The bells of the Ethereal Heaven Palace tolled softly at dawn, each peal rolling like threads of divine silk through the sky. Above, immortal cranes wheeled lazily, their calls mingling with the rustle of lotus-fragranced winds that drifted across the sprawling sect grounds. The palace itself rose like a dream woven from clouds and jade: ninety-nine tiers of sanctuaries spiraling upward into the heavens, each level glowing with arrays etched in starlight.
Here, in this most exalted sanctuary of the Supreme Universe, the Protagonist began his path.
Daily Life in the Sect
The courtyards thrummed with the energy of tens of thousands of disciples — sword cultivators polishing their blades until they sang, alchemists tending to cauldrons of pill-smoke, and lotus-robed initiates meditating upon bridges suspended above flowing rivers of qi.
The Protagonist walked among them, his lotus-embroidered robe catching sunlight, face serene yet alight with curiosity. Where others moved with caution, reverence, or rigid discipline, he seemed to breathe the sect as if it were his home, each step effortless, each smile like the first dawn.
Whispers followed him.
"That's him—the child chosen by the Sect Master himself."
"The lotus mark upon his soul… I heard even the Heaven Reading Elders bowed before it."
He did not notice. Or perhaps he did, but the wonder in his eyes was too genuine to bend toward arrogance.
Mentor and Guidance
In the Hall of Endless Petals, a chamber blooming eternally with celestial lotuses, the Protagonist knelt before Fairy Jingxue, one of the sect's most luminous elders. Her aura shimmered like crystalline frost, her voice a silver bell.
> "Child of destiny, your path will not be walked as those of ordinary disciples. The lotus grows in mud, yet blossoms unstained. Remember this. Trials will come not to mar you, but to prove you are worthy of blooming."
The boy bowed deeply. Though young, his heart already resonated with her words.
Yet even as Fairy Jingxue's eyes softened, shadows trembled in their depths. She, too, had read the omens: the rise of a calamity, a darkness to mirror this lotus. Two stars, fated to clash. But she did not speak of it.
Rivalries Spark
No sect, however lofty, was free of jealousy.
On the Sparring Fields of Thousand Steles, the Protagonist faced his first challenger — Wei Qianshan, a senior disciple from the Azure Sword Peak. His blade gleamed cold as he sneered:
> "A lotus-marked brat who's never lifted a sword dares walk as though heaven itself cradles him? Let me show you the weight of true cultivation."
The duel drew crowds. Disciples whispered nervously — would the lotus child be humbled?
The Protagonist did not draw a blade. Instead, when Qianshan's strike split the air, he raised a single palm. Petals of pure radiance bloomed in its wake, dissolving sword qi into harmless motes. Gasps rang out.
He did not retaliate. He only smiled gently and said,
> "Your sword sings with anger. But anger blinds the hand that holds it. A true cultivator guides the blade with clarity."
Humiliation turned to rage on Qianshan's face, but the duel was already over. Elders watching from afar exchanged silent nods — this child had not only talent, but temperance.
Sect Politics & Whispers
Beyond the marble halls, high within the Nine-Petaled Pavilion, the senior council of the sect convened.
Sect Master Yun Tianzhao, whose presence could quiet storms.
The Heaven Reading Elders, whose eyes saw fragments of destiny.
Patriarch of Blades, who longed to test whether lotus radiance could withstand steel.
Scrolls of prophecy unrolled before them, lines of starlight forming cryptic verses:
> "A lotus blooms in Heaven's crown, yet from the abyss a dragon coils.
When light and shadow clash, universes tremble."
The elders bowed their heads in solemn silence. The Protagonist's future shone bright, but his path was not unopposed. Somewhere, unseen in the threads of fate, a calamity stirred.
Childlike Wonder
Later, under a sky where constellations bloomed like endless gardens, the Protagonist sat by a lotus pond within the sect. He dipped his fingers into the water, watching ripples catch the starlight.
> "The universe is vast," he murmured, eyes wide, "and every star must hold a story. Will mine… shine among them?"
Beside him, a young junior sister giggled.
> "Shidi, your story is already shining. Haven't you noticed? Everyone looks at you like you're the center of the heavens."
He only laughed softly, a sound that made even the lotus petals sway as though in agreement.
Foreshadowing Omen
Yet when night deepened, a tremor rippled unseen through the sect's protective arrays. Deep in the abyss below the Supreme Universe, where light did not reach, something stirred.
A dragon's roar — distant, muffled, yet suffused with boundless hatred — echoed faintly across the cosmic threads of fate. The Protagonist did not hear it, but the stars above flickered once, as if warning of storms to come.
The lotus child slept peacefully. But destiny had already begun to weave the tapestry of collision.