Chapter 5 – The Sword's Awakening
The hall was silent. No one could believe what they had just witnessed.
A+ aptitude.
The highest grade in a thousand years… and it belonged to him. The forgotten prince. The one mocked, ignored, dismissed—Liu Guan Yi.
Bai Si stood frozen. Her gaze wavered between Liu Guan Yi and Liu Bing. Her heart, once resolute, now twisted by uncertainty. A+ aptitude? How could this be?
"Break the engagement," someone muttered in her clan. "She must marry the genius…"
Yet Liu Guan Yi didn't spare her a glance. Nor did he look at the nobles whispering, nor the jealous young heirs glaring. His eyes were calm. As if none of this mattered.
> "Let them talk," he thought. "They're ants screaming at the sky."
Liu Bing clenched his fists. His C-grade aptitude felt like a curse. Once hailed as the prodigy of the imperial family, he now stood in his brother's shadow. Worse, he knew—Liu Guan Yi saw something. That calm gaze had stripped him bare.
Their mother, once cold to Liu Guan Yi, felt a pang deep in her chest. Regret. For the first time.
The emperor finally rose. His eyes—sharp and calculating—locked onto his son. The other princes flinched; none had ever seen their father stand during a ceremony.
> "So... the heavens finally give me a piece worth gambling," he muttered. "Let's see if you can reach the ninth leaf..."
No one else understood what he meant.
Far away, deep within the Heavenly Sword Sect's sacred vaults, a sealed blade trembled. Its prison—woven from divine runes and immortal qi—cracked.
The Ancient Longevity Sword.
Chosen only once before in the sect's history.
The sword shot into the sky, a beam of silver light tearing across the clouds. Within moments, the sect's leader, an old monster whose sword had once severed a mountain range, opened his eyes.
He stood.
> "The sword has chosen… again?"
With a flash, he vanished.
Back at the imperial capital, a streak of light was already descending—straight toward Liu Guan Yi.
The world would never be the same.