[Last Emperor] Chapter 27 - A New Life

It took a few hours before the girl finally woke up with the aid of all the passive boosts and healing functions of the kitten shaped bed. Her small wounds healed up well and the large cut on the back of her head knitted just enough to stop bleeding. 

Tao Zi was sure there was a lot more work done on her because he ended up using one of his lower ranked Spiritual Medicine Pills too and it had not completely healed her. Most likely head trauma and a rattled brain being the main culprits of using up all its energy before healing the laceration. 

It had been a test to see what else the system would unlock for him. There had been a hope that it was a gifting system. Where he would receive enormous rewards back that were ten folds greater than the item he gave them.

His hope was shattered when nothing was prompted.

She opened her eyes to Tiger sleeping on her chest, a heavy blanket covering her, and one of the softest beds she would ever rest on for the rest of her life.

Tao Zi was currently sitting on a chair near his own bed and reading his cultivation manual in hopes to get some type of epiphany or enlightenment. He also had changed into a more martial style of clothing in order to press onto her how much of a cultivator he was. 

It was something small, but would set their expectations together from the get go. 

Especially in a dangerous area where she clearly had no clue how to protect herself. He didn’t need a liability on his team that did not understand the situation they were in. Putting not only herself in danger, but also Tao Zi, his avatar, and even Tiger. Though the orange rascal seemed to be way too fast for anything to catch up to him.

She looked around without getting up and without noticing him at all. 

Tao Zi winced at how oblivious she was. 

Self preservation required that you could tell when someone was standing there who made no attempt to hide themselves. Even the most basic of mortals could get a feel for something like that. More so if she was what he suspected. 

He had scanned her with his own Qi a few times to make sure his theory was correct. 

Not a cultivator. A street rat with old scars to her arms, chest, and left leg. Damaged lungs from what looked like she inhaled something poisonous? He wasn’t sure how to explain what he saw other than a lot of damage. The more he studied her the more his single Spiritual Medicine Pill seemed small and not up to the task of actually healing her. 

She eventually found enough strength to figure out her surroundings. Eyes falling to the bed she was in, the blanket, and eventually the cat sleeping on her chest. It took her a few moments longer to compute what was around her. Even then, it didn’t feel like she was there altogether. 

Likely still concussed. 

“Cute cat,” The girl whispered to herself as she started petting Tiger. “Am I in heaven, Mr… Rufflebum! You look like a lovely Mr. Rufflebum…”

Tao Zi couldn’t help the twitch under his eye. Tiger woke up and leaned into her petting as he purred loudly. Loving every moment of it. Not mentioning the horrific naming choice. Tiger should have objected to it!

 “You’ve finally woken up.” Tao Zi said. 

The girl shot up, her head snapped to Tao Zi’s position. He did not look back at her. Instead leaving all of his focus on the manual before him. Setting the scene perfectly—

A system notification echoed in his head. 

Disciple Detected…

Potential… 

Lowest tier of sufficiency - 

Spiritual Roots Potential - C+

Body Tempering Potential - D-

Acceptable parameters due to rarity of disciples and lacking availability…

Do you wish to take ___ as your first Disciple?

Option 1 - 

Yes.

Option 2 - 

No. 

Tao Zi blinked at the notification he received. The system was far more complicated and complete than he expected. Everything seemed to fall into its purview. What was next? A miner’s wet dream of locating nodes of gold veins and other precious metals? He hadn’t been exactly serious when he tested the gift system.

“W-Who are you? Where am I? Why did you put me on floating clouds? I don't want to fall all the way down…” The little girl began to ramble about what little she knew of clouds and how sleeping on them was a bad idea. 

He picked his head up and turned to her. 

She stopped talking. 

“What’s your name, little girl? You’ve become unlucky enough to have fallen into this rift pocket.” Tao Zi hid his realization from his face. 

This was likely his fault when he opened the way back to the civilized world for a minute and a half. He hadn’t thought it was possible for someone to have made their way through it already. The time span should not have been enough unless it opened directly under her. 

She shied away from him as the stranger he was and whispered her name low enough that he could not hear her. 

“Raise your voice—”

The little girl was startled at his insistent tone. “My name is Su Da.”

I messed up already! I need to find a way to calm her and maybe build a loop of good back and forth. We’re stuck together here for the foreseeable future anyways.

“That’s a beautiful name, Su Da. Do you know where you are, Su Da?” Tao Zi said with a lower tone. He intentionally made his voice more digestible to the little girl without her needing to startle or worry. 

Su Da shook her head as everything seemed to crash back into her memory. Tears welled up in her eyes and began free falling. She struggled to form a single sentence for a few moments until she regained control. Hiccuping the entire time. “My friend… she dared me to go through the strange glowing thing… I shouldn’t have listened. Xiu always gets me in the biggest trouble.”

The girl couldn’t have been older than twelve. A little kid that had done something stupid. Stepping into a portal to a rift pocket made to crush the spirit of monsters far stronger than her and falling into the lap of monsters before she had a chance. 

Tao Zi wondered if she had been given the system, though he doubted it. That might have been the first thing she would have noticed if words were floating in front of her. Plus he knew what signs to look for. 

Su Da showed none of the signs of a system user. 

“You hungry?” Tao Zi pulled out some meat he had cooked and placed in his ring pocket to stay fresh. “Catch.”

She caught the piece of meat with both hands, nearly dropping it on a salivating Tiger currently on the floor watching their interaction. She opened her hands only for her eyes to wide at the piece of doe meat. 

“I-I can’t afford this…”

“Afford? This is a gift. Nothing more, nothing less. Plus I got a lot more where that came from.” Tao Zi said as he pulled out a piece for himself, eating it without preamble. 

Su Da stared at it for a second before hesitatingly bringing it up to her mouth. Side eyeing him in case this was some sort of trick or plot. When he didn’t do anything, she ravenously devoured it, munching and cooing at the same time somehow. 

Tao Zi wasn’t unaware of what it was like being poor in a cultivation world. It was brutal already for the strong. It was by far, much worse for those without power even amongst the powerless masses. 

She was quite literally the bottom of the totem pole.

He let her finish before he addressed her again. “I have good news and bad news, Su Da. Which do you want first?”

Tao Zi would take her as a disciple in hopes of gaining some type of reward from it, but also because having a second pair of hands would be beneficial. He had left Tiger without food for days too many times already. That alone was enough to keep Su Da around, anything else was a bonus he would not expect. 

She did not have access to his system. Any growth she did have as a cultivator would be slow and grueling. He quite literally had no expectations of her benefiting him in a fight in the foreseeable future. 

Not unless a miracle happened.