Yu Di took off down the hill after his daughter. The energy levels were too low for it to be her mother. Maybe it was a coincidence. Who would come for Yu Lin? She was too weak to be noticed.

  When Yu Di reached the bottom of the hill, a man and a woman, both dressed in dark blue tunics, held Yu Lin by the shoulders.

  They were in the middle levels of the Foundation Establishment Realm, but that meant they were stronger than Yu Lin and him combined.

  Old Wong laid on the floor. His chest still moving.

  Yu Di cupped his hands.

  “Greetings Immortals. Might I inquire why you have come here?”

  The man scoffed at seeing Yu Di.

  “Nothing to see here. Just move along.”

  “I apologize, but that is my daughter. If she did anything wrong, I would gladly suffer in her place.” Yu Di slowly reached for an item on his waist. It would decapitate the man and woman before they could blink.

  “Don’t move,” the man said. “If you reach for whatever it is on your belt, I’ll strangle you both right now.”

  Yu Di raised his hands up, palms open.

  “I was only hoping to grab my money pouch and pay you whatever you’d want so that we can be on our way.”

  “We have no need for mortal money. We only want the girl.”

  A cold fury bubbled within Yu Di. They could only mean one of two things. Either they wanted to kill and harvest Yu Lin as demonic cultivators sometimes did or they wanted to use her for perverse things.

  Yu Di forced a smile. Today was a good day to die. All he needed to do was grab the earring on his right ear with a quick tug and it would disintegrate these two idiots. Those who threatened his daughter did not deserve an intact corpse.

  “Might I ask what you two plan on doing with a four-year-old?” Yu Di said through gritted teeth.

  “Relax, mortal,” the woman said. Her face looked calm, but she had a tight grip on Yu Lin. “We’re here to recruit her into our sect. It would only benefit her.”

  “But she’s too young to be in your sect.”

  “Then we have a problem,” the man said. He took two steps toward Yu Di.

  Yu Di recognized Qi cycling through the man’s body, toward his arms. One strike would kill him.

  “Please, she’s only four,” Yu Di said, fingers inching toward his ears. “Don’t tear her away from her family.”

  The man grabbed Yu Di’s arm.

  “I knew it. He’s a cultivator.”

  “Yes, you caught me,” Yu Di said. “Now as fellow cultivators, would you kindly release me?”

  The man let go.

  “This is good news. We found two. Elder Li will be pleased.”

  Yu Di crossed his arms. He had two strings along the side of his robe that would send out a condensed wave of Qi that would blast them away.

  “I’m not sure what’s going on, but we’re not going with you. I don’t deal with demonic cultivators. Let my daughter go.”

  “We’re not a demonic sect,” the woman said.

  “Your actions say otherwise.”

  “We’re here to recruit her into our sect. Weak cultivators like you two would not survive without one.”

  “We have been doing alright so far. Just let my daughter go and you can recruit others. I’m sure a powerful sect like yours has people lining up to join.”

  The woman and man exchanged glances.

  “What happened to your sect?” Yu Di asked.

  “Nothing. We’re a powerful Sect.” The man scowled. He had his hand on his sword.

  “So powerful that you have to kidnap children?”

  The two stayed silent.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Or maybe you are a demonic sect, forcing people to do perverse things.”

  “We’re not a demonic sect,” the man yelled. “Just kill this fool and let’s be on our way.”

  “No,” the woman said. “That’s not how the ‘Forgotten Spirit Sect’ does things. Do not dishonor our sect.”

  That name sounded familiar. Yu Di looked down at Old Wong and remembered his ramblings about this sect.

  “Look, you two look like decent people,” Yu Di said. “All I want is my daughter back. Couldn’t we just go our separate ways and you two strong Immortals find another person to recruit? I’m sure there are plenty of people in the village who would love to learn to be an Immortal.”

  "We can’t,” the woman said. “If we don’t recruit you and your daughter, our competitors will. I can assure you, the ‘Spider Fang Sect’ or ‘Iron Blood Sect’ would be worse.”

  Great, cultivation sect politics. Just what Yu Di needed. He didn’t have time for this.

  “Give my daughter back or you two will regret being alive.” Yu Di centered himself where the man and woman was. He only had one shot. He hoped he aimed it high enough to go over Yu Lin’s head.

  “He’s bluffing,” the man said. “I felt his Qi. At most level one of the Qi Condensation stage. A newborn. Let me kill him already.”

  The woman narrowed her eyes and frowned.

  Yu Di knew that look. It was the same one he had when he made the calculation to cut his losses and move on. He wasn’t going to give them the chance.

  Yu Di pulled the string out from under his armpits. A large wave of condensed Qi shot out like a knife from his chest. It hit the two square in the chest, knocking them down to the ground.

  “Come here Yu Lin.” Yu Di knelt down with open arms.

  “Baba!” Yu Lin ran to her father.

  Yu Di hugged her and checked her head. If he was just a little lower, he would have cut off the top of her head with that item. Good thing all it did was give her mangled hair a little snip.

  “What about grandpa?” Yu Lin tugged her father toward Old Wong.

  “No, we have to run. He’ll be fine.” Yu Di felt it before he saw it. He made the mistake of taking his eyes off his enemies.

  Yu Di slammed backwards onto the ground while holding onto Yu Lin. No way they were going to separate them again.

  A hand yanked his arms away and pulled Yu Lin from his chest.

  Yu Di scrambled onto all fours and reached for his daughter.

  A sharp kick from behind slammed him onto the ground.

  “That was dangerous,” the man said. “If I hadn’t seen you move, I would have been cut in half.”

  Yu Di reached for his earring, but a foot crushed his hand.

  “We’re not going to have any more of that.”

  “Baba!” Yu Lin’s voice yelled.

  Yu Di pulled against the foot. The pain from that was nowhere near his panic at hearing his daughter.

  “Don’t you dare hurt her.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of hurting our prize,” the woman said. “But we don't need you. So if you keep fighting me, I’ll make sure to bury you.”

  Yu Di stopped struggling. Him being buried by these two children? If he had even a fraction of his former power, these two would be begging for their lives. He had never gone out of his way to hurt others, but seeing Yu Lin struggling against the woman made his blood boil.

  “Crap,” the man said as he jumped off Yu Di’s body.

  Yu Di took a breath to calm himself. He had just called upon a sliver of his former power without realizing it.

  There went a month of his life.

  “We might have found something here,” the man said.

  “Oh?” the woman said. She released Yu Lin.

  Yu Lin ran over and hugged Yu Di.

  With her in hand, Yu Di could make a run for the cliff. It would be tricky trying to swim with a little girl, but it would be better than dealing with these idiots.

  “You look like at most, about equal to us in power,” the man said. “How about you join our sect and practice to be an Immortal? I’m sure someone at your level could easily rise in the ranks and be someone powerful.”

  “No, I don’t want to join your sect,” Yu Di said. “Nor does my daughter or anyone here. You two should leave now.”

  “Well, I tried the soft way.” The man shrugged and unsheathed his sword.

  The woman held the man back.

  “Look, I’m going to be frank with you. Our ‘Forgotten Spirit Sect’ is in need of recruits. So are other sects. If you won’t join us, then we’ll be forced to kill you to prevent them from recruiting you.”

  “I’d like to see you try.” Yu Di reached up to his earring. He pressed it gently, activating it. With another tug, this conversation would be over.

  The two backed away from Yu Di.

  “Let’s go,” the woman said.

  “No,” the man said. “If you don’t come with us, we’ll burn the village down.”

  “I’ll kill you both right now,” Yu Di said.

  “Oh, that’s fine with me.” The man sheathed his sword. He took three steps toward Yu Di. “But can you kill the entire ‘Forgotten Spirit Sect?’ They will come to this village looking for us. They will find that this village is harboring a dangerous cultivator. Once they realize we’re not alive, they will burn the village down and kill every person here. Starting with this old man.”

  The man kicked Old Wong.

  “No, not grandpa!” Yu Lin shrieked.

  Yu Di put his hand down. Between the two of them, he could easily roast them. But these sect fools were right and he hated it.

  Damn cultivators and their "might makes right attitude."

  Damn himself for putting his daughter on the path of an Immortal.

  And damn this village for being his hometown.

  He couldn’t imagine the village chief being murdered by these two. The children watching their parents be cut up. Or the entire place ablaze all because he couldn’t stop his desire to cultivate.

  More importantly, damn this curse.

  “Time’s up,” the man said. “Are we going to have to burn the village?”

  Little Lin pulled Yu Di’s head to face her.

  “Baba, we can’t let them burn the village. We have to save the aunties and uncles.”

  “Fine, I’ll go with you,” Yu Di said. “Don’t hurt anyone or burn the village.”

  “Good choice,” the man said.

  A deep voice echoed in Yu Di’s head:

  Curse unlocked: 0.3% lifted.

  Yu Di froze.