Dawn tinged the towers of Lianhua Imperial Palace with gold, blurring the contours of the world Xiu Wang knew with the faint light. Standing by one of the jade windows in the east wing, her amber eyes silently surveyed the still-sleepy city. Her every breath was a slow dance of Natural Qi floating in the air, and within her, the cyclone of energy swirled steadily: late-stage Qi Refinement. One step away from becoming a Master.
But even among the kingdom's young hopefuls, Xiu was... different.
Her jade-like skin seemed to glow in the dawn light, as if concealing secrets written in ancient languages. Her long, auburn hair, held back with a silver comb, fell like a tranquil flame over her deep blue robe, woven with spiritual threads worn only by the imperial family.
He didn't remember his real parents.
For as long as he could remember, the jade corridors, the silent eunuchs, and the Empress's distant gaze had been his everything. Servants whispered that she was found in a lotus field, barely days old, wrapped in silks marked with symbols that even the great scholars of the Palace could not decipher. That day, they say, the sky thundered three times without a storm. The Emperor ordered her immediate adoption.
But she knew she didn't quite belong here.
"My lady," a soft voice interrupted behind her. "The carriage for the Royal Academy is ready."
It was Yu Lin, her personal maid. She had been her shadow since childhood. Xiu nodded, but didn't turn around. Not yet. Her eyes remained fixed on the horizon, on the northern cliffs where, according to the ancient texts, dragons once slept beneath the celestial lakes.
"Today it all begins," he thought.
The Royal Academy wasn't just a place of study. It was a testing ground, a jungle disguised as classrooms. Where talent was measured in blood and achievement. Where even the sons of nobles could fall if they weren't strong. No one there ignored the logic of strength: if you couldn't gauge the other's power, you'd better keep silent.
Xiu picked up his ceremonial short sword, a gift from the Emperor. It was light, but its edge cut through even illusions. When he left the palace, the heavens seemed to hold their breath. Three golden cranes crossed the sky in perfect formation. An omen, the elders said. Of glory. Or of ruin.
Already in the carriage, she felt the subtle vibration of her spiritual core as it tuned into the surrounding Qi. Her cultivation had been rapid, even dangerous for her age. No one at fifteen ever made it that far without paying a price. She knew it. Every night, her dreams were visited by a silhouette shrouded in mist, speaking to her in a forgotten language. An insistent whisper: "Wake up, Daughter of the Origin."
He settled in as the carriage descended the imperial hill. In the distance, the silhouette of the Academy rose like a fortress of white stone and obsidian roofs. There, among the sons of generals, clan heirs, and young cultivating monsters, Xiu Wang's true awakening would begin.
Not as a princess.
But as something more.
Like what the world wasn't yet ready to remember.