I have rewritten the prologue and chapter one. Please go back and reread if you haven't already ^^

Zitao sighed as he put down his book, standing up and crossing his arms. He glanced out the window, watching as the snow fell to the ground. It was late in the day, almost sunset. He was getting very bored, and maybe even a little hungry. 

“Hey! Give that back to me!” a voice cried out, causing him to turn and find two teens rushing into his room. One was twirling something between his fingers, letting out a soft laugh as the other boy tried reaching for it.

“Is this your guy’s playground or something?” Zitao asked with raised eyebrows, staring at the two of them. “I was reading, you know. It’s very rude to interrupt.”

“You are not reading,” the boy who was twirling the item said, stopping and looking at the thing in his hands. “You are clearly standing and staring out the window.”

“He Yuming–”

“Jean,” the boy corrected, tossing the item towards the boy that had entered behind him. It was a golden pen. “It’s Jean! Call me Jean! How many times do I have to tell you?”

“Excuse me?” the young prince asked, raising his eyebrows. 

“You heard me,” ‘Jean’ said, plopping down on Zitao’s bed. The boy that entered with him brushed his pink hair out of his eyes, glaring at his friend before also joining him on the bed. “What has you in such a bad mood, Maxxy?”

“You are absolutely ridiculous,” the pink haired boy, Max, said. “He’s absolutely frustrating, Levi!”

“Why do you guys have these weird obsessions with these names?” Zitao asked, rolling his eyes. Max and Jean were Zitao’s childhood friends, but also the two servants assigned to him. They came to him shortly after his father passed away, taking care of him the last 8 years.

“We always have to have code names. Duh,” Jean said, rolling his eyes. “If we ever leave the Mi region, people won’t be able to figure out who we are! It keeps us mysterious!”

“Yuming, you are really dumb,” Zitao said, rolling his eyes and looking back out the window. He let out a deep sigh. “Did anyone return from the search mission yet?”

Zitao and his mother hasn’t given up on searching for Ziting. They sent out search parties every other month, searching the whole of Meixia far and wide. They weren’t going to give up until they knew Ziting was home safe and sound. Because they knew her body has never been retrieved, they also knew she still had to be alive. And there were going to top at nothing to find her.

“Yes, but they found nothing,” Jean said, causing Zitao to narrow his eyes.

“Then we need to go find her ourselves,” Zitao finally decided. “I am sick and tired of them constantly coming back with absolutely no news. We need to find her and we need to find her now!”
“Levi, it’s not safe,” Max said with a small frown, leaning forward.

“We’ve all trained in cultivation, have we not?” Zitao asked. “And because of my Elven heritage, it makes me an even stronger cultivator! Of course I’m safe!”

Zitao’s mother was a half human cultivator, and half demon. She raised Zitao in cultivation practices, making sure he was ready for anything that came his way. After the raid on the Elven Kingdom 8 years ago, the queen didn’t want to take any chances. Zitao proved to be an extremely strong cultivator and spent every single day training and growing stronger and stronger.

“Of course you have the means to protect yourself,” Jean said, “but Max is right, it’s really not safe.”

“I’ve been on plenty of night hunts and I have survived, have I not?” Zitao asked, causing his friends to exchange looks before nodding their heads. “We can always bring Mingshu and Xiao.”

“Like your mother would allow you to go anywhere without them, anyway,” Jean spoke up. “You won’t even be able to protect yourself without your most precious bodyguards.”

“I mean I would be able to,” Zitao said, narrowing his eyes.

“Be able to what?” a new voice asked, causing the group to look up. The only Elven friend of Zitao’s stood in the doorway with his arms crossed. He tilted his head to the side in curiosity, awaiting an answer.

“Zemin ge,” Zitao said, bowing his head slightly. Zemin was practically family to him. He was the oldest son of Zitao’s father’s cousin’s husband. So naturally, Zemin spent his life making sure to take care of Zitao, alongside Jean and Max.

“We’re going on a search mission for the young princess,” Jean stated, causing Zemin to raise his eyebrows. 

“You are, huh?” Zemin asked, causing Zitao to glare and punch his friend’s arm. Jean let out a soft whine, rubbing the spot where the prince hit him. 

“I want to find my sister,” Zitao said, nodding his head. “And I’m tired of no one bringing me any news on what’s happening!”

“Did your mother give you permission?” Zemin asked with raised eyebrows, causing Zitao to sigh and shake his head. 

“She doesn’t know, and she doesn’t need to know,” Zitao told him. “You had better not tell her, either! I swear to god, Ge!”

“Zitao,” Zemin said with a deep sigh. “This is really not a good idea.”

“And it’s really not a good idea to leave my sister all on her own out there,” Zitao said, causing Zemin to let out a deep sigh. He looked between the three boys before slowly nodding his head.

“Fine, I’ll go with you,” Zemin said with a sigh. “But I am not talking to Xiao and Mingshu for you guys. That’s all on you.”

“Why are you guys always so scared of them?” Max asked, looking back and forth between them. “They’re super cool!”

Jean laughed and nodded his head in agreement, causing Zitao to sigh and turn away. He walked over towards his closet, pulling out a large bag. He glanced back at his friends, who all just sat and watched him.

“Well? Go get ready! All of you!” Zitao cried, waving them away. “And tell the two of them to pack their bags as well. We leave at nightfall.”

 

༻✧༺

 

The sound of swords clashing could be heard through the night skies as two brothers trained together. It was getting cooler as the night grew later, causing one of the boys to shiver and sheath his sword. The other frowned, still holding tightly to his hilt.

“What the are you doing? We’re not done!” the younger of the two cried out, causing the other to yawn. 

“We haven’t had dinner yet,” the other said, looking down at a watch around his wrist. “It’s past 8pm. We should call it a night.”

“No, hell no, I don’t want to,” the younger boy said, causing the older to narrow at him. His gaze was icy, causing the other to shiver slightly.

“Jiang Haoshan. Training is over,” the older boy said, coldly. “It is time to go inside.”

“Since when did you make the rules?” Haoshan mumbled, sheathing his own sword and stomping his foot stubbornly. 

The two brothers were Jiang Liuwan and Jiang Haoshan, the only two of their clan, aside from their mother. They were a solo cultivation clan living deep within the mountains, separated from the rest of the cultivation world. No one knew they even existed, except for their mother’s childhood friend and a couple other boys they met whenever they went to the city. 

Their mother kept them on a very strict training schedule, barely letting them do anything else aside from training. And if they weren’t training, they were going on night hunts and helping people. Liuwan was so exhausted, because they’ve been up since 5am that morning. On top of that, they had just returned from a night hunt the night before. And unfortunately, Liuwan was the one that pulled all the weight. He deserved some sleep. He hated when his brother wanted to keep pushing him. It really wasn’t something he could tolerate to much longer.

“Haoshan, you really need to check your attitude,” Liuwan said, picking up his water jug and heading out of the training grounds. Haoshan let out an offended noise and ran after him. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Haoshan asked them. Liuwan rolled his eyes and took a long sip of water before even deciding to answer him. 

“You have been incredibly lazy, causing me to overwhelm myself,” Liuwan said as they walked up a large hill. “Not only that, I have had only 5 hours of sleep in the last 36 hours, and we have been training for nearly twelve hours. I am exhausted. I am hungry. And I am desperately in need of a shower. My body is aching everywhere.”

“I have not been lazy!” Haoshan cried out, causing Liuwan to narrow his eyes. “Aren’t I the one who just said to train longer?!”

“Yeah, the one time where you don’t actually have to work is the time you want to work,” Liuwan said, rolling his eyes. “You were sitting for half the day, talking on your phone with whoever the hell you were talking to. You are really lucky mom hasn’t been around to see your behavior. You’d be in so much trouble, I swear to ing god.”

“Oh? And are you going to tell her just how lazy I’ve been?” Haoshan asked, causing Liuwan to roll his eyes once again. He didn’t answer as he finishe