Yang Pan, a menial disciple of the Qingyun Sect, is born without a spiritual root and suffers years of bullying. By chance, he enters a hidden world within a painting and discovers that the laws governing this realm differ from those of the outside world. Using the origins of the sun and moon, he forges an ethereal spiritual root and embarks on an unconventional path of cultivation. By mastering and integrating the techniques of seven sects, he can defeat a conventional tenth-level Qi Refining cultivator despite having reached only the fourth level himself. After returning to the sect, Yang Pan is hunted by steward Liu Feng. He kills his pursuer in a dense forest, drawing the attention of Liu Mulin, a Golden Core elder who pursues him across regions. Fleeing for his life, Yang Pan escapes into the territory of the Yunshan Holy Land and conceals his identity by becoming a low-ranking street patrol soldier. Commander Zhou Shen takes an interest in him and intends to make him a live-in son-in-law he can control. Yang Pan plays along, biding his time and building his strength in secret as he begins his rise along an unconventional path in the heart of the world's foremost sect.