Chapter 1 — Bound by Fate
Inside the womb of a fading woman of the Luo Clan, something impossible stirred.
At merely three months into her pregnancy, the unborn child awakened his consciousness.
This was a phenomenon that defied heaven's laws.
His soul drifted beyond the veil of flesh and blood, slipping free from the warmth of the womb and entering a vast inner world . It was silent there—endless, ancient, and heavy with the aura of eternity.
Within that boundless darkness, two souls appeared together.
One soul gleamed white as flawless jade, crystalline and pure. Its surface shimmered with runes older than time , while the Law of Time flowed across it like unending golden rivers—calm, absolute, and merciless. Each pulse carried the weight of past, present, and future, as though all ages bowed before it.
Opposite it stood another soul.
Abyssal black.
So deep that it seemed to have swallowed the stars .
Within its endless darkness pulsed the Law of Space, twisting reality into infinite distances. Layers upon layers of void folded inward, collapsing and expanding endlessly, as though worlds were being born and destroyed within it every instant.
Time and Space.
Two supreme laws.
Two saint souls.
They took human form, their backs pressed tightly against each other, seated in silent stillness. Beneath them lay an ancient scroll—vast beyond measure, as though it spanned the entire cosmos. Its surface was filled with characters that shifted and blurred, refusing to be fully comprehended.
Yet the scroll was sealed.
Nine heavenly chains bound it tightly.
Each chain was forged from the intertwined Laws of Nature and Time, glowing with lightning-like radiance. They hummed softly, carrying an authority so ancient that even the void seemed unwilling to approach. These chains did not merely bind the scroll—they sealed secrets too profound to be spoken, too dangerous to be revealed.
Hovering above them was a tiny elf of light, no larger than a fingertip.
Her wings shimmered with fragments of starlight as she fluttered in slow circles around the twin souls. Her presence was gentle yet vigilant, like a guardian born from fate , silently watching over what should never have existed.
And thus, before even seeing the light of day, the boy had already stepped into the mysteries of cultivation.
Beyond the womb, however, the world was far less kind.
His mother, Luo Xin'er, hailed from the Luo Clan—a once-mighty family that had long since fallen into decline. In her youth, she had carried the pride and elegance of her lineage, her name once spoken with respect.
But fate was cruel.
She was far from her homeland, having married into the powerful Xiao Clan, rulers of the Central Plains.
The Xiao Clan was vast, cold, and merciless.
In the third month of her pregnancy, whispers spread through its grand halls like poison carried by the wind. The clan's family doctor delivered his judgment with indifference:
The unborn child carried a waste soul.
A crippled existence.
Incapable of cultivation.
At the same time, heaven seemed to mock her further. Her husband, Xiao Han, welcomed a new concubine into the clan—one whose child was rumored to possess an ancient holy soul, a blessing said to appear only once in a thousand years.
The contrast was absolute.
The judgment was swift.
Within the ancestral hall, beneath cold gazes and towering pillars, the Xiao Clan patriarch spoke with a voice devoid of emotion:
"A crippled seed is unworthy of the Xiao bloodline. Choose—your child, or your place as wife of the clan."
Silence followed.
Before the eyes of gathered elders, Luo Xin'er stood trembling. Her heart was torn apart, caught between the man she had once loved and the fragile life stirring within her womb.
She felt it then.
A faint pulse.
Weak, yet unmistakably alive.
A will that refused to disappear.
Tears streamed down her face as her body shook. Then, slowly, she raised her head.
Her voice was soft, yet unyielding.
"I choose my child."
In a single breath, everything ended.
Her status.
Her honor.
Her place within the Xiao Clan.
Betrayed by her husband and cast out beneath the cold skies of the Central Plains, Luo Xin'er clutched her womb with trembling hands as she was driven beyond the clan's gates.
In that moment, heaven and earth bore witness.
Within her heart, a mother's song rose silently—a vow to protect the son whom even the heavens had tried to erase.
Yet none of them knew the truth.
The boy inside her was no cripple.
He carried not one, but two saint souls, entwined with Time and Space, bound upon the scroll of destiny. His birth would not merely defy the Xiao Clan's judgment—it would pierce through the heavens.
The chains of fate had already been set.
And from within the womb, a soft yet eternal whisper echoed:
"Mother… do not cry."
The grand gates of the Xiao Clan closed behind her with a thunderous boom.
Cold wind whipped against her robes, carrying with it laughter, mockery, and whispered scorn. Luo Xin'er stood alone beyond the towering walls, one hand resting protectively over her swollen belly.
Her face was pale.
Her eyes, however, burned with quiet determination.
Her husband had chosen another.
The clan had chosen power.
And she… she had chosen her child.
As snowflakes drifted down from the gray sky, her tears fell silently.
"My son," she whispered, her voice trembling, "though they call you a waste, though they cast us aside… to me, you are my everything."
She tightened her grip over her womb.
"Even if the heavens abandon you, I will never let go."
From that moment onward, Luo Xin'er of the Luo Clan ceased to exist.
There remained only a mother.
One who would guard her child against the world.
She lifted her gaze toward the silent heavens.
"I seek no glory. I walk no halls of pride. My only vow is you. Whether cripple or genius, whether cursed or blessed, I will protect you—even if it costs me my life."
The heavens remained silent.
Yet in her heart, she believed they had heard.
As snow fell upon her lonely figure, she gave her unborn son a name:
"Luo Xiao Tian."
"May the heavens themselves one day become your path… and your power."
For many days, she wandered.
She left behind grand cities and fertile lands, walking with no carriage, no servants, no escort—only a mother's will carrying her forward. The child stirred gently within her, as though comforting her with each step.
But the world beyond clan walls was ruthless.
Thieves haunted the roads.
Cold pierced the nights.
Hunger gnawed at her weakening body.
Still, she pressed on.
She whispered lullabies into her belly, soothing her son before he was even born.
It was on the edge of collapse, deep within the forests of a neighboring kingdom, that fate revealed itself once more.
Beneath towering pines, an old man in gray robes gathered herbs. His back was hunched, yet his movements were steady. His beard flowed like silver threads, and though his eyes were clouded with age, they gleamed with a light that pierced illusion itself.
He noticed her immediately.
"Child," he said gently, his voice carrying the weight of mountains, "why do you wander in such a state?"
Her strength finally failed.
She knelt in the snow and bowed deeply.
"I have nothing left, senior," she said hoarsely. "Only this child. If I must starve, I shall starve. But I will not let him die."
The forest grew silent.
The old man studied her for a long time, then chuckled softly.
"Fate… truly fate."
With a wave of his hand, warmth spread through the air. Snow no longer touched her, and the ache in her body eased.
"Come," he said. "The heavens have not turned their faces from you yet."
And so, within a humble hut hidden deep in the forest, mother and child found refuge.
With every whispered lullaby, Luo Xin'er poured her soul into her unborn son.
And within her womb, upon the scroll bound by heavenly chains, the twin souls stirred faintly—
answering their mother's vow.