Chapter 1352: I Am Ziqing

The thousand-year reign of the Ziqing Empire shattered like glass under the siege of cultivators from myriad races. I watched my father, the Emperor, torn apart by enemies, my wife’s head pierced by a magical artifact, and my youngest son grow cold, curled up in the shadows. I was too late to save them… and utterly powerless. At the very moment the war began, I was cursed by the myriad races, my cultivation sealed, reduced to a mere mortal. In my grief and rage, my younger brother faced the pursuing enemies and ignited the last vestiges of the Ziqing Empire’s destiny, channeling that power into my body. As the destiny surged through me, I saw countless eyes—they belonged to my deceased kin, my people, all watching me from beyond time. I will have my revenge!

The thousand-year Ziqing Empire had shattered more easily than a glass goblet. Its vast purple auspicious energy had long been ripped apart and defiled by the foul, bloody winds of the myriad cultivators’ spells. Inside and outside the Imperial City, the magnificent jade pillars, once symbols of immortality, were now merely a graveyard of colossal wreckage, trembling amidst the deafening screams of battle and the sickening crunch of bone. I stood on the shattered imperial platform, my feet sinking into viscous blood and mud. The acrid smell of rust seemed to solidify with every breath. My father, the Emperor, a figure once like a pillar supporting the heavens, was seized by a space-ripping shadow directly before my eyes. I couldn't even make out his final cry, only witnessing his purple-gold dragon robe, a symbol of supreme majesty, and his powerful body, instantly ripped apart by an unseen colossal force! A shower of blood mixed with bone fragments, like shattered jade, rained down, scalding my face. My father’s hot blood dripped into my eyes, instantly blurring my vision with crimson. The Ziqing firmament collapsed completely in that deluge of blood.

And I, was utterly powerless. My cultivation, my divine abilities, even the strength of my physical body, had all been cursed by the myriad races at the very start of the war; their combined infinite power sealed my cultivation and stripped me of all combat ability, leaving me a mere mortal. It was then I realized I wasn’t as strong as the outside world believed… my vulnerability was no less than anyone else’s.

“Your Highness! This way!” The hoarse shouts of the remaining personal guards pierced through the suffocating roar. Like a puppet pulled by unseen strings, I numbly retreated with them. Just as I passed through a crumbling palace gate, a blinding flash of light suddenly caught my eye. It was in the direction of the Phoenix Hall! An inferno raged there! My heart trembled. I stumbled closer, and amidst the thick smoke and raging fire, I saw her—my beloved wife. She leaned against a charred, half-shattered pillar, a blood-stained silver hairpin deeply embedded in her temple. Her slender hand, which once placed flowers in my hair, hung limply. Her eyes were open, staring blankly at the sky obscured by black smoke. In their frozen depths, a lingering trace of concern seemed to remain. My outstretched hand froze in mid-air, fingertips icy. Something shattered within my chest, emitting a silent wail of grief. The ancient lotus mark on my palm, symbolizing the power of the Ziqing imperial family, suddenly burned like a branding iron, searing my soul to the point of splitting.

“Father…” A voice, faint as a kitten’s cry, trembling with the grasp of death, came from beneath the collapsing, heavy shadows. Beneath a heavy broken beam, a tiny body was curled up—my seven-year-old Imperial Prince. His small body was cold; only the crude wooden sword I had carved for him, tightly clutched in his little hand, seemed to retain a faint trace of warmth. I tremblingly picked him up, but that pitiful warmth quickly faded, leaving only rigid coldness. The wooden sword slipped from his weakly opened hand, landing with a soft 'clink' on the cold flagstones. This faint sound, combined with the roars of the myriad cultivators, pierced my eardrums and my heart. My father, my wife, my Imperial Prince, my empire… all turned cold.

“Go, Your Highness!” The remaining armored soldiers formed a broken dam with their bodies, desperately holding back the terrifying deluge surging from all directions. Their contorted faces were etched with despair and a will to die. Like a broken puppet, I was propelled by a resolute force, crashing through the teetering palace gates, rushing desperately into the unknown darkness. Behind me lay my utterly fallen world. The palace gate behind me groaned under the unbearable weight, then crashed down. An extremely sharp, destructive, and icy divine sense, like a maggot burrowing into bone, instantly locked onto my back. The chill of death threatened to freeze my very marrow. “Ziqing Crown Prince, you no longer possess your former high spirits.” The voice, cold and viscous, seeped into my ears, filled with the mockery of a cat toying with a mouse.

Just as that devastating power was about to strike, a familiar yet resolute figure, like a meteor rushing into fire, moved against the flow of fleeing people and suddenly stood between me and that terrifying divine sense! It was my younger brother! My brother, who was never favored by our father, usually quiet, living in my shadow, and with whom I rarely interacted! He clutched the imperial seal, his tattered robes flapping violently in the fierce spiritual pressure, his hair disheveled by the strong winds. He abruptly turned his head and looked at me. In his eyes, an all-consuming madness burned! The next instant, his gaunt body rapidly expanded like a balloon stretched to its limit. Dazzling purple light burst forth violently from the imperial seal and every pore of his body! The light was so pure, so tragic, as if it had compressed and ignited the Ziqing Empire’s last remaining destiny, along with his own remaining life and soul! An indescribable roar echoed through the world. Heaven and Earth seemed to go utterly deaf at that moment. This ignited power, imbued with the Ziqing Empire’s destiny, surged into me like an invisible giant hammer, integrating into my very being. Inside my body, it roared, shattering the powerful curse meticulously prepared and branded upon me by the myriad races. It also broke through the cultivation they had sealed with their combined might, and the long-lost power, and that dormant cultivation, revived in my decaying body, like permafrost collapsing.

Yet, amidst the burst of that cultivation power, a churning, bloody mist appeared in my mind, within which countless pairs of eyes suddenly emerged! My father, my brother, my beloved wife, my youngest son… and countless other familiar faces, the soldiers and citizens who had shed their last drop of blood for Ziqing… Their gazes, filled with farewell, seemed to come from beyond time, from that unreachable other shore. Watching them, a viscous tear of blood, without my knowing, welled from the corner of my eye, detached from my cheek, and silently fell into the boundless dark void. It plummeted towards the remnants of my homeland below, which were being consumed and annihilated by blood and fire, descending into the bottomless, eternal silence. At this moment, behind me lay a completely collapsed past, a submerged ruin of time. Ahead, there was only a void, a long dark road waiting to be stained with blood. I will have my revenge!