The night wind whispered through the moonlit curtains, stirring the faint scent of jasmine that filled the royal bedchamber.
Yue Zihan blinked his wide baby eyes, staring at the goddess-like woman sitting by his bedside.
His mother, Chu Milan, leaned gracefully on the edge of his bed, her silken nightgown flowing like a celestial waterfall. Her long blue hair cascaded down her shoulders, glimmering faintly under the starlight as though spun from moonlight itself.
Every feature of her face those full, heart-shaped lips, the delicate curve of her nose, the faint glow of her skin radiated an ethereal beauty that could cause kingdoms to kneel.
They didn't call her the Goddess of Beauty Incarnate for nothing.
Her lips curved into a soft smile as she continued the bedtime story though calling it that might've been a stretch.
"…And then," she said sweetly, her tone as gentle as lullaby silk, "your father tore the rebel's throat apart with his bare hands. He hung the body on the palace gates as a warning those who dare challenge our royal line will see their entire bloodline erased. We are born to reign, my little star. Remember that."
Zihan blinked.
Wtf.
A pause.
He let out a tiny sigh in his mind.
Yep. Definitely not "Goldilocks and the Three Bears, snow white would be better."
He had grown used to it well, as used to horror bedtime stories as a one-year-old could get.
Still, she looked so blissful talking about it. Like a mother reminiscing about her wedding day, not mass executions.
He almost pitied the poor rebels almost.
Zihan had been reborn into this world of cultivation, battle bodies and bloodlines, a dog-eat-dog world where divine beasts ruled the skies and immortals walked the earth. Every Otakus dream.
And somehow, he'd lucked into being the only crown prince of the Yue Kingdom, son of the most feared imperial couple on the continent.
His father, Yue Chenxi, was the current Emperor ruthless, brilliant, and casually violent. His mother was his Dao Companion, and together they ruled like a pair of divine tyrants.
The people called them Heaven's Pair.
The nobles whispered Demonic Couple.
Zihan just called them Mom and Dad.
They doted on him endlessly. Spoiled him to the bone.
If he so much as sneezed wrong, ten maids rushed in with spiritual herbs to cleanse his lungs.
When he burped once, a royal physician declared it an omen of divine fortune.
That was the funniest.
Honestly, it was the kind of life his past self could only dream of.
Back on Earth, he had been a broke college student living off instant noodles and borrowed Wi-Fi. His parents had been perfectionists successful, cold, and obsessed with grades. His two elder brothers had already achieved everything short of enlightenment, leaving him to live in their shadows.
He had fought, argued, and eventually stormed out after one too many "Why can't you be like your brothers?"
Then bam.
Truck.
Light.
Darkness.
A cliché so overused, he could practically hear the webnovel readers laughing at him.
When he woke up again, he was in a baby's body, surrounded by divine energy, with a woman too beautiful to be real calling him "my precious little prince."
Honestly, 10/10 reincarnation experience. Would recommend .
His mother told him they lived in Yue Kingdom, located at the heart of the Central Continent. She spoke often perhaps too often about their empire's glory and enemies.
This was indoctrination to the bone.
If he was a normal he would practically walk sideways with out a care, which he will anyway. It was good being a nepo baby .
To the west lay the Snowfall Region, a land of eternal frost and ice cultivators who claimed to commune with ancient spirits.
To the east, the Azure Plains, where mortals lived simple lives ugly but honest, as his mother kindly put it. It meant they were useless to them.
To the south, the Phoenix Kingdom, once blessed by a divine phoenix that died there a thousand years ago. His father had "respectfully borrowed" its feathers and heart for "research purposes."
Zihan had stared at her, wondering if "borrowed" meant "looted in broad daylight."
And finally, there was the Void Kingdom, built near the edge of the forbidden Void River, where even immortals hesitated to tread.
His mother spoke of it all with pride, her tone always dripping with superiority.
He didn't doubt that she sugar-coated most of it, but who was he to argue?
He was one year old. And a pampered one, at that.
Yet deep down, Yue Zihan knew he wasn't meant to just coast through this world.
Because on the night of his first birthday, when the twin moons aligned over the Yue Palace, something inside him stirred.
The air grew heavy. The celestial array carved into the royal palace began to hum.
Golden mist rose from the marble floor, swirling around his crib.
His mother looked up, startled. "Chenxi… the heavens are moving."
His father entered, his expression calm but his eyes sharp. "He's awakening."
And then light.
An ancient, chaotic energy pulsed from his tiny body, distorting space itself.
The heavens trembled. The spiritual veins beneath the kingdom roared like dragons in their sleep.
In the sky, the stars flickered and for a single moment, the Law of Creation itself shuddered.
A whisper echoed across the heavens:
"The Primordial Chaos Body… has returned."
The Emperor's composure cracked. The Empress gasped.
Yue Zihan, unaware of the cosmic significance, simply yawned and fell back asleep.