[Last Emperor] Chapter 28 - Su Da is Lost...

Su Da stared at the man before her. A hard face filled with struggle and fighting against fate. Perfect posture in an ornate seat only the rich could possibly afford. Robes and an attire she could place on a certain type of people that she utterly feared. 

A real, living, breathing cultivator sat before her. 

Reading what could only be a cultivation manual filled with the secrets of the world and how they channeled its essence into becoming catastrophes walking among them. Storms larger than anything else. 

Much like the freeze, many of her friends died to every year. The unlucky among them that could not find wood to burn, steal many pieces of rags and torn clothes to layer on top of each other, or stow away within the barns and abandoned buildings. There was nothing Su Da could do except to pray he did not decide to snap her neck today.

So she did exactly that. Quietly though. Praying that he would see her as too small to be a threat. A worthless little slum rat not worth his time simply because he had better things to do. 

All while trying to remember the savory taste of the heavenly meal he had provided her. 

Meat. A real piece of meat had been offered to her as though it was nothing. 

Su Da did her best to ignore and intentionally not think about the bed and all the rest of the filthy rich stuff that surrounded her too. She could feel her brain ready to pop if she was unlucky enough. Considering how stupid she was and how she arrived here, she was not about to test it here and now. 

“I have good news and bad news, Su Da. Which do you want first?” His voice was deep and strong. It seemed to rumble in her chest the way the dogs and predators of the forest growls did. It did not help that he had no expression on his face. 

He could feel the trembling in her hand grow worse, but she knew better than to let him see it. She wasn’t sure if he liked seeing suffering similar to the gang members of her city. Su Da would be careful until she knew better. 

I hope he can send me back… At least I have hiding spots in the city. Not out here. Not with those monsters looking for me. 

She shivered as she remembered the red eyes. The snarls and disgusting faces that licked their lips  and salivated at the thought of eating her flesh. The pain that lanced through her head when they hit her with something—

He saved me! A cultivator went out of the way to save me? Why?

Cultivators were not known to be kind things. Indifferent? Above everyone else? Superior to the insects that were the mortals? Yes to all of them. Definitely not saving mortal slum rats from certain death. 

“Su Da?”

She jumped. “Bad news!”

There wasn’t a particular reason why she chose that. She just did it on a whim. 

He turned to face her directly. His eyes burned with a flame of blue light that swayed back and forth. Just his attention made her shiver and shake like a branch. Something seemed to press her down. Suffocate her as she was unable to tear her eyes away from his. A form began to materialize in her vision.

A dragon—

“…no way out of this rift pocket. Not unless you are secretly a Golden Core Formation Realm Cultivator.” He said, snapping her out of the trance she had fallen into. He had been speaking the entire time, she was lucky enough to get the final bits of vital information.

Information that seemed to stake her in the chest with a dagger. 

“I-I can’t go back…?” Su Da whispered as a dawning fell upon her. “Am I going to die? Will you kill me Mr. Cultivator?”

Mr. Rufflebum jumped onto the clouds she was sitting on that was supposed to be in the shape of a kitten. It rubbed itself against her face. Doing its best to change her mood to something better. Su Da gave a weak laugh as she pushed the insistent cat away. Clearly it was the cultivators.

He wouldn’t kill me if his kitty loves me right?

“No.” He said. His words final.

Su Da gulped. Every time he spoke, he seemed to shout it like distant thunder. They weren't statements and questions. No, everything he said was a declaration of what would happen without anything that could possibly change it. 

She had no doubt in her mind that there was no way to make it back to the city after she did the stupidest thing of her life. Not a doubt that he would keep to his words and not kill her. Whether she would die anyway was a different matter altogether, depending on how quickly he decided she was worthless and would kick her out of his cave for secluded cultivation. 

How does one seclude in a cave if someone else was with them? 

Su Da didn’t know, but could only hope there was a way. 

“Do you wish to hear the good news?” 

She nodded. 

“Congratulations. I’ve taken an interest in you. Seen potential others were to blind to notice. You shall become my first disciple. Su Da, first disciple of the mighty and great Tao Zi! Master of the… of the Dragon Emperor’s Sect!”

Su Da stared blankly for a moment at his words. Unable to comprehend what he just told her in a way that made sense to her idle brain. She tried to mumble his words. Maybe then it would be clear and succinct enough for her to get? It did not help as she intended. 

“I-I don't understand…?”

“Understand? What is there to understand” Tao Zi huffed as rage and anger beyond anything surged through his eyes and very being. 

Su Da jumped off the bed, startling Mr. Rufflebum, and nearly gave herself a concussion with how hard she smacked her head on the stone ground. She kowtowed a dozen times while he watched silently. Comfortable to witness the punishment she had set for herself for questioning his orders and commands. 

He’s right! There is nothing to understand. Do what I am told and hope everything works out.

She had her survival plan all set and ready. 

Su Da had no clue what being a disciple entailed other than kids being taken from their families and the parents were given entire hoards of gold and treasure. She didn’t really have any parents to take the gold. He didn’t seem to care much for kidnapping her to his mountaintop where there were thousands of other kids just like her.

What was she supposed to do? Did he just want a servant? She didn’t mind taking care of Mr. Rufflebum. Cute cats deserved to be treated well after all. 

“Stand, Disciple Su Da. We shall commence the disciple master ceremony to make it official!”

“Yes, Mr. Cultivator!” Su Da shouted as loud as she could like the guards did in front of their superior. Saluting him with a serious face, all the while trying to hide the large red bump that was on her forehead. Pain throbbing from her kowtowing.

“Master. Call me Master.” Tao Zi said with a large smile. 

She saluted again, he had liked the salute apparently. “Yes, Master Mr. Cultivator!” 

Maybe this was a lot easier than expected to be a disciple if all she had to do was salute. She could salute for days on end without getting tired. Or at least she thought she could. Su Da had never tested it out if she was being honest—

His left eye twitched. Her master, Cultivator Tao Zi, let out a long sigh.

Or maybe not… Are salutes not enough? Then what else could he possibly ask for?!