“We have to change our plans then,” Yu Di said. He sat on a mat inside Bai Feng's home with his legs folded, preparing to cultivate.

  Bai Feng was in the middle of cooking another large dinner. This time, she was cooking for all the other servants who have joined their cause.

  Yu Lin was helping, at least for a four year old. She wanted to try the spatula on the wok. She then wanted to cut up the ingredients.

  Yu Di really wanted to tell her no, but then remembered that her body was tough as steel. Normal knives won’t be able to hurt her. Yet there was that instinctual desire to prevent injury that made him want to grab her and play with a doll or something.

  Except, she was stronger than him.

  Yu Di hated to admit it that despite having about 5% of his own power back, he was still not as strong as his own daughter who had finally broken into the Foundation Establishment realm. He needed to catch up and focus on his own cultivation.

  “You didn’t have to sign the contract with the others,” Yu Di said.

  “I would be a very poor example if I didn’t sign it myself.”

  Bai Feng lifted the wok and flipped the food in the air.

  Yu Lin did the same with her smaller wok and flipped it onto the floor.

  That made Yu Di flinch. There was a lot of good food there, now gone. Maybe he should convince his daughter to do something else.

  “Ah, good try little Lin,” Bai Feng said. “Next time, don’t flip it as hard and use your wrist. Like this.”

  Yu Lin looked carefully and then bent down to pick up the pieces of food she spilled.

  “I can go clean these.”

  “No, don’t…” Yu Di didn’t get to finish before the little girl shot out of the home. “I swear she’s listening to me less and less.”

  “Don’t worry,” Bai Feng said. “She worships you. She’ll do anything you ask, as long as you get her attention first. Since she’s not here, what was on the contract anyway?”

  Yu Di shuffled in his seat, looking away from Bai Feng.

  “Oh you know, the standard kind of contract. Mutual protection, teaching, and… servitude for ninety nine years.”

  “What was the last bit? You mumbled.”

  Yu Di put on his most endearing smile.

  “Servitude for ninety nine years.”

  “What?! You said it wasn’t a slave contract.” Bai Feng slammed the wok down onto the flames.

  “It’s not. They’re not serving me. They’re serving Yu Lin. That’s who they signed their contract to.”

  Bai Feng ladled the food off into a large bowl.

  “So you’re telling me that we’re all slaves to that four year old girl?”

  “No. The actual term was ninety nine years of serving Yu Lin’s best interests.”

  Bai Feng narrowed her eyes.

  “That sounds better, but there is something else you’re not telling me.”

  Yu Di sighed.

  “Her best interests as dictated by her parents.”

  Bai Feng screwed up her face, staring hard at Yu Di. She pointed the spatula right at his head.

  Yu Di tensed for a second. He’d never been attacked by a spatula before.

  “Fine.” Bai Feng put down the spatula. “I’ll just have to make sure you don’t take anything to the extreme.”

  Yu Lin came running back in with a wok full of ingredients. It looked like she tried really hard to wash it off, but it also looked like there were more things added to it. For one, there was a live fish swimming in it.

  “Little Lin, we can’t wash food like that,” Bai Feng said. She gently put the fish into a large bowl of water. “Come here and we can start fresh.”

  Bai Feng pointed at a few ingredients left on the table and Yu Lin began chopping them all into neat little cubes.

  “How long until you’re done cooking?” Yu Di asked. “I wanted to get started on the new plan as soon as possible.”

  Bai Feng gestured at the remaining platters of uncooked ingredients.

  “Why are you cooking for all the servants anyway?” Yu Di asked.

  “Well, they’ve joined our cause. It’s the least I could do to improve morale.”

  “While I love your enthusiasm, I think the best way to improve morale is by having a strong Elder backing them up. You have about a week to hit the next level before you face all of them.”

  Bai Feng pressed her lips together.

  “What if I can’t advance to the next level? What if I can’t beat all those Elders?”

  Yu Di laughed.

  “Then we do as you promised. We leave the sect.”

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “But then what about all my fellow disciples? I can’t leave them here to suffer.”

  Yu Di really wished Bai Feng was more selfish. On the path of cultivation, it is meant to be a lonely one. One of self improvement to the point of defying the heavens and fate. If she cared so much about the others, she would never rise to the level she can be.

  Yu Di sighed. He can’t control her actions anymore than he could control his daughter’s. It was time to lean into what he could work with.

  “Senior Bai, then all you have to do is work twice as hard for yourself, at least for a little while,” Yu Di said. “Cultivate so hard that you hit that next level and then you will be so advanced compared to these Elders that you can dictate the terms. Then you can help all your fellow disciples. Better yet, they won’t leave you after you do.”

  Bai Feng sucked in her breath.

  “Yes, I know that was your main concern,” Yu Di said. “Your stories of helping the children of the sect told me all I needed to know. I’m willing to bet many of the disciples and even Elders were under your care at one point.”

  Bai Feng nodded.

  “They moved on to other people they thought were stronger. Or at least more opinionated like Elder Li.” Yu Di shook his head. “It’s a shame since you’re stronger than them all. I can see you want to protect these disciples. Except you need power.”

  “What do you want me to do?” Bai Feng asked.

  “Well, stop cooking and come here. Bring little Lin too.”

  “No! I’m still cooking.” Yu Lin kept chopping at the ingredients.

  “Little Lin, if you come here I’ll give you candy.” Yu Di reached into his spatial ring and took out a small piece of honey candy. “It’s your favorite. Your grandpa gave it to me before we left.”

  “Buzz candy?” Yu Lin charged at her father.

  Yu Di flinched, but again Yu Lin stopped right before bowling into him. Was she more aware that it hurt him now?

  “Here.” Yu Di gave Yu Lin a small yellow piece of candy. “If you stay here for a minute with Senior Bai, I will give you another one.”

  Yu Lin grabbed the piece of honey candy and shoved the entire thing in her mouth. It wasn’t big, but watching her struggle to chew on the gooey honey was hilarious. It always stuck to the top of her mouth.

  “I’m going to send you both into a pocket dimension to cultivate,” Yu Di said. “Will your wards still work if you’re not here, Senior Bai?”

  “It should work as long as the sect leader himself doesn’t show up to break them down.”

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. While you two are in there, I’m going to have to maintain my full focus to ensure you don’t die in there.”

  “Will you be okay?” Bai Feng asked.

  “I will be.” Yu Di sounded more confident than he felt. The last time he activated the pocket dimension, his very body screamed for the Qi within. If most of it didn't get sucked in by the monster, he might have died from it. This time he would have better control over it.

  This wasn’t the fear he had. When he opened the realm, it would emit a strong presence to the outside world. Anyone within ten li will sense it.

  Let’s hope that big hunk of diamond floating in the sky is enough to mask it.

  “Okay little Lin, we’re going to play a game today,” Yu Di said. “You are going to join Senior Bai to go on an adventure. There, you will learn to fight and cultivate like never before.”

  “Candy first.” Yu Lin had her hand out.

  “Fine.” Yu Di pulled out another piece of honey candy. He didn’t have many more left.

  Yu Lin shoved the entire piece into her mouth and began the process of chewing it again.

  “Are you ready, Senior Bai?”

  Bai Feng nodded.

  “Then hold on for a second.”

  Yu Di unclasped his silver chain and pushed his Qi into it. He had to be extra careful to only open it slightly. He pushed for at least thirty seconds before the portal finally activated.

  “Touch the silver chain.” Yu Di presented it to the two.

  Bai Feng touched the chain and disappeared.

  Yu Lin’s mouth popped open.

  “Where did auntie Bai go?”

  “She went to play. Touch the chain and you can go with her.” Yu Di lifted the chain to Yu Lin.

  Yu Lin touched it and disappeared.

  Yu Di sat back, crossed his legs again, and focused on the inner world of the pocket dimension. It was hard at first as he had to keep pushing his Qi into it to observe. It felt like he was cultivating by drawing Qi into his dantian and then pushing that into the silver chain instead of his meridians. This way, he would lose all his Qi in one go while slowly absorbing more. It was a painful process as it forced his body to draw more than it had in his dantian.

  The best way to describe it would be as if Yu Di breathed through a thin bamboo shoot, the size of a chopstick. He would gasp for air every once in a while but he didn’t dare stop pushing the Qi into the silver chain.

  If he did, they would be trapped there forever.

  This would be so much easier if he even gained a level or two before he attempted this.

  Yu Di had to program the silver chain to train both of them in different things. For Bai Feng, he needed her to break through her bottleneck to get to the next level. With the denser Qi, it shouldn’t take her longer than three days at most.

  For Yu Lin, he had a whole other plan in mind. She needed to expand the way she thought and interacted with others. For her, Yu Di activated monsters to fight her.

  Inside the pocket dimension, the sun shone at the top of the sky. Clear blue skies and a warm wind blew across a vast green grassland. Although there were no flowers or trees, the wind carried a heavy floral scent.

  Bai Feng stood with her sword in hand. In front of her stood five monsters, each taller than her by at least a head.

  Yu Lin cowered behind her, pulling on her pants as a shield.

  The monsters were frozen in place.

  “Auntie Bai, this is scary,” Yu Lin said.

  “Don’t worry, your father wouldn’t send you in here to get hurt,” Bai Feng said.

  Yu Di pushed his thoughts into the realm, which converted into a booming voice to Bai Feng and Yu Lin.

  “Senior Bai, you don’t need to worry about the monsters. They are for Yu Lin. You need to work on your cultivation. Practice the method now and you will feel your progress advance rapidly.”

  Bai Feng didn’t move. She kept her sword trained on the monsters.

  “Yu Lin, it’s time to learn how to fight. Choose any of these monsters and they will teach you.”

  “Baba, I’m scared,” Yu Lin said. She hid her face in Bai Feng’s pants.

  “Junior Yu, this is quite scary,” Bai Feng said. “Maybe there’s another way we can train little Lin?”

  Yu Di grimaced. It took him a lot of effort to summon these five monsters. He made sure they were the weakest ones in his pocket dimension. Each of them would have taught Yu Lin a different skill she’d need. He clenched both of his hands as he pushed more of his Qi into the realm.

  The five monsters disappeared and in its place, a bunny appeared. It was the size of Yu Lin and it held a wooden sword in its hand.

  “There, you can fight that,” Yu Di said.

  Yu Lin peeked out.

  “I’m still scared, Baba.”

  Bai Feng stifled a laugh.

  “You really don’t understand children, do you? The bunny is a good idea, but its face looks like it wants to eat your daughter.”

  Yu Di rolled his eyes and thought to just leave his daughter there and start over. It would probably be easier.

  Yu Di took another deep breath, filling his lungs with Qi, and then cycled it through his body before hitting the silver chain. He pushed everything he could into it.

  The bunny changed from a ravenous, long fanged, bulging eye monstrosity to a cute bunny face, with beady eyes and cute whiskers.

  “That’s the best I can do,” Yu Di said.

  “It’s better but are you sure your daughter can handle it?” Bai Feng asked.

  Yu Di smiled.

  “Let’s find out.”

  The bunny unfroze and charged at Yu Lin.