Unintended Cultivator

Sen never dreamed of ascension. Such were the aspirations of the rich young nobles, not orphans like him, scraping together a meager living on the streets of Orchard’s Reach. However, when destiny takes an unexpected turn, Sen finds himself thrust into the role of a cultivator’s disciple. Chosen over the nobles who once looked down on him, he is adopted into a makeshift family of three ancient cultivators, each with a lifetime of knowledge and insights. These old monsters will teach Sen everything they can, from the art of the jian and spear to the mysteries of arcane alchemy.

Setting out to be a wandering cultivator, Sen has high ideals. Half-remembered stories of honorable cultivators and the kindness of his teachers shaped his expectations. The world he finds is something else entirely. Thrust into deadly conflict, Sen finds himself fleeing the death of a sect cultivator in fear of retribution. As his flight carries him across the kingdom, he finds his ideals challenged by bandits, cultivators, and demon beasts.

Sen defeated an elder of the Soaring Skies Sect and saved the mortals in the Silver Crane. What should have been a moment to bask in success came crashing down around him when he inadvertently exposed a demonic cultivator cabal. Realizing that a moving target is harder to strike, Sen flees into the wilds with Lifen and Lo Meifeng in tow. There, he’ll learn that not all enemies want to take your life and not every threat can be met with the edge of a blade.

Emerging from the deep wilds, Sen is now aware of the dangers of his body cultivation method. A method he doesn’t know how to progress. With time running out until his body turns against him, Sen travels to one of the only places he might find the manual that could save him. A place he never wanted to go. The capital. Of course, the heart of the kingdom holds dangers of its own. Sen is inexorably drawn into the convoluted web of power that controls the vast city. He must navigate court politics, ambitious sects, and the unwanted attention of a criminal cultivator organization.

Leaving behind the capital and all the changes he wrought there, Sen ventures back into the deep wilds in search of the mad, nascent soul cultivator, Fu Ruolan. It is a final, desperate bid to find the manual he needs to complete his body cultivation. Of course, in the world of cultivation, things are rarely as straightforward as they seem. Madness takes many shapes, and Fu Ruolan is no exception to this truth.

With his body cultivation at least temporarily under control, Sen sets out for his long-awaited reunion with the divine turtle, Elder Bo. It is a fraught meeting where Sen learns hard lessons and unwelcome truths, and despite his advancement, his old obligations still threaten to pull him back. Years before, the nine-tail fox Laughing River did Sen a “favor.” The fox is finally ready to collect on that debt. Of course, if you give a fox an inch, they’ll try to take a mile.

For years, Sen battled his way across the kingdom, fighting spirit beasts, scheming sects, and demonic cabals. He’s ended wars, battled a devil, and even retrieved a priceless spiritual treasure for a dubiously grateful nine-tail fox. With his wandering days temporarily on hold, Sen returns to fulfill a long-standing promise to the eccentric and possibly unhinged Fu Ruolan. Alongside him? A child he never expected to raise.

Summoned by the king, Sen reluctantly goes to the capital. However, the path there is anything but easy. Sen must battle his way to the city, revealing that not everyone is pleased by his imminent return. When he finally reaches the city, he finds it changed. The web of politics has only grown more tangled in his absence, and now cultivator emissaries from beyond the Mountains of Sorrow have arrived to further cloud the waters. Much to his horror, Sen finds himself pressed into service as a distraction and deterrent to those very cultivators.