“Well, that’s done.” Tigra washed off the dirt from her hands, finishing hiding her own body in a safe place.

She had taken several formations out of her infinity bag, the kind that could be activated by even a mortal. Her body was strongly protected and hidden now. Although, in truth, even if someone here intentionally tried to injure her body, it was to the point where few could manage. Tigra or she supposed she’d need to start seeing herself as Liao An now, felt satisfied in her decision. She started heading back to the location that would be her home.

As she approached the small hovel, the door opened and a man came out. Had she been the real Liao An, she would have recognized this man as her uncle. He was a fat, greasy man with oily hair, a thick mustache, and an outfit that would be considered rich for a merchant. Tigra found herself thankful that she only had the eyes and nose of a mortal so that she wouldn’t have to endure the full stink of this man.

“Hehe, Liao An, what are you doing out so late?” He asked with a cruel spark in his eyes and a vicious grin on his face. "I came by the well earlier, thought you might have fallen in."

Liao cocked her head. Her face was expressionless, but to this uncle who knew about her slow mind, he treated it as simply emptiness. Liao decided to ignore the man and continued on into the house. As she passed, he put out his hand and stopped her. At the moment, he was a massive man compared to the three-year-old girl, towering over her. A normal child would feel extremely intimidated, but Liao didn’t feel an ounce of fear. Even without her profound energy, Liao still had access to her numerous techniques and abilities she had accrued through the years. She could handle any mortal man with ease.

“Hey, girl…” He finally said, crouching down and sucking his teeth. “You’re actually looking pretty good right now. Has someone I don’t know about been feeding you?”

Liao looked down at her own body and then shook her head 'no'. Naturally, she hadn’t consumed anything in this body. All she had done was rearrange how her body worked and performed a mild amount of cultivation. Her skin color had returned, and while she was ridiculously small and skinny, she had built just a hint of heavenly glow. It was natural to Tigra as breathing, but she had already started to purify Liao’s body passively. There were many steps to cultivating, the very first was to purify the body and remove all toxins. While Tigra wasn’t close to purifying her body enough to reach the first stage of body purification and officially become a cultivator, it was still at a level where someone could notice it as “healthy”.

Liao’s body was still starving and needed food. In a few days, she would collapse if she wasn’t able to find any, but Tigra wasn’t concerned in the slightest. She had cultivated many techniques, and with the right technique, just about anything could be consumed to provide energy if she needed to, even if this shitty family chose to starve her. Liao was about to move on, but she noticed that his hand hadn’t move. When she glanced up at him, she could see him licking his greasy lips as he watched her with a smile.

“You momma don’t even care about you, girl. The only reason you’re around is that she’s afraid of your cultivator father.”

“…” Liao frowned but didn’t make any move one way or another.

If possible, she didn’t want to create trouble before setting out to watch after the baby.

“I know many cultivators myself.” He chuckled. “You know, stupid girl, if you want to make it in this world, you’re going to work. It’s a give and take. Already, I’m providing a roof over your head, and yet you’ve given me nothing in return. Why don’t I help you… pay off your debt a bit?”

The words he was saying caused Liao’s brow to narrow. These words sounded very familiar to Tigra. They were words given to her when she was thirteen, the day she was pushed by her asshole stepfather into prostitution. At the very least, even he didn’t touch her himself. No… it was his friend who paid him 50 copper who popped her cherry. She actually liked the guy who took her cherry. He was gentle and had slipped her 2 copper when he was done. It took her two years of skimming tips off the top before she could afford to run away from home and join the city brothel where she at least was allowed to keep a majority of her profits.

She snapped back to reality as she realized the uncle was now moving closer toward her, he leaned forward and whispered in her ear. “I bet that little body of yours is real tight.”

Tigra had been in the business for a long time. She had seen every perversion possible. As she remembered the body she was inhabiting that this uncle said this to, even she fought the urge to vomit. It had been a long time since something had actually sickened her, but the vision of this fat fucker on top of a three-year-old bit the cake. Had she been in her old body, the aura she would have emitted would have already crushed this man to bits alone. Without a cultivator’s body, she could only stare at him with narrowed, cold eyes. She tried to pull away from him, but the man insisted on dying.

He reached forward and started fondling Liao’s nonexistent chest. A normal girl might have grown flustered, angry, or desperate, but Tigra was used to having her body exploited. She didn’t instinctively flee from the wrong touch. Rather, her mind was never clearer than when she got into these kinds of situations. You didn’t survive long on the street if you allowed these kinds of things to break you. This uncle would have already been dead, except that her arms were short, and she could only execute the power to kill him if she could get her hand close enough to perform a full strike.

Thus, Liao could only grin and bear it. The man’s rough hands fondled her and slowly started moving down her body towards more forbidden regions. Meanwhile, she slowly positioned herself closer and closer. Her fingertips could just reach his throat now. It’d stun him, but she’d only have one clear shot at ripping out his throat. Closer. Just a little bit closer.

“No!” A cry caught both of them us off guard.

The pair of them turned to see Liao An’s mother, Liao Yan. She was breathing hard and she was staring furiously at uncle.

“Niece…” The uncle said those words darkly, standing up and grinning mischievously as he patted Liao An's head like he was innocent.

“You cannot touch her!” Liao Yan declared.

In truth, Liao Yan herself was surprised by her own actions. She too was afraid of her uncle. When he had offered to house her family, she had only accepted because of the desperate situation. She had spent most nights hiding in her room with her husband. However, he had left the city this morning, and Liao Yan had been terrified about what her uncle would do ever since. Even when they were young, she recalled how he often looked at her or would touch her inappropriately. Had she truly had any other choice, she would have never come here. Instead, she had barricaded herself in her room for the last week, fearful of the time he’d try to break in.

So, what was she doing outside? She had seen her daughter, that hateful daughter that had strained her relationship with her husband and put the pair of them in this situation. Watching through the window, she saw Liao approach and get intercepted by the uncle. She had always thought uncle had no interest in this daughter of hers. Even he couldn’t be attracted to a girl that young. Plus, Liao An was ugly and undeveloped. Yet, something about her was different tonight. She looked healthy. She looked alert. She looked like a daughter you could be proud of.

When she saw him groping her in the same way she herself had been violated as a child, all of her memories came flooding back. She saw herself in this girl. That’s right, even though the girl didn’t share the blood of her husband, this girl was still hers. She was a gift. Like a switch going off in her head, Liao Yan felt disgusted at herself for the years she had neglected this child. This was her child, her baby. She had forgotten that, but now she realized they were just the same.

Summoning all of her courage and facing her greatest fear, that mother emerged from her barricade as only a mother could. “Leave my daughter alone!”

“Eh?” The merchant laughed cruelly. “I’ve been hospitable to your family for some time now, and this is how you repay me? Why should I stop?”

Liao Yan’s hands tightened at her side, but she knew in a fight this man twice her size could easily subdue her and have his way. This was a world where strength ruled everything. This man had more strength than her. He had more strength than her husband. In the end, the only thing she could do was sacrifice that which was valuable to her. As her eyes met her daughters, Liao An looked back with a blank look. The mother nodded, knowing what truly held the most value in her heart.

“If you leave her be, you can have me.” Liao Yan said, lowering her head in shame.

Liao An was also very surprised by this development. She only knew a bit about this family dynamic, but she did know the mother hated her daughter. However, family relationships were difficult, and now this woman was offering herself in exchange for her daughter. Liao An felt a deep warmth in her heart. Part of it was because Tigra believed in redemption, and had a soft heart for those who wished to square away their karma. Some of it must have come from Liao herself, who’s body that Tigra shared. On some level, this body must realize this was her mother and was warmed by that feeling of love and sacrifice.

“Oh… is that so?” The man finally pulled away from Liao An, and instead started approaching Liao Yan.

She stepped back instinctively, her entire body shaking, but otherwise remained in place as the evil man approached her.

“Liao Yan, I didn’t realize you were such a slut that wanted this daddy’s cock so badly.” He chuckled. “The fact you’d throw yourself at me as soon as your husband was away, such a naughty girl.”

Liao Yan shook but otherwise didn’t dispute anything that the man said. Liking her scared expression, the dark sadism in his heart continued to grow.

“Then, get on your knees and give this daddy some love.” He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her down on her knees.

She let out a cry, but couldn’t seem to build up the power to fight back. A moment later, his little pecker was out, and he was wagging it excitedly in her face.

Her eyes shot worriedly to Liao An, whose expression didn’t seem to change despite the situation, “Wh-what about my daughter?”

The uncle looked back and then smiled darkly. “Oh, your daughter? I guess you want her to play too. Come here girl, join your mother.”

“H-huh?” Liao Yan’s eyes widened. “You said my daughter would be free…”

“Of course, I won’t fuck your precious daughter… today. She’s looking good. I reckon if I start feeding her she might grow up to be prettier than you. So, you’re going to teach your daughter how to please me. First, you can show her closely how to give BJs. The pair of you can take turns. Then, we’ll go from there. Mommy and daughter together can be my little sluts, and when she’s properly taught how to please and reaches the appropriate age, you can hold her legs open while I stick it in! Hahahaha.” The man’s fantasies had grown and were now completely out of control. “Of course, whether I put any of my resources into her, like food, depends on whether she’ll be useful to me in the future!”

“Resources?” Her eyes snapped to Liao An, and she realized how truly skinny her daughter was.

She had never intentionally stopped feeding her daughter. The crime this mother was guilty of was inattentiveness. She had assumed her daughter was being taken care of in this mansion. Food was plentiful, and the girl could always go down to the kitchen to get food from a maid. She only realized at that moment that her wretched uncle must have restricted the daughter’s food access. There was also the subtle implication that if she didn’t include her daughter in these sex acts, her daughter would be left to starve once again.

“D-daughter…” Liao Yan said weakly.

Liao An, or rather Tigra, watched the exchange while simmering. She was rather curious about what this mother would do. It seemed like the situation was a no-win though, so she really couldn’t blame her for whatever choice she made. What happened next was not what Tigra would have expected.

While the uncle was looking back at Liao An with a nasty grin, Liao Yan suddenly lunged forward and put his pecker in her mouth. A moment later, he let out a blood-curdling scream. Blood spurted out between his legs. Liao spat out a small piece of flesh and blood onto the ground. She rammed the uncle with her shoulder, causing him to stumble back to the ground. At that point, she shot Liao An a desperate look.

“Run! Run to town, daughter!”

However, in her moment of triumphant, Liao Yan had forgotten that her daughter was deaf and slow and that orders like these would have been useless to the girl.

“You bitch!” The uncle shouted through clenched teeth. “I’ll rape you both!”

As it turned out, he had stumbled down near Liao An, and she was the closest to him. He immediately grabbed her violently, pulling her hair in the process.As he wrapped his meaty paws around her neck.

“Stay away from her!” Liao desperately grabbed a nearby rock and chucked it at his head.

Liao An was now close enough. Just as the rock hit his head, bouncing off somewhat harmlessly, her hand shot out. It moved faster than sight, striking his neck swiftly and deadly. There was a crack, but if one didn’t see the situation clearly, they might have thought the rock made the noise, rather than his spine. In an instant, the uncle’s eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed. His body convulsed a few more times, and then he died.

The stunned Liao Yan collapsed to the ground. She… had killed him? Of course, the killing blow was delivered by Liao An, but she didn’t know that. She could only stare helplessly. She had murdered her own family. She had killed a man who had taken them into their home. Worst, he was a friend of many cultivators. Essentially, she didn’t know what to do. Watching the paralyzed woman, Liao An sighed as she stood up and straightened out her dress and hair, still looking unpreturbed.

She casually walked over to a nearby shed, breaking the lock open with her fingers, although she was far enough away from Liao Yan that the woman couldn’t see that.

Entering the shed, she came back out a moment later carrying two small shovels. The young 3-year-old girl walked up to her bawling mother and put a shovel in front of her. Liao Yan looked up at the thing in her hands, and then her eyes widened. Numb and in shock, the mother slowly grabbed the shovel, only capable of following in her daughter's footsteps. Silently, the two women stood up and walked over to the body of their former uncle. They each grabbed a leg and started tugging him off into the woods.

After finding a spot a good distance away from the mansion, the pair started digging. It took about two hours to dig a hole and finally push the corpse into it. Liao Yan could only stare in wonder as her daughter took the lead, digging with a seeming abundant amount of energy, lifting piles of dirt heavier than she was. The pair finished burying the man and then headed back into the mansion. Liao Yan started a fire to warm them up from the chilly night, and then collapsed in a heap on the floor, still shaking.

Liao An sighed and then planted herself in Liao Yan’s lap. The startled mother had always shunned her daughter, so to have her suddenly show affection now was a complete surprise. However, she was also in shock and mentally weak, so she immediately embraced her daughter as if her life depended on it. The two women fell asleep like that, holding each other throughout the night. Liao Yan desperately needed to hold this daughter of hers, whereas Tigra was not unaccustomed to spending nights in a stranger’s arms.

When the husband arrived home, he found the two girls dirty and holding each other tightly. He never found out what happened that night. The uncle used to like to go hunting, and people just assumed that he was eaten by a wild beast or perhaps was unlucky enough to stumble upon a heavenly beast. The uncle’s will was found to have left everything to the Liao family. Whether Liao An was involved in that, it’d be anyone’s guess.

After that night, one major change the husband did notice was how his wife treated her daughter. He always had a conflicted feeling about the child and that awful night that concieved her. He always felt anger and resentment when he looked upon her, but that had more to do with seeing the hurt and pain on his wife’s face every time she was around her daughter. Those feelings had disappeared like smoke. She now doted on her daughter with extreme prejudice.He would never love Liao An, but upon seeing the delight in his wife's eyes when she looked at her daughter, he could only smile in contentment.

However, for Liao Yan, the more she tried to shower Liao An with affection and personally teach her everything she knew, the more she realized her little daughter seemed to have already grown up. Just how bad had those three years been that her daughter seemed to be more independent than she was? However, Liao Yan accepted that it was her wrong thinking that had caused her to miss out on the best years of her daughter’s life. All she could do now was make amends and fix her karmic debt.

As for Liao An, she also grew a bit of affection for this mother who tried so hard. She would have looked at her with disdain before, and had even considered killing the parents to square away karma for the girl. But, karma seems to move in mysterious ways. As it turns out, girls who kill pedophiles together become lifelong friends.