The night was silent — too silent.
Clouds gathered without wind, and the moon hid itself behind a veil of trembling stars. Somewhere deep within the Mortal Realm, in a small, forgotten village surrounded by mountains, a cry pierced the air.
A child was born.
The villagers spoke of strange omens that night — the rivers stilled, the animals bowed, and a faint golden light flickered in the sky before vanishing. The midwife trembled as she gazed at the newborn's eyes — dark, calm, endless, as though they had already seen eternity.
> "Strange child," she whispered. "He didn't cry when he came into the world."
The mother smiled weakly, brushing her son's cheek. "Then perhaps he has nothing to fear."
But somewhere beyond the mortal heavens, countless divine eyes turned toward the small house, sensing a presence that should not exist — a soul that once made gods kneel.
And deep within that infant's fragile body, something stirred.
A flicker of power long erased from the world —
A will that defied the heavens themselves.
> "So this is mortality…?"
The voice was faint, barely a whisper in the boy's soul.
"Very well. Let me see… what it means to be human again."
The night wind carried his first silent breath across the mountains.
No one in that world yet knew —
That the child named Li Shen was the being all creation once feared to speak of.
And in that single, quiet moment…
the world unknowingly welcomed back its lost ruler