I open my eyes to regain my normal vision after my father's command and see that by pulling my chair, he has taken me out of the formation. Not only that, but I see that I am covered in a blackish substance that smells bad and has permeated both my clothes and the wheelchair.

  Looking around, I see my father and Lianhua staring at me in amazement, and after a moment my father asks me with a degree of anxiety in his voice “How on earth did you do that?"

  I get nervous at the tone of his voice and reply “Do what?"

  My father sighs and closes his eyes for a moment, then opens them with a hostile look as if he has decided something. Meanwhile, Lianhua moves away from me a little, which makes me even more nervous.

  "Sun Wen”, my father begins. "If what Wang Lianhua told us is true and you hadn't cultivated before, then in less than three periods you have completed Skin Tempering, something that usually takes the most gifted months and the least gifted even years. Now tell me how you did it, or if you are an old power that has reincarnated as my daughter or possessed her, you better confess now."

  Damn, my old fears about them thinking I'm a demon or something similar have finally come back to bite me, and from the side I least expected, but I begin to tell the truth in the hope that it will get me out of this mess.

  "I just started pushing the specks that were closest to my skin”, I begin. "And since I can move five at a time, I started a chain reaction in which I was constantly absorbing several specks of Qi. That's all I did."

  The nervousness, my father's furious expression, and the smell of the strange liquid covering me begin to take their toll, and the anxiety of my situation causes tears to well up in my eyes, but I manage to hold back so I don't start whimpering.

  My father, although still looking furious, looks surprised and says “Do it now."

  I blink in surprise as I wipe the tears from my eyes and reply “Do what?"

  "Grab five specks of Qi, and resist as much as you can”, my father replies, keeping his eyes on me.

  I quickly do as he says and close my eyes, grabbing the first specks I see without paying any more attention. After a moment, I notice something strange in the area of the room where my father is, a presence I had never noticed when meditating.

  After a moment, I feel a tug on the specks I'm holding, but I follow my father's instructions and resist as much as I can. However, the force pulling on them is too great, and they are snatched away from me as something breaks in my mind, causing me to scream from the sharp headache that suddenly hits me just before I pass out.

  When I open my eyes, I see that Lianhua is wiping my face with a cloth and notices that I have woken up, so she says “Your Majesty, Zhāohuán Wen has woken up."

  Lianhua steps back and I blink, my headache still lingering but bearable. I see my father approaching and he says to me “I'm sorry for what I just did to you, but I had to make sure you weren't an old power that had been reincarnated or possessed you."

  I blink before asking my father “What do you mean, Father?"

  "You don't need to worry about that”, he replies before continuing to ask me. “But how did you manage to handle five specks of Qi?"

  Although it seems that my father no longer suspects me, I think it's better to tell him the truth in case he still has some doubts, so I tell him about all the exercises and efforts I've made since I received the book on cultivation.

  My father listens attentively to my explanation, and I can't help but notice the look of surprise on his face as I recount my progress, despite his efforts to remain stoic.

  When I finish, I remain silent as I look at him and wait for the verdict that will probably decide my future, but he remains silent as he stares into space, as if reflecting on what he has just heard.

  Finally, he seems to reach a decision, so he looks at me and begins to speak "Before we continue, it's better if your mother is here."

  "In the next room there is a bathroom where you can clean my daughter”, he then says to Lianhua, looking at her. "Put some of the clothes inside on her, even if they are too big for her."

  "As for the chair”, he seems to hesitate for a moment, but finally seems to make up his mind. "Leave it inside, I'll have it burned later along with the clothes, I don't think there's any other solution."

  Lianhua bows to my father as she replies “As you command, Your Majesty."

  She then grabs the chair and pushes me toward a door on the side of the room, and as we walk through it, I hear my father say to someone outside the exit door “Bring me Guifei Xiang."

  On the other side of the door, to my surprise, instead of the luxurious bathroom I expected, there are two simple wooden tubs filled with water and a shelf with what appears to be several items of clothing.

  I am surprised to see Lianhua undressing, something she has never done when bathing me in our pavilion, and seeing my surprise, she apologizes “Forgive my lack of decorum, Zhāohuán Wen. Impurities cannot be removed from clothing if it is stained with them, so it is best to avoid it."

  Seeing Lianhua naked, I can't help but admire her body. Comparing her to an athlete from my old world would be an insult, as she is beyond that. It is clear that cultivation improves the body in many ways, despite being less visible than skin toning.

  As I admire Lianhua's fit body, she lifts me out of the chair and removes my clothes, which are covered in the liquid she has called impurities. Determined to clear up my doubts on the matter, I ask her “But what are these impurities, as you have called them?"

  Lianhua puts me in one of the tubs, and I can't help but let out a slight cry when I notice how cold it is as she gets in with me, since when she undressed me, she also got covered in the disgusting liquid. As we wash ourselves, she answers my question.

  "When we refine the body using Qi, we are purifying and strengthening it. In the process, all the toxins and waste accumulated in the body due to food and time are pushed out. This manifests as this blackish, foul-smelling liquid”, she explains as she begins to clean my skin.

  "And why are we supposed to expel these impurities?" I ask, trying to ignore the bath water turning black.

  "Because these impurities obstruct the flow of Qi and weaken the body. By removing them, you not only temper your body, but also allow the Qi to flow more freely, allowing the Qi to reach deeper into your body and enabling you to continue with the next steps of tempering the body”, Lianhua replies, as she patiently continues her work.

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  I sit down slowly, processing the information before asking “So, is this something that all cultivators must go through?"

  Lianhua nods as she continues her explanation. "Exactly. What's more, you'll have to go through this at every stage of tempering your body. I know it's unpleasant, but you'll have to endure it if you want to follow that path, Zhāohuán Wen."

  "I understand. Thank you, Lianhua. I appreciate you explaining all this to me”, I say, feeling a little calmer.

  "I'll always be here to help you, Zhāohuán Wen”, she says as she continues to scrub me to remove all the impurities. "Now, relax and let me finish cleaning you. You'll feel much better soon."

  After a while, she finishes and gets out of the tub with me, but just when I think we're done, we get into the other tub and she cleans me again. Even though I seemed to be clean, the water in this tub starts to get a little cloudy, showing how stubborn this dirt is.

  We don't stay in this tub long and quickly get out, and she starts drying us off while I shiver from the cold. I notice that Lianhua, despite everything, seems indifferent to the cold, so I guess that's another advantage of cultivation, even though I haven't read anything in the book about that.

  When we finish, she puts her clothes back on and dresses me as best she can with what's on the shelf, although I end up looking like a little girl who has dressed herself in clothes from her parents' closet.

  When I'm done getting dressed, we look at the wheelchair and, seeing it covered in black liquid, I shake my head at Lianhua, who picks me up and we leave the bathroom.

  Damn it, I only got to use my new chair for a few days before I had to throw it away.

  When I come out, I see that my mother is already in the living room talking to my father, and from the serious look on both their faces, I don't think they're going to give me good news.

  As I enter, I hear my mother say to my father “If they find out about this, the elders of the sect will take her away immediately. And we both know what her chances of survival are with her condition. You know it's the best solution, even though we don't like it."

  Hearing that, I'm scared. What the hell is this about taking me away and my chances of survival? But I don't have much time to think about it because they notice me coming in, and my mother quickly comes over and takes me from Lianhua's arms, saying in a reassuring tone “My little girl, you've outdone yourself this time."

  I try to look ashamed as I hug her tightly, in a mixture of acting to further allay my father's recent suspicions and seeking some comfort from what I have just heard.

  My mother pats me on the back to comfort me as I listen to my father speak to Lianhua "Wang Lianhua, this is an imperial order. Everything that has happened in this room and what will happen next regarding this matter must remain secret. You are forbidden from reporting to the Yushitai or telling anyone. Right now, your mission is to accompany Guifei Xiang and follow her orders regarding this matter and everything related to the cultivation of Zhāohuán Wen as if they were my own. Do you understand?"

  I see Lianhua kneel and touch the ground with her forehead as she replies “Your commands are law to me, Son of Heaven."

  My father nods and seems satisfied with Lianhua's response, and approaches where my mother and I are standing.

  "Wen, your mother will explain everything you need to know later”, my father begins. "Right now, I just need you not to be afraid of what is going to happen in the next few days."

  Just those words alone make me start to panic, but I quickly calm down, knowing that it's unlikely my father would do anything to really hurt me.

  After saying this, my father approaches the door and opens it, where I see several Nei Wei waiting.

  "Take them away”, my father says, returning to his regal tone. "They are to remain confined to Guifei Xiang's room while we decide what to do with them."

  My mother leaves the room with me in her arms, followed by Lianhua. The guards form a line around us.

  They quickly lead us through the palace, accompanied by the surprised glances and whispers of the people we encounter when they see us surrounded by so many guards.

  When we reach the pavilion, most of the guards remain outside, but several of them take us to my mother's room, where they usher us in and then close the door.

  My mother settles me on the bed, and I take the opportunity to ask her “Mother, what is going on?"

  "I'll explain it to you now, but before I begin”, she starts to say, but then turns to Lianhua, who is locked in with us. "Nothing that is said in this room must leave here."

  "The Emperor has ordered me to follow your orders as if they were his own”, Lianhua says in a serious tone. "As long as it concerns Zhāohuán Wen, I will follow all your orders."

  My mother seems satisfied with Lianhua's answer, so she sits down on the bed next to me.

  "Wen, what you've done this time is going to cause a lot of trouble”, my mother tells me.

  "But I only did what my father told me to do!" I protest.

  "I know”, my mother replies to reassure me. "And it happened because you're a little genius that people usually only hear about in rumors and never see in person. Normally that would be a blessing for anyone, but in your particular case, it's a very big problem."

  There's only one thing that sets me apart from everyone else, so I ask “It's because I can't move my legs, right?"

  "Yes, Wen. It's because of your condition”, my mother replies, confirming my assumption. "I'd better tell you why it's bad for you, since you're smart enough to understand despite your age."

  "The Celestial Sun Sect, patron of the empire and the imperial family, is always looking for people gifted in cultivation to recruit”, my mother begins. "Someone with your ability would be recruited quickly, it could even cause disputes among the sect's senior elders over having you as a personal disciple. But that would be under normal circumstances."

  "When a sect recruits someone, it does so on the basis that they must be useful to the sect”, my mother continues. "Disciples always have to work for their position, and their status within the sect depends both on their level of cultivation and the importance of the tasks they have performed."

  I think I'm beginning to understand. Sects are like huge companies where employees are always expected to produce results, and their status within the company depends on the results they deliver. So I quickly see the problem and reply to my mother “And I wouldn't be able to do anything but very basic tasks, right?"

  "Exactly. And with your status, you would even have trouble moving around the sect itself, since it is on a mountain and, as you can imagine, it is full of stairs”, my mother continues. "And that makes you problematic, because on the one hand you are too valuable to let go, but on the other hand you simply cannot perform any meaningful tasks for the sect, so you would just be a useless waste of resources."

  "And unfortunately for you, in sects, when they find someone problematic and there's no easy solution, what they usually do is eliminate them so they don't cause problems in the future”, my mother concludes.

  Wait a minute, this isn't a business anymore, this is how a damn mafia or drug cartel would operate. Drug cartels run by guys who live for hundreds of years and have superpowers. That makes me wonder what I did wrong in my previous life to be reborn into a world like this.

  As my mental ramblings about what mafias were like in my previous world start to go crazy, my mother continues talking "That's why we've decided to hide it. And since it's impossible to hide that you've finished skin tempering, we're going to say that you started cultivating a year ago."

  Hearing that interrupts my mental ramblings about mobsters and horse heads. Remembering the trial over my brother's case, I can't help but ask “But doesn't that go against the Emperor's rules for the imperial family?"

  "Yes, Wen. It goes against your father's rules and we will be judged for it”, I try to say something but my mother interrupts me and continues. "But at the trial we will have mitigating circumstances. The first and most important is that nothing has happened to you. You must know that when it comes to cultivating, being successful, as long as what you do is not too scandalous, is always a merit."

  "The second mitigating factor will be the contributions you have made to the empire with your inventions. Being someone who has contributed will always make things more favorable for you”, my mother continues. "And the third mitigating factor will be the attack you suffered. We will argue that you were frightened and started cultivating after that night."

  I reflect on my mother's words and reply “Okay, I guess that means you already know what the sentence will be."

  My mother smiles as she replies “Yes, I have agreed with your father that we will be exiled from the palace for a couple of years and sent to a small palace in a distant city. A time that is neither too short nor too long."

  "But two years in the palace can be a long time”, my mother continues. "Long enough for some people to start forgetting about the little disabled princess who has fallen from grace."

  The truth is, the plan isn't all bad. I'm sure there are better alternatives, but for someone who cares as little about their reputation as I do, it's almost perfect. And with the advantage that I'll be able to see what life is like outside the imperial palace, as well as treating it like a huge vacation. And finally, no more classes, I guess.

  After these thoughts, I look at my mother, who is quietly waiting for me to finish reflecting on her words, and I say “That's fine with me. What do we do now?"

  My mother sighs and replies “We wait for them to call us for the trial."