Five thousand years ago, the Golden Emperor committed a great and terrible betrayal, shrouding the land in darkness. Demons clawed their way out from the depths of the earth, born from this sin, poisoning the soil and spreading corruption and disease wherever they pleased. The great warriors of the crumbling age died in droves to protect what they could, until the Emperor's son managed to reach the greatest of their number and put an end to the war with an act of selfless sacrifice. Yet the darkness that had been brought forth could not be so easily banished, casting the world into eternal night. Clans of cultivators seized power amidst the Empire's ruins, squabbling amongst eachother and securing their borders with might and sorcery.

Two thousand years ago, a man crowning himself the Red Emperor picked up a sword and proclaimed he would sunder the darkness that covered the land, unifying sect after sect with his peerless strength and the promise of victory and conquest over the entire world. He sought to forge an empire where every last shadow would fear his name, and where all would know peace in his glory. Suzerain over his Twelve Princes and their Border Kingdoms, he sits atop a throne of swords with his gaze cast upon the future he will forge, growing bolder and bolder with his expansion by the day.

Fifteen years ago, a small village of no renown by the Empire's borders was wiped out by a demonic plague that cut the flesh of men like invisible swords, leaving the streets drenched with red. There were but two survivors, two young sisters saved on the brink of death by the arduous work of a sect's alchemists and taken into their care- for the miracle of their survival promised a bright future. Unbeknownst to all, only one child did not die- for the soul of her sister passed away in the throes of sickness, leaving something else behind.

Today, a girl from another world finds herself wondering- Isn't there more to life than mixing herbs in a pot...?