Spirit Bone

Spirit Bone is a xuanhuan xianxia novel by the web author Wei Zi, approximately 1.7 million characters long in more than 500 chapters, now completed. The story takes place in an evil age when "the Heavenly Dao has collapsed": the empire controls cultivators through the Imperial Immortal Army, and the mountains' spirit veins are regarded as the foundation of the nation's destiny. The youth Zhuang You accidentally sets a mountain fire and destroys the Mystic Dragon Vein, revered as the root of the dragon veins; from then on he is hunted by the Imperial Immortal Army, and his parents die miserably in the upheaval. To survive he flees into the deep mountains, rescuing along the way a small ba beast that is "like a dog but not a dog"; led by the little beast, he stumbles into the Primordial Grotto-Cave, shatters the spirit-bone relic enshrined there, and has his soul invaded by the residual essence of the primordial god Xuanhuang—an accident that becomes the starting point of his cultivation path. Thereafter Zhuang You cultivates, flees, and turns the hunt against his pursuers in pursuit of revenge, rising from a first-rank cultivator and struggling to grow through opportunities such as the Mystic Radiance Sword and the Dragon-Taming Art and through death traps again and again, while the little ba beast becomes his most loyal companion on the long journey. The novel is known for its brisk pace and for plunging straight into the action from the opening; the plot advances tightly and blends familiar elements—revenge, conflict between sects and imperial powers, beast companions, and the growth of a sword cultivator—in the traditional male-oriented cultivation power-fantasy style. It suits readers willing to invest time in a long serialized chapter novel.