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“A-Yu, when you grow up you will be a great cultivator, just like your father. The blood of a powerful sect leader runs through your veins. It is your destiny. You were born for this. You will bring honor to your name and to our village.”
“Yes, A-Niang. I promise.”
Little Mo XuanYu truly believes that one day he will become a noble and respected cultivator, just as his mother always tells him. When he succeeds, no one in the village will dare to shun them anymore—calling his mother a loose woman who lay with a married man and was then abandoned, and him a nameless child with no prospects.
***
At six years old—the age when one begins the path toward forming a golden core—he is taken to a minor sect to ask to be accepted as a disciple. He is rejected. The same happens at every other school.
Who, in their right mind, would risk offending or challenging the Jin Sect—the most powerful sect after the fall of Wen Ruohan—by teaching the illegitimate son of its clan leader?
***
At fourteen, XuanYu has resigned himself to reality. He believes his cousin and aunt were right all along: he will never become a cultivator. He is weak. Strange. Useless. The shame of the Mo family.
Then an unexpected letter restores his hope. Mo XuanYu—or perhaps, now that his father has remembered his existence, will his name become Jin XuanYu?—has been invited to join the Jin Sect.
His departure for the Koi Tower is preceded by celebrations and joyful congratulations. His cousin asks him to put in a good word for him. His aunt emphasizes how they always believed in his potential. Everyone reminds him not to forget the dear relatives awaiting his prestigious return. His mother weeps with joy, her heart bursting with pride.
Mo XuanYu has never felt so loved.
***
Mo XuanYu does not become Jin XuanYu. His father does not spare him a single glance. He does not even grant him a courtesy name.
Mo XuanYu discovers he is an ordinary person. No matter how hard he tries, his golden core is too weak; he cannot even make a sword fly. His body is too small, and every fight leaves him with broken bones and split lips. His spiritual energy is so scarce it cannot even heal a minor wound.
Mo XuanYu also discovers he is a cut sleeve: he falls in love, confesses, and is rejected. Now everyone knows. They call him despicable, indecent, shameless. His half-brother begins spreading false rumors, accusing him of trying to seduce him.
Mo XuanYu is expelled from the Koi Tower.
***
Dishonor. Shame. Contempt. Humiliation.
Mo XuanYu has gone mad—he must be locked away. No one must discover his deviations. No one must know that he dusts powder on his face, painting himself like a hanged ghost.
***
His mother is gone, dead of heartbreak. A-Yu is completely alone, and no one speaks his name with affection anymore. Theft, insults, hunger, and beatings mark the hours of his dark days, shut inside a filthy, stinking shack.
***
One day, he receives an anonymous package containing notes and information on demonic cultivation.
“For you. From a special friend,” reads the accompanying note.
Mo XuanYu has never had friends, but the bamboo-and-silk fan included with the gift, decorated with the profile of a gray and green nightingale, makes him weep with gratitude.
***
The precious golden robes have been replaced by a torn, dark tunic. The spiritual sword has given way to cinnabar and talisman paper. Mo XuanYu plays with resentful energy. His room fills with bones, dead animals, and pieces of corpses.
***
A knife in his hand, a blood array surrounding him, candles flickering in the darkness.
“Yiling Patriarch, feed on my flesh.”
The sacrificial ritual has its rules: three cuts. One for Madam Mo, one for Master Mo, one for his cousin.
“Wei Wuxian! Wei Wuxian! Rise again! Carry out my revenge.”
His lips, adorned with vermilion balm, part in laughter because, at last, Mo XuanYu has chosen. He knows what he wants and acts for himself alone.
A-Yu has managed to change his fate.