a youth unwilling to bow to talent and birth, charging ahead amid battles against heaven itself, until he reaches the height of "the Heavenly Court has no master—I am the Martial Emperor." The story moves at a tight pace with dense payoffs, a typical leveling-up Eastern fantasy.