“Uncle, I want this one.” She was holding a weak looking baby red mastiff. Its movements were slow and it seemed to barely have its eyes open, but it managed to give several licks to Pascal’s hand.

“Alright, why don’t you wait outside while I pay for it.” He took the dog and rubbed her head.

“Ok!”

Outside, Pascal waited patiently in front of the shop when a red ball happened to roll by her feet. She picked up the ball and saw a small boy coming towards her.

“May I have the ball back?” he asked.

She stared across the street to see a group of children playing on the streets.

“Can I play?” She asked

“How can you play with us when you are so old.”

“What! I’m not old, I’m only 5!”

“Maybe 500, even my grandma looks younger than you!” Without explaining any further he took the ball from Pascal’s hands and returned to the group of kids.

….

….

"Woo...Woo"

"Woo...Woo"

Relic heard Pascal crying and instantly appeared in front of her.

“What’s wrong! What happened!” He frantically searched her body to see if she was injured. Upon seeing there were no injuries he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Uncle…. A….ball…..rolled…towards…me....and….I...asked…if…I could… play… with…them…and…one…of…the…boys…said...I….can’t…because....I’m…too…old, older…than…his…grandma!”

Pascal cried after every word.

Relic glared at the kids playing on the street. As the ball was being tossed it suddenly popped and all the kids screamed in shock.

“Pascal, I was going to wait until you’re a little older to tell you this, but I guess I should tell it to you now.”

She held back her crying, hoping to hear words of comfort from her uncle

“You see, when a boy likes a girl or when they think a girl is very cute, they can’t help themselves but to tease them. When they are young they do not know how to be direct which is why you see many girls frustrated at boys at times.”

“Then he called me old because he thinks I’m cute?” Her tears seemed to stop as she gave a pitiful stare at Relic.

“Of course! There is no other answer but that!”

“Does uncle think I'm cute?”

“The cutest girl I have ever seen even in all my life! But, if you continue to cry I may find you to be only the second cutest girl I’ve ever seen.”

She immediately wiped her tears and gave him a hug.

Thump...Thump...

His heart raced and his face redened.

"What is this...Why do I suddenly feel different...“

He felt infinitely closer to his master now than when he had ever been. Before, he knew her as an strong, kind, and elegant women. Never had he seen her depend on others or get too close to others.

Now, this was her true and unrestrained self, and he found that it made her all the more precious.

He quickly shook his head.

"If you ever want to play, you should come to uncle. Unless... you don’t want to play with me…” he gave a seemingly sad face.

“No! Uncle is the best, I will always choose uncle first!” a grin appeared on his face when he heard her words.

“I’m sure this little guy also really wants to play with you.” He suddenly took out the small mastiff he had just bought.

Her eye lit up and immediately cuddled with the dog.

They returned to the restaurant where Relic was quick to explain the situation. The women all sighed dejectedly and returned to their seats. Thankfully, these women did not know the difficulties for cultivators to even have break throughs in such a short amount of time.

As time went on, Pascal continued enjoying life as a happy little girl. She would cultivate for around a quarter of the day before spending the rest of the day either playing with the dog and Relic, or doing things in the town.`

....

Two weeks went by in a flash. At this moment Relic was giving Pascal congratulatory words.

“You truly are a genius among geniuses! Within two weeks you broke into the Foundation realm! Congratulations! “

“Thanks!”

“Let’s have a big celebration tonight. What do you want to eat?”

“Actually, Uncle, I’m feeling a bit tired. I think I want to just go to bed.”

“Oh..., Ok, have a good sleep.”

“That’s odd, shouldn’t she have been jumping with joy having broken through so fast?”

Her going to bed so early was definitely an odd change from her usual excited self. However, he shook the thought out of his head. In truth, breaking through so fast wasn’t necessarily a good thing. There were bound to be negative side effects and he quickly sumised that this was one of them.

No longer thinking about it, he began to mediate while facing towards the town on the small hill.

Night passed and the morning came and went and during the afternoon, Relic began to grow worried. He checked her vitals but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

A day passed and he checked in on her in intervals. There were no signs that she would wake up but everything else was still fine. He decided to wait a couple more days before deciding to take any drastic measures.

The second day passed uneventufully.

On the third day, Pascal opened her eyes. Relic, who was sitting beside her bed was ecstatic.

“Pascal, How are you feeling?”

She blinked confusedly at Relic.

“U-Uncle? Are you my Uncle Astor???”

Relic's mind reeled. “Don’t tell me her memories have shifted again!”

“Y-Yes, it is me. Pascal, how are you?”

He made sure to ask questions that wouldn’t make her confused.

“My head…. I feel a bit dizzy.”

Her speech no longer sounded like a kid, but that of a young woman.”

She looked around to see an empty hut which carried nothing more than a bed and an exquisite table.

“Uncle, did my poison act up again?”

“Can you tell me what you last remember?”

She didn’t think this was a weird question. She was positive she was in the city a moment ago, but now she was here.

“I was participating in the legacy tournament. I think my name was called to fight and then suddenly nothing. Then I woke up here.”

“Her memories are returning! Does this mean that every time she breaks through a new realm she will get back a portion of her memories?!”

His heart began to race. This was one of the most exciting news he had heard in a very long time. Didn’t this mean his master will return soon?

However, Relic suddenly thought of a problem. How could she remember him but also have a set of her past memories? Wouldn’t the two memories contradict each other?

“I want to ask you a question and I want you to answer my question first.”

Although she was still in a daze she nodded affirmatively.

“You remember our time together right?”

“Of course! My times with Uncle are one of my happiest moments in my life.”

“What about after? Do you remember how you returned to your sect?”

She thought for a moment before she said, “I don’t really remember how I got back to my sect. My earliest memory would probably be when I was 9 and people were congratulating me for breaking through the Foundation realm. ”

Suddenly she titled her head in confusion. “That’s weird, why would they congratulate me at the age of 9 when I was able to break through when I was 5?”

“Ah, It’s the poison!” He quickly said. “It seems this poison is more deadly than we thought. It activates randomly and makes you forget moments in your life!”

Her face instantly paled.

“Such deadly poison! Uncle, have you been able to find a cure?!” she asked panicky

Relic gave a defeated shake.

“I’m sorry, although I’m known as a genius doctor, the poison is beyond my understanding.”

Pascal gripped her bed sheets and tears began to fall.

“This poison…. Will I ever be rid of it?!”

“You will! I believe as long as you continue to cultivate hard you will eventually rid this poison yourself!” He tried to comfort her.

“…….En, thank you, uncle” She gave a half-hearted smile.

Suddenly she heard a sound from the outside.

Woof…Woof

A small dog came rushing in. Although it was very young, it was able to jump onto the bed and licked Pascal’s face.

“Shiro!”

The dog happily licked her face as if it wanted to make up for the days she had been unconscious.

“How can this be... shiro why are you still so tiny?”

The tiny dog did not understand what his master was saying and only continued to lick her face.

“Pascal,” Relic suddenly became solemn. “There is a secret I must tell you which you must never tell anyone else. If you do, you will put many people in danger!”

“Uncle…..” she took a gulp.

“This town that you lived when you were little. You see, this is a magical town that is protected by a very powerful cultivator!”

She let out a gasp.

“Yes, this cultivator had set up a powerful formation which allows its inhabitants to age at a vastly slower rate than those outside of this town. As for the reason why he did this, even I do not know.”

He said as calmly as he could but inside he was sweating by the buckets. Her mind was now older than her naïve 5 year old self, and he wasn’t sure if she would continue to fall for his lies.

“Wow, amazing!” she exclaimed

“Success!”

“I’ve already talked to your father. We’ve agreed that you will stay here until you break through into the next realm.”

“OK!”

She became unusually happy. Her time with her uncle was vastly different from when she is spending time in the sect with her family. She cares for her father but she knew he only really cared for her sister. Her sister had extraordinary talent and unparalleled affinity to cultivate the sect’s secret arts. While her sister received praise, she would receive criticism.

However, suddenly she gaped in shock.

“My cultivation! Why is it at the initial level of the Foundation realm?!”