Chapter 2: The Abandoned Son
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Such idle gossip stung like poisoned fine needles, piercing Xu Qingxuan’s heart day after day.
He had tried to defend himself.
Yet when the whole world branded him a failure who cultivated forbidden demonic arts, the truth became utterly meaningless.
Within the cold imperial palace, rules were never what prevailed.
Instead, it was the greedy faces of those who trampled the fallen to climb higher.
Ever since his cultivation crumbled, the maids and eunuchs who once greeted him with warm smiles had turned cold overnight.
The meals they brought grew cold and meager.
Even charcoal for warmth was withheld through the bitter winter.
On quiet nights, when he tried to channel his arts and reclaim his lost power, muffled sneers would drift in from outside his window.
“Still practicing?”
“A useless cripple, foolishly dreaming of rising again?”
Xu Qingxuan heard every word, yet he never bowed his head.
He refused to submit to fate.
He refused to believe he had fallen from a peerless genius into worthless dust for no reason.
But he could find no answer.
Each time he circulated his spiritual energy, the power gathered in his dantian would slip away like leaking water.
The agony of watching his own strength fade was far crueler than any blade.
It was not until the imperial banquet that night that he finally understood.In his father’s eyes, he was nothing more than a disposable pawn.
Bright lanterns lit the grand hall, ministers seated in rows, and melodious music filled the air without end.
Xu Qingxuan had no wish to attend, yet an imperial edict forced him to come.
The moment he stepped inside, every gaze locked upon him at once.
Pity, mockery, and malicious delight crashed over him like icy water.
The Second Prince, Xu Yuan, raised his wine cup and rose to his feet.His smile seemed gentle, but his words were sharp enough to cut.
“Seventh Brother, how have you been lately?”
“I hear you lock yourself away to train each night. Could it be you still seek to practice that wicked art?”
Suppressed laughter rippled through the hall in an instant.
Xu Qingxuan tightened his fists within his sleeves, his nails digging deep into his palms.
“What I cultivate are the orthodox royal techniques. I have never dabbled in forbidden paths.”
His voice was soft, yet every word rang clear.
Seated high upon the dragon throne, Emperor Yanwu only stared at him with cold indifference.
No fatherly warmth lingered in that gaze—only judgment and disgust.
“Enough.”
“You are weak and incompetent, yet you cling to useless excuses.”
“Your disgraceful conduct stirs endless rumors. Must you bring further shame upon the imperial clan?”
With those few cold words, he was forever branded in disgrace.
Silence fell across the entire hall.
The last thread of foolish hope in Xu Qingxuan’s heart was snuffed out completely.
Three days later, a new imperial decree was issued.
To mend relations with the distant Yanhuang Empire, their bitter rival,Emperor Yanwu offered him as a political bridegroom, to marry into the household of the empire’s Grand General.
Beneath the pretense of a peace alliance, he was nothing but an abandoned son.
Snow fell over the imperial city on the day he left.Not a single soul came to see him off.
Xu Qingxuan glanced back one final time, said nothing, and stepped onto the carriage.
He knew from that moment onward, the Yanwu Dynasty had cast him aside forever.
The Grand General’s Mansion of Yanhuang Empire was far colder than he had imagined.
No one within the household regarded him with the slightest respect.
Liu Yanran, his forced wife, possessed breathtaking beauty, yet a heart as venomous as a serpent.
She had long shared a secret bond with the Third Prince of Yanhuang, Zhao Ye.
Xu Qingxuan’s arrival only stood in their way.
On their wedding night, she kept her bridal headdress on, refused to drink the union wine,and ordered servants to drive him to a remote side courtyard.
“Know your place.”
“You are nothing but a decorative hostage traded between nations.”
“Never delude yourself into thinking you are worthy of being my husband.”
Her eyes were colder than the hanging icicles beneath the eaves.
Behind her, Zhao Ye stood openly pulling her close, his smirk filled with blatant ridicule.
In that instant, Xu Qingxuan understood everything.
This so-called marriage alliance was nothing more than a farce staged by two empires and two powerful clans for the world to see.
He alone had been forced onto the stage, cast as the most ridiculous fool.
Even the gatekeeper servants dared to spit openly in his presence.
The training grounds at dawn were forbidden to him.
No seat waited for him in the main hall at noon.
Though others addressed him as the imperial son-in-law in public,their eyes brimmed with unmasked contempt and mockery.
Xu Qingxuan slowly realized the truth: he had not been sent here to live,but to waste away and rot in endless suffering.
Half a moon later, Liu Yanran’s attitude suddenly shifted.She sent physicians and medicine each day, claiming it was to heal his old wounds.
The bitter medicinal broth carried a faint, deceptive sweetness.
At first, Xu Qingxuan only felt his limbs grow heavy and his dantian turn icy cold after drinking it.
Soon after, his meridians began to throb with piercing pain,as if countless ants gnawed relentlessly at his flesh and blood.
By the time he realized the danger, it was already too late.
Deep within the mansion’s forbidden rear chamber, heavy doors remained tightly sealed.
Liu Yanran leaned lazily in Zhao Ye’s arms, her red lips curved in a cold smile.
The bowl of black medicine on the table was thicker and more foul-smelling than ever before.
Two guards pinned Xu Qingxuan ruthlessly to the ground, his knees slamming hard against cold stone tiles.
He lifted his head, staring furiously at the hateful pair before him, his eyes bloodshot.
“Why?”
Zhao Ye looked down on him with disdain, as if observing a dying stray dog.
“Why? Because you are in our way.”
“A discarded trash from Yanwu Dynasty, yet you dare to think highly of yourself?”
“Your very existence shames Yanran.”
Liu Yanran’s smile turned all the more charming.She personally picked up the medicine bowl, forcing his jaw open.
“This is Meridian Corroding Powder.”
“A rare gift many would beg to obtain.”
“It will slowly eat away every vein in your body,letting you feel your own demise with perfect clarity.”
Scalding bitter liquid flooded his throat, burning like raging fire down into his organs.
Veins bulged across Xu Qingxuan’s forehead, his body convulsing uncontrollably.
Dark blood welled from his throat, and his vision blurred into darkness.
Yet Liu Yanran was not satisfied.
She leaned close to his ear, her tone soft yet cruelly cold.
“Rest in peace.”
The Demon Abyss Forbidden Land shall bury your remains forever.”
Beneath the heavy night, two guards dragged Xu Qingxuan’s broken body toward a towering cliff,tossing him aside like worthless garbage.
Beneath the cliff swirled poisonous mist,and the roars of feral demons echoed endlessly,forming a gaping maw leading straight to the netherworld.
One guard drove a brutal kick into his back.
Xu Qingxuan lost all balance, plummeting into the endless dark abyss below.
Wind howled in his ears.
Every bone in his body felt as if it were being torn apart.
The faint light from the world above grew farther and farther away.
Vivid fragments of his miserable life flashed rapidly before his eyes:
His mother’s gentle smile on her sickbed.
The days the entire imperial city praised his unparalleled talent.
His father’s cold, heartless gaze at the royal banquet.
Liu Yanran and Zhao Ye’s mocking laughter standing side by side.
The crushing humiliation of being pinned down and poisoned like a beast.
“I refuse… to accept this fate…”
Blood filled his mouth, yet the words still escaped through gritted teeth.
“I, Xu Qingxuan, will not die in such disgrace.”
“If I survive this fall…”
“All who humiliated me, abandoned me, and destroyed me…not a single one shall escape my vengeance!”
Just as his consciousness teetered on the edge of eternal darkness,a faint golden light suddenly ignited deep within his soul sea.
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