Sometimes the best path forward is the one you carve yourself—no matter who gets cut along the way. Nine years after transmigrating into a child's body in the endless sprawl of the Big City, Lin Yue has carved out a meager existence through wit, knife work, and a warped moral compass. Living in the Tiger Gang's squalid den, she survives by meeting daily quotas through pickpocketing, while dreaming of a way beyond the city's endless maze of poverty and desperation. When she's assigned to help a seven-year-old Xue acclimate as the gang's newest mark collector, it's just another bother. A chance encounter with a demonic cultivator upends her carefully balanced life in Endless City’s dismal streets and Lin Yue finds herself thrust into the dangerous world of cultivation politics. Strange powers and even stranger opportunities present themselves, forcing her to choose between conventional paths of power and something altogether more dangerous. But in a realm where "righteous" cultivators prove just as corrupt as their demonic counterparts, perhaps her sharp wit and sharper tongue are exactly what's needed. With a mysterious new master, dwindling funds, and Xue's fate becoming inexorably tied to her own, Lin Yue must navigate a world of demon houses, soul theft cultivation, and ancient powers. Her unorthodox approach to cultivation might just be her greatest asset—or the thing that gets them all devoured. Same Book Universe as my other Xianxia series, Rebirth as a Wind Cultivator. Storylines aren't directly connected (or indeed, in the same realm.) Sensitive Content - Descriptions of torture, slavery, substance abuse, mental illness, addiction, mentions of rape, self-harm or any other content that may be considered traumatizing or mature that does not fall under the warning tags. This content is not glorified. Discord Invite: https://discord.gg/eYmKmPdGuR