Yan Yu was a girl who felt that her life had always been pursued by calamities, and it seemed as if the heavens themselves held a particular hatred toward her.

When she was born, by coincidence, on that same day, her father, who was out searching for opportunities, was murdered after clashing with some cultivators.

Her mother, upon hearing the news, did not take it well and, on that same day, abandoned the newborn baby in the house of her now-dead husband and left, with no one ever knowing where she went or what was going through her mind.

Yan Yu herself believed that, in fact, she had been very lucky in that sense, because if her father had died a few days earlier, her mother might not have just abandoned her, but might have directly aborted her. Unfortunately, later, when some bad things happened in her life, she wondered whether that was really luck or misfortune.

On the same day she was abandoned, her grandmother and grandfather, devastated by the news of their son’s death, came to see the house and the precious child he had left as his last gift to the world.

However, when they arrived, they only found her, a fragile little baby, left on the cold floor of the house, with her small body trembling, but with intense crimson eyes, staring at them with curiosity, without making any sound of crying or fear.

The scene immediately frightened them and made them furious at their daughter-in-law’s irresponsibility, but at the same time, secretly filled with praise for the unyielding spirit that the little girl, from her very first day of life, already displayed.

Thus, from that day on, she was raised by her grandparents, which was a very happy period of her life.

But at the age of 5, news about her father’s killers was found, and her grandfather, without thinking twice, set out in search of revenge… but never returned.

That was a dark period, and her grandmother lost much of her spirit that day. First the death of her son, then her husband’s, within a short interval of five years, was too much for her.

Unfortunately, before she even had time to grieve, those who had killed the people she loved came after them as well, as if they wanted to finish the job.

Her grandmother, unknown to them, was actually not weak at all, even being more powerful than her grandfather, and thus, taking advantage of the enemy’s lack of information, managed to grab her and take her away from there while being pursued.

In the following years, there was no longer any peace in her life. Constant pursuits, living hidden, never able to stop and never having a place to call home.

Over the next ten years, the once brave and lively child blossomed into a dazzling young woman of remarkable beauty.

Red hair and eyes, immeasurable courage, and life experience that very few her age could compare to.

Beautiful, brave, confident and… unfortunately, weak and without backing.

As if the unreasonable pursuit they suffered for ten years wasn’t enough, her beauty one day caught the attention of a cruel and domineering disciple of a Nascent Soul sect.

What followed was his attempt to dominate her by force.

If she didn’t know his reputation, maybe she wouldn’t have resisted much. She was already tired of running and seeing her grandmother suffer constant attacks from other cultivators, but she knew that the only thing that would happen if she surrendered to such a person would be suffering and being used however he wished, before being thrown into some random grave.

Protection for her grandmother? It would be good enough if he didn’t kill her directly after playing with Yan Yu.

It was for this same reason that she never joined any sect. Although her root was extremely good and she had the qualifications to undoubtedly be accepted by these Nascent Soul powers, she would only be a disciple, said in a pretty way, and an ordinary servant, if said the correct way.

She could enter and would be safe inside, but her grandmother wouldn’t. If she wanted to protect her, the sect would only tell her to cultivate more and deal with it on her own.

That was how cultivation sects were. They would not send cultivators to deal with whatever problem any disciple had. The disciples served them, not the sect serving the disciples.

Of course, if it were someone important within the sect or related to their interests, then it would be another case.

Like in this case, where she and her grandmother almost died at the hands of the disciple who wanted to rape Yan Yu, later revealed to be the grandson of an influential elder of that sect. After they killed him and his subordinates in self-defense, his sect, enraged, simply sent a swarm of cultivators to hunt them down.

With no other way, they had to flee to the territory of another Nascent Soul sect, where they wouldn’t dare send anyone else.

Unfortunately, Yan Yu’s bad luck seemed unwilling to let go of her, and there… another young master set his eyes on her and forced her to remove her veil to reveal her beautiful face.

Another desperate fight followed. She ended up killing him as well, but his father arrived right after and, furious, captured her, taking her away before her grandmother, who was fighting a bit farther away against other lackeys, could react.

Under that man’s hands, her beautiful face was cruelly burned in living flames in a pill cauldron, until much of the flesh on her face melted, and even the entire right side of her dental arch was exposed, without the cheek where it should be.

After that, several whip marks scarred her body, nails were torn out, along with other tortures, but even after so much pain, she stubbornly refused to let out even a single scream, because she did not want to satisfy the bastard who was torturing her, such was her strength of spirit.

And when the man intended to be even crueler, her grandmother finally found her, breaking down the door of the place where they were hidden.

Enraged beyond words when she saw what that cruel bastard had done to her poor granddaughter, she fought desperately against him, but both had almost the same combat power. In the end, her grandmother prioritized her granddaughter and took her away from there, enduring the man’s cruel and frenzied attacks, fleeing as far as she could while protecting her.

In the end, they managed to escape, but her grandmother was barely hanging on, seemingly beyond any hope of recovery.

And with three different groups searching for them everywhere, they knew that whoever found them first would seal their fate.

“My little girl (xiao meimei), you must leave grandma behind. Grandma is already very tired and will only be a burden now. She only wishes for you to live happily… cough, cough!” In the middle of her words, the old woman began coughing into her fist, weakly.

When she removed her hand from her mouth, it was possible to see there was blood there.

But the girl shook her head firmly, with tears streaming from her eyes. She didn’t cry even when she was tortured, but seeing her grandmother like this, her heart hurt more than she could describe, and she felt that everything that had happened was entirely her fault.

“No, Grandma. If you go, Mei Mei would rather go with you,” Yan Yu spoke firmly, her voice still hoarse from the immense trauma her body had endured during the torture. Her face was pale, and her limbs trembled with weakness, yet her eyes remained resolute.

Then, without hesitation, she grabbed her grandmother’s arm with the little strength she had, passed it over her own shoulder, and supported the elderly woman’s weak body, while they walked forward with extreme difficulty.

The old woman looked with affection, but also helplessness, at her brave granddaughter, for whom she felt so much guilt, and with extreme pain when she saw the completely disfigured side of her face.

She felt that she had completely failed as a grandmother, as she had never managed to provide a stable and safe environment for her granddaughter, always running and risking her life, which made her feel completely incompetent. If her granddaughter had been born into a different family, she felt that she would have become a great person one day and would have lived a very happy life.

Tears began to fall from her eyes as she thought about it, but Yan Yu did not dare look at her crying grandmother, because she felt like a completely incompetent granddaughter for making her grandmother go through so much. If she could be more talented and attract a powerful master to protect the two of them, she would not have had to let her grandmother suffer so much.

Thus, both, feeling that they had failed the other, fled to the only place where they could truly escape from their pursuers, but that was equally dangerous and uncertain… the forbidden desert.

The journey was long, exhausting, and dangerous, with many challenges and setbacks along the way. But when they finally arrived at that chaotic city, Yan Yu’s grandmother could no longer even walk on her own.

Then it was the girl’s turn to support her grandmother, navigating through that dangerous city and obtaining medicine for her, which unfortunately was not very useful beyond stabilizing the elderly woman’s condition.

Two years later, at seventeen years old, Yan Yu’s life, although not good at all, strangely enough, in that chaotic city she finally achieved, in a way, the stability she had always desired.

Her disfigured face, in fact, was what allowed her to go through this phase without so many setbacks, because if she still had her beautiful face from before, who could say what would have happened to her in that city full of bandits.

The only unfortunate news was her grandmother, who seemed older with each passing day, and whose health seemed to get worse and worse. Although she was reluctant to accept it, or even think about it, she knew it was not far from the day when she would be completely alone in this world, losing the only light in her life.

Not even she knew what she would do then. Whether she would try to keep living a little longer in this world of suffering, trying to grow stronger to take revenge on the people who brought her so much suffering, or if she would end this life, following her grandmother immediately after she passed away.

But while that hadn’t happened, she would spend each day taking one step at a time.

Thus, time passed.

And, when everything seemed like it would remain the same, an incident happened.

A huge black ship appeared above the city of exiles, and a sect, which she later discovered was called the Infinite Dao Sect, simply and boldly took the city that no one, besides them, useless renegades, wanted.

Their strength was impressive, and she felt the horror of hundreds of Soul Formation existences that day, which was terrifying.

Even so, when disciples of that sect wanted to invade her house and take them away from there, she did not back down in the face of their power. Her grandmother was inside, and she, who had long grown tired of living, did not care about the opponent’s strength. She would fight to the death for the only person she cared about.

But their reaction was very different from what she could predict. They were not arrogant, nor violent or overbearing as expected. On the contrary, they seemed uncertain about what to do, as if they truly valued her opinion and did not want to come into conflict with her or hurt her grandmother.

They said they were a good sect and that they did not commit injustice against anyone who was good, and, seeing their attitude, even having so much power, she could not help but believe a little. Even so, that was something unprecedented for her.

What kind of sect, with power far beyond others, would care about the opinions of the weak or about their lives?

She had never seen a truly good sect in her life, only having seen those where leaders and disciples did not care about anything besides themselves, always turning a blind eye to the cruelty they themselves committed. That was why she was reluctant to believe.

Then, it happened. While protecting her grandmother from those people, an impressively handsome man, besides being powerful, simply entered her house, healed her grandmother, was gentle with both of them, in his own way, and then left after giving her a medicine that could heal her face, without asking anything in return.

After that, many things happened. People died, people were expelled, and the rest, just like her, were placed at the foot of the newly unearthed desert mountain, which still shocked her. Who would have thought there was such an enormous mountain beneath their feet.

But that also slightly reduced her faith in that sect. They might not be evil, but they were not that generous either.

Placing them at that foot, where there was not even a trace of spiritual energy, was not exactly the definition of rewarding them with a place countless times better than where they lived before, as they had promised.

Even so, whether it was she and her grandmother, out of gratitude for the chance to reclaim their lives, or the others, out of fear of fleeing, everyone obediently stayed at the foot of the mountain, at least for the time being, without attempting to escape.

But it was only a matter of time until, after the few resources everyone had ran out and they felt stagnant in cultivation, they would leave that place in search of opportunities.

While thinking about this, she stepped out of her new house at the foot of the mountain, which she and her grandmother had received from the Infinite Dao Sect, and let out a light sigh as she felt the strong sun on her skin. Especially when it fell over her burned face, which stung slightly and uncomfortably.

Raising her hand, she carefully touched, with her fingertips, those scars on her face, whose texture felt more like deformed rock than human skin. Such an action unconsciously revealed her arm, full of marks and scars.

She had not taken the medicine that the leader of the Infinite Dao Sect had given her, even though the scars still hurt.

Her face when it was beautiful, unintentionally, had brought to her and her grandmother scars deeper than those that existed on the skin, and only when her beauty was broken did she finally gain a few years of relative peace.

Because of that, she feared fixing this face and once again bringing disaster to her grandmother. Even though the latter had insisted that she take the medicine, unable to bear seeing her granddaughter suffer.

While lost in thought, she unconsciously looked toward the peak of the main mountain, where the city of exiles used to be.

“Huh?!”

A sound of disbelief suddenly came from her throat.

There, overnight, half of that mountain was filled with green grass, lush trees, and an immortal atmosphere that contrasted strongly with the rest of the lifeless mountain and the entire desert around it.

And Yan Yu could also see several powerful men scattering seeds downward, waving their hands and making them grow out of nothing, while others seemed to be setting up formations at that very moment, which made extremely strong pulses of spiritual energy come from inside the mountain, flooding that area.

It was like witnessing a spiritual rebirth in the desert. If that pace could be maintained, soon the house where they were would also receive this extraordinary benefit.

If that were truly the case, they would finally understand why the Infinite Dao Sect had promised them an environment a hundred times better than the previous one, even though they didn’t need to lie with their strength… because then it would no longer be a lie.

Soon, the scene drew the attention not only of her, but of several other residents around, who also looked in disbelief at the lush green mountain.

In the eyes of all of them, just like in hers, a light that had not been seen for a long time appeared.

That was the light of hope.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep