“First off, I learned that Yu Lin is a key to this curse,” Yu Di said. “Whenever I helped someone she told me to help, the curse would unlock. It wasn’t every time though, but it had a better success rate than what I tried.”

  “Baba said some very funny things when he failed,” Yu Lin said. The little girl sat quietly next to the adults, munching on her buns.

  “Are you teaching your child curses?” Bai Feng asked.

  “No, of course not. Besides, if she’s going to be an Immortal, she’ll live long enough to learn all the curses, both old and new.”

  “But not now. Why take away her innocence? Let her be a kid for as long as she can.”

  Yu Di nodded. He understood that. Before Yu Lin’s mother dropped her onto him, he had no responsibilities. He had no worries. Now he was stuck in the middle of a cultivator sect while trying to raise his daughter.

  “Moving on. Look at this.” Yu Di took out his notes for the day and laid it on the mat.

  Tried to scare off cultivators practicing and making a mess of the ground. Minus 0.1%.

  Climbed a tree to save a cat. Plus 0.1%.

  Helped a woman carry large buckets of water. Plus 0.1%.

  Tried to help “mean” man with a spirit bunny attacking him. Minus 0.1%.

  Had Yu Lin say that a man was “bad” and flared Qi. Minus 0.1%.

  Walked around until Yu Lin pointed out a bully and flared Qi. Plus 0.1%, - 1 month lifespan.

  Helped a chef move cooking ingredients into the kitchen. Plus 0.1%

  Helped Head Servant Cui Ying carry blankets. Nothing.

  … (etc.)

  “I learned that if Yu Lin says it’s a good thing and I do it, I might get the curse unlocked. But whenever I use my Qi for anything else, the curse kicks in and I lose what I gained before.”

  Bai Feng looked over the paper. She pointed at, “Tried to scare off cultivators practicing and making a mess of the ground. Minus 0.1%.”

  “Why did that take away your powers?” she asked.

  “The curse has always been like that,” Yu Di said. “Every time I use my Qi, I lose a bit more of my power.”

  Bai Feng gasped.

  “So you’re telling me that if you use your full power, you lose your life force. You use any of your power, you lose your Qi level. What kind of curse is this? You must be in such agony.”

  Yu Di shrugged.

  “I’ve been dealing with this for quite a few years. I was mostly used to it until the curse was lifted recently.”

  Bai Feng scanned the sheet.

  “It looks like as long as you do what Yu Lin tells you and don’t use your powers for anything else, then you will be fine.”

  Yu Di picked up the sheet of paper. He did some quick calculations in his head that brought a smile to his face.

  “Yes, and if I do this every day, I estimate all it would take is about a year and I will have broken the curse. All I need is to survive.”

  “I agree,” Bai Feng said.

  “That’s where you come in. You still have to be an Elder.”

  “Baba, I want to be an Elder too like auntie Bai,” Yu Lin said. She had abandoned eating the buns. Instead she was now ripping it apart, one layer of skin at a time and creating white shavings like snow on the floor.

  “Little Lin, make sure to clean that up before you leave,” Yu Di said.

  “If I do, can I be an Elder then?” Yu Lin looked up at the two adults.

  “It’s a first step.”

  Yu Lin’s eyes sparkled before she grabbed every shred of skin from the bun off the floor and shoved it into her pockets.

  “Tell me what you learned today,” Yu Di spoke to Bai Feng.

  Bai Feng frowned.

  “I didn’t get much of what I was reading. It definitely improved upon the other cultivation manual, but there were some parts that were confusing.”

  “Which part?”

  “The part where I have to push the Qi backwards back into my dantian. I’ve never tried to do that before.”

  “Oh, that’s a more advanced technique that you have to practice for a year or two before you get it. Put that one down and work on the other techniques first.”

  Bai Feng took out the two manuals and put them side by side.

  “Sadly, that was the only part I truly understood. The rest of it is too difficult.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Yu Di looked at the two pages. This part wasn’t hard. It just required a little more finesse and control over Qi. He closed his eyes and manually pushed the Qi as the manual suggested within his own body.

  The Qi entered through his nose, cycled down into his dantian, and then he pushed two small streams into the lower part of his body at the same time.

  His demigod body reacted instantly, sucking at the streams of Qi like a dying man in the desert.

  His chest pounded in pain as his dantian tried desperately to supply the level of Qi it hadn’t had in years. His whole body trembled in pain as his dantian pulled the Qi from anywhere it could in his body.

  A soft thump on his chest stopped the pull.

  “Baba, wake up!” Yu Lin yelled. “Wake up, wake up.”

  Yu Di collapsed onto the ground, clutching his chest. That was close. If his daughter didn’t stop it, he would be a dried husk right now.

  “What happened?” Bai Feng asked.

  “I was trying to demonstrate how to do the simple technique, but my body couldn’t handle it.” Yu Di dispersed the built up Qi in his lower body before it could run rampant in the rest of his body. “Did you see how I did it?”

  Bai Feng cocked her head. She mumbled to herself and then nodded.

  “I think so. But if I use that technique, will the same thing happen to me?”

  “Not unless you already have a demigod’s body that wants more Qi than you can supply it.”

  “Then is it okay if I try it while you two are here? That way Yu Lin can snap me out of it if I’m in trouble.”

  Yu Di nodded.

  Bai Feng sat up with her legs crossed. She slowly copied Yu Di’s method, but not as cleanly. Her Qi control could still use a lot more work before she could do it even half as well as Yu Di, but she was learning.

  But that wasn’t what was going through his mind. The technique that he practiced was dangerous. He never thought that practicing a higher technique would kill him.

  Yet as he focused on his dantian and his body, he realized that the technique enforced his body further with Qi. Despite dispersing the Qi, he felt his lower body region reinforced through the technique.

  This was interesting.

  What else could he try? He might not be at the same level as he once was, but to enforce his body to the best that he could might save him even against the likes of Elder Li. Something to explore.

  Yu Di dreaded sleeping because tomorrow was going to be the same as today. More exhausting work ahead, but that meant another day to break more of his curse. Maybe he'll get lucky.

  The next day Yu Di strode out with his daughter on his shoulder. He repeated many of the same tasks as he did yesterday and nothing happened. That’s when he did something else. He went about helping anyone no matter how demeaning.

  In one instance, he helped a servant clean out the toilets. He got 0.1% from that.

  In another he helped a mortal carry their sick child to the healers in the fortress. They had come a long way and they couldn’t carry him anymore before collapsing themselves. That earned 0.1%.

  All the while, Yu Di carried Yu Lin on her shoulder, sweeping madly all over the fortress. He spent days upon days running around like a mad man with his broom.

  The other disciples and servants started calling him the “Broom Buddha.” Wherever he went, he would be carrying his little daughter and he would help out no matter what was asked. Some disciples thought he was trying to curry favor for future payback.

  The servants had a different view. While a few took advantage of Yu Di’s kindness, most of them were thankful. Living in this sect, being forced to be a servant, and getting no help from the very people they were serving was already demeaning. Many of his fellow servants made sure Yu Di knew this.

  What made it worse was that some of them came from very rich families. Just like Yu Di, they weren’t given a choice during their recruitment.

  Two weeks passed like this. Every night Yu Di contemplated the situation at the sect. If there was some way to change the sect to be a truly benevolent one, then maybe more of his curse would lift.

  Yu Di sat upon his bed roll as Yu Lin played by herself in the corner. She was quieter tonight, but her choice of toys would have made most mortal parents pale. She was trying to build a city using daggers and structures using spears. As long as she was having fun and couldn't hurt herself, Yu Di didn't bother her.

  He added his latest total to his personal ledger for the day: +0.4%.

  Today was a little slower, but he found new and novel ways to help others to unlock his curse. He began to have a better understanding of what Yu Lin would consider a good thing to do. Most of it stemmed from her desire to help others, but it also came from what she felt was right based on what her mother taught her.

  Yu Di put his book down and leaned back in his chair. He closed his eyes and felt his cultivation level rising. He pulled out his jade tablet:

  Current Power: Realm 1, Stage 1, Level 3 (Qi condensation)

  Remaining Lifespan: 16 years, 9 months.

  Current Status: Cursed (4.2% lifted)

  Overall Power: Fourth Realm, End Stage, Peak level

  Yu Di looked forward to tomorrow when he would go out and try to unlock more of his curse. He noticed that while it didn’t have the same feeling as breaking through to the next level, there was a certain delicious excitement to it nonetheless.

  How could he describe it?

  He said before it was like being able to use his body to a higher level than before, close to his full strength. However, after unlocking even more of his curse, it was much more different than that.

  The feeling of having weights lifted and the rush from knowing that with every increase in strength made him feel normal, even if it was just a tiny more.

  Yu Di hadn’t realized how much he craved that feeling despite not being at his full power for at least twenty or so years at this point. There was nothing stopping him from continuing until he fully broke the curse.

  It might take him a little longer than he estimated, but it was only a matter of time now.

  Someone flicked him on the forehead from behind.

  Yu Di looked up, expecting it to be Bai Feng. She didn’t normally act so childishly, but she was a child in his eyes.

  Except when he looked back, he stared at the face of Head Servant Cui Ying.

  “Are we enjoying our little stay at Inner Sect Disciple Bai’s home?” Cui Ying asked.

  “Head Servant Cui,” Yu Di said. He stood lethargically, cupped his hands, and bowed to the man. His body felt sore all over from the amount of helping he did. “How can I help you?”

  “I came to warn you junior Yu. You have been slacking off on your task and bothering others.”

  “What do you mean, Head Servant Cui?” As far as Yu Di knew, he had been sweeping the floors everywhere he went in addition to helping others.

  Cui Ying pointed at Yu Lin, sleeping quietly beside Yu Di. She had a black blanket covering her body. When had she stopped playing with her toys?

  “That cute little daughter of yours is sick and you have been running her ragged.”

  “What?” Yu Di bent over and pulled the blanket from Yu Lin. His daughter scrunched up into a tighter ball. He felt her neck and back.

  She was burning up.

  “Oh no, what do I do?”

  “You never had any kids before?” Cui Ying asked.

  Yu Di shook his head. He lifted Yu Lin into his arms and put her against his shoulder.

  “Lucky for you, I was a doctor in my mortal life before I was taken here.” Cui Ying put a hand on Yu Lin’s forehead. “Senior Bai called me to look at your daughter while you were spaced out. You have to be more careful with your daughter. You can’t run around the entire fortress with her on your shoulders as if she was a doll.”

  “Did I get her sick?” Yu Di asked.

  “All that running pushed cold Qi into her body, making her sick.”

  “Please help her.”

  “Lay her down and I’ll see what I can do.”