"In those days, the cultivation world was dominated by men in every sense. All the great sects, the clans, the dynasties—they were ruled by patriarchs, not matriarchs. Cultivation manuals were written for the male body, their techniques harmonized with masculine meridians and anatomy. For men, cultivation was like swimming downstream. For women, it was like climbing an endless mountain with shackles on their feet."
She paused, her gaze sharpening. "But the difficulty was not the cruellest part. What was crueler was the way women were treated."
Her voice grew heavier.
"Daughters of noble families were treated as bargaining chips. They were married off in polygamous arrangements, not as wives, but as concubines, secondary partners—objects of exchange to cement alliances between powerful clans. Their value was measured not in their talent or intelligence, but in how their beauty might secure influence for their fathers and brothers."
