Location: Shaw Family Compound, Eastern Spirit Domain
Thunder rolled across the sky as storm clouds gathered above the massive stone walls of the Shaw Family Estate. It was the day of celebration—Patriarch Smith Shaw's wife was about to give birth.
But this was no ordinary birth.
The child in her womb carried something ancient, something divine. Even the healers could sense it. As labor progressed, the skies cracked open with silver lightning. Spiritual energy in the air thickened like fog, pressing down on everyone inside the birth chamber.
After hours of agony, a child's first cry pierced the silence.
He was unlike any newborn.
His skin shimmered faintly under the torchlight, and a strange pattern glowed on his chest—a constellation of spiritual meridians. The moment he cried, a wind swept through the room and a golden flower bloomed outside, despite the season.
The healers knelt in awe.
"This child… is born with the Supreme Bone," one whispered.
The Supreme Bone was a myth in most circles. Said to grant the bearer direct affinity to all elements—earth, fire, water, wind, lightning, and void. It was the type of constitution that appeared once in 10,000 years, destined to reach the 12th Realm.
Patriarch Smith Shaw's wife wept with joy as she held the child to her chest.
But at that very moment, miles away, another woman—Smith Shaw's secret lover—was also in labor.
Her child, however, was weak. Born with no spiritual roots. No energy pulse. No meridian flow. A normal child, in an era where power meant everything. His future was already lost.
When the news reached Smith Shaw, he stood in his private chamber, torn between responsibility and desire.
His wife's child was a prodigy.
His lover's child... was weak.
But it was his lover he truly loved.
Then came a dark thought—whispered by an old advisor, a man whose loyalty lay with the patriarch's heart, not his logic.
> "The Supreme Bone can be transplanted… if done before the meridians settle."
Smith Shaw's hands trembled.
His heart warred with his greed.
In the end, love and ambition won over honor.
And the order was given:
"Take the Supreme Bone... from my wife's son. Give it to my lover's child."
---
The first betrayal had begun.
The heavens were watching.
And the one born to stand above all… would now fall into the deepest abyss.