Cai sat in a room with only one other person. He should have seen this coming, and he had, but he was still unprepared for this conversation. Over the past few months, his life had turned upside down and right side up. First, a fourth rank had tried to kill him, then a fifth. He had met an immortal and found a new path to power that would have carried him all the way to the fifth rank. And he had also given up that power, choosing to be weak and safe instead of strong and hunted.

But now was the strangest thing because sitting across from him was Xaio Wang. His sister.

Cai didn’t know what that meant. He knew what family was supposed to be, but he had never experienced any of those so-called unbreakable bonds of blood. His blood had only brought him pain so far. This one might be different though. No doubt she had come here to save him and gain some form of favor, maybe she wanted to drag him to the Raging River Sect and raise him there instead. But now that he was crippled, she too would have no choice but to turn away and leave him be.

“I did not know of your existence,” she started. “Our father is a bastard dog and one of the strongest members of our sects. He has ten wives and even then they can not contain him. He has more bastard children than we know of.”

“Well, surely he is not-”

“He is. Do not defend the man. You are not the first child he has sired within the Flowering Sword Sect, nor are you the last. He is a blight of a man, but he is strong so his baselessness is tolerated.”

She raised a teacup to her mouth and took a sip. They were in a newly built house, one that the Honored Master had put together in a matter of minutes. It was made of wood and marble and it shone with slight prestige, though the outside didn’t show that. From the outside, it looked like just another peasant’s home.

It was where Cai would live, though he didn’t know for how long.

“My own mother was seduced by him when she was barely of age, but she was prudent enough to know her worth and disavow the man before any ties could be born from the arrangement. And my existence, as a child with blood from two of the strongest clans within the Raging River Sect could not be so easily discarded. So she had me and raised me to manifest my talents to the best of her abilities. What do you know of our father?”

“His name, and his reputation,” Cai replied.

“Qiao Zheng is widely known for being a dog of the earth. But that is only one side of the coin. The Raging River Sect’s talent is inherited by blood. Our strength is tied to our parentage, but it takes a very specific breeding pair to pass down that nature to the child. Qiao Zheng acts the way he does to spread his seed and grow as much talent as possible, and he has created several new talents over the years so the Sect tolerates his actions. He is like a champion stallion that no one can tame but is allowed to run free because of his sires. If it were up to me, I would have already castrated the man.”

Cai didn’t know what to say so he nodded and mumbled an old proverb.

“Fortune comes with no reason, merely blessings.”

“Indeed. Fortune does not choose the worthy.” Xaio Wang nodded. “But that does not matter now. What does matter is that you were not supposed to exist. We did not think that the Raging River’s bloodline technique could arise from a pairing made with a person of another blood. You’re an anomaly.”

Cai could see where she was going. She was trying to bring him with her. Since he represented something her sect did not understand, she wanted to bring him and study him. Maybe the sect could create prodigies with pure bloodlines out of bastards somehow. He was a tool, a useful idiot to use in search of a stronger bloodline. He would refuse of course. He would not entrust himself to any one of the great five sects. He would rather die in the desert as a lowly second-rank loose cultivator.

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But before Cai could voice his thoughts, Xaio Wang bowed.

“I’m sorry,” Xaio Wang spoke. “All of these are the reasons as to why I arrived so late. I had only heard of your situation when your Patriarch visited the Raging River Sect for his daughter’s wedding. Had I known sooner, I would have been here to help. I can only blame my own ignorance for your suffering. I have failed as an elder and as a sister. Please forgive this Xaio Wang.”

Cai’s mind blanked. He had been expecting a plead to follow her back to her sect or a bribe possibly, but an apology was the last thing on his mind. No one had ever done that before. No one had ever said they were sorry to him. Not his cousins or his mother. His servants had, but they had to apologize.

“You have no responsibility towards me young mistress Xaio Wang. As you said, Qiao Zheng has many bastards and I am no more relevant than the rest.”

“No,” Xaio Wang. “They do not bear the burden of his blood. We do. I have gone through what you have and as your older sibling, it is my job to protect you.”

“You ask too much of yourself,” he interrupted.

She stood up straight.

“You ask too little,” she replied. “I’ve met your mother. I believed my father to have been the worst parent within the Five Great Sects, and yet she proved me wrong. I asked her why she didn’t bring you with her. Do you know what she said?”

Cai shook his head, but he could guess.

“She said that she and Qiao could just make another one.”

Cai Xuin laughed. Xaio Wang did not.

“I’m sorry,” she replied.

There was guilt there, but also pity. Pity was more than what Cai had ever gotten.

“It’s not your fault. You knew nothing of my existence.”

“You are my brother,” she replied.

“Only by blood. We were not raised together. It means nothing-”

“It means everything,” she interrupted. “We are blood kin. Just because your parents failed to recognize the importance of that, it doesn’t mean you should.”

Cai stopped talking.

“My mother has already started sending out agents to monitor the other bastards of Qiao Zheng. Most of them are well, if not for the lack of a father. And none of them show aptitude for the power of the Raging River Sect.”

She said the last part with relief in her voice.

“I see,” Cai replied.

“That means we need not worry about their safety. They will be well-kept and raised with good care. And I hear your mother is already pregnant with a second child. It’s a shame she’d be allowed to have one, but fortune comes with no reason, merely blessings.”

Cai nodded, still in a daze of emotional confusion.

“It’s a shame we met under these conditions, but I hope to be a good sibling and reliable pillar for you, brother Cai.”

That one hit him like Tai Lui’s blade.

Brother.

He smiled. He still didn’t trust her. The only person he trusted was the Honored Master, and that was because a person that powerful had no reason to lie to him.

Brother.

The word sat strangely in his chest.

“I thank you for your consideration… Sister-”

“Do not force yourself. My words cannot prove my intentions but my actions will. Be at peace younger brother, Xaio Wang is a fine name to be called.”

“I thank you for your consideration, Xaio Wang.”

“Please, I do as I should. Nothing less.”

Cai nodded and sipped on his own tea in silence.

“The child will probably be fine,” he said after a minute. “They’ll be trained in the Raging River’s technique and well looked after. Mother will look after them like a shiny piece of jewelry. They’ll be a symbol of her and Qiao’s marriage as well, something that she’ll forever cherish.”

“Something that she’ll cherish?”

“Something that she’ll cherish,” Cai reiterated. “She’s like a child that one, hoping from one toy to the next. She took care of me for a while when I was a child but when I failed to do anything notable, she stopped looking after me. As long as her new child has some talent, she’ll care for them for a good while longer, I think.”

His sister scrunched in anger, then it turned to sadness.

“Do you hate her?” She asked.

“No,” Cai replied, somewhat surprised by his certainty.

“Why?” Xaio asked.

“It’s…” he took a moment to formulate his thoughts. “The pain from a loved one isn’t so simple. The way you see our father is not the way I see my mother. I suffered from her neglect and apathy, yes. But I also know her love. I don’t know if it was love in truth, but she cared for me. She raised me, fed me, hugged me to sleep, and sang for me. And I loved her. I still do in some ways. Whatever disdain I feel now will forever be poisoned by that love.”

Xaio Wang’s frown slowly left her face and she took another sip of her tea.

“I see,” she replied.

“Do you think that’s foolish?”

“No,” she replied. “I think that’s human.”