In a secret chamber hidden deep within the opulent palace of the majestic Caldera Kingdom, two little girls lay on the cold stone floor, their breathing barely perceptible. One was barely two years old; the other, perhaps five. Strange crimson markings crawled across both their bodies and spread over the floor around them in an intricate array, pulsing faintly like something alive.
The younger girl had fiercely resisted the malevolent ritual, her wails and screeches echoing off the walls for a long, long time. But in the end, a toddler could only succumb to such overpowering dark power. As for the older one, though she had been put to sleep before the ordeal began, pained whimpers still escaped her in her slumber.
A short distance away stood a beautiful woman dressed in ostentatious silks, gold hairpins glinting in the dim candlelight. Her expression was anxious, almost distressed.
"Is it done?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Is my daughter all right?"
Though the younger girl was clearly in far more critical condition, the woman's worried eyes never once left the older one.
A middle-aged man in a dark cape stepped forward, a blood-red crescent moon embroidered at his collar. He crouched beside the older girl and studied her closely. "The process took a heavy toll on her body, but she'll survive."
The woman's hands curled into fists. "Why didn't you tell me it would be this excruciating? My poor Yue'er cried so much!"
The man cast her an irritated glance. "I warned Your Majesty repeatedly that this procedure would endanger both girls, especially at such a young age. Even grown adults have lost their lives to it. Still, you insisted."
"Yes, I know," the woman said helplessly. "I'm the one who chose to put my child through this. But what else could I do?" She pressed a hand to her chest, her expression souring. "How could I let my daughter live her whole life in that bastard's shadow? Yue'er herself told me she'd rather die than let that concubine's brat surpass her."
Her refined features twisted into a vicious sneer as her gaze shifted to the tiny, dying girl. "Who would have thought that this wretch, of all people, would be born with such outstanding talent for cultivation? A mere concubine's child! She's not worthy of it." Then her lips curved into a satisfied smile. "Thankfully, I discovered it before anyone else did. Now her heavenly dantian belongs to my Yue'er. It is my daughter who will grow up to be a prodigy."
In this world, cultivation was everything. Those born with the ability to cultivate, to refine the qi of heaven and earth into incredible power, were destined for honor and status, while those without talent were trampled underfoot. Among all talents, a heavenly dantian was the rarest of treasures, the kind that appeared perhaps once in several generations.
The man in the cape was a demonic cultivator, one who walked the same path of cultivation but drew his strength from dark and forbidden arts. His name alone was enough to silence crying children in the border towns. Yet even he was chilled by this woman's viciousness. All he wanted now was to be done with this and never cross paths with these people again.
"You'd better keep your word," he warned. "No one can ever learn what happened here. Especially not the king."
Queen Su Yao waved a hand dismissively. "Of course. Don't worry. The king has hardly spared her a glance since her mother died giving birth to her." A strange glint passed through her eyes, gone as quickly as it had appeared. "Naturally, he knows nothing about her talent. When he returns, I'll tell him the brat fell from a balcony through some servant's negligence. He won't suspect a thing."
Her expression turned worried again. "Can I take my daughter now? A physician needs to examine her at once."
The man nodded. "It's safe to remove her from the array."
Without wasting a moment, Su Yao scooped up the older girl and hurried toward the door.
The man turned to the forgotten child still lying in the center of the array. "And what do you intend to do with this one?"
Su Yao paused at the doorway and glanced back with disdain. "Isn't she dead already?"
"She's still alive. Barely." There was a note of genuine awe in his voice. "Remarkable. Any other child would have died long ago."
"How annoying," Su Yao muttered. "She'll die soon anyway, but just to be sure…" She summoned a guard and, without a trace of hesitation, ordered him to throw the girl into the Valley of Death, one of the most perilous places on the continent, where even seasoned cultivators went in and never came out.
The man shook his head as he made his way out of the palace. People always said demonic cultivators had the most twisted hearts. Clearly, they had never met this woman. It was a pity that such a talented child had fallen into her hands, but it was no longer his concern.
✦ ✦ ✦
The Balzamia Forest was a place shrouded in mystery, an unsolvable puzzle for even the most seasoned explorers. Beneath its serene beauty lay countless hidden dangers that had claimed the lives of the strongest men. Like a lure drawing the unsuspecting to their doom, a quiet, almost peaceful atmosphere always reigned over this deadly land.
At the forest's western edge, the jagged cliffs of the Valley of Death plunged into perpetual mist, and from its depths a black river roared out and wound its way into the woods.
Deep within the treacherous forest, where heavenly qi and danger grew thicker with every step, an old man walked quietly between the towering trees. His face was lined and weathered, bearing the vicissitudes of a long life, but his sharp eyes and imposing bearing left no doubt of his wisdom and the power hidden within him. This reclusive hermit usually spent his days in closed-door cultivation. Today, however, a faint disturbance had drawn him out.
Old Gao reached the riverbank where he had sensed it and stopped short.
A tiny girl, no more than two years old, lay sprawled along the bank, half her body still submerged in the icy water. The strong current tugged at her, threatening to drag her back downstream. Old Gao circulated his qi and flew over in an instant, lifting her out of the river.
Staring at her small, delicate face, pale as snow, he already knew her situation was hopeless. Still, he took her wrist and sent a thread of qi into her body to examine her. A few breaths later, he released her hand as if burned. Horror flashed across his face before giving way to pity.
"Heavens… how could anyone do something so cruel? And to such a small child."
There was no mistake. This girl had once possessed a supreme heavenly dantian, one of the most powerful cultivation talents in existence. Someone had torn it out of her and thrown her away to die. Yet she had survived the Valley of Death and the black river in this state, and she was still clinging to life. This child was anything but ordinary.
A fierce conflict raged in the old man's eyes as he stared down at her. For a long moment, he did not move.
Then the little girl's fingers weakly curled around his sleeve, as though even on the brink of death, she refused to let go.
Old Gao let out a long sigh. His gaze firmed, and he carefully gathered her into his arms.
In that instant, something deep within his dantian gave a single faint pulse, warm as a heartbeat.
Old Gao froze. He glanced down at the child in his arms, a flicker of something unreadable crossing his eyes. But her breath was fading by the second, and there was no time to dwell on it.
With a single step, his figure blurred, and he shot through the forest at blinding speed, vanishing between the trees.