Zarziyan - The Price of Ascension
A boy who has forgotten even his own name, hating humanity and its civilization that reeks of lies, is raised by the ruthless yet honest laws of the forest. For him, life is synonymous with survival; his philosophy is pragmatism, his weapon is raw instinct. This one-man kingdom is shaken by an ancient, moon-white tree he discovers in the heart of the forest. The spiritual fruits it offers promise a chance to "ascend," but the boy's nature is not to trust, but to test.
This mistrust culminates in him witnessing the creation of a monstrous abomination (Yaoguai) when he experiments on an innocent animal with the pure, uncontrolled life energy (Qi). Forced to consume the fruit himself to defeat the beast, he is driven to the brink of madness, attaining a flawed yet overwhelming power through a Qi Deviation (Qi Zou Ru Mo).
Unable to contain this new, wild power, his body pushes him to create his own hell. Without a master or a technique, guided only by pain and the will to survive, he begins a journey of superhuman Body Cultivation (Tixiū). His ultimate goal is not to accept the ancient tree as a gift, but to uproot it like a prize, to possess the very source of his power. The tree's mental assaults on him reveal fragmented memories of a manor in flames and a sorrowful lullaby, hinting that a personal tragedy lies at the root of his hatred for humanity.
His journey takes him to the fringes of civilization, to the Thunderclap Peaks. Here, he chooses the Path of the Rock to tame his power and, in the process, makes his first contact with established Cultivator Sects who become aware of his existence. This encounter transforms him from a mere beast into a strategist who uses pawns for his own gain.
"Zarziyan: The Price of Ascension" is not just a story of empowerment, but a saga of a lonely soul searching for his identity, confronting the ghosts of his past, and in the process, transforming from a monster to a king, and perhaps even to a god. It is the tale of a conqueror forging his own path with blood and steel in a world beyond good and evil, where absolute will and power are the only law.
