The accident came without warning.
A blinding glare split the night as a steel vehicle roared forward. In that instant, his thin body was struck head-on, his bones snapping like brittle branches beneath a falling mountain. Blood scattered into the air, blooming like a crimson flower.
Death arrived too quickly and too suddenly.
Within his fading consciousness, a single thought surfaced.
Was this truly the end?
His vision dimmed. His eyelids sank.
As the ancients said, when fate descends, even ghosts cannot escape.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Then, light returned.
The world had changed.
This was no longer the world he once knew. This was a land where cultivators defied the heavens and where strength determined all things.
Only the strong had a voice.
He had been reborn.
Within the Li family, a towering noble clan whose power spread across countless lands.
Yet the name he now carried was not Li.
It was Su Ye.
Thunder roared like an enraged dragon as storm clouds covered the Li estate. Rain poured in sheets, drowning the world in darkness.
Inside a grand chamber, lit only by flickering lanterns,
"Madam has given birth!"
An old nanny stood at the bedside, her aged face lined with deep wrinkles, her gray hair neatly bound. In her trembling hands laid a newborn child.
Her expression slowly stiffened.
A trace of fear crept into her murky eyes.
"I...it is a stillborn."
The words fell like a death sentence.
On the bed, Su Ru lay weak and pale. Her delicate features had lost all color, her long black hair disordered and damp with sweat. Despite her frail state, she moved closer with determination.
"N-no... my child..."
Her voice trembled.
"My child!"
Grief surged like a collapsing dam.
For 9 months, she had been expecting to hold her child in her arms. But now what she held was nothing like that at all.
It felt like her heart was being strangled by a pair of invisible hands.
At that moment, hurried footsteps approached.
The servants dropped to their knees in unison.
A tall man stepped into the room. His figure was straight as a spear, his sharp eyes scanned the room.
His name was Li Tao, the second branch of the Li family. His presence alone made the air grow heavy.
Beside him stood a middle-aged man in plain robes. His face was calm, his beard long and well-kept, his gaze deep as still water. This was Doctor Chen.
"Where is my child?"
Li Tao's voice was low, yet it pressed upon the room like a mountain.
No one dared to respond.
"Speak! Are all of you mute!?"
"R-replying to Second Master...the child...is stillborn."
Silence.
Then he moved.
Li Tao stepped forward and took the infant into his arms. Without hesitation, spiritual energy surged from his body, flowing into the child like a raging tide.
Nothing.
No breath. No heartbeat. Looking at it in his hand, the stillborn felt like it was losing warmth. It was as if it was a doll.
"No…is my first son truly fated to die!?"
His voice dropped, filled with disbelief.
He pushed more energy into the infant, but it vanished without a trace.
Like pouring water into the abyss.
At last, he turned.
"Doctor Chen."
"I understand."
Doctor Chen stepped forward, raising his hand. A gentle stream of spiritual energy flowed from his palm, warm and precise as it examined the stillborn's body.
Moments passed.
He withdrew his hand.
"This child's life has already been severed."
Li Tao's gaze sharpened.
"There must be a way."
"There is." Doctor Chen paused. "A twelfth rank divine pill."
Li Tao's expression froze.
Such a thing existed only in legends.
"Indeed," Chen Ming replied softly. "To steal a life from the King of Hell, such matters defy heaven."
Those words settled heavily in the room.
At the bedside, Su Ru collapsed onto the floor. Her delicate frame trembled.
Her fingers trembled as she reached for the child.
"…Is there truly no hope?"
Li Tao closed his eyes briefly, then spoke.
"Su Ru, we can have another child."
Her body stiffened.
She could hear the rain outside hitting the roof.
Li Tao's words...were colder than the storm outside.
Time passed and Li Tao politely sent Doctor Chen off.
The storm weakened, yet the sorrow within the chamber did not.
Su Ru still held the child in her arms.
His body was cold, but it was like she wanted to warm his cold body in hopes of him coming back alive.
Beside her, Xiao Lan knelt. Her cyan robes swayed as she wiped her tears. She had gentle features, but at this time her slender frame shook as she tried to remain composed.
"Miss… the dead cannot return. If something happens to you as well…"
Su Ru didn't answer.
What could she say? Pretend that everything was alright?
Only after a long time did her lips finally moved.
"…Help me bury him."
"M-miss…in the ancestral cemetery?"
"No." Her voice was faint. "Bury him among the flowers. I don't want him far from me."
"…Yes, Miss."
Xiao Lan didn't say anything more. All she needed to do was follow her orders.
The child was buried beneath a plum blossom tree.
Flowers surrounded him.
Peony. Orchid. Chrysanthemum.
Petals drifted down like silent tears. And yet no matter how many petals fell, it seemed like it was neverending.
The cold wind brushed past Su Ru's pale face, yet it could not numb the ache in her heart.
With emotionless eyes she asked, "…Xiao Lan…do you think he'll be happy here?"
Xiao Lan forced a trembling smile.
"He will, Miss… he will surely laugh among the flowers."
Su Ru said nothing.
She only gazed at the falling blossoms and softly recited:
Softly, she recited,
The empty courtyard glows under the cold moon.
Tears lightly fall upon the lonely pillow.
The wind brushes, and flowers fall from their branches.
Calling for my child, I hear their voice only in dreams.
Her voice was quiet.
She turned to leave.
Slowly taking one step at a time.
Then she heard it,
A cry.
"Wah..."
Su Ru's body froze.
"…Xiao Lan…did you hear that?"
"M-miss…could it be a ghost…?"
"Wah… wah…"
Another cry followed, clearer this time.
Her pupils shrank.
Without a word, she rushed back and fell to the ground. Her hands clawed into the soil, tearing through dirt and stone alike. Blood stained her fingers, yet she did not stop.
The sound grew louder the more she dug.
Her hands trembled as she saw her child.
"My child..."
Her voice broke completely.
The baby's chest moved up and down as it breathed in fresh air. His eyes were squinted and his hands were reaching out towards Su Ru.
"He is alive..."
Tears flooded her eyes as she pulled him into her embrace.
She could feel his warmth. She could hear his cry.
Though she held him tight, she soon soften her embrace in fear of hurting him.
Before she knew it, a voice sounded behind her.
"Wife."
Li Tao stood beneath the dim light, his tall figure unmoving. His sharp gaze locked onto the child. While in his hand, a drawn sword gleamed coldly under the storm.
"Husband...our child is alive."
Su Ru turned, hope filling her tear-streaked face.
Then she saw the sword...her expression froze.
"W-what are you–"
But before she could ask, Li Tao held out his hand.
"Give him to me."
"Husband…what are you doing?"
Su Ru's voice trembled like the last leaf clinging to a winter branch.
Her delicate hands, pale as lotus petals, clutched the baby tightly to her chest. Her dark eyes, glistening with unshed tears, reflected both fear and defiance.
Li Tao, tall and stern with sharp features and eyes like polished onyx, spoke softly, trying to steady his own racing heart. His long, dark robes fluttered slightly in the wind as he held out his hands.
"Wife, hand the baby over."
"Li Tao! What are you doing!? This is your child! Your own flesh and blood!"
"Our child died. Not even Doctor Chen could have saved him! How could he be fine all of a sudden? Something foul might have entered our son's body!" Li Tao's words struck like shards of ice, sharp and unyielding.
"I-it's a miracle! Such things can happen!"
"Doctor Chen is a 6th step cultivator! Do you think he would make a wrong diagnosis? Furthermore..."
He looked closer and saw the baby's pupils.
"What kind of child has a physique with red pupils?"
"Then…" Su Ru's grip tightened, knuckles whitening, "Are you going to kill him?"
"…Since you cannot bear it, let me do it."
"It's our son!"
"That thing isn't our son! It might even harm you, and the world! I cannot take that risk!"
"…Do you really have to be this ruthless?" Su Ru's laugh was bitter, tinged with disbelief.
"Our Li family…has always stood on the side of justice. The Heavenly Dao will not tolerate him!"
Su Ru's lips curved into a mocking smile as she gently patted the baby's soft head.
"Heavenly Dao?" Her voice was both gentle and sharp, like wind cutting through bamboo, "If heaven could not tolerate him, then why would he have been revived?"
"Reviving from the dead…can that ever be considered natural?" Li Tao's grip on his sword tightened, the steel gleaming under the faint light. "Wife…I'm begging you...give me the child."
"…And what if I don't?" Her eyes, pools of sorrow and defiance, met his without flinching.
They stared at each other, two forces of unwavering conviction.
"…Then I can only apologize later."
A flash of light tore through as Li Tao's sword arced toward the baby.
It stopped inches away as Su Ru's slender body intervened, her robes flowing like black ink in water.
"Wife! Step aside!"
"You want me to step aside? Over my dead body!" Her voice was like a bell of defiance ringing through the cold hall.
"You—" Li Tao stepped back, exhaling sharply. "Wife, do you have to be so foolish? We can always have another child!"
"This is your child!"
"It is not our child! What kind of child cries when it should have been buried?" His eyes, sharp as a hawk's, were filled with anguish. But he was firm on his decision.
That this was the right action.
"Li Tao…can you really not find it in your heart to accept him?"
"That thing…is not my child."
"…Fine. If you cannot tolerate my child…then I will leave with him." Su Ru's fists clenched, the jade bangles on her wrists chiming softly with her motion, a delicate sound clashed against the storm in her heart.
"Su Ru, stop being stubborn—"
"Shut up!" she snapped, eyes blazing like the setting sun against the mountains. "Li Tao. Today, either you kill both of us mother and child or you let us leave!"
"…You know I cannot bear to do that."
"Then what do you want to do? You know I will never let you kill my child!"
"Y-you…" His words faltered, choked by the weight of his own heart.
To lose his beloved wife or to carry out his duty...
He gripped his sword tightly, knuckles whitening, before finally making a decision. Turning to a servant by his side, sword in hand, he commanded, "Cang Jian, find all the servants except Xiao Lan who saw him get buried. Give them some money and tell them to keep quiet."
"Yes."
Li Tao turned back to Su Ru, eyes softened but still firm. "Su Ru…you can keep that child. But he must not appear in public. If one day he brings harm to the world…then I shall not be polite."
He turned to leave, his robes trailing like a shadow beneath the moon.
"Wait!" Su Ru's voice pierced the distance, desperate and trembling. "Aren't you...going to name him?"
"…Yesheng. He shall not carry my surname. I have no son like him."
Su Ru pressed her face to the baby's chest. "You…forget it. He shall be named…Su Ye. From now on, he has nothing to do with your Li family."
"…Whatever suits you."
Su Ye looked at Li Tao's fading back.
She felt complicated.
The kindness that he had shown her was not given to their child at all.
Although she knew that Li Tao had a strong responsibility, she didn't think that he would even go as far as killing their child.
She looked at Su Ye.
With their cheeks touching, she softly spoke.
"Mother won't let anything happen to you. Mother promises you."