"You... you repeatedly made a fool out of me today..."
Yino had lifted her by the legs and forced her to leak against the corner of the wall. After that, Wen Ruzhi felt she had lost every shred of her dignity. During these few short hours of their martial arts competition, she suffered a humiliation she would never forget for the rest of her life.
Even if she were to be killed, tortured, or trampled underfoot in the future, the humiliation would never compare to what she experienced today.
"What, you’re not convinced?"
Yino stood at the entrance of the alley. He crossed his arms and quietly admired the black-dressed girl who was acting entirely ungrateful after pulling her clothes back up.
Ruzhi reacted with indignant shame at the mockery. She glared at Yino, but then something seemed to cross her mind. After a brief moment of gnashing her teeth, she forced herself to calm down.
"No... I am convinced. You truly defeated me with your own strength. As the victor, you have the right to humiliate me like this."
Ruzhi stammered out the words through gritted teeth.
A soft sob escaped her lips soon after. She raised a hand to wipe the tears from her face. "I just didn’t expect your method of humiliating the loser to be so tasteless and twisted."
"Because you are a stubborn and thick-skinned girl. A simple punishment wouldn’t make you remember the lesson." Yino suppressed a smile, spreading his hands with a completely serious expression.
Ruzhi looked at him, her body trembling slightly. She turned her face away and bit her lip.
"You aren’t my father. You have no right to teach me a lesson."
She mumbled the complaint, but Yino still heard it clearly.
Yino felt a bit displeased. The remark reminded him of rebellious bratty children from his past life.
"Who told you to lose?"
He struck right at the girl’s sore spot once again.
Ruzhi widened her dual-pupiled eyes to retort, but Yino cut her off. "This proves that the Dao you walk is wrong."
"Otherwise, if things were really as you claimed, your bloodline and talent would not be inferior to mine. You worked harder than me, and you were willing to pay any price for your cultivation, bearing countless Karma..."
"If your worldview is correct, why couldn’t you defeat me just now even after giving it your all?"
"Doesn’t this prove that your Dao is wrong and the Dao I cultivate is superior? Doesn’t it prove that I am the only person in this world qualified to teach you a lesson?"
Yino looked incredibly smug by the time he finished speaking. He narrowed his cold eyes, secretly observing the speechless girl.
Ruzhi stood rooted to the spot. She had been intelligent since childhood, yet standing before Yino now, she ran through countless possibilities in her mind over a few short seconds. In the end, she could not overcome the logic he presented.
Could it be... has the Dao I cultivated all along truly been completely wrong?
The thought made Ruzhi feel like her inner Small World was collapsing. She instinctively tried to patch up her worldview, but her deeply held belief that the winner is king and the loser is a prey clashed violently in her mind.
"As the saying goes, a teacher for a day is a father for a lifetime."
Yino held up a single index finger. "I first defeated you as a peer, proving my Dao is superior to yours. I am the most qualified person in the world to teach you. And because of the principle that a teacher for a day is a father for a lifetime..."
"So in that sense, I am indeed qualified to be your father."
A sly and playful glint flashed in Yino’s cold eyes when he said the word father. It was a naked humiliation that struck straight at the depths of Ruzhi’s soul.
The hateful part was that Ruzhi found it hard to refute him. She knew perfectly well that Yino was using sophistry, but at first glance, his words seemed to make some sense.
"Alright, call me Daddy now. I can teach you the true essence of cultivation later and make you just as powerful as me."
Yino continued to tease her, clearly enjoying himself.
Ruzhi’s cheeks burned with shame. She finally reached the end of her patience. "I am a embryo descendant of the Dragon Sovereign! You... how could you..."
"So what? I’m the demon embryo of an ancient true phoenix."
"..."
"Didn’t you say you were willing to pay any price to grow stronger? Even if it meant giving up your purity and your chastity mark? Now all you have to do is call me Daddy to obtain a supreme Dao legacy. This should be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you, right?"
Yino’s words sounded more reasonable by the second. Ruzhi could not tell if he was just playing with her or being completely serious.
The girl stared blankly for a moment. Ultimately, she could not resist her curiosity.
"If I call you Daddy, can you really teach me how to cultivate..."
"Yep~"
Yino responded before Ruzhi could even finish her sentence.
The girl was still a bit dazed, but she realized Yino was just taking advantage of her about three seconds later!
"Are you a child?!"
Ruzhi’s face flushed bright red. She stomped her feet in anger. "You clearly showed astonishing talent during the martial arts competition! Why are you using all your wits on this twisted prank to mess with me?!"
"Heh, just a joke... But don’t you find it interesting? Isn’t this much more meaningful than walking around with that bitter, resentful little face of yours every day?"
Yino’s eyes grew sharp. He suddenly became a bit more serious amidst his joking.
His sudden change in expression caught Ruzhi completely off guard.
The black-dressed girl’s dual pupils darted back and forth. She seemed to be trying to understand the true meaning behind Yino’s words.
"You humiliating me... it’s clearly only meaningful to you..."
"Not at all. I think you’re quite enjoying it. I’m sure you will remember our little encounter today for the rest of your life."
Ruzhi looked at him with complex emotions in her beautiful eyes. She clenched her pale fists beneath her sleeves.
Yino continued to laugh. "I’m giving you a real chance right now. Call me Daddy, and I will tell you the true secret to cultivation!"
"Are you serious?"
"Completely serious."
"Da..."
"Too quiet. Come closer, I can’t hear you."
Yino crooked a finger, gesturing for Ruzhi to lean in.
Ruzhi bit her lip. She hesitated for a moment, but still leaned her face toward Yino’s chest and carefully enunciated the word. "Daddy."
"Now, can you tell me the secret to cultivation?!"
Ruzhi could hardly hide her inner shame after saying the word out loud. But thinking of the important matter at hand, she obediently tilted her small face up and waited for his explanation.
Yino quietly gazed into the girl’s eager, violet dual-pupiled eyes.
Due to their height difference, Ruzhi was only about 1.6 meters tall. Whenever she got close, Yino almost always had to look down at her.
"The secret..."
Yino leaned down, bringing his mouth right next to the girl’s ear.
Ruzhi took a deep breath. Feeling the oppressive presence of the man in front of her, her heart rate involuntarily sped up. With all her attention focused on her ear, a faint blush crept up her earlobes.
"The secret is to let go of the Dao that others have forced upon your heart. Live for yourself. Cultivate for the beliefs you have chosen. This is the true, invincible Immortal Dao in this world."
Yino spoke these words with a rare touch of seriousness. The sound of his magnetic voice sent a tingling sensation through Ruzhi’s ears.
The girl stood in place, pondering for a long time. She looked up at Yino, but upon realizing that he was also earnestly observing her expression, Ruzhi quickly averted her gaze and lowered her head to continue thinking.
A little more time passed. Ruzhi still couldn’t help but steal another glance at Yino, acting like a guilty little kitten carefully testing the waters.
"What, is what I said that hard to understand?"
"What you said isn’t hard to understand. But to me, it’s just a piece of meaningless nonsense that everyone in the world already knows."
Ruzhi spoke flatly. Her gaze shifted from her earlier guilt back to its usual cold indifference.
Yino’s mouth twitched slightly. Ruzhi lowered her eyes and parted her lips. "Who doesn’t know how to live freely? But when a soul is born into this world and cast into different bodies, they are inherently burdened with different Heavenly Mandates and bound by worldly matters. It’s just like how everyone knows that achieving the Dao and ascending will grant eternal life, but how many Sovereigns in this world can truly ascend?"
"You’re right. Everyone understands the theory, but achieving unity of knowledge and action is the hardest part."
Yino nodded, not arguing any further.