The following morning, Yu ate her breakfast alone at the small table in her quarters. She barely tasted the rice, egg, and vegetables as she chewed, lost in thought.

Since she had no real duties to speak of, Yu was mostly left alone. She spent most of her time training, or recovering from training.

After her eidetic memory had been discovered, her mother and Caretaker Bo had stopped making her attend the normal classes and simply given her scrolls and books to read. After the early lessons on the basics of life, just about everything was memorization and understanding. She could and did ask questions when something came up that she couldn’t work out, but beyond that, she was let be.

It had been like this for most of her life. Yu was left to her own devices, ignored by anyone of note beyond when she was harassed.

She did occasionally make plans with Lei, who was generous enough with his time that she was not completely ignorant of the clan’s goings-on. Yu ate important meals with her entire family, although where possible she ate alone to avoid attention. She rarely spoke to her father, and on those rare occasions it was mostly because she was caught in some kind of incident like the one in the barn. Perhaps she could have interacted with him more, but his looks of pity were more than she could bear.

Most of the time Yu, the embarrassing crippled daughter of the clan chief, was invisible. Which was how she preferred it.

Planning out her day, as she always did before heading out, she figured she could go for a slow run to the river to warm up and then spend some time swimming in order to work on strengthening her pathetic body. After that, she could practice forms in the clearing she often went to for isolation and focus… and protection, as she reluctantly admitted to herself. Nobody knew she went there, which allowed her to avoid her most persistent tormentors for a short time. It infuriated her that she had to be such a coward, but there was no avoiding it unless she wanted more encounters like the one in the barn.

At first her father had punished any who harassed her. But his first wife would always use such incidents as an opportunity to remind Da how weak his daughter was, how fragile. Yu did not want the attention, nor could she stomach the pity. So she now did her best to hide any mistreatment. The few incidents that did come to her father’s attention were allowed to slide as being the foolish actions of youth, especially thanks to the incessant whispers of his first wife. That, and her insistence that Yu should receive no special treatment, of course.

Thinking of the barn made her fingers curl around the wooden utensils in her hands, her breakfast forgotten. Fury at her life sang through her blood, flushing her skin a red under its usual unhealthy pale gray. She could have beaten them.

Desire to improve and grow strong flooded her as she thought of her deformity. She demanded more of herself. With a disgusted grunt, she slammed her partially empty bowl onto the table, stood up, and went to change into her exercise clothes.

***

Panting in quick short breaths, Yu leaned over her knees, sweat dripping onto the grass by the riverbank. Parts of her loose white top and black pants were soaked through with sweat and sticking to her.

Yu had managed to reach her destination without being accosted that day. She had been careful to avoid any other cultivators from the city, whether from her clan or not. They all plagued her the same – it was just that the betrayal of her own hurt more.

The Fenghuang “family,” as she referred to it, was anyone she was directly related to, or anyone to whom her direct relations were directly related. The Fenghuang “Clan” included numerous branch families who were related through marriage, partnership, business, and such.

It was when her own blood and clan attacked her, verbally or physically, that she felt the most angry and guilty.

Yu understood that members of the Chao Clan, the second most influential clan in the city after hers, and the Jing Clan, the third major house, would do what they could to bring her down. Both spoke widely of the dishonor she brought to the Fenghuang family and clan. Anything that brought the highest family down raised up the competition, after all. At least that would be how they saw it.

But all of that was out of Yu’s control. She could only grow stronger to attempt to offset the harm she caused. If she became powerful enough to benefit her clan and the city by hunting beasts, fending off bandits, or even acting as a city guard, they wouldn’t be able to speak negatively of her any longer. Instead, she would bring honor to her family and raise their status. Or at least not lower it.

Finally having caught her breath, Yu stopped thinking about that and reached for the comfort of the swords on her back. The leather-wrapped handles of the dual wooden practice weapons (short swords called jian) that were strapped crossways across her back showed above her shoulders.

Her body size and shape didn’t allow for belt scabbards, so she faced the extra challenge of learning to draw from her back rather than hip. It limited the draw–strike combination moves available to her, but she wasn’t quick enough to utilize those effectively anyway, so it wasn’t a material loss. And for whatever reason, she found the back scabbards more comfortable. As a side benefit, having a free hip left an open spot for her whip, which she was surprised to find resonated with her as much as the jian.

Yu stripped off everything but her tight “cultivation” clothes, laid them down by the side, and waded into the river. The reason she always chose this location was because it was a point in the river that offered a decent but not overwhelming current while still being within the safety area of the city patrols.

They cleared out any beasts from a wide range around the city and about five li into the forest surrounding it.

Once she was deep enough that only her neck was above the water and she could feel the push of the current, Yu crouched into her horse stance and began her exercises, her head sinking into the cool, watery depths. The sting of the icy water helped her focus as she threw straight punches and kicks that would exercise her muscles without too much strain. Because of the fragility of her lungs, she had to raise her head for air after only a few seconds, but she returned to her stance and unrelenting punches and kicks each time.

Frustratingly, she could only withstand this exercise for five minutes or so before her body forced her out of the water, or else she would be swept away by the river. She left the water and lay on the grass, her chest rising and falling as she caught her breath and recovered before the second attempt.

Yu repeated her exercises until her muscles and lungs were unable to endure any more. She climbed out of the freezing water to recover one last time. After a few minutes of frustratingly slow recuperation, she dressed and moved into the forest toward her hidden refuge.

***

A light jog with occasional breaks finally led Fenghuang Yu to the clearing she claimed as “hers.” Dropping her whip, small skin of water, snacks, and change of clothes, she started her stretches. Following that were her standard acrobatics routines, which included leaping, flipping, spinning, and some limited climbing.

After completing her last spinning backflip she flopped onto the soft grassy ground, panting and soaked with sweat, and once again wearing only her cultivation clothing. Despite her exhaustion, she was pleased with her workout. Of course, it would have been nothing to a cultivator whose body had been strengthened with Qi, but Yu couldn’t compare herself to them. She had seen cultivators exert themselves for hours nonstop, fighting or exercising.

Years ago, before she was as self-aware, Yu remembered she had watched Lei carry a boulder on his back as he jogged around their father’s courtyard. He had been trying to entertain her while getting a workout, which was sweet. What he had not known was that it had only stoked Yu’s envy and determination. That very evening she had ended up nearly dying due to a large stone she had been trying to lift falling on her leg, causing broken bones and internal bleeding.

Shaking her head and returning her focus to the present, Yu ran the prior exercise session through her mind again. She had managed to fall only three times during the last flipping routine, which was a new record for her. She would have bruises, of course, but not bad enough to risk her life. And they could be treated easily with a quick trip to one of the family healers.

Yu reflected how fortunate she was in that way – she didn’t have to pay to see a healer. It was one of the reasons she was thankful for her family. The smaller families and clans in the city didn’t have the luxury of Water or Wood affinity cultivators, and the mundanes certainly couldn’t afford one for anything less than a debilitating injury. They generally went to an apothecary or, if they were on the wealthier side, the Alchemists’ Association.

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Such cures paled in comparison to that of cultivation-based healing, though.

She had imagined fleeing many times over the years, in order to save her clan the embarrassment. But reality stopped her, as Yu would almost certainly have died long ago if she had left. Considering her body’s fragility, if she had been born into a family unwilling or unable to provide healers, she almost certainly would have died young – if they had even kept someone like her. She would be a massive expense to keep alive for any family or organization. If a book fell on her, or she tripped the wrong way going up or down stairs…

Her condition was a prison. For both her and her family.

That was at the heart of why she was so determined. She could be useful. She could bring honor. If only she were strong enough. And to get strong enough, she needed to practice and work hard. For Yu, hard work was never a problem.

With that in mind, she climbed back to her feet. Drinking some water and retrieving her wooden swords, she began her forms. Her mind emptied as she conducted the smooth and concise motions. This was when she felt the most free. She wasn’t a cripple when her twin swords moved like hands running along silk. She was graceful like her mother. Tai Chi was all about smooth precision and redirection of force through a tranquil mind and heart.

Her body remembered those movements and flows perfectly. With a sword pointing ahead and with her feet together, she nimbly flowed into a single leg standing and thrust forward while her opposite sword crossed her body. Yu guided her thin body into a spin as she dropped down into a sweep of both swords. Almost at the same moment, she used the leverage from her crouch to leap for a right and left cross-sweep of each blade.

Yu continued her motions all the way through the twelfth form: a retreat, parry, and block. As she finished, a loud clapping startled her from her motions. In reaction, she raised both her swords horizontally in a ready stance, one above the other but on opposite sides and facing the threat. Yu stood on the balls of her feet with her legs shoulder length apart, her left in front and the right behind.

Six teenage cultivators entered her clearing. Each was wearing blue-and-black hanfu, with a patch showing a wooden bow wrapped in a hissing serpent.

She had been discovered. And not by friends. Furious, Yu berated herself. How had she not noticed them? Was she truly so oblivious? If Yu wanted to become a warrior, she would need to do much better.

The young man in the center of the line was taller than the others by a handspan, and was the one who had given away their presence with applause. He spoke with a sneer both on his face and in his voice.

“I see the cripple likes to pretend. Or were you dancing?” he jeered.

The others laughed at this as they continued to walk forward and surround her.

“Please, feel free to dance for me,” the boy continued. “If you weren’t such a scrawny thing you might be nice to look at. Of course, your disgusting hair would turn away most spectators, but we could put a scarf over your head.”

The five others had completed the circle around Yu and were laughing even harder at each word which came from the tallest boy.

“What do you want, Jing Wei?” Yu asked.

Even she knew the second son of the Jing family, supposedly a genius at cultivation at sixteen. Personally, Yu wasn’t impressed by either his reputation or what she saw in front of her. Her brother, Lei, could use Qi externally at the same age, while Jing Wei had still been stuck in the Foundation Building Stage. At least, that was according to the stories Yu had heard at the dinner table.

Jing Wei looked surprised at her use of his name. “You know who I am, then?” The surprise morphed into anger almost immediately. “So, you are a mundane who dares speak the name of her better.”

His voice lowered and his sneer became a glare. “You filth. My name is dishonored merely being uttered by mundane lips. You are a weak, useless freak. You think you can speak to me? You shouldn’t even be looking at me. It makes me feel dirty.”

He shot a look at the two cultivators behind Yu.

“She isn’t worthy to lay eyes upon the second son of the house of Jing. Lower her to her proper station,” he ordered.

Before she could even react, Yu found herself facedown on the ground with two feet pressing her into the grass and dirt.

So fast, Yu thought.

Not wanting to give them the satisfaction, she lifted her head and glared back at Jing Wei.

“You know,” Jing Wei told her as he approached, “they could hold you down with a finger. But then they’d have to touch you with their skin. Perhaps in the future we should wear gloves when dealing with trash.”

He shuddered openly. “You know what? I was wrong about you. Mortals are mortals. Beneath our notice, yes, but it’s not their fault. You, though… you are a cultivator who cannot cultivate. Born to the mighty but weak yourself. Do you know what that makes you? A worthless. Crippled. Freak. At least mundanes have a purpose. You’re useless garbage.”

Yu took the insults while staring Jing Wei directly in the eye. Seeing this, his face contorted with anger as he approached, but he stopped as one of his cronies handed him Yu’s swords. He examined them, smiling widely.

“Toys? You wield toys as weapons?” he mocked. Once again laughter filled the clearing. “Little children train with these.”

He tilted his head sideways and gave her a contemplative gaze. “Now that I think about it, a mundane is not allowed to carry weapons longer than knives in the city. That must mean trash like you shouldn’t be allowed even a stick. As a future leader of the city, I will have to take it upon myself to punish you.”

Yu shuddered involuntarily, being beaten by cycling cultivators would mean death for someone of her fragility. At least none of them should have opened any meridians yet, meaning they could not use their Qi to harm her directly. Had they been able to do so, she likely would not survive even a single strike. Then again, they did not even need that level of power – every Jing present could kill her with ease if they wished to. Hells, they could probably kill her by waving their hand too hard and accidentally striking her with it.

Jing Wei didn’t appear to want her dead, though. Not yet anyway. Yu figured he wanted to see her humiliated.

He spoke to one of the two Jing holding her down. “Her face is still too high for trash. Lower it.”

More laughter followed as her face was pressed into the dirt, her dull multicolored hair sprawled out around her head. Yu heard the crunch of dirt and a whisper in her ear, “You think you still have pride to cling to, yes? That people care for you? Well, let go of such fantasies. I was told you’d be here.”

The voice was soft, venomous. But it held the ring of truth.

Yu froze. What? Who? Surely the few in her family who knew of this location would not stoop so low. And who would care enough about her to partner with a competing clan?

Jing Wei was right, she was useless trash after all. Or maybe that was why. Someone in her family had finally figured out how to get rid of her using others. It was a clever way to wipe her stain clean from their family while also framing a rival for the deed.

Returning to a standing position Jing Wei said casually, “Punishment for a mundane child wielding an illegal weapon is a beating. Let’s begin.”

Yu heard one of the boys holding her down say, “She really is just skin and bones. Disgusting.”

And then dirt entered Yu’s mouth as she screamed from the pain of the thwack her own sword delivered to her back. Another thwack followed and there was more pain.

The agony didn’t end until she was beaten from her ankles to her neck. After the first few hits, Yu had stopped struggling and was barely able to sob weakly into the dirt, growing weaker by the minute. Each strike caused more blood to flood her body, her pitiful form sustaining multiple internal injuries. She could feel herself fading out of consciousness. In the midst of it all, Yu realized these injuries would finally end her.

Did they know of her fragility? Did they care?

Yu could barely make out the words whispered in her ear as Jing Wei leaned down and spoke to her again. “You are a curse upon this world and your family. I would be doing your family and clan a favor by killing you or letting you die. But I do not do favors for the Fenghuang.”

Standing back up, he called over one his compatriots. “Liling, heal her. Not all the way, and only on the inside – just enough that she doesn’t die. I understand the freak is quite vulnerable to such things.”

“I have to touch her?” a high-pitched but lovely voice asked in a disgusted tone.

“I know it’s revolting. I feel the same,” Jing Wei responded sympathetically. “But the Jing Clan will not do the Fenghuang’s work for them. If they wish to keep this filth in their ranks to harm their clan, I will let them. Now, do as I ask.”

Apparently, they did have a cultivator who could use Qi externally after all. Thankfully it was only a healer.

“Fine,” the girl pouted.

A few moments later, Fenghuang Yu’s fading mind started to clear and the pain returned with a vengeance. She squirmed beneath the feet pressing on her shoulder and hip, and the foot holding her face into the dirt, neither person having moved during her… punishment.

A crack of thunder rent the sky and Yu turned her head to see some of the group look up to the dark gray clouds. A storm had gathered in the previously clear heavens. It seemed even the gods refused to witness her shame.

One of the other boys who hadn’t spoken yet said, “We should head back. I don’t want to get soaked.” The others nodded or mumbled agreement and Jing Wei concurred. “Whatever. We did what we came to do.”

One of the two keeping Yu pressed down asked, “What about her?” as he pressed harder for a moment.

“Leave her,” Jing Wei answered. “I feel dirty enough having to speak to her, and I’ve grown bored.”

Battered and broken, her face streaked with mud that was a mixture of dirt and her own tears, Yu heard those last words echo through the clearing. Her captors were bored. She hadn’t even put up enough of a fight to keep their attention.

At that moment, Yu realized all her work, all her perseverance… it was a joke. Jing Wei proved that today. She could never be strong enough to fight a cultivator or a beast. She would never be strong enough to help her clan. They had been right all along. It would be better if she just disappeared into the forest – perhaps she would starve to death from being too weak to catch her own food. Or be eaten by a demonic beast. Maybe her corruption would poison it and she could finally bring some value to her family and city when it succumbed, choking on her tainted flesh.

Just as the group turned to leave, laughing at Yu’s family’s stupidity in keeping her around, a low growling filled the clearing. Yu managed to lift her head to look where the sound had come from.

As if the world were listening to Yu’s thoughts, a tiger more than a head taller than she was stalked into the muddy clearing.

The healer girl squeaked, “A demonic beast!”