Sole Steps to the Heavenly Path

Sole Steps to the Heavenly Path is an Eastern fantasy novel by web author Xuanyu, serialized on Qidian Chinese Network (some sources say Chuangshi Chinese Network) since 2016 and now completed. The story takes place on the "Vast Continent": rare treasures endure, fierce beasts roam, martial arts can lead to immortality, divine mountains rise ten thousand zhang, immortal rivers wind through nine bends, and since ancient times winds and clouds have turned and turbulent times have rolled on. The protagonist, Zhang Zhongjun, is the only son of the Viscount of Zhenjun and should inherit his father's title, but because his talent suddenly vanishes he is framed by others. At the point of death he stumbles into the Poison Cloud Miasma Valley and encounters a strange giant frog—the other's divine soul is that of a powerful being lodged in a frog's body, who originally intended to seize Zhang Zhongjun's body, but errs in casting the technique and instead forms a "life alliance" with the youth, sharing life and death and fortune and misfortune. From then on, this "divine frog," who can produce treasures, techniques, and cultivation secrets, becomes Zhang Zhongjun's strangest guide. Burdened with the "Ten Thousand Leaks Physique," which makes cultivation doubly difficult, the youth of the Zhang family gradually patches his own flaws with the divine frog's help, rises from the early stage of qi refinement, passes through family upheaval, a title bestowal, and conflicts among sects and factions, and finally becomes renowned across the continent. The book centers on the setup of "trash-turned-strong counterattack plus a portable old master (this time a frog)," accompanied by light banter and brisk battle pacing; its main line can be summed up in one line from the book: an endless journey, walking by treading the heavens.