Sixteen years ago, he was abandoned at the entrance to the servants' quarters and branded a good-for-nothing with severed meridians.
Sixteen years later, a bowl of hot soup was smashed underfoot, and his left eye opened for the first time.
On the day the Myriad Forms Heavenly Eye awakened, a bounty for Wei Yuan, overlord of the heavens, had already been posted throughout the Upper Realm.
Old Li, who kept the night watch, was his father's personal guard commander. The blood curse on the back of his hand had glowed for sixteen years.
The ancient Devouring Void Beast had waited sixteen years for him inside an egg in the back mountain.
When golden light shot skyward from the spirit-testing stone, everyone thought he was about to defy fate and change his life.
But every use of his Heavenly Eye cost him lifespan. Every breakthrough brought the agony of being flayed alive.
At the arena in three days, Wang Hu would be waiting for him with a forbidden drug and a sinister grin.
Old Li said, "Nightling, win first, then have your soup."
The little dumpling in his arms let out a fierce, babyish "Jiyu."
He lifted his head and looked toward the Sacred Realms of the Heavens.
"Wei Yuan, you want my eyes? Then pay for them with your life."
A body with severed meridians is no good-for-nothing. Even an ordinary mortal can command the heavens.
