The imperial capital of Xiangxiu stank of incense and hypocrisy.
Golden temples scraped the sky, adorned with dragon carvings and false virtue. Beneath them, nobles plotted behind silk veils while eunuchs whispered in marble halls. The emperor's banners still flew above the city—but everyone knew his heart had stopped beating months ago.
Yet no one dared speak of it.
Because that morning, a raven arrived at the palace gates, bearing only two things:
A lotus black as obsidian
And a message burned into its flesh:
> "Your heavens are next."
— Yi Mochen
---
Inside the Inner Court
The imperial sons sat in silence. Eleven of them. Each backed by generals, sects, merchants, or hidden gods.
At the head of the chamber, Crown Prince Jian Yu held the black lotus in gloved hands. Its petals still pulsed, faintly alive.
> "He's returned," he muttered. "Yi Mochen."
The silence cracked like bone under weight. A voice trembled near the back:
> "But the Emerald Light Sect was protected by—"
> "He butchered them all," Jian Yu snapped. "And sent us this—as a gift."
He stood, robes trailing like shadows behind him.
> "He means to claim the throne. Not as a prince. Not as a man. But as a demon."
---
Elsewhere: In the Forest of Bone Lanterns
Yi Mochen stood beneath a tree that bore no leaves—only skulls. The cocoon's gift, the Black Lotus Seed, pulsed in his palm. It whispered. Twisted. Promised.
He stared through the mist, toward the city that once exiled him.
He did not want the throne.
He wanted the foundation beneath it. The hidden power locked beneath Xiangxiu—the Heaven-Splitting Seal, an artifact of gods long dead.
> "Let the princes squabble," he whispered.
"Let the generals bleed."
"I will bury them all… and make heaven beg."
A figure approached through the fog—slender, dressed in white robes, face veiled.
She bowed low.
> "You summoned me, Mochen."
> "You still serve the Red Feather Cult," he said.
> "Yes."
> "Then you will be my dagger."
She didn't hesitate.
> "Who shall I kill?"
He looked toward the rising sun—and the imperial city swallowed in its glow.
> "The Crown Prince."
---
Deep Below the Palace
Unseen by all, a mirror of bone and smoke flickered to life beneath the imperial altar. A pale, sleepless eye opened behind it.
> "Ah… so the Heartless One walks again…"
A voice, ancient and shrill, crawled across the stone.
> "We must awaken her."
Chains stirred in the dark.
Something bound.
Something forgotten.
Something… hungry.
---
Yi Mochen does not yet know:
The empire hides a curse older than the heavens
The Crown Prince once loved the same woman he destroyed
And what he awakens… might unmake even him.