Location:
Blackpine Forest – Border of Eastern Spirit Domain
The forest
was cold and quiet.
The wind
whispered through dead leaves, and moonlight bled through the broken canopy.
The Blackpine Forest was known for its wild spirit beasts and cursed energy. No
one dared to venture into its heart after dusk.
Yet, that
night, a sound echoed through the trees—
A weak,
trembling cry.
Wrapped in
bloodstained cloth, the infant lay beside the roots of a decaying pine tree.
His breath was faint. His skin had turned pale. The warmth of the Supreme Bone
had left his body. No one watched him. No one cared.
Above, the
stars shifted—constellations trembling ever so slightly, as if the heavens
themselves mourned the injustice.
And still…
the baby cried.
A tiny
voice, fragile but defiant, clinging to life in a world that had thrown him away.
Deeper into
the forest, a small caravan was returning from a failed beast-hunting mission.
Among them rode Qin Yong, a sturdy man with a square jaw and warm eyes, and
beside him, his wife Qin Ting, a graceful woman in her mid-thirties. Her eyes
were sharp, yet filled with sorrow.
They had no
children of their own.
Fate had
been cruel—Qin Ting was infertile. No amount of spiritual healing or medical
alchemy had helped. Though they were respected members of the mid-tier Qin
Family, their hearts ached with emptiness.
Suddenly,
one of the spirit horses neighed sharply and refused to go forward.
Qin Yong
stepped down, sword ready, scanning the woods.
Then they
heard it.
The cry.
Faint, weak,
almost drowned by the wind—but undeniably human.
They moved
quickly, and there, at the foot of the pine, they saw him—a baby, barely alive,
his tiny fingers clutching the fabric of his torn wrappings.
Qin Ting
gasped. "A child? Here?"
Qin Yong
knelt beside him. "He's cold… but still breathing."
As Qin Ting
held the baby to her chest, her body trembled. Tears welled in her eyes as she
looked into his. Something ancient stirred in her soul.
"This… is
our son," she whispered.
Qin Yong
didn't argue.
No
questions. No doubts. Just decision.
They wrapped
the baby in a thick cloak and rode back toward their family estate. Qin Ting
pressed her lips to the baby's forehead and smiled through tears.
"We'll call
you… Qin Huaian."
The child
didn't know it yet, but in the darkest night of his life, he had found light
again.
And with
that name, his new destiny began.