The Nameless Maestro (Prologue)

Through chilling storms and sweltering hot, countless days and endless nights, a man draped in thin black robes sat with his back against the wind. He had nothing to guard him from the weather save for a deep purple oil-paper umbrella that rested unopened by his side. His slender hands, though steady and unshaking, were worn down to the white bones of his fingertips. Each strum of the strings drew blood, perpetually raining scarlet droplets onto the wooden zither that lay beneath.

His dark, bottomless gaze was cast upward to the night sky. The great inky expanse seemed to stare back into his heart, several meteors becoming the sky's mournful tears as they fell across the sky. The stars glowed softly in somber greeting to the man who called to them every night.

The moon, the stars, and the putrid scent of iron were his only companions.

—

The 'nameless and faceless maestro of Qinyang Cliff', the legend that became the origin of countless heroic tales told across the continent. Accounts of this cultivator's benevolence and diligence reached the ears and inspired hope in common-people thousands of li away… and similarly, rumors of this person's unrivaled power and unshakable devotion struck fear into the hearts of any who harbored ill intentions within the imperial capital of Zhonglao.

No one knew that this seemingly untouchable entity was nothing more than a man imprisoned in the name of familial love.

His name was Yao Yuxuan, and he considered himself one of the unluckiest men in the world.

His mother, Xing Xing, was a renowned beauty that worked at Zhonglao's Red Begonia – the country's most luxurious and successful pleasure-house. Shortly after Yao Yuxuan was born, his mother caught the eye of the Emperor Han Shan. Despite having just recently had a child that belonged to an unknown man of questionable origin, he desired to possess her. He bought her 'freedom' for a high price and took her back to the palace to become part of his harem, and demanded that she forget this son of hers – unless she wanted him killed… at which point she really had no choice but to abandon this brand new baby, leaving him in the care of her adoptive sisters.

As fate would have it, within a year Xing Xing was with child again – but this time the bump in her belly was a girl. This daughter was to be named Han Yiran, and would be the first Young Miss of the royal Han family. Xing Xing wrote to her found family several times throughout the pregnancy, telling them how she longed for her little son to get to meet his younger sister… but the letters were intercepted by the emperor and never reached their destination.

Unfortunately, Xing Xing died from violent hemorrhaging that occurred during childbirth. The people at the pleasure-house all believed it was due to her being forced to have another child so soon after the first, but none dared to raise their voices about the matter. This knowledge would just sit as a heavy stone in the bottom of all of their hearts.

Perhaps due to guilt, or maybe even out of some strange last act of kindness toward the woman he had coveted and stolen away against her will, Emperor Han Shan started to send money every month to pay for Yao Yuxuan's needs. It wasn't necessary since the sisters at the pleasure-house were planning to take him in regardless, and the establishment was far from lacking funds – but gold was gold. It didn't matter where it came from.

And so the life of this unfortunate little child, Yao Yuxuan, began. He was raised in the Red Begonia by the hostesses employed there. He enjoyed his time with them, and he viewed them as his family. When Yao Yuxuan was a few years old, Emperor Han Shan wrote to the Red Begonia and informed them that it was the seat's desire for Yao Yuxuan and his half-sister, Young Miss Han Yiran, to meet on occasion. Emperor Han Shan explained through a messenger that it was one of Xing Xing's final wishes. The messenger brought along a package clear full of the concubine's unsent letters.

Since it was their late sister's desire and the letters were unmistakably in her handwriting, they agreed to let them meet. Twice a month, Yao Yuxuan was escorted to the palace and allowed to play together with his little sister. They became close and absolutely adored one another, even from a young age. Their resemblance to Xing Xing was unmistakable, and seeing them reunited warmed everyone's spirits.

His early life continued on without many disturbances, but as he grew older and became a beauty that resembled more and more the Red Begonia's precious Lady Xing Xing, his big sisters started to fear he would be forced into the same line of work as them.

When he was ten years old, a cultivator from one of the large sects had been paying patronage at the Red Begonia when he laid his eyes on Yao Yuxuan. He immediately sensed this young man's domineering spiritual prowess. He offered to take him back to his sect and give him to a trusted mentor that would teach him the ways of the immortals and plant the seed of cultivation.

Everyone at the Red Begonia felt that this was a far better option for him than staying with them, and soon after bid him farewell with teary eyes.

Little did anyone know that his time with the sect would be short-lived, even though his contributions were great and he became known as a genius.

After four years of studying under a master with an incredible reputation, making a great name for himself as an inventor of brand new arrays and developing an astounding reputation in the cultivation world for his huge spirit-core and unmatched skill with barriers and protective holy techniques, his time was cut short.

The world was becoming more and more evil; demons and various levels of malicious spirits had ascended upon the mortal realm and began to wreak havoc. Their desire to consume mortals increased with every nightfall. Because of this, at age 14, Yao Yuxuan was threatened by the Emperor Han Shan. As soon as the emperor caught wind of his 'step-son's' phenomenal barrier designs, it was too late.

Yao Yuxuan was told that he needed to utilize his newly developed barrier against evil to protect the imperial palace, or Han Yiran would be killed.

It should be known that the emperor had a terrible reputation and was infamous for killing even those closest to him for his own personal benefit, or even occasionally ending other innocent lives on presumptuous and inexplicable whims.

Yao Yuxuan had no choice. If it was for Han Yiran, he would do anything. He dropped his life as an up-and-coming cultivator and innovator, and moved to set up the barrier against evil that he had designed himself in order to protect the royal family.

Nearly every night for the last decade was spent in painful monotony. Several times a week there were onslaughts of evil creatures, which were sometimes led by incredibly dangerous individuals of high standing in the demonic realm. He had to fend them off with minimal assistance, as there were very few other cultivators with enough time and power to be of any use.

If there weren't any attacks, then he spent his hours in agonizing solitude, painstakingly preserving the integrity of his barrier against evil.

He had grown used to the feeling of the moonlight on his skin; what was previously a chilling and lonesome sensation became something akin to warmth and comfort to him over time. The varying degrees of extreme temperatures wearing on his pale skin that started as painful became simply inconvenient, and eventually metamorphosed into something that was normal for him.

Single-handedly maintaining the barrier around the imperial capital was his only mission, and it was one that he took very seriously. With someone so important on the line, he dared not make a single mistake.

Not once did he allow his diligence to waver in the countless days he had spent sitting atop the cliff overlooking the palace. Even when the very sister he was there to protect came to deliver tea and treats once in a while, he only allowed himself brief moments of respite and, instead of being distracted, let the sight of her being safe and unharmed steel his resolve.

He did it all for her. He always had, and planned to continue to do so for the rest of his life if it meant she could live peacefully.

In a world that felt to him was overrun by cruelty, he wanted nothing more than to protect his only family member. His dear half-sister that loved to sing and dance, who took the time to visit her lonely brother on the cliff-side and tell him stories from within the palace walls whenever she got the chance. The girl who wrote numerous little songs to perform for him, baked sweets for him, and would sit behind him to brush his long hair in the mornings after he sat through long nights of turbulent winds.

She never looked down on him even though she was the daughter of the Emperor, a proper member of the royal family, and he was simply the son of an unknown wanderer.

Despite only being 24 years old and possessing one of the largest and most impressive spiritual cores the cultivation world would have ever witnessed, over the ten years that he had been spent in vigilant seclusion, his health had begun to decline rapidly. Both internally and externally, Yao Yuxuan had long-since felt that he was approaching death in some capacity. He had always been thin and fair with a pretty weak constitution, but his already-frail frame seemed to be reducing further in strength with every passing day. Normal mortals had no way to tell, but the power of his spiritual core also started to fluctuate in energy – occasionally palpitating and causing him distress both mentally and physically.

It was during one of these unpredictable fluctuations of his spiritual power that, after ten years, his seemingly impenetrable defenses were breached… and everything he had given up his youth for crumbled beneath him.