Long Wu Ying's studies at the Verdant Green Waters Sect, an exclusive school of cultivation, are at a turning point. It's time for him to choose what secondary occupation to pursue-alchemist or blacksmith, physician or martial specialist. Yet Wu Ying struggles to decide which focus will best define and contribute to his dao, his personal path of cultivation. And what happens if he chooses wrong? But beyond the walls of Verdant Green Waters, the drums of war beat as the sect is pulled deeper into the battle for supremacy between states. The Sect Elders thrust Wu Ying and his friends into a desperate gamble to prepare for the upcoming war-a risky assignment that will put to the test everything Wu Ying has learned. As pressure builds from within and without, Wu Ying must find his place in this new martial world, or he may not survive the trials to come.