Year of the Veiled Sky, 99,997th year — The Gathering of Sects
Two years had passed since the Lantern Festival at Tianlong Sect. The world had grown colder, sharper, and crueler. From the shadows, Heiwu Sect sent its edict:
“All clans and sects shall send their disciples to the Grand Competition. Refusal is treason.”
It was not an invitation. It was a summons.
And so the great names came once more — the Shengs, the Fengs, the Longs, the Xings, and the Huos. They gathered in the blood-red arena Heiwu had built, its banners heavy with arrogance. Heiwu acted not as a host but as a sovereign, treating the children of the clans like pawns. Even the strongest among them were ordered, herded, measured.
Yet in the contests, as if by fate, the Xings and Shengs tied for dominance. The Huos, Fengs, and Longs followed, each proud but forced into their ranking.
The Outburst
During the last match, Huo Liangfeng — usually calm — lost control of his power. The Huo bloodline was dangerous: its aura amplified destruction and exposed enemies’ weaknesses. Once unleashed, it could burn an arena to ash.
The stands trembled as a wave of red qi spiraled out of him.
Then, without hesitation, Sheng Linyue stepped forward. Her nine-petal power blossomed around her like a luminous lotus, wrapping Liangfeng’s wild energy and calming it. The arena fell silent as she anchored his aura.
Up in the gallery, Xing Liuyue and Long Wenxi exchanged a glance.
“This wasn’t natural,” Liuyue murmured. “Someone tampered with his qi.”32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXj4XiN45m1
“Heiwu…” Wenxi muttered, fists tightening.
Meanwhile, Feng Lianhua knelt by Liangfeng, helping stabilize his energy, even as her brother Feng Zihan scowled. He had been the one secretly helping his sister smuggle letters to Liangfeng over two years. They had fallen deeply in love, planning an engagement for their eighteenth year.
Zihan had sacrificed his own heart — his quiet affection for Linyue — to obey his father. He was already engaged to Yu Xianru, a collateral branch daughter of the Fengs, chosen to secure alliances. It was his duty as future patriarch.
At the same time, Xing Rongyue had promised herself to Long Wenxi; they had found love during their years at Tianlong Sect. Two pairs were already bound by fate.
That left only Linyue and Liuyue — tied to no one, bound only to the growing silence between them.
Linyue’s father, Sheng Zhenwei, was firmly against any marriage into the Xings.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuhbLKNA2qh
They were the most powerful clan in the world; he would not risk his daughter becoming “their shadow.” Instead, he secretly planned to make her the Sheng Clan Matriarch by marrying her to Meng Dongrui, the collateral branch boy who dreamed of her in vain.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIdEexLO2cT
Linyue herself knew nothing of this.
The War
A year later, the veil dropped. Heiwu Sect attacked Tianlong Sect, its hidden fangs bared at last.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlfPP9DudRT
Several disciples were killed. Blood stained the mountains.
For three years, the major clans fought side by side, repelling siege after siege. It was a war of attrition, and it burned youth like kindling. Expeditions were formed to counter Heiwu’s hidden bases. Disciples who had once laughed together now led troops and bled on the battlefield.
During one such expedition, Liuyue was badly wounded.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvqIzogsSL
In a frozen cave, Linyue took him into her arms, shielding him from the cold.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJMwj5oh1D
Two warriors — bound by war, bound by silence — found warmth in each other at last.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVNMWi9dTL9
That night changed everything.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh90piZvYEr
Even as the battle raged on, their bond deepened.
At the 99,999th year, the war ended. The expedition returned victorious — but broken.
And that was when Linyue learned that Liuyue had died.
The Loss
Pregnant, grief-stricken, she returned to the Sheng Clan.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN8ohDOOrf6
Through her entire pregnancy, she held only one thought:32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpyRFEpjLoK
his smile, his touch, his voice, the child they had created together.
But when her time came, she died in childbirth — alone.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhBLsZsOUOy
The Shengs hid the truth.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaUX8x3fp9u
They whispered that it was an “illegitimate” child and quietly threw the baby away.
One year later, at the 100,000th year, Xing Liuyue returned.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHX3zx0QCFW
He had not died after all.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaHeQWhhGLi
He arrived to find that Linyue was gone — buried under a grand funeral he had not been told of.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU4wTfA77nt
He learned the child he never held had been discarded.
That night, the heavens trembled.
Four celestial signs appeared.
Liuyue’s screams tore through the Xing ancestral hall:
“Yue’er… Yue’er… why did you leave me? Why?”
His aunt tried to hold him. His brother and sister tried to steady him.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq8rxH8WxQY
Even his father, Xing Zhenyu, and his uncle Lianchen, the pillars of the clan, could not move him.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLR38Tr9Hw
Day after day, he wept until his voice was raw.
His own mother had died giving birth to him.32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxtrd7d7u6I
Now he had lost the only woman he had ever loved, and the child they created.
The strongest swordsman in the world — the Bingyan Zun — knelt shattered, clutching the empty space where his family should have been.
and then Add to home screen.