For five years, Madam Yan raised the boy as her own. Yan Jue grew up barefoot in the village streets, laughing with other children, chasing fireflies, and sneaking sweet cakes when Madam Yan wasn't looking.
He had no idea of his true bloodline, no memory of the storm that marked his birth. To him, life was simple.
But destiny has a way of finding those marked by the heavens.
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🌲 The Fall
On the morning of his fifth year, Yan Jue ran with the other village children into the hills. His laughter echoed as he chased a kite made from scraps of silk. But his foot slipped on loose soil at the cliff's edge.
"Yan Jue!" a child cried.
The boy tumbled down the rocky slope, his body striking branches and stones until he landed hard at the base of the cliff. Pain seared his limbs, and tears welled in his eyes — but before he could cry out, something strange caught his gaze.
Not far from him stood a stone unlike any other. Veins of light pulsed across its surface, glowing faintly as though alive.
Drawn by some unknown force, Yan Jue crawled toward it. The moment his small hand touched the stone, the glow flared.
"W-what is this…?" his childish voice trembled.
The stone shuddered, then liquefied into streams of radiant energy. In the blink of an eye, it melted into his body, vanishing without a trace.
Yan Jue's eyes widened. His chest burned with warmth — and in that instant, something else appeared.
A jade pendant, glowing faintly, now hung around his neck.
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🏚️ Madam Yan's Shock
When Madam Yan finally reached the cliff base, fear seized her heart — until she saw Yan Jue standing, unharmed, clutching the pendant that now rested against his chest.
"Jue'er!" she cried, rushing to him. She lifted him into her arms, checking every limb. Aside from scrapes and bruises, he was perfectly fine.
But when her gaze fell upon the jade pendant, her face stiffened.
"This… This is impossible."
It was the same bloodstained jade pendant Han Su once carried — the pendant she had hidden away, lost when his wife died. And now it had appeared on Yan Jue's neck as if summoned by fate.
Madam Yan tugged at the chain, trying to remove it. But no matter how hard she pulled, the pendant clung to the boy as though fused to his very soul.
Her wrinkled hands trembled. "What kind of fate binds you, child?"
Yan Jue only tilted his head in confusion, too young to understand.
With a long sigh, Madam Yan released the pendant and hugged him close.
"Very well," she whispered. "If the heavens have chosen you, then let it remain. I only pray this path will not destroy you."
---
From that day on, the jade pendant never left Yan Jue's body. It glowed faintly at night, its light hidden beneath his clothes, as if waiting for the day it would awaken.
And far away, deep within the ancestral grounds of the Han Clan, an ancient tablet trembled ever so slightly, unnoticed by all.
The bloodline thought extinguished… had stirred once more.