Ancient Chaos Bell World, Heavenly Prison Realm, Black Crescent Mountains Range,Xiao Tian Village.
The silent night had already settled down, and with it, most of the villagers had also started settling down. On the east side, however, a slightly more remote house stood, comparatively bigger than the surrounding structures. Inside, chaos had just begun, as the painful cries of a woman echoed everywhere.
Shu Yan had just given birth, but the baby was not breathing.
A moment of crushing, agonizing silence passed. After what seemed like an eternity, the figure of a man moved. It was Tian Xin. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a lean, strong physique. He had dark hair and a thick beard, but the expression on his face was one of agonizing despair, and his dark eyes contained a sadness that seemed to weigh down the air.
Tian Xin limped as he walked toward the midwife. He was a respected hunter, a man of long-standing lineage in the village, yet he was flawed. He was still imposing, though, radiating a dangerous air. So dangerous, in fact, that the midwife and her assistants almost didn't dare to breathe.
He came and took his child from the midwife's trembling arms, bringing it close to his chest before he knelt down.
"I don't care who it is. I beg you, please, don't let my child die. Let him live. Take me instead!" Tian Xin roared toward the heavens, begging anyone who heard him. He didn't care if it was the Gods, the Immortals, or the Devils; he just wanted his child to live, even at the cost of his life.
But nothing happened despite the man's desperate cry for help. A moment of silence passed, the despair absolute.
Then, a child's cry was heard.
Tian Xin's hands tightened around the small body. He didn't dare look, as he was too afraid it was only an illusion his mind was playing on him. But when the second cry followed, he couldn't stay still any longer. What he saw could only be described as a miracle.
The child was crying and moving. The child was alive.
The consciousness of the newborn, Tian Shen Ji, was encased in the fragile body. His soul—the calculating man from the modern world—registered the sudden, profound shift.
The baby had been meant to be stillborn. That had been the final, inevitable fate of this infant, but his soul, the intruder, sensed a frantic, desperate surge of energy.
The Innate Treasure.
It was still clinging to him like a frantic, desperate intruder. The immense, raw power it released didn't grant life or defy death itself, but it overwhelmed the condition of the baby's birth, forcing the tiny lungs to draw a desperate, first breath. This wasn't a miracle; it was a ruthless struggle for survival. The treasure needed a host; the life of this infant was simply the necessary medium.
His new father, Tian Xin, surged to his feet, ignoring the stab of pain in his limp leg. He moved toward the bed, where his wife, Shu Yan, was finally stirring.
Even pale and exhausted, her features held an unearthly stillness, the kind of serene beauty that had been the source of so many envious whispers throughout the village. Shu Yan was an outsider, a woman from the cities who had been abandoned for her inability to bear heirs. Tian Xin saw only love, worshipping the quiet grace she brought to his hard life.
"He lives, Yan'er. He lives!" Tian Xin's voice was ragged with relief.
Shu Yan, tears of exhausted relief streaming down her face, took the child.
The midwife, an older woman with hands hardened by decades of service, finally found her voice.
"Tian Xin, this is... this is a true miracle," she gasped, her hands shaking as she gestured at the child. "He took no breath for a full stick of time. After everything you and Shu Yan have faced... it is truly Heaven's grace you've received."
She didn't need to speak of the village's gossip. The prestigious Tian family lineage, the hunter's permanent limp, the outsider wife—their improbable, unconventional union was suddenly validated by this supernatural event.
Tian Xin looked at his wife, then at his child, and then up toward the ceiling of their house. His love was a defiant shield.
"We will name him Tian Shen Ji," he announced, his voice firm and authoritative, silencing the room.
"Tian Shen Ji," he repeated, looking at Shu Yan. "My son is a Heaven Miracle. Just as the founders were guided to this Little Heaven, Heaven has guided him back to life. He is a true son of the Tian family."
The name was a declaration that their luck was not merely accidental, but a reward from the powers of the cosmos. The child was proof that their destiny was to be a happy family.
The infant, Tian Shen Ji, opened his eyes, now regarding his new parents. His consciousness retreated deep within his soul.
My new mother. My new father. A strange, unfamiliar warmth settled over the soul.