2 Ni YuZhou

Ni Yuzhou lived a simple and happy life, she was not a person that was well off as some of the nobles that she saw in those sedans or as pretty some of the popular girls around the city but she did not care about that. She had a happy life with her father.

Ni Yuzhou was not pretty so she had never been popular with the kids her age, she never had a friend. She had always tried but then she would get bullied and teased about her appearance.

Whenever she came home crying and telling him about her day her father had always been there to console her. He would hold her in his arms and pat her back while she was telling him about her day and just nod with an 'hmm' along the way.

Maybe it was not the best way to console someone but it had always worked for her, she would always feel safe and warm in his arms, it was a place she could go to no matter what happened. It would be so comfortable that in the middle of Ni Yuzhou telling her father about her day she would fall asleep every single time before she finished and when she woke up she would forget the pain that she had experienced the day before and only feel the warmth of her father's embrace.

Her father was not one to talk much, he had an average build and a face that looked just like her, it was just that he did not show any emotions on his face unless it was to her but unlike her, he did not have or try to make any friends, he was perfectly content with just the two of them.

Her father worked at a shop that was popular and the owner of that shop was pretty nice. The owner of that shop also liked that Ni Yuzhou's father worked well, not hard but well.

He did not do everything in the shop but he did everything that was needed at the time that they needed to be done and everything worked out perfectly.

.......

"Daddy!! Look! There are people flying in the sky!" Ni Yuzhou shouted while pointing towards a group of beautiful people on flying swords.

Her father just looked at the group of people on flying swords like any other people, he was not surprised or had any misgivings about them. He just stood behind Ni Yuzhou with his hands on her shoulders while looking up at the people on flying swords.

The group of people on the flying swords flew over to the main part of the city, the inner city.

The city that Ni Yuzhou lived in had two areas, the outer and inner. The outer city was meant for the commoners while the inner city was meant for the nobles. The inner city was much better than the outer city, it had polished stone roads, majestic buildings, and it was very colorful.

"Who are those people daddy?" Ni Yuzhou asked her father. She wanted to fly in the sky and go into the inner city too.

"Cultivators." Her father answered expressionlessly.

"I want to be like them!" Ni Yuzhou said.

"Do you know what cultivators do?" Her father asked her.

"No." She shook her head innocently, this was the first time hearing the word cultivators.

"They rebel against fate." Her father answered her.

"What does that mean?" She couldn't understand what he was saying.

"They decide what happens to them and no one can stop them from it." Her father explained further.

"I want to do that too!" Ni Yuzhou did not get all of what her father said but she wanted to decide what happens to herself too.

"Are you sure? Cultivators do not have an easy time on their path. Some lose their friends, family, innocence and even their lives." Her father explained.

Sometimes when you gain immortality and strength, the path you got there with haunts you enough to regret that you choose to cultivate, he had seen many of those cases before.

"I am sure! I won't let anything happen to us!" Ni Yuzhou did not have any friends so she did not have to worry about that, however, she did have a father that she loved very much, she swore inwardly that she would not let anything happen to him.

Seeing her resolute face, her father smiled. His smile was not anything special but it stunned Ni Yuzhou, he did not smile often and this time she got a direct view, there was something that pulled her towards his smile.

She wanted him to smile more but she did not know how it had always been him that made her smile not the other way around.

Ni Yuzhou was still a kid as she was impatient to get started. She bugged incessantly for her father to teach her to cultivate right away.

However, her father did not want her to get started so early, just a day more of this life would do. He may not have shown it on his face but he enjoyed every minute he spent with her. Even if she was not his real daughter...

The rest of the day was spent with Ni Yuzhou reluctantly playing around in the yard as her father was watching intently leaning on the front door of their small house.

As nighttime approached Ni Yuzhou went in their house, she was tired from playing, she may have been reluctant at first but she was still a kid and she enjoyed playing around. She went into the house and her father welcomed her.

He lifted her into his arms as he carried her to take a bath. Ni Yuzhou was still a little shy about this even though they did this every day. Her father carried her to the bathtub that was already filled with warm water. He stripped her naked and lifted her into the tub.

As she soaked in the water that was somehow always the perfect temperature, her father began to clean her. He washed every nook and cranny on her body perfectly, his movements were very fast but still very gentle.

When he was done cleaning her he left leaving behind the faintly blushing Ni Yuzhou to soak in the water.

This time she felt that the bath was different, she smelled a faint aroma of medicinal herbs in the water and she also noticed that her body was getting stronger. She did not notice it before since she was focused on her father at the time.

She knew that this was her father's work as he was teaching her cultivation tomorrow, she felt a warm feeling spreading from her heart while she soaked in the water silently.

When Ni Yuzhou finished she got out of the tub and walked out. Her father was waiting outside for her and had a clean set of clothes and a towel for her, he wiped her down with the towel and then helped her put her clothes on.

"Thank you." Ni Yuzhou said quietly.

Her father did not react as he continued putting on her clothes. When he was done he carried her to the bed and laid her down. He also got on the bed as he reached out and pulled Ni Yuzhou in his embrace and slowly fell asleep.

Ni Yuzhou felt extra warm in his embrace tonight as she fell asleep with a smile across her face.