"This is the Purple Fire Heart!" the emperor in the golden robe exclaimed as he looked at the heart with a little purple fire ignited within it.
Gu Chen, the sect leader of Mystic Sword Sect, was holding the heart in his hands, then placed it in the chest of the man reposing in front of him.
Until the heart synchronized with the body, he didn't speak and poured his Qi.
"lub-dub"
"lub-dub"
The Purple Fire Heart, which went silent for a while, suddenly began to beat beside the heart of the young man with a royal aura, but he still hadn't awakened.
"It's done," Gu Chen finally muttered with a smile. He was looking at his disciple and the 2nd prince of the Imperial Nan Family.
Nan Ximing, the emperor himself, was present to see the birth of the legend, a proud smile could be seen on his face as he sensed the 2nd prince's condition.
The heart was successfully planted beside the 2nd prince's own heart, and soon both hearts would merge and make him a new legend of this era.
Gu Chen then casually asked, "What happened to the boy?" He asked about Ye Xuan, whose body was removed from the room the moment his heart was taken out by Gu Chen himself.
Nan Ximing nonchalantly spoke, "His body has been discarded. From this moment on, there is no Ye Xuan." He looked at the man standing beside him, who nodded in unison.
This was Ye Tian, the Grandfather of Ye Xuan and Head of the Ye Family.
In his heart, he was sad to see the outcome of his grandchild, but he knew that if he opposed the imperial family, it would cost the lives of the whole Ye clan, which he could not afford to see, especially in comparison to Ye Xuan, who was weak and couldn't cultivate.
The cost of opposing their offer was the Ye Clan facing the Imperial Nan family as well as the Mystic Sword Sect, one of the Upper sects in this world.
In the world of cultivation, there are three types of sects. first, the lower sects; second, the upper sects; and third, Holy Sanctuary.
Joining the Holy Sanctuary was close to impossible as their existence was hidden from the ordinary world, and even joining the Upper sects was not easy; only those who were blessed by the heavens could enter the Upper sects.
This opportunity was hard to miss for the Ye Clan, who in the end decided to join hands with the imperial family and gave away their own blood to be slaughtered by the imperials.
"As his majesty has said, there is no one named Ye Xuan in our Ye clan," Ye Tian spoke with a clear tone, indicating that he wasn't affected by the loss of his grandson.
The Emperor smiled, "This help from the Ye clan will not be overlooked; the promised seats in the upcoming fair of Upper sects will be given to the talented younglings of the Ye Clan."
Just then, another man spoke, standing beside Ye Tian, "Your majesty must not forget us too…" This was Yu Dan, the patriarch of the Yu clan.
Hearing his voice, Ye Tian's face contorted in anger, but he held it in front of the emperor.
It was the Yu family who told the Imperial family about Ye Xuan's Purple Fire Heart, as it was Ye Xuan who accidentally spoke of it to Yu Ning, the granddaughter of Yu Dan and his childhood friend.
Ye Xuan wasn't mature enough, and even though his parents had told him to keep it a secret, he somehow blurted it out in front of his childhood love, Yu Ning, who gave his secret to her grandfather, whom she trusted most.
From that moment, the once close two families, Ye and Yu, became enemies when the Yu family gave Ye Xuan's secret to the imperial family.
"Indeed, you are the reason why we could gather today; your Yu family will definitely get what you deserve." The Emperor nodded and then again focused on his son.
***************
Meanwhile, far from the imperial palace, on the semi-desert land, Ye Xuan looked at his body, which was burnt to a non-reparable condition. A heavy sigh left his mouth.
"So, this is what it means to be weak and vulnerable in front of fate. This is what true powerlessness means." He couldn't even cry as he was so deeply hurt that the only thing left inside him was rage, but alas, he was too weak to even feel that.
He never expected that the secret his family was trying to hide from the world, he would blurt out to someone he trusted, but to his surprise, she gave it away to her family, which cost him his life.
But this isn't the single wound which infected him; his own family gave him away to his death the moment they learned about the three seats in the Upper sect for his life.
He chuckled, "Family, huh? There is nothing like family in this world, just selfish beings."
He himself knew that the Ye Clan couldn't survive in front of the imperial family, the Mystic Sword Sect, and maybe the Yu family too, who pressured their family to hand over Ye Xuan for the greater good, but he wasn't expecting that not even a single family member would stand for him.
"Maybe father and mother would have taken my side…." He sighed, knowing they had gone somewhere for a longer time and hadn't returned since then. He didn't know if they were alive or dead.
They just left him one day in the clan alone, saying they were going somewhere important and would return soon, but they never came back.
Amidst being lost in his own thoughts, Xuan suddenly heard the strange voice once again, though he thought that he was dead, especially since he couldn't feel his heart or pain after his body was 80% burnt.
Xuan couldn't help but focus on the strange voice which was booming in his head.
[Target has been locked]
[Komodo ground lizard]
[Status: Normal]
His eyes subtly darted towards the big, human-sized beast, rising from the sand and slowly moving towards him. Venom was oozing from its mouth while the beast had already fixed its eyes on Xuan.
[Target can be cursed]
[Take action…]
The voice was instructing Xuan to take action, but when he thought about his condition, he wryly smiled, not knowing what it meant by taking action.
But as the beast was getting closer to him, he followed suit and murmured, "Take action…"
He waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened as the beast was now just one hand span from Xuan, who gulped, but his throat was dry.
Just then, he saw the beast stopping; it winked its eyes, and Xuan could see something wrong with the beast. The next moment, his body began to flare up with heavy pain, which was gathering towards his chest where his heart was missing.
"What's happening…." He blurted out a few words before he fainted.
A/N (Check comment section for cultivation stages and further information)