Years Ago — Midnight Lotus Sect
The moon hung heavy over the floating peaks of the Midnight Lotus Sect, its petals of mist swirling around sacred towers. Lanterns flickered gently, illuminating the stone paths where disciples whispered of the prodigy:
"Yue Qing... born under a comet... her eyes can see fate."
"But cursed. Didn't you hear the elders say it's in her blood?"
"They should've killed her when she was a child..."
Yue Qing walked alone through the gardens. Her silvery-white hair flowed like moonlight behind her. No footsteps followed—none dared come close anymore.
Not after what happened at the Trial of Resonance.
Not after she screamed and the spiritual flames devoured three sect elders.
She hadn't meant to.
The power had surged up on its own. The chains wrapped around her soul burned hotter with fear, not hatred.
But no one believed that.
"You are no longer fit to represent the Sect," said her uncle, the First Elder."You are to be sealed. Hidden. Forgotten."
That night, her parents turned away. The people who had once smiled at her wept—but didn't fight back.
And Yue Qing—barefoot, hands bound in glowing chains—was dragged to the Cavern of Silence.
"This is mercy," her uncle said."Better than letting the world see what you'll become."
Inside the Cavern
She was left to die, but the curse didn't let her.
It fed on isolation, coiling tighter each day around her spirit. The chains visible to none but her, forged of memory and rejection.
"You are the Blooded," a voice once whispered in the dark."The last heir of the Star-Breaker Line. Those born to defy Heaven—but cursed to destroy what they love."
She wept. She screamed.
She stopped hoping.
Until a boy fell from the sky.
Now – In the Ruin's Afterglow
She sat beside Ye Tian as he cleaned the Fractured Fang, the silence between them heavier than battle.
"You've seen what I am," she finally whispered.
Ye Tian didn't look up. "What you were."
"No... what I'll always be. That power inside me—it's not natural. It twists. It burns anyone who gets too close. I was locked away because—"
He stood and walked to her, sword sheathed.
"You burned your past."
He held out his hand.
"Now forge your future."
She hesitated... then took it.
And for the first time in years, the chains around her soul trembled.
[Soul Synchronization Increased: 51%]New Trait Detected: 'Cursed Harmony' – Potential unlocked between linked cursed and abyssal systems.]