Qian Shanyi was not blessed by the heavens. Despite her grand ambitions at cultivation, she didn't learn a secret technique and no lost inheritance fell on her lap - all she could rely on was her personal cunning and hard work, and with only that, it was like trying to swim against a waterfall. And now that she was beaten half to death and thrown into a void treasury, left with neither food nor water, her life hanging by a thread, how will she survive?

She wanted to reach heaven: instead, she fell down into hell.

Yet her thirst for freedom burns in her mind. Whenever there is a problem, there is an opportunity: she just has to find it, grab on, and never let go. There is no way to cheat her way out: all she can rely on is her personal ingenuity and raw engineering talent, breaking the problems down one by one, and hoping she can solve them faster than they can kill her.

If the heavens refuse her entry, she will cut a new gate straight through their walls!

It starts with engineering and turns into tax evasion, but at the heart of it one question: cultivation is the ultimate freedom, but what does freedom mean when the heavens hold all the cards?

Inspired by The Martian, Hail Mary, Forty Millenniums of Cultivation and the Amazing Cultivation Simulator.

What to expect:

Complex motivations and characters with varied perspectives

Looking at various xianxia tropes through a different lens

Rebelling against the Heavens, and what it means to be a cultivator

Complex xianxia world that isn't built on "might makes right"

Civics of a xianxia empire dealing with living weapons

A lot of problem solving and mind games

Complex and detailed magic system

Engineering, politics and economics of sect building.

What not to expect:

Isekai, blue boxes, etc

Misery porn (protagonist laughs in the face of problems)

Romance