Lin Yue's POV
The bucket of dirty water splashed across my hands as Senior Brother Liu kicked it over, laughing.
"Clumsy servant! Can't even hold a bucket properly?" He sneered, his expensive robes swishing as he walked away with his friends. They laughed loudly, making sure everyone in the training courtyard heard.
My cheeks burned hot. I wanted to say something back, but servants who talked back got thrown out of the sect. I needed to stay. I had to stay.
I knelt down to clean up the mess, my knees aching from scrubbing floors since dawn. Ten years. I'd been doing this for ten years, ever since Master Qingfeng found me in my village and said I had spiritual roots—the ability to cultivate and maybe become an immortal someday.
"Lin Yue, are you okay?"
I looked up to see Mei, my only real friend among the servants. She was carrying a basket of medicinal herbs, her face worried.
"I'm fine," I lied, scrubbing harder at the spilled water.
"Senior Brother Liu is a jerk," Mei whispered, glancing around to make sure no one heard. "But hey, guess who I saw watching you just now?"
My heart jumped. "Who?"
Mei grinned. "Chen Hao. He looked angry when Senior Brother Liu kicked your bucket."
I quickly looked toward the training grounds. There he was—Chen Hao, the Sect Master's nephew, practicing sword forms with the other inner disciples. His dark hair was tied back, and even from here, I could see the graceful way he moved. Like water flowing. Like poetry.
Ten years ago, when I first came to the sect as a scared eight-year-old, three older boys cornered me behind the kitchens. They were going to beat me up just for fun. Chen Hao appeared out of nowhere, even though he was only ten himself. He stood between me and the bullies and said, "Leave her alone, or I'll tell my uncle."
The boys ran away. Chen Hao helped me up and gave me his sweet bun. "Don't let them scare you," he'd said with a warm smile. "You belong here too."
I'd loved him ever since that moment.
"You're staring again," Mei teased, poking my arm. "Lin Yue, everyone knows you like him. When are you going to tell him?"
"Never!" I hissed, my face getting hot. "He's going to be a sect leader someday. I'm just a servant. We're from different worlds."
"But you're not just a servant. You're a cultivator too! You have spiritual roots, just like him."
"Barely," I said bitterly. My spiritual roots were so weak that even after ten years of secret practice, I was still stuck at the bottom level. Meanwhile, Chen Hao was already at the Golden Core stage—a level most people took decades to reach. He was a genius. I was... nothing.
"One day," Mei said softly, "you'll be strong enough to stand beside him. I believe in you."
I wanted to believe her. I really did.
That night, after finishing all my chores, I snuck to my secret spot—a tiny cave behind the outer sect buildings where nobody ever went. This was where I practiced cultivation every night, using the little bit of spiritual energy I could absorb from the air.
I sat cross-legged and closed my eyes, focusing on my breathing like Master Qingfeng taught me years ago. Breathe in the spiritual energy. Breathe out the impurities. Feel the energy flow through my body.
It was so slow. Like trying to fill a bucket with a single drop of water at a time.
But I didn't give up. Ten years, and I never gave up. Because someday, somehow, I would break through to the Golden Core stage. And then... maybe then Chen Hao would see me as more than just a servant girl he once helped.
Maybe he would see me as someone worthy of standing beside him.
I practiced until my whole body ached and sweat dripped down my face. The moon was high when I finally opened my eyes. My hands were shaking—not from tiredness, but from something else.
Something felt different.
There was a warm sensation in my chest, right where my spiritual core was supposed to be. It was growing warmer, spinning faster. After ten years of barely any progress, suddenly something was happening.
Was this...? Could it be...?
My heart pounded so hard I thought it would burst. The Golden Core breakthrough—was I finally going to achieve it? Tonight?
I closed my eyes again, focusing everything I had on that warm feeling. The energy swirled faster and faster inside me, building up like a storm. It hurt, but it was a good hurt. The kind of hurt that meant something was changing.
Almost there. Just a little more—
Footsteps.
My eyes snapped open. Someone was coming up the path to my secret cave.
No. Not now. Not when I was so close!
I held my breath, trying to stay perfectly still. Maybe they would walk past. Maybe they didn't know I was here.
The footsteps stopped right outside the cave entrance.
"Lin Yue?" A familiar voice called softly. "I know you're in there."
My blood turned to ice.
It was Chen Hao.
What was he doing here? How did he know about my secret spot? And why did he sound so... sad?
"Lin Yue, please come out," he said again. "I need to talk to you. It's important."
The warm energy in my chest was still spinning, still trying to break through, but now my whole body was tense with confusion and fear. Important? What could be so important that Chen Hao came looking for me in the middle of the night?
"It's about tomorrow," his voice came through the darkness. "Something's going to happen, and I... I wanted to warn you."
Warn me? About what?
My hands were shaking now for a different reason. The breakthrough energy was fading as fear took over. No, no, no—I was so close!
"Lin Yue, please. You need to hear this." Chen Hao's voice cracked, like he was upset. "Bai Shuang's expedition team was attacked today. Her Golden Core is damaged. Badly damaged."
I felt a pang of sympathy. Bai Shuang was the Sect Master's daughter, the most talented female disciple. Everyone said she would become the sect leader one day. If her Golden Core was damaged...
But why was Chen Hao telling me this?
"The sect elders are meeting right now," he continued, and his voice dropped so low I could barely hear it. "They're discussing... options. Ways to fix her Golden Core. Lin Yue, there's a technique. A forbidden technique that can transfer a Golden Core from one person to another."
The cave suddenly felt very, very cold.
No.
"They need someone compatible," Chen Hao said, and now he definitely sounded like he was crying. "Someone with a newly formed core, preferably. Someone whose spiritual signature matches hers. Lin Yue... the elders ran the tests on all the disciples. You're a match."
The world stopped spinning.
"I tried to argue," he said desperately. "I told them it was wrong. I told them you've worked so hard. But my uncle, the Sect Master... and Master Qingfeng... they said one servant's future isn't worth more than the sect's next leader. They said..." His voice broke completely. "They said it's already decided. They're coming for you at dawn."
I couldn't breathe.
They wanted my Golden Core. The core I'd spent ten years trying to form. The core that was breaking through RIGHT NOW. They wanted to rip it out of my body and give it to Bai Shuang.
"Run," Chen Hao whispered urgently. "Run away, Lin Yue. Tonight. Before they come. I'll tell them I couldn't find you. Please, just run—"
But I couldn't move. Couldn't think. Couldn't do anything except stare at the cave entrance where Chen Hao's shadow stood.
And then I heard more footsteps. Many footsteps. And Master Qingfeng's voice calling out:
"Chen Hao? Did you find her? Good boy. Hold her there. We're coming."
The warm energy in my chest suddenly burst like a breaking dam.
My Golden Core—after ten years—finally formed completely.
Right as the people who wanted to steal it surrounded my cave.