Yu Di picked up a stack of logs and split them with an axe. He stood in the middle of nowhere, still within the sect’s limits, but just outside of the fortress walls.

  He had underestimated the strength of that diamond floating above the fortress. To have this much strength to create a barrier this far out was impressive.

  As impressive as little Lin’s magic tricks.

  Here, Yu Di was alone. No one bothered him. No one cared what he did. It was nice.

  At least until he met Grand Elder Fu.

  The air around him shimmered for a second. The large protective barrier of the diamond shrank to the wall of the fortress.

  Did that mean Yu Di could leave?

  He walked to the edge of the mini forest and reached out with his fingers. The last time he tried this, a large zap took the use of his arm for the day.

  Nothing.

  Yu Di took a careful step past the barrier.

  Nothing.

  He was free.

  All he had to do was summon his own flying cow and he could flee from this wretched place.

  But wait. He needed his daughter.

  Yu Di looked back to the fortress and then to the freedom in the sky. This might be the only chance he had to flee. He couldn’t guarantee that the barrier would shrink like this again.

  He could always come back to save his daughter. He would just have to break his curse and…

  No.

  Yu Di knew that he wouldn’t be able to break this curse. Despite learning that it can be broken, he would most likely die before he fully lifted the curse. And how long would that take?

  What’s worse would be that Yu Lin would think he abandoned her just like her mother. He would never abandon her.

  Yu Di took a deep breath and turned back around.

  “Were you thinking about running away?” Fu Homei asked. “You could have and I’m sure none here would miss you.”

  Yu Di cupped his hands and bowed his head.

  “Junior Yu greets the Seniors.” Right behind Fu Homei were two disciples wearing a dark purple tunic. He could tell right away that they were also in the core formation realm. “How might I help you all today?”

  “We came to break that Qi contract you put on me,” Fu Homei said. She put out her hand. “Give it here.”

  “It doesn’t have to come to this,” Yu Di said. “I never intended to use it to hurt anyone or make anyone do anything.”

  “Give it.”

  The two disciples behind Fu Homei stepped out of the shadow of the fortress. They were two women, about the same height and build as Fu Homei. They weren’t twins, but they could be sisters.

  “What assurances do I have that you won’t kill me after I’ve handed it over?” Yu Di asked.

  “None. I can either take it from you willingly or off your corpse.”

  “But then you’d continue to be bound by the contract until the day you die.”

  “I’m sure my grandfather will find someone strong enough to break it. You can’t be that strong.”

  Yu Di grinned.

  “You have no idea. I’m not going to give you it, but as a show of good faith, I’m going to annul all the orders I’ve given you so far using the contract.”

  Yu Di focused on the Qi contract within his spatial ring and cleared all the orders.

  Fu Homei’s face relaxed.

  No wonder she came again. She was suffering from the Qi retribution running amok in her body. Her grandfather must have given her something to hold the effects back.

  “Now, give me the contract.” Fu Homei stepped forward.

  “No, and I want you to protect me and Yu Lin from now until the day you die,” Yu Di said.

  Fu Homei’s eyes twitched.

  “You bastard.”

  Yu Di smiled. It was the best guarantee he had, for now. If this child found out that there were limits to the Qi contract, he would be in danger.

  One of them was that she couldn’t do it at the cost of her life. Once something like that happens, her natural instincts would kick in and the Qi contract would naturally break. So her ability to defend him was limited to what she thought she could do.

  But she didn’t need to know that right now.

  “Are we done here?” Yu Di asked. “I still have a lot of logs to split, unless you Seniors would be kind enough to help me?”

  Fu Homei huffed and left with the two senior disciples. As soon as the disciples walked through the fortress, the barrier engulfed the area once more. So it had to be their doing.

  Did the Grand Elder have control over the barrier? If so, Yu Di might be able to use that when he met him. There had to be something he could trade for his freedom.

  Yes, he promised Bai Feng that he’d stay to help her, but if there was a way out with his daughter, he would take it. Another child and her dying sect was of no consequence to him.

  Then again. The barrier might have simply randomly failed because the diamond they used was third rate at best. He would have to come back and test it out every day.

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  Maybe he’d get lucky.

  After Yu Di finished for the day, he was more sore than he was this morning. He split over two hundred logs. Even accounting for his cultivation, he could only mitigate some of the injuries to his body.

  As Yu Di walked home, just like the morning, every servant and disciple avoided him. Every one he offered to help either denied him or ran away from him.

  So he stopped trying.

  When Yu Di got home, he was greeted by a small ball of energy that shot into his arms.

  Yu Lin hugged him hard.

  “It’s good to see you too, little Lin,” Yu Di said. “Now let go before you break a rib.”

  “Okay.” Yu Lin let go. “I saw you coming from the top of the house.”

  “That’s nice. Where’s Senior Bai?”

  “She’s still meditating inside.”

  “Okay, go play. I need to talk with her.”

  Yu Lin shot like an arrow back up the building. Her tiny little legs were powerful enough to leap onto the roof of the house so easily.

  Yu Di knocked on the door.

  “Senior Bai, it’s Junior Yu. I’m coming in.”

  Yu Di walked into the house. The entire place was pitch black as the windows were all closed. He looked around for candles, but couldn’t find any.

  Yu Di needed to get some from the commissary tomorrow. He shook his head. What a terrible servant he was.

  “Senior Bai?” he whispered.

  A light blue glow appeared in the middle of the house. It was the outline of Bai Feng. Her face sweated with concentration, almost as if she was suffering from an attack.

  Bai Feng was breaking through to the next level.

  Yu Di didn’t dare disturb her. At this stage of cultivation, breaking through needed quiet contemplation and focus. So he turned around and exited the house.

  “Baba, there’s nothing to do,” Yu Lin said.

  “Shhhh.” Yu Di held his finger to his lips. He closed the door as quietly as he could. “Don’t be too loud. Senior Bai is on the verge of breaking through.”

  Yu Lin’s eyes lit up.

  “That’s great. Baba play with me.”

  Yu Di wanted to crawl up into a ball and cry from how tired he was. But his daughter asked him to play, so what could he do?

  “Let’s play something that won’t hurt Baba,” he said. “I’ve had a very long and tiring day. Do you want to paint?”

  “Okay.” Yu Lin dashed over to a small covered cabinet that sheltered right under the roof of Bai Feng’s house. She grabbed an ink block, an ink well, paper, and a brush.

  “Do you want to learn some words too or just paint?” Yu Di asked.

  “Oooh, teach me the word for ‘molesting,’” Yu Lin said.

  “Who taught you that word?”

  Yu Lin frowned and shrank back.

  “No little Lin, you did nothing wrong,” Yu Di said. “Tell Baba, who taught you that word?”

  “Some of the aunties and uncles came by and tried to take me away,” Yu Lin said. “They were talking about molesting or touching or something. But auntie Bai made them leave. She wouldn’t tell me what it was and went inside to meditate.”

  Yu Di frowned.

  A four-year-old should not be learning about these things. Yet here he was.

  “Little Lin, that word is not a good word,” Yu Di said. “But I’ll teach you how to write it because you need to learn it to protect yourself.”

  Little Lin nodded. She poured the water into the ink well and rubbed the ink stick in it.

  As Yu Di watched, he thought about how to explain it to his daughter. More importantly, he was thinking about how to get those servants and disciples to stop disturbing his family.

  On the one hand, he was glad that there were people out there who wanted to look after his kid without his asking. On the other, for them to think that he could be abusing his own kid made him angry.

  “Baba, it’s done.” Yu Lin put the ink stick down.

  “This is how you write the word.” Yu Di focused on each brush stroke, writing it slowly. He hadn’t done this in so long, but it felt good to be writing again.

  “Baba, that’s hard.”

  “Yes, it’s two words in one. You’ll learn it eventually.

  Yu Lin traced the words with her fingers, getting black ink on them.

  “Now this word means that those aunties and uncles think I am hurting you. That’s why they want to take you away from me.”

  “But Baba, you’re not.” Yu Lin stopped to look up. “Besides, I’m stronger than Baba. You can’t hurt me.”

  “They don’t mean that kind of hurt. It’s a bad kind of hurt. Ugh, I don’t know how to explain it to you. Just know that I would never hurt you in any way. You know that right?”

  “Of course, Baba.” Yu Lin smiled wide. “You’re my Baba. Why would you hurt me?”

  “It’s because there are bad people out in the world that do hurt their children.”

  “Then they should stop.”

  Yu Di smiled.

  “They should. But sometimes it takes other people helping to make them stop.”

  Yu Lin showed her dirty hands to Yu Di.

  “Then I’ll stop them. I’ll help those children. I have power!” Yu Lin placed her hands onto Yu Di’s arms, creating light black palm prints.

  “I hope so, little Lin. I want you to grow up big and strong. Then you can do whatever you want.”

  “Okay.”

  “Now take the ink, the brushes and go practice. Or you can draw something else.”

  Yu Lin looked at her hands and then at the paper.

  “Baba, can I use my hands instead of the brush?”

  “Of course. Have fun. Just don’t eat the ink and clean up before you eat.”

  Yu Lin smiled wide before grabbing all the stuff and running off with it. Some of the ink spilled on the floor, but somehow missed her clothes.

  “You did a good job,” Bai Feng said behind Yu Di.

  “Congratulations Senior Bai, for breaking through to the next level.” Yu Di cupped his hands toward her.

  “It was all thanks to your pocket dimension and cultivation manual. I should be thanking you.”

  “Just take care of my little daughter for me and that would be thanks enough.”

  Bai Feng sat down beside Yu Di.

  “What’s wrong? You look like you have a lot on your mind.”

  Yu Di took out his jade tablet.

  Current Power: Realm 1, Stage 1, Level 5 (Qi condensation)

  Remaining Lifespan: 13 years, 10 months.

  Current Status: Cursed (2.9% lifted)

  Overall Power: Fourth Realm, End Stage, Peak level

  “What happened to your lifespan?” Bai Feng asked.

  “I had to use a little bit of my Qi to activate the Qi contract,” Yu Di said. “Fu Homei came to harass me and I had to make a deal with her. This is not looking good for me.”

  Bai Feng put a hand on his shoulder.

  “Not only that, but it seems that we became outcasts within the sect,” Yu Di said. “Everyone avoids me and some even run from me. You know, when I was alone back in my village, I didn’t mind it. It was peaceful, nice. But ever since I came here and tried to talk with these people and help them, I felt a connection that I hadn’t felt in decades.”

  “Like you’re finally not alone,” Bai Feng said.

  “Exactly. Now they all deserted us as if we were demons within the sect. All because of some made up rumors by Elder Li.”

  “That’s how life in a sect is. It’s why I never pursued being an Elder or joining any faction before. We could have been very happy just the three of us.”

  “No, we would have just been bullied for longer and harder.” Yu Di stood up. “Yu Lin, you better not be drawing on the walls!”

  His daughter looked back with a mischievous smile before running off elsewhere with the inkwell and very black hands.

  “It’s fine,” Bai Feng said. “She’s four. She’s going to do what she’s going to do.”

  “The worst part is the rumors about my daughter,” Yu Di said.

  Bai Feng sighed.

  “That is hard to swallow. Well, in two days, after the Elders’ duel, we will see whether or not we should stay in this sect. I’ve noticed that not even those that learned from me are coming here anymore.”

  Yu Di didn’t want to say this to add fuel to their misery, but he really wished that he never came. It wasn’t because of the danger. It was because he had resigned himself to a world of isolation and loneliness. Now that he’s gotten a taste of companionship again, he wasn’t sure if he could live without it again.

  This was more miserable than waiting to die as a mortal.