A broke, once-married nobody, Ethan Smith, awakens an ancient inheritance: cultivation, alchemy, and arcane arts, and River City’s elites instantly become his enemies. As he humiliates rivals, heals the untreatable, and mass-produces a miracle Soul Nourishment Pill, he triggers a full-scale war with the powerful Hill family. With Emily Taylor, the “Ice Queen” of Capital City, quietly testing and protecting him, Ethan must prove he’s not a kept man by crushing the Hills on his own and climbing fast enough to deserve her in one year.