Hunger Arts of the Jade Empire

Within the Jade Empire, spiritual cultivation is the single resource the throne cannot tax, so the crown quietly places disposable royal relatives inside powerful sects and reclaims their energy after they die. Xiao Fen, the overlooked third daughter of a minor imperial line, arrives at Yangshen Sect expecting polite neglect. She soon discovers that the three imperial cultivators stationed there before her were quietly drained before meeting their deaths. With no exceptional talent, no family backing, and no one she can truly trust, Fen falls back on old habits: studying every room, memorizing every detail, and letting others underestimate her until their own records betray them.