"You did remember to tell King ZhuanLun to suppress Tian-er's karma right. You know how pure her soul is. In the Human Realm, she would definitely have one of the highest karma they’ve ever seen." "Oh. I forgot. I only remembered to suppress her looks to a more normal, mortal-acceptable one. I don't want her to cause too much of a stir in the Human Realm because of her looks. And no one can ogle at my daughter." "You forgot?! We're going to get a huge commotion in the Human Realm cause of her powers." The Empress gave her husband an incredulous look and placed her head in her hands. It looks like a big headache's coming their way. "Good job there about the looks part though." —— “Look my Lord, it's a beautiful baby girl." "Since she was born on a full moon, we shall name her... Zi Yue. Zi to follow Zi Feng and Yue to represent the moon." "Zhao Zi Yue... Is that my sister's name? Her name is like mine!" A small face peeked at the baby swaddled in the blankets with tender eyes, obvious love for his newborn sister shining on his face. —— "ZHAO ZI YUE! You come back here!" Running after his sister, Zi Feng shouted in livid anger. This morning, he had woken up to a pair of eyes staring back at him. He jumped up in shock and saw his bed filled with frogs who collectively stared back at him when he jumped. From a third party's point of view, it was a hilarious scene. However, for the person himself, it was a complete nightmare. There was only one person who could have done this to him. Zi En, his second younger sister was only 5 years old and too young to do this. That left him with Zi Yue, who was 10 this year and very capable of playing such a prank on him. He was about to shout for his sister when he heard a soft giggle coming from outside his window. Opening it, he looked out and saw that below his window, Zi Yue was crouching there giggling to herself. Of course the culprit would want to be present to see her prank unfold. He had jumped out of the window to her horror and started chasing after her. In the end he had caught her. Although he was furious, he caved in when she gave him her trademark puppy eyes that she knew would successfully make him forgive her. Her brother was a softie towards his sisters. It worked. He melted and she got away scot-free. At her age, she was already quite intelligent and good at manipulating her brother. Even so, she was innocent at heart and played only harmless pranks on her brother. The frogs she caught to put into Zi Feng's bed were later released back, unharmed, into the pond behind their house. —— Sighing to herself, Zi Yue stared out of her window at the clear blue skies and flopped back onto her bed. She was bored at home and wanted some more excitement in her life. She often sneaked out of her house to visit the townsquare and it was such a thrilling miniature adventure for her. Because of her status and her powers, it was very difficult for her to go out easily. So she had to resort to doing so in secret. Zi Yue is a daughter of the Zhao family, one of the more influential families in the Bei Lian continent. That alone, however, would not have restricted her access to the outside world but there was one aspect of Zi Yue that they would prefer to stay low-key about. Zi Yue was ridiculously strong. She was only 18(1) but her culitvation level has reached almost Immortal 4th Stage (2) for some reason unknown to her family and close friends. They attributed it to the Gods favouring her because they were unable to believe that anyone could possess a level of karma so high that they can achieve that level of cultivation at such an early age. It was almost on par with the Masters and the Grand Masters of the four major sects. The amount of power one possess depends on the karma they possess innately. It is believed that the purer the soul in the previous life, the higher the karma would be in this life. Of course that was the case with Zi Yue since she had possessed a very pure soul in the Celestial Realm and based on her judgement plus the lack of suppression on her karma level, it would naturally lead to this situation. Her cultivation speed was terrifying, as cultivation continues over one's lifetime. This means that she will still continue growing and cultivating at the insane speed she was going. Although it gets harder and harder to progress, Zi Yue's high karma means that she will find it easier to progress than her peers. Not easy, but easier. Lying on her bed lamenting her cooped-in life, she heard a knock on her door. Before she could reply, a head poked in and grinned at her. "Ying you know that after knocking on the door you're supposed to wait for the person to invite you in before opening the door and entering. Not by inviting yourself in. You do know that right?" Looking at her best friend's grinning face, Zi Yue could only sigh in defeat. She supposed she should be used to it by now. Lan Ying may look elegant and soft-spoken on surface, but she was actually the opposite. She can be very loud and wild sometimes. "I know you're inside, I know you won't stop me from entering so why not." Grinning even wider now, Lan Ying hopped onto the bed and lied down beside Zi Yue. Their mums were best friends so they grew up together and were childhood playmates. As a result, they became as close as sisters and were not shy around one another. In fact, Lan Ying was often her partner-in-crime who helped her sneak out of house to visit town. It was odd because one would think that Zi Yue and Lan Ying will stand out since they come from prestigous families and since Lan Ying was eye-catchingly pretty, she would naturally attract a lot of male attention. Zi Yue was sure she had caught some females looking at Lan Ying before but they usually pretended to be looking somewhere else when they became aware that Zi Yue noticed them. Zi Yue on the other hand was not as pretty as Lan Ying. She did not know it was because of The Celestial Emperor's direction. However, she was not exactly ugly. It was more like she had the kind of face where you would find her normal-looking at first glance but her looks just grows on you (3). It was probably because of her normal looks that Zi Yue was able to blend in with the crowd easily and avoid detection. As for Lan Ying… it remains a mystery to everyone why no one notices her when she goes incognito. “I’m so bored Ying. Why can’t I go outside.” Rolling onto her side, Zi Yue looked at Lan Ying with a crying face and lamented to her best friend. “Excuse me my friend. I’ll have you remember that you brought this upon yourself. Remember when you were 12 and went to town with Zi Feng and Zi En? That time you were already reaching Immortal, at Transcendence Peak 5th Stage. You were already an abnormal alien at 12… Well, not like you were ever normal. Anyway you remember someone made En-er cry that day? You were so angry that you totally suppressed the person with your overwhelming Qi. Thank goodness Zi Feng was there and managed to pull you away before anyone realised that the person who released the Qi was you. And you know how low-profile your parents would prefer you all to be. Of course they would not let you go out easily until you have learnt proper control over your own powers.” Sighing, Zi Yue thought back to that moment. That day, it was Zi En’s first time in town and she was excitedly running around when she accidentally bumped into a man, spilling some of the food that she was holding onto his pants and shoes. He was furious and started shouting at her. Zi En was so scared she starting bawling and that resulted in the man shouting even more furiously. Zi Yue had ran onto the scene to try to apologise to the man on her sister’s behalf but he refused to listen to her apology. It was then that Zi En started crying and being the over-protective sister she was, Zi Yue was enraged at the string of expletives the man was throwing at her little sister. Zi Yue herself was young too and had not much idea of how strong she was, nor had any clue as to how to control her powers. That was how she ended up unleashing too much of her Qi in her rage mode and crushed the vulgar man. Zi Feng was at a store buying some candy for them when he heard the commotion and had rushed over just in time to see the scene unfold. He knew how strong Zi Yue was and thus, knew that the overwhelming Qi was coming from her. While everyone was bewildered and finding the unknown source of power, he had ran over to his sisters, apologised to the man for dirtying his pants and had dragged the two of them away before anyone linked them to the strong Qi. When their parents heard the story from them, they banned Zi Yue from going to the town until she had learnt proper control over her powers. Their parents preferred staying low-profile and not flaunt their power even though they were in fact powerful people. They did not want their children to grow up thinking that they are superior to others and thus wanted them to lead a normal life. So when they knew that their daughter was growing abnormally strong, they had to do something about it to ensure that she does not grow up to abuse her powers. They had to make sure that she learnt how to control it and not whenever she wanted to. The use of her powers in the situation that their children faced in town was pretty justified, but they wanted to avoid potential situations where she might end up accidentally misusing her powers. With that worry in mind, they discussed and thought long and hard about it before coming to the decision to ban her from going to town without adult supervision. “I have my powers under control already so why are they not letting me out yet?” Receiving only a shrug in reply, Zi Yue could only sigh again and stared at her room's ceiling in hopelessness. Looking outside the window, she wondered how the world was like. She had always loved reading and in the books she read, the outside world had seemed so fascinating. As a young girl, she often dreamt about exploring and adventuring like the adventurers in her fantasy stories. She didn't know why but she had always yearned to explore and learn all about the world. She started having such a strong desire to travel and explore the world since as young as she could remember. It was as if she was born with a wanderlust. As she thought about it, she came to a decision. "Alright, I've decided! I will talk to my parents about this. I want to go and explore this world. I want to learn everything about the different continents. I want to learn about other realms, about the possible existence of other worlds. You in?" Eyes burning with determination, she declared her decision to Lan Ying and started making her way to the door. "Do you even need ask?" Lan Ying knew that one day Zi Yue's desire and odd need to travel would compel her to make such a decision. She had been ready all along. Looks like she knew Zi Yue better than the person herself. —— "But Yue-er, Mother will miss you." Sobbing, the lady wiped her tears away daintily while looking at her daughter with pleading eyes. Zi Yue had forgot that her mum's personality was like this. Meng Ling was like a small kid when it comes to her family. She acted like the child instead of the mother sometimes. She adored her children and husband and likewise for them but if they had to describe her with one word, it would be "clingy". Not in a bad way though, but still clingy. Zi Yue could tell that it was going to be difficult for her mother to accept her daughter leaving for months and years. She threw her father a desperate look seeking his assistance, trying to get his help in convincing her mother. Zhao Yan looked at his daughter then look at his wife and sighed. He was not entirely against Zi Yue's idea because he was aware that she had her powers under control already but he too was an over-protective father when it comes to his daughters. He was still a little reluctant to let his daughter out of his protection. He knew though, that with her monstrous cultivation speed, Zi Yue would be perfectly fine on her own. Normal bandits or bad guys would probably not stand a chance against her. Plus she will have Lan Ying and Ye Yu with her. It was definitely going to be safe with the three of them. "Honey, Zi Yue's old enough already. Plus she has learnt proper control over her powers. I think it is time to let her find her own path. We should let go of her reins already." "But.. Honey..." Meng Ling wanted to protest. She did not want her baby girl to leave her side. Upon seeing her husband's face though, she gave in. She knew that her husband could not bear to let Zi Yue go off on her own as well, but he knew that it would be fruitless to stop her from leaving. Zi Yue was firm in holding her own ground and she was capable of protecting herself as well. It was thus that both husband and wife finally agreed to Zi Yue's request. Zi Yue was ecstatic. She had not imagined that they would really agree to it. She just wanted to give it a try and gauge their reaction. Who knew they would give her the green light! Finally! She would be able to satiate the wanderlust in her and learn all she wanted about the world she was living on. But before that... she should find Ye Yu first. (1) In case you get confused or didn’t catch it, there was a time-skip here from when she was 10 to 18 years old. (2) Do refer to the Author’s Note + Additional Information page for the Cultivation Stages. (3) It is something like you won’t get tired of seeing her face. You know how for some people, you think they are really good looking at first glance. But as you look at them longer and longer, you just find that somehow, they are losing that initial appeal. If you read Chinese, I would describe Zi Yue as “很耐看“.