In the far reaches of the Main Continent, at the very border where the Ling Family guarded the lands, a stormless yet heavy night descended.
Inside the grand estate, cries of labor echoed.
Then—
A child was born.
The moment he opened his eyes, a sharp and powerful aura burst outward. The air trembled. Candles flickered wildly. Even the protective formation around the Ling estate hummed in response.
Servants fell to their knees.
The elders rushed into the room, their expressions turning from concern to shock.
"Such pressure… from a newborn?"
The infant's gaze was fierce despite his first breath in the world. His spiritual pulse was strong, aggressive — like a blade just unsheathed.
He was named Ling Ruu.
Word spread instantly across the clan. A genius had been born. The Ling Family's future pillar had arrived.
But the night was not over.
In another chamber, quieter and far less crowded, a second child was delivered.
No tremor followed.
No fluctuation of spiritual energy.
No resonance from the formation.
Just an ordinary cry of a newborn.
The midwives looked at one another in confusion.
When the elders arrived this time, they felt… nothing.
No pressure.
No aura.
No sign of spiritual awakening.
The child simply blinked up at the ceiling calmly.
"He… has no presence," one elder muttered.
Another frowned. "Not even the faintest trace of spiritual fluctuation."
In a clan that valued strength above all, this silence was louder than thunder.
The boy was named Ling Shen.
While the estate celebrated Ling Ruu's extraordinary birth, Ling Shen's arrival was met with hesitant smiles and forced congratulations.
Two children born on the same night.
One shook the household.
The other did not stir even a candle flame.
Within days, whispers began spreading through the servants' quarters.
"The second young master… is he defective?"
"They say he has no aura at all."
"A child without spiritual presence in the Ling Family? What a nuisance…"
The word began to stick.
Not because Shen cried too much.
Not because he caused trouble.
But because in a clan built on power, being ordinary was the greatest inconvenience of all.
Ling Ruu grew surrounded by attention, praised as a future dragon of the clan.
Ling Shen grew in the shadows, unnoticed, quiet, watching.
The elders tried testing him again and again.
Still nothing.
No resonance.
No awakening.
Just calm eyes that seemed far too aware.
To the Ling Family, Ling Shen was a burden — a stain on a glorious night.
A nuisance.
But sometimes—
The quietest presence is not emptiness.
It is depth waiting to be measured.
And depth, unlike brilliance…
cannot be seen from the surface.