Lingjian Zishui Sect
Within the grandeur of the royal palace, behind towering walls and gilded beauty, there was a room that had fallen into unnatural silence.
The chains lay slack, the shackles empty, and the bedding scattered...because the one who was imprisoned there every single day was no longer present.
The door creaked open, and the eyes of Shui Han Lei widened. He staggered back a step at the sight of the vacant chamber...only to collide hard against Queen Xiyen.
This was not the disappearance of a mere prince.
To them, it was the disappearance of their power.
Queen Xiyen's eyes flared wide, her jaw tightening with fury. Yet beneath that rage was shock.....a tremor that pierced her heart. For years, she had imprisoned the crown prince for a single purpose. And now, only days before that goal could be realized, the prince had fled.
But Queen Xiyen knew one thing with certainty: Heng Yao Ren did not have the courage to escape on his own.
Her words were sharp, venomous, and they filled her son Shui Han Lei with poison until it surged to the crown of his head.
"Fool…! Whoever dared to do this has invited death upon themselves! Shui Han...if he does not return to us within two months, everything we have built will be shattered into nothing!"
Shui Han Lei's eyes burned like drawn blades. His rage ignited like wildfire, yet he stood firm at her side. Behind them, Xiyan Zaori seethed in silence, her thoughts coiling into a single suspicion.
"This must be the doing of that old man Wen Huan…"
Heng Yao Ren had slipped through their grasp. And still....
A sudden, wild laugh erupted from Queen Xiyen's lips, sharp and unrestrained, tearing apart the suffocating quiet of the room. Her voice dripped with cruelty as she turned to Shui Han Lei, as though such madness was her rightful duty.
"Oh… poor Wen Huan. He must think that by saving the boy, he can deliver him safely away from us. But such a thing will never happen. Heng Yao Ren cannot tell them anything.....he is nothing more than a walking corpse. Heng Yao Ren is already a corpse."
With that, she turned away, her composure returning with chilling ease. Carefree, unbothered, she strode directly toward Cang Ming Yuan Academy.
For though it was once a place that spread knowledge freely, now it stood as an institution under her dominion.....
A hall where knowledge was no longer given, but sold.
Shenzu Wey Mountain
Mu Chen sat alone, leaning against the trunk of an ancient tree. The evening breeze brushed past him, carrying with it the rustle of falling leaves. He appeared at peace.....yet from his closed eyes streamed silent rivers of tears.
Dusk had already fallen, and night would soon arrive. Though Mu Chen had uncovered the truth....though he finally knew the reason behind his mother's death.....those memories could never be erased. The images remained etched in his soul, replaying endlessly, branding him with the mark of a villain.
In his mind's eye, he saw the fragments of a childhood once filled with laughter.
A boy whose mischief rang through the halls.
A younger sister who shared in his playful trouble.
A grand home perched atop the mountain, where the members of his clan....exasperated by his antics....mcalled him their "little devil."
That was the Gezuong Clan[1], a noble family renowned for its sacred traditions and flourishing prosperity.
But one day… it was all reduced to ashes.
Like embers of a dying flame scattered by the wind, the clan vanished. No knowledge, no legacy.....only ruins remained.
Forced from their shattered home, the survivors fled. Among them were Mu Chen and his family, who sought refuge within the Huoling Jinyan Sect.
Yet, the mountains of hardship fell upon them once more.
Mu Chen's mother passed away when he was still but a child. Upon his frail shoulders fell the weight of responsibility...caring for his little sister while enduring the cruelties of life.
Their fallen clan was branded as cursed. They were cast down, counted among the low-born. No one offered work. Hunger gnawed at them, merciless and unrelenting. And so, Mu Chen...driven by desperation...began to steal, just to fill their stomachs.
But Ai Ning never knew.
She believed her brother to be a hardworking man who built their life with honest labor.
The truth was far darker.
Mu Chen had long since become a villain in the eyes of the world.
A sinner, forged not by choice.....but by the desperate need to shield his sister from the cruelties of fate.
[1] Remember this