Heaven Measures the Hollow Root

In the empire of Nine Falling Stars, a cultivator’s worth is decided at thirteen by the color of their spiritual root. When orphan scribe Liang Chen is revealed to possess a Hollow Root—an empty, useless meridian structure that devours qi without retaining a drop—he is cast out of the Azure Lotus Sect and sold to work in the pill furnaces, where failed disciples cough blood into ash.