Lin Yuyan's POV
"Cripple! Move faster!"
The bucket of dirty water hit my back before I could dodge. Cold liquid soaked through my thin robes as laughter echoed across the courtyard.
I kept walking. After eighteen years, you learn that reacting only makes it worse.
"Three more days," I whispered to myself. "Just three more days."
Three days until I married Xiao Chen and escaped this nightmare forever.
My half-sister Qingxue stood with her friends near the training grounds, pretending she hadn't seen what just happened. Her expensive silk robes shimmered in the sunlight—robes our father bought her last week. I got hand-me-downs.
"Poor Sister Yuyan," Qingxue called out sweetly, her voice dripping with fake concern. "Still can't even sense spiritual energy? What a shame."
Her friends giggled. One of them whispered loud enough for everyone to hear: "I heard Sect Master Xiao only proposed because he feels sorry for her."
My chest tightened, but I forced myself to smile. They were wrong. They had to be wrong.
Xiao Chen loved me. He'd loved me since we were ten years old, training together in the mountains. He'd held my hand when I cried about my weak cultivation. He'd promised that my power didn't matter because his love was strong enough for both of us.
"Jealousy makes people say stupid things," I muttered, squeezing the water from my hair.
I hurried toward my tiny room at the edge of the sect grounds—the place where disciples with no talent got dumped and forgotten. My room was smaller than Qingxue's closet, but I'd covered the walls with drawings Xiao Chen had sent me over the years. Letters too. Dozens of them.
"Yuyan, you're the kindest person I know. That's worth more than any cultivation level."
"Wait for me. When I become Sect Master, the first thing I'll do is marry you."
"You're my future. My always."
I touched the most recent letter, dated two months ago. My fingers trembled.
In three days, I'd become his wife. We'd live together in the beautiful Heavenly Sword Sect. I'd wake up next to him every morning. No more bullying. No more being called useless.
Someone knocked on my door.
"Come in," I called, expecting another servant with chores.
The door opened, and I froze.
My father—Elder Lin Zhenfeng—stood in my doorway. He NEVER came to my room. In fact, I couldn't remember the last time he'd spoken directly to me. He always had servants deliver his messages, like I wasn't worth his breath.
"Father?" My voice came out small and confused.
He stepped inside, his expression unreadable. For a long moment, he just stared at me. Then, something impossible happened.
He smiled.
Not a big smile. Just a small curve of his lips. But it was real.
"Yuyan," he said quietly. "I know I haven't been... the best father to you."
My heart started pounding. Was this real? After eighteen years of disappointment and silence, was he finally seeing me?
"You've had a difficult life here," he continued, his voice almost gentle. "And I want you to know... I'm proud of you."
Tears burned my eyes. "You... you're proud of me?"
"Yes." He reached out and awkwardly patted my shoulder. "You've endured so much. Your wedding to Sect Master Xiao will bring great honor to our family. You've done well, daughter."
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. My father—the man who'd ignored me for eighteen years—was finally, FINALLY acknowledging my existence.
"Thank you, Father," I whispered, tears streaming down my face. "That means everything to me."
He nodded, then turned to leave. At the doorway, he paused.
"Get some rest tonight. Tomorrow will be... an important day."
The door closed behind him.
I collapsed onto my bed, crying happy tears for the first time in years. Everything was changing. My father finally cared. In three days, I'd marry the love of my life. Maybe suffering really did lead to happiness.
Maybe fairy tales could come true.
I fell asleep smiling, my father's words echoing in my mind: "Tomorrow will be an important day."
I woke to urgent pounding on my door.
The sky outside was still dark—barely past midnight. Who would—
"Miss Yuyan!" A servant's panicked voice. "Wake up! There's a messenger from Heavenly Sword Sect!"
My heart leaped. Xiao Chen sent a messenger? At this hour?
I threw on a robe and rushed outside. A cultivator in Heavenly Sword Sect's colors stood in the courtyard, his face serious. He held a sealed letter.
My hands shook as I broke the seal.
The message was short. Direct. Written in Xiao Chen's handwriting:
"Yuyan—Come to Heavenly Sword Sect immediately. We must speak before the wedding. Come alone. Tell no one. This concerns your future. —Xiao Chen"
My stomach twisted with sudden fear.
Why did this feel wrong? Why would he summon me in the middle of the night, three days before our wedding? Why the secrecy?
"Miss?" The messenger watched me carefully. "Sect Master Xiao is waiting. He said it's urgent."
I looked back at my room, at the letters on my wall. At the drawings of our future together.
Then I remembered my father's smile. His strange words: "Tomorrow will be an important day."
Not the wedding day. Tomorrow. Today.
Ice flooded my veins.
"Take me to him," I whispered.
As I climbed onto the messenger's flying sword, a horrible thought crawled into my mind—one I immediately tried to push away.
What if I'd misunderstood everything?
What if my father's smile wasn't pride?
What if it was... goodbye?
The wind screamed past us as we flew through the dark sky toward Heavenly Sword Sect, and with every mile, the dread in my chest grew heavier.
Something was very, very wrong.
And I was flying straight toward it.