Treading the Ancient Path

A down-on-his-luck scholar is dragged into immortality the hard way—kidnapped by a cultivator and forced into menial labor. But fate has other plans. When a mysterious bead falls into his possession, he's thrust into the ruthless world of cultivation. Trapped like a caged bird, insignificant as a fish in a pond, he begins a grueling ascent. A thousand years later, standing at the peak, he finally understands: all he ever sought was to break free from the chains of mortality and claim his place among the heavens.