[Years Ago • The Imperial Study • Late Night]
The night was heavy, with only the high lamps of the Yao Capital remaining lit. Inside the Imperial Study, the scent of cedar lingered. A map of the Yao Realm hung on the wall, its scrolls bearing the tangled marks of time and power.
Si Chengjing, the current Emperor, sat alone at his desk, clutching a silk handkerchief embroidered with elegant patterns. The edges were frayed with age, yet a faint, familiar fragrance still clung to the fabric.
"If you had never loved me..." he whispered, his voice raspy. "Perhaps... none of this would have happened."
Memory rose like night mist—
Back then, she was saintly and graceful, a celestial being descending in the dawn light. When she stepped down from the Radiance Terrace, her white robes fluttering, he had looked up at her from the bottom of the steps for the first time. In that moment, an unnamable longing took root in his heart.
She was Mu Yunzhao, the Saintess chosen by the Yao-Spirit.
But she had chosen him—the Second Prince, the quiet one who stood in the shadows, never favored. Her choice had deeply wounded his elder brother, Si Chengxun, who had grown up alongside her as her childhood friend.
She had once embroidered this very handkerchief for him, whispering a promise: "Chengjing, I am willing to open the gate for you. My only wish is that you guard this land and protect its people."
She never knew that the gate she opened was not just the Gate of Yao-Source, but an abyss that would swallow her destiny. And he—Si Chengjing—was both the architect of that rift and the end of her life.
[The Pawn of Ambition]
At the time, he was a prince of low status with a weak maternal clan and mediocre talent. His elder brother, Si Chengxun, was gifted, virtuous, and the Emperor's clear favorite. He should have stood no chance.
But she chose him anyway.
She defied the sacred laws for him time and again, refusing the Elder Prince's proposals. He was terrified at first, but then he began to believe—perhaps fate truly would change its course for him. That love ignited his desire; that trust showed him a path to the throne.
He loved her, but his love was eclipsed by a hunger for power. He began to set a trap, utilizing her devotion to open the Gate of Yao-Source and seize the legendary "Heart of Yao-Spirit." She poured everything into him, unaware that he didn't just want her heart—he wanted her divine power.
When the scandal broke, the court trembled.
The Elder Prince, Si Chengxun, was incensed. He stormed the palace to plead with her to turn back, even offering to abdicate his title to ensure her safety. But the Saintess remained steadfast in her love. Rumors flew that her relationships with the two brothers were "indecent," shaming the Imperial family. The late Emperor laid the blame entirely on her. Even when Chengxun took the fall, claiming it was his own "unholy obsession" that caused the chaos, the court could not be appeased.
Ultimately, the Elder Prince was deposed, and Si Chengjing was named Crown Prince.
And she... she was cast into the Obsidian Prison, her reputation in ruins.
[A Visit to the Obsidian Prison]
On a snowy night deep beneath the palace, the stone doors of the prison groaned open. A tall figure in black-and-gold robes stepped into the gloom.
"It is late. The Emperor should not be in a place like this," a voice said.
Mu Yunzhao did not look up from her book. Si Chengjing stood in silence before finally speaking. "On the night of my coronation, I wanted to see you first... but I had no face to show you."
She finally looked up at the man she had prayed for countless times. He looked haggard, his eyes shadowed with exhaustion. She gave a faint smile. "Chengjing, when did you become so humble?"
Her smile held no joy; her eyes were as calm as still water. "You have the throne. You have everything you wanted. Why are you here? To see if I have finally given up?"
"I... I want to know," he stammered, his fists clenching. "Do you regret it?"
The silence stretched. Finally, she stood and walked to the iron bars. "Regret what?"
"Regret choosing me."
At that moment, her calm cracked. She whispered, as if to herself, "I regret... not that I chose you, but that I realized too late—that loving you did not mean I could save you."
He recoiled as if struck.
"I thought if I were sincere enough, you would choose the path of light. But you chose the high seat, and you chose to treat me as a mere chess piece to get there. I don't blame you for taking the world, Chengjing. I blame you... for deceiving my heart."
"One thing," she asked. "That night at the Gate, when you took my Yao-power—did you feel even a single spark of remorse?"
He closed his eyes and nodded slowly. "Yes. But I chose to continue anyway. Because I knew... no one else would ever trust me unconditionally again."
She let out a soft laugh. "Then that is good." She sat back down on her stone bed. "Go now, Emperor. This place does not belong to you."
He never visited her again.
[The Ending of a Legend]
Mu Yunzhao spent her final years in the dark. No one called her Saintess anymore. She was just a woman who had loved the wrong man.
Every night, she read her Hymns of Yao-Spirit. Not for forgiveness, but to remind herself that once, she truly wanted to protect the world. She thought she was giving him love; it turned out she was a sacrifice.
One night, the prison seals vibrated—a shift in the cosmic threads. She opened her eyes. Light has arrived. She knelt and prayed to the Yao-Spirit. The next day, the guards found her leaning against the wall, eyes closed, smiling as if she had finally let go of every obsession.
In the Imperial Study, the Emperor stared at her last written words in an old ledger: "May the ones I protected never betray the faith I held."
"Yunzhao..." he murmured into the shadows. "I gained the world, but I failed to protect you. If in the next life I am not a prince and you are not a saintess... could we just be an ordinary husband and wife?"
[The Exile's Vow]
Years later, on a distant cliffside, a lonely figure stood watching the sunset. This was Si Chengxun, the man the world remembered only as the "disgraced prince" who had "defiled the Saintess."
He had watched her be led away to the prison. He had watched her love the wrong man. He had tried to warn her that Si Chengjing only saw her as a "key" to the Five Yao powers, but she hadn't believed him.
Now, rumors were reaching his ears in the borderlands.
A new Saintess has appeared.
The Five Yao are awakening.
She holds the old pocket watch...
He stared at the lights of the Yao Capital far away. "Has she truly returned?"
He didn't care for the throne anymore. But he would not allow the same mistake to happen twice. He would not let another girl be used and sacrificed.
"If she is willing to trust me this time... I will give everything to protect her until the very end."