The Golden Empire never admitted the Heavenly Glance. Rumours drifted, but public acknowledgement was forbidden. Silence hid the truth.
They simply could not.
Announcing such an event would paint a target on the capital. Sects, hidden powers, ancient entities, each would focus on one child.
So the court did what it did best.
It lied.
Records called the Naming Rite auspicious yet ordinary. The extra sign was dismissed. Dissenters were reassigned or reminded of loyalty.
From his cradle, Zayden watched the aftermath. A sharp, foreign ache squeezed his chest. His breath stuttered. The whispers grew—the words swelling into clawed shadows creeping toward him, cold dread prickling along his skin.
The court's control over information was efficient.
His father truly was an emperor.
Three days after the ceremony, Emperor Tiberius made his choice.
Zayden sensed him before he arrived.
The palace stilled. Formations dimmed. Guards withdrew, leaving only a few with weighty presences.
Tiberius entered the inner chamber alone.
He dismissed the attendants with a glance and approached the cradle.
Tension pressed between them as Zayden searched his father's guarded gaze.
Zayden met his gaze.
He did not treat him like a baby.
He met his father's gaze as an equal.
Tiberius exhaled slowly. "You understand more than you should."
Zayden did not react.
The system remained silent.
This was not a threat.
It was a test.
"I don't know what you are," Tiberius continued quietly. "Only that you are mine, and that Heaven has noticed you."
He placed a hand on the edge of the cradle. The air rippled faintly.
"From this moment on, your existence will be divided," he said. "You will be a gifted, but fragile, crown prince in public. Privately, you will be prepared for war."
Zayden listened.
Zayden's heartbeat quickened. Fear twisted in his chest, yet fascination burned. A shiver ran through him, caught between terror and awe.
So this is it.
The emperor straightened.
"I will not entrust you to the palace or to sects that bow today and scheme tomorrow," he said.
From within his robe, Tiberius produced a jade medallion etched with a coiled dragon biting its own tail.
The moment it appeared, the system reacted.
Artifact detected: Imperial Soul-Seal (Incomplete)
Grade: Unknown (Bound to bloodline)
Function: Concealment, protection, resonance
Warning: Partial soul linkage required
Tiberius pressed the medallion gently against Zayden's chest.
Pain exploded, sharp, searing, blinding. Tears trembled on Zayden's lashes as he bit down on a whimper, jaw clenched with desperate pride and shame. He ached for relief, for someone to see.
Zayden did not cry. Not a sound.
Golden light seeped into his skin and vanished.
System Update: Binding of Imperial Soul-Seal to host completed successfully.
System Effect: Host's spiritual presence fully concealed; fate signature hidden; host resists most external divination attempts.
Limitation: The seal will weaken as the Host grows stronger
Zayden released a silent breath, determination kindling behind his stillness as the pain faded.
So even Heaven will have trouble tracking me now.
Good.
Tiberius studied him intently. "You didn't cry."
Zayden stared back, calm and steady.
The emperor smiled faintly.
That night, Zayden was moved. Dread twisted in his belly, tightening into anticipation that would not loosen.
He was not moved to another wing of the palace.
Instead, he was taken beneath it.
Deep below the imperial grounds lay a chamber known to only three living people.
The Ancestral Vault.
Ancient formations flared as a silent, black-armored guardian carried Zayden inside. The air was thick with time, power, and memory.
Stone pillars bore the names of past emperors, their inscriptions humming softly.
At the center of the vault stood a cradle carved from a single piece of translucent crystal."
This is where emperors were forged," Tiberius said quietly. "Long before the Golden Empire learned to shine."
Zayden felt it immediately.
The Qi here was not just dense; it was powerful. Overwhelming. Refined by the ages.
It was also refined.
Environment Analysis:
System Report: Qi Density—Extreme; Purity—Exceptional.
Danger: ordinary infants are at high risk. Host shielded by active Imperial Seal.
Zayden thought, amusement and apprehension mingling uneasily, You're starting me early.
Much earlier than expected.
Tiberius placed him into the crystal cradle.
The moment contact was made, energy surged, controlled, measured, ancient.
Zayden's meridians responded instinctively.
The system pulsed.
System Alert: The current environment allows for the host's potential cultivation advancement.
System Notice: Passive optimisation protocol engaged to improve the host's cultivation progression.
System Notification: The acceleration of the host's innate essence refinement has now been initiated.
Zayden focused.
He did not cultivate.
He endured.
Days passed.
Zayden stayed in the vault for hours. He left only for care. Outwardly, he appeared sickly, delicate.
Inside the vault, he was being tempered. Hour by hour, the process continued.
His meridians thickened.
His spiritual awareness sharpened.
His control deepened.
All without a single cultivation technique.
System Status: Monitoring host. All parameters remain within expected ranges.
Foundation Quality: Rising
Stability: Perfect
Deviation Risk: Zero
Zayden understood now. Excitement jolted his nerves, fierce and electrifying, but under it, cold fear scuttled, coiling tighter with each realisation, the weight of his new insight pressing down on his chest.
This is the real advantage.
Not power.
Preparation.
One night, as he lay within the crystal cradle, Zayden felt something new.
A door.
It was not a physical door, but something inside him.
A threshold he had not been able to touch before.
System Notice: Host's body now mature enough for initial cultivation to begin.
Recommendation: Introduce the first technique (low-grade)
Zayden's mind sharpened.
So the waiting is almost over.
He stared up at the ancient ceiling, inscriptions glowing faintly in response to his presence.
The Golden Empire believed it was protecting its future emperor.
He would let them believe that.
But in the shadows beneath the throne, something far more dangerous, fueled by hope and fear, was taking its first true breath.
And soon,
Zayden Aurum would begin to cultivate.