I am the most cherished little princess of Dongli. Whenever my father and mother read memorials, they take turns holding me.
When the aftershocks of the immortal sects’ treasure hunt shatter the palace, my father shields me from the collapsing beams with his back.
As she is dying, my mother pushes me into a secret passage. Her bloody handprint drags across the stone bricks, leaving a long trail.
The senior brother of Qingqiu Mountain digs me out of a pile of corpses, unconscious. “Little girl, come home with your senior brother.”
My second senior sister’s peach blossom soup, my third senior sister’s lullabies, my fourth senior brother’s bamboo dragonflies... Their warmth thaws my frozen heart.
Until our enemies attack Qingqiu Mountain. My senior brother loses an arm and throws me to my third senior sister. “Take Shu away!”
My fourth senior brother detonates his golden core to blast open a path through the bloodshed, while my second senior sister burns her soul to activate a forbidden formation.
My fifth senior brother, who hates me most of all, suddenly grabs me by the throat. “You bring nothing but bad luck! This is all your fault!”
A faint glimmer flashes from the space ring on his fingertip. Before I fall into darkness, I hear him whisper, “Don’t hate me... little sister Hanshu...”
When the ring’s storage space opens, my fifth senior brother’s charred remains are still curled protectively around it.
My swordmaster master returns, eyes red, and fastens his broken sword to my waist. “You may not return from this journey.”
Later, throughout the cultivation world, people say that the female swordmaster who fought her way through the thirty-three heavens always wears half of a rusted broken sword at her waist.
