Lady Du brought me back to her sect, the Jade Heaven Sect, which was built on the top of a super tall mountain so tall it was covered in clouds. Cool!

Bamboo everywhere, floating mist, and ponds with lotuses. Very tranquil.

She brought me straight to her home, which was a giant house built from bamboo and stone and looked almost as majestic as her. Almost.

After feeding me a delicious bowl of the best hot noodle soup I've ever had (or maybe I was just freaking hungry), Lady Du leaned across the table and asked,

"Daughter, what is your name?"

I choked on my noodles. "U-Uh...my name..."

Right — I had no idea who the fuck I was.

"I...I don't really have a name."

Lady Du nodded, like it was the most normal thing ever to just not have a fricking name.

"I see. Shall we make a name for you? How about...Xia Yue? Xia for dawn, and Yue for the moon. Do you like this combination?"

I nodded enthusiastically. Anything this hot lady came up with was definitely good enough for me. Plus, that was a cool name for a young cultivator, right?

Xia Yue, dawn and moon at once. I guessed that was my name now. Xia Yue...

That was immortal cultivator-material stuff. I slurped down my noodles, now an eight-year-old Xia Yue with a goddess of an adoptive mother and a sweet place to stay.

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It wasn't long before Lady Du invited me to cultivate in the sect. I was right; she was a high-level cultivator. What's more...

She was actually the leader of the Jade Heaven Sect! I had to have the best luck ever — just happening to get picked up at the slave market by the wealthy, powerful, and hot leader of a cultivation sect!

Continue to un-fuck you, xianxia system. For now.

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My master ended up being someone I'd met before — I recognized him the moment we met. His name was Master Li Tian.

He stared down at me disdainfully over that pointy nose, obviously not recognizing me as the beggar girl he'd scolded in the marketplace not that long ago.

"Since you're Lady Du's adopted daughter," he sniffed, "I expect great things from you. Don't be surprised if my expectations consistently exceed your abilities."

I bowed my head to him respectfully, cursing him internally.

I joined Master Li Tian's group of about a whole forty disciples, and every day I woke up at dawn to go and learn cultivation and came back to Lady Du's bamboo house late at night, tired out of my mind, but elated. See, from the very first day, it was clear that no expectations of Master's were going to exceed my abilities. I mastered breath training, qigong, and meditation in just a few days.

In a couple weeks, I'd mastered the techniques of walking on water, walking through fire without getting burned, and summoning a sword out of thin air. The look on Master Li Tian's face when the first teleportation array I ever drew worked, was priceless. He looked like he'd swallowed a vat of lemon juice. He'd hardly taught me anything, and yet I'd already mastered everything he could teach! Hehe.

Within just a couple months, there was nothing else that Master could teach me. So, Lady Du gave me special access to the sect's sacred texts in the Quiet Cloud Library.

From then on, my days were pretty awesome. Every day, I went to the library and pulled out a new ancient cultivation book and learned a different, more advanced technique: flying on my sword, manipulating objects with my mind, moving water, and enhancing all my senses. Learning how to clone myself took a bit of time, but eventually I mastered that, too.

I was going at such a high speed that, whenever I felt like it, I could take a break. Some days, I went to go swim in the sparkling spiritual pond behind Lady Du's house. Other days, I explored the mountainside, collecting flowers and chasing small animals. I never spent much time with other people. I'm pretty sure they were jealous of me. Anyhow, it didn't seem like anyone my age in the sect liked me, so why should I spend time with them? They were all a bunch of losers anyways. I was WAY out of their league!

One night, after several years had passed, Lady Du sighed over dinner and set down her chopsticks.

"Ah Yue," she said slowly, looking very serious. Ah, she was seriously so beautiful, and so hot. A couple of years had done nothing to her aura.

"Ah Yue, are you listening?"

"Huh? Yes! Yep, I'm listening!"

"Ah Yue, do you wish to cultivate to immortality? Is your goal to ascend?" She sighed, taking my hand from across the table and looking into my eyes. "Both you and I know that, at the rate you have cultivated over the last few years, it will not be long before you ascend to an immortal state. You have already cultivated a golden core at your age; it may be only a few more years before you reach the level of immortal cultivation. Is this what you wish to achieve?"

I gulped, feeling her hand tighten on mine. Despite flying through the Foundation, Qi Condensation, and Golden Core levels of cultivation, I hadn't really thought about where I was going with this. I was just enjoying my power, to be honest.

Did becoming an immortal...

Mean that I would have to leave Lady Du?