

Kain Harris runs a small shop. He seems unremarkable. He is not.His abilities have quietly compounded into something the outside world, where the highest known level is thirty, has no framework to measure—wooden carvings that manifest as divine forms, comics that accelerate transcendence, a dog that devours celestial bodies, catfish soup that breeds dragons. His wife is a CEO. His admirer is a martial saint. His neighbors are the greatest cultivators in the nation, and they all know exactly what he is. The world beyond his street does not. When it eventually finds out, it will need a moment.

Cheney Davis, a man of hidden origins, and his extraordinary daughter Tina face the return of the ancient Heaven-Devouring Toad. Together they save the world—Tina delivering the decisive strike that stuns all cultivators. But to avert global fear and persecution,Cheney knows their true identities must remain secret.

In a devastating fire, a stepmother and her stepdaughter become trapped in an elevator, and Evelyn sacrifices her life in a desperate attempt to save Heidi. Unbeknownst to her husband, Vincent Clarke, Evelyn's tragic death occurs while he stands by the side of Heidi's biological mother, Fiona Lawson. Grief-stricken, Heidi cries out, "I only have one mother, her name is Evelyn Glover!"