Chapter 1 – The Sealed Prince
The night the Crown Prince of the Great Sun Empire was born, the heavens screamed.
A blood-red moon hung low behind drifting clouds, casting a sickly light across the palace. Lightning tore across the sky as if the gods themselves quarreled. Inside the inner hall, Lady Yunxi screamed, her body writhing in agony with each contraction. Pain painted her face white, yet her eyes burned with unyielding determination.
When the infant cried, the room went unnaturally quiet, as if even the air were holding its breath.
The boy — Jiang Hao — opened his eyes. Black as midnight. A faint glow pulsed on his chest, a mark etched in intricate runes no mortal could read. The lamps flickered violently, shadows dancing across the walls. The very air seemed to choke itself.
"An omen… a cursed child," muttered an old eunuch, bowing low with fear.
Lady Yunxi's hands trembled as she held him close. "Curse? He is my son… my Crown Prince! No curse can touch him!"
Emperor Jiang Tianlong stepped in, his expression unreadable, gaze heavy with silent judgment. The glow on Jiang Hao's chest faded, but the mark remained, unyielding. Imperial physicians rushed forward, probing his Qi, yet his meridians lay dormant, his dantian sealed.
"Heaven… has sealed him," the High Priest whispered, dread coating every syllable. "He will never cultivate."
The hall went silent. In a world where strength equaled worth, a prince unable to cultivate was more than powerless—he was a liability. Ministers exchanged grim glances, whispers sliding like knives through the air.
"A Crown Prince who cannot cultivate… disaster will follow." "Heaven rejects him…" "Perhaps… for the empire's sake, he should—"
Lady Yunxi's voice cut through the murmurs like steel. "He is my son. My Hao'er. If Heaven dares seal him, I will raise him myself!"
In the shadows, Jiang Wuchen and Jiang Yunfei, the second and third princes, smirked. Their ambitions were already lit, imagining the throne as theirs.
From that night onward, the palace whispered of the Sealed Prince.
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Years passed. Each imperial gathering was a reminder of his shame. His brothers excelled—swordsmanship, cultivation, charm—while Jiang Hao stood silently, fists clenched, chest tight with humiliation. Murmurs followed him wherever he went.
"Useless… cursed… not fit to be royal…"
Still, he trained in secret. No Qi flowed, but his body hardened. Every muscle became a weapon, every strike precise. Determination burned brighter than any cultivation flame.
Lady Yunxi watched from the shadows, tears glinting in her eyes. "Hao'er… you are not useless. One day, you will prove them all wrong. Even if Heaven itself turns against you, you will rise."
On his fifteenth birthday, fate struck again. The Emperor stripped him of the Crown Prince title. Ministers applauded, brothers smirked, and Lady Yunxi wept silently behind her fan.
The family was cast out to a crumbling manor at the edge of the capital, abandoned and forgotten. Walls were cracked, floors warped, and the air smelled of decay. Yet it was a home now, fragile and fragile enough for a new beginning.
That night, under a withered tree, Jiang Hao clenched his fists until blood dripped into the dry soil. The seal mark pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat defying Heaven itself.
Memories of scorn and whispers haunted him. Every insult, every smirk of his brothers, every cold glance from the ministers—he stored it all, letting it fuel him.
"If Heaven has sealed me," he whispered, voice hoarse but firm, "then one day… I will seal Heaven itself."
The wind stirred around him, carrying the scent of rain and storm. Somewhere beyond the crumbling walls of his new home, the empire slept, unaware of the fire that now burned in the heart of the Sealed Prince.