1 CURSED LIFE

In the Tang Qin Shang Dynasty, strength is everything and magic rules the world. It was said that from birth, a child could already sense mana in the world and have an idea of which and what element they had an affinity to—be it Water, Air, Fire, Earth, Light, Darkness, Space, Time, Wood, etc. Those with two elements were considered extremely rare, as well as three elements, but four element-born people were considered legendary.

But one day, a child was born useless; a total trash to such a world where power was everything. To make matters worse, her face was disfigured which unfortunately led to her father, General Mo to despise her. For General Mo, his newborn was cursed; a stain to his unblemished name.

General Mo strongly believed that his child was sent by the heavens as a punishment because he betrayed his one true love by having an affair with a low-born, despicable, conniving servant who once tended to his beloved's needs.

The pitiful newborn without a name knew well that her father had not been fair to her naive and innocent mother because she could have never been able to seduce the General, for she wasn't that type of person. But General Mo tried to paint himself white by plastering dirt and blame all over the child's mother; fortunately, the truth could never be hidden forever. There were people who knew that the General was the one that forced himself on his wife's servant girl and the fruit of this ugly mistake was the child without a name.

The child had figured out the truth and understood her mother's grievances, but just like her, she couldn't voice out her resentment and her pain.

When the incident was found out by the legitimate wife of the Mo Manor, she ordered that both mother and unborn child to be thrown out of the Mo Manor. From then on wards, the mother and daughter pair that only had each other were forced to live in a deserted, thatched house by a hill in the forest.

"Mother, why do I not have a name like other people? Please give your daughter a name!" The child pleaded, but her mother showed a solemn expression, one that she had gotten accustomed to and hated seeing the most.

"Don't be sad mother…" she mumbled gently, "I don't mind not having a name." The child tugged on her mother's sleeves and tried to smile to lighten the mood, so she ruffled her hair and smiled back while saying, "I am sorry for been so useless daughter… I am so sorry."

A tear slipped down from her eye, but she quickly raised her sleeve to wipe it off because she wanted to be strong for her precious and only daughter, she looked up to the sky and closed her eyes, her mind had traveled to her distant past, a past that was engraved in her memory, a memory that was bittersweet.

The powerless child soon found out that the reason she could never bear a name was because her mother had been banned by her father's beloved wife to never give her a name. Of course, her father strongly stood behind his dear wife's demands despite her mother pleading and begging.

When the child turned four years old, her mother passed away. Since she was only a toddler, she didn't understand, and she assumed that her mother refused to wake up. Nobody ever cared to visit the duo, so she decided to go over to the Mo Manor and tell them that her mother's body was cold and she wouldn't wake up no matter how much she called out to her or shook her body.

After giving birth to the child, her mother had lost a lot of blood and was very sick. If she had been given proper medication and treatment, then she wouldn't have left the child so early and would've perhaps kept on living. Unfortunately, she eventually passed away due to lack of care from the Mo Manor or from the child's father who had taken advantage of her at some point.

But before yielding to death, her mother weakly said, "I do not have much to give you child, I only have this." She brought out a tiny, rusted ring and placed it on her daughter's last finger, "I am so sorry for being such a terrible mother. My only wish is that you find happiness." She tenderly squeezed the child's little hands that were held by hers, and her eyes held unshed tears. Despite her not crying, the toddler wasn't as strong and allowed a few silent tears to stream down her cheeks.

"You are a little strong lady. My dear and ladies like you and I don't cry." She affectionately wiped her tears with her shaking hands, and the child nodded fervidly in agreement to her mother's words. At that moment, she had thought, if I don't cry and remain strong, maybe mother will stop been so sick.

The child tightly held onto her mother's hands as she watched her gasp shallow and pointless breaths. The mother had decided to rest on the bed made from an animal's skin, but the child, seeing her mother so frail, couldn't help feeling fear and pain in her heart.

"Never remove that ring child… Never lose it, either." She hoarsely said after much struggle.

"Why? It looks useless." The child was just four years old, so she was naively curious. After seeing the dull-looking ring, she wondered why her mother put so much value on it to the extent that she didn't even want her to lose it. Her curiosity temporarily distracted her from her fears.

"Although it might look useless, but when I found it at an abandoned temple, it didn't look rusted and worn out." She said while smiling sweetly at her child.

"It really didn't look like this?" the child asked as she looked quizzically at the old, oxidized ring on his finger.

"Do you think mother would deceive you?" She sternly reminded.

She rapidly shook her head, "Mother could never deceive me, her one and only daughter." Her answer was quick without any extra thought or hesitation about the question. she joined her mother on the bed and her mother wrapped her frail arms around her. She knew fully well that her mother loved her the most, and as a result, would never lie or deceive her. She was her mother's everything as she was hers. They depended on one another to survive this cruel world.

In that moment, the child's mother coughed lightly before placing a kiss on her forehead, "That's my girl." She looked at her beautiful angel that everyone despised because she couldn't cultivate and was unimaginably ugly. She didn't look at her physical appearance, but she looked at what was within, and she was proud to be the mother of such a pure soul.

"That ring was shining brightly when I found it, and it was golden in color. It also gave off a unique aura... Daughter I might not know its use, but I think it's very important." she assured.

"I promise to keep it safe until I take my last breath, mother." She vowed which caused her mother to beam. To the child, her mother was truly beautiful, if not the most beautiful in all of Tang Qin Shang Dynasty; the very best mother. She grinned innocently in her direction.

She raised her hands and held her charming daughter's face, "I am sorry for not been able to be with you to the end of your time, but one day, you will find someone to accompany you for all of your eternity. Until then, you must remain strong." Her hands then slumped to her side, her smile disappeared and her eyes closed.

The young child decided to sleep as well since she assumed that her mother must have been very tired. When she woke up, she noticed that she was still sleeping. She waited by her mother's bedside, but she hadn't woken up even though a day had gone by.

She was feeling hungry and restless, but she couldn't bear to leave her mother alone and go look for food in the woods like she had taught her. What if she woke up and needed me desperately, she thought with a frown.

When she was at the Mo Manor, she didn't understand the way they treated her. She didn't understand why her father didn't bother to send a physician to check on her mother when she didn't wake up.

When she arrived at the Mo Manor, one of the guard's noticed her poor appearance and harshly barked, "The General's manor isn't somewhere someone like you can just walk near."

He proceeded to push the toddler to the floor despite the child's tearful gaze, "But mother has been sleeping for three days now, and I think she is really sick. I want to tell father that mother needs a physician." Her whimpering pleas were ignored, but she didn't give up because she remembered that her mother hadn't woken up for three days.

The child believed something was seriously wrong since her mother's body had started giving off a strange stench, so she ran to the Mo's Manor despite her mother warning her never to go there. The child hated doing this but she had to defy her mother's words because she didn't know where else to go and seek help.

A palm landed on one of her cheeks which caused her to immediately feel dizzy. Her childish mind couldn't comprehend what happened until she heard a small, feminine voice screech, "Who is your father?"

She glanced in the direction of the voice and she saw a small girl that looked to be the same age as her, perhaps a year older. Her scornful face held a pair of eyes that shone with hatred and disgust. She didn't know or understand why she looked or treated her like so. She felt helpless and desolate; all she wanted was for her mother to be treated.

"If I hear you call him father again, I will have your tongue." she growled viciously, spitting on the child's face. "Get this dirty beggar out of here!" She yelled at the guards. The little girl harrumphed and went back in, ignoring the child like she was trash that couldn't be bother with.

The child had an inkling that the girl who had just treated her so badly must have seen her at the manor's gate and heard her words. She also felt like the arrogant girl recognized who she was hence why she treated her so badly and coldly. But she had never offended the girl before so the little child was truly puzzled at her behavior.

That day, she could only go back to her mother with empty eyes. Since Mo Manor wouldn't help her, the little child searched for help elsewhere and managed to receive help from a passerby who was kind enough to follow her to see her mother after hearing what she had to say.

It was then that the child found out that her mother had for a long time passed away. The passerby helped her to bury her mother before hurrying along. The passerby did want she could, and the little child was grateful that she was even given the time of day despite her hideous looks and how much she was avoided due to the stench her own body oozed out.

The child stood in front of her mother's grave for five days. At that point, she hadn't eaten for a while, so she had become horrendously skinny to the extent that her skeletal muscles could be seen, and she was already skinny enough to begin with so starving herself made matters worse, her feet had become bruised and bloody, the harsh wind hit against her tiny frame but it couldn't blew her away for she was determined to guard her mother's grave or what remained of it.

Her four years old mind was finding it hard to accept the fact that she was truly alone in the world. She couldn't even cry because she couldn't understand why her mother was gone.

Years later, the little girl would find out that the arrogant girl who treated him horribly at the General's manor's gate was the First Eldest Miss of the General's manor—her half-sister.

She would also find out that the day the eldest miss met her at the General's gate wasn't their first encounter. The child would realize that the arrogant girl wasn't alone that day... Her father, her mother and the General's beloved Eldest Young Master, her half-brother, were there as well. She would be shocked to find out that they watched as the guard harassed her and as she pleaded for help… Watch as they allowed their First Eldest daughter shoo her out like an animal.

They wanted to act like she didn't exist and her father didn't bother killing her—not because he held a bit of kinship towards her but to him such a task wasn't worthy of his efforts, it was beneath his status and perhaps, someday, the ugly useless girl would have some use for him to exploit.

The child began to believe that she was indeed cursed like people had always said, and she believed so even more ever since her mother died. She had never known happiness and she had forgotten what it feels like to be joyful, to smile and to laugh.

Just like that, twelve years went by, and over the years, she had forgotten what warmth felt like and was presently in a situation she never envisioned for herself, how she got into this situation still feels quite unreal to her.

The girl who was once a child now turned into a young lady of sixteen years old sat inside a carriage meant for her half-elder sister, she also had to be dressed like her but the only different with their outfit was the thick exquisite veil covering half or her face and letting only her eyes to be seen as well as the rich fabrics used in making the robes.

The neglected and abandoned teenage girl began to wonder if she will be okay after doing what she had been asked to. Her sixteen-year-old self, although never accepted by the family, still hoped to be acknowledged by taking such a burden upon herself. Her simple wish was to be a part of the Mo family at least once before she left the Earth.

But now, as she stared at her crushed carriage and at the assassins approaching her, she realized how stupid and naive she was. With the amount of blood lust that she felt from the foreign group of people, she knew that they wanted to create havoc and wasn't stupid to not realize their purpose for coming near her.

She should have known earlier that since she was cursed, there was no way such a wish could come true... She could never know what happiness feels like.

She rubs the ring on her finger that was left behind by her mother twelve years ago and solemnly whispers, "I kept it safe mother… I will be joining you soon but before that, I should give myself a name at least. I can't leave without even having that."

She paused to think for a slight second. The former child, now grown into a teenager, was calm despite the impending danger that was quickly approaching.

"Xingjuan, sounds nice." A bitter smile graced her crooked drooling lips hidden underneath the veil, "If I was to have a next life, I hope it will be like the meaning of my name, it will be a lucky and beautiful life" Her smile wasn't beautiful or dazzling, but it was the first time she had smiled since she lost her only true family member. Xingjuan proclaimed happily, "I have a name at last!" In that moment, Xingjuan felt really ecstatic, but her happiness was short lived because this very day was to be Xingjuan's last… The assassins were inching closer and closer for no one else but her, and they didn't come to give her cakes or to be friends, they came for one thing and one thing only—her death. And they were going to get it no matter the cost.