[The Vision of the Abyss]
As the night wind howled, Gu Xingyu fell into a feverish dream. She saw the Sanctuary, heavy with violent Yao-energy. She saw Mu Yunzhao using her last bit of strength to force open the Gates of the Yao-Source, pulling forth the Heart of the Yao-Spirit.
But then, a shadow appeared. A man with a limping, uneven gait—one shoulder higher than the other—dashed toward the gate. In his arms was a bundle. With a cold, calculated move, he hurled the infant into the swirling vortex of the open portal.
The infant's cry was sharp and brief before being swallowed by the light.
Xingyu woke up screaming, her body drenched in cold sweat. "That baby... who was it?" she gasped. In the modern world, she had loving parents, yet she had always felt like there was a "glass wall" between her and the world. She studied psychology to understand the void in her heart, never realizing that the void was actually a physical rift between two worlds.
[A Gift from the Stars]
In the modern world, decades ago, a heavy rain fell. A middle-aged couple, childless and heartbroken, walked past a narrow alley. A flash of strange light flickered near a dumpster, followed by a faint cry.
The woman dropped her umbrella and picked up the bundle. The baby's eyes were like polished obsidian—dark, deep, and brilliant.
"It's a gift from the heavens," the man whispered.
As a shooting star streaked across the dark clouds like a silver feather, the woman looked down at the child. "She is a star from the sky... a light of feathers."
"Gu Xingyu," they named her. The infant who fell from the Yao-Source was reborn into the world of men.
[The Betrayal of the Night]
Back in the past, in the Dark Palace of the Rift-曜, Qing Fei woke up to a faint crying. Her "sister," Wan Luo, stood by her bed holding the baby.
"I'll soothe her, Qing Fei. You rest," Wan Luo said with a gentle smile that hid a venomous jealousy. She had always loved You Nian, and the birth of his child with Qing Fei had turned her love into madness.
The Preceptor, Feng Mian, had whispered in her ear: "This child carries a bloodline that will bring extinction to your clan." Armed with this "righteous" fear, Wan Luo made a choice.
She gave the baby to Fu Ying, a silent, limping servant who had once been a soldier. "Take her to the Sanctuary. Throw her into the vortex when the gates open. It is the only way to save the Rift-曜."
Fu Ying obeyed. He struck Wan Luo to make it look like a kidnapping, then rode like the wind toward the Sanctuary. He arrived just as Mu Yunzhao opened the gates. With one final throw, the infant was cast into the cross-currents of time and space.
Wan Luo believed she had erased a curse. She didn't know she had simply sent the "Variable" to a place where she would grow, learn, and eventually return to settle the debt of blood and stars.