Blood stained the heavens the night Emperor Lu Tianxuan died.
For ten thousand years, the Lu Clan ruled the Seven Realms, its emperors crushing gods, rebels, and every name that dared to rise. Yet in the quiet shadows of that golden dynasty, one secret burned brighter than all glory—the emperor's love for a woman not a queen, not a consort… but a fallen daughter of a forgotten clan.
And from that love was born a child.A child the empire would rather erase.
His name was Lu Mao.
When the emperor's corpse was laid in the jade halls, the throne did not stay empty. His eldest son seized the crown, and his first decree echoed like thunder:
"Bring me the bastard and his lowly mother. Execute them before the clans."
Blades and banners came. Golden-armored cultivators descended like a tide. Yet the boy's mother did not kneel.
Her sleeves tore, her flesh split, but her spirit roared like a lioness. Palm strikes shattered bones, arrogant warriors gasped their last breaths. And still, she fought, her child bound to her back.
But against an empire, one woman cannot stand forever.
Driven to the edge of the Divine Waterfall, a river that pierced realms themselves—she fell. Bloodied, broken, but unyielding. With her final breath, she whispered against her son's brow:
"Lu Mao… live. One day, the heavens will bow to you."
Her body was swallowed by the abyss. Her son drifted alone, carried by merciless waters… until fate intervened.
A thief, hiding with sacks of stolen treasure, cursed when he saw the wooden vessel wash ashore. He could ignore it and live rich. Or abandon everything, and save the child.
"Damn it all…" He threw his treasure into the river, pulled the boy into his arms, and made his choice.
That night, the lowest realm gained a son.And the bastard child of heaven gained a new father.
Thus began the legend of the one who would one day walk the God Devouring Martial Path.