Chapter 4 - Zong Village and the Outer Sect
Rather than immediately heading to the Heavenly Path Sect, the Lord Immortal first visited another two villages along their way. The first village was even smaller than Lightstone Village, so only two children, each with low talent, were taken away.
The second village was different. This was a village located just a few miles away from the foot of Heavenly Path Mountain, the headquarters of the Heavenly Path Sect. Thousands of mortals resided in this place, so it was no surprise that nearly twenty children were taken away. Surprisingly though, there were only three individuals with moderate talent, and nobody who was assessed as being above this level.
Everyone took a second look at Elia, realising that she must be somewhat special. The unexpected attention made the young girl blush, but she soon felt ashamed by her happiness as Yaan’s dark expression reminded her of the happenings in Lightstone Village.
With almost thirty children squashed together, the small carriage now felt uncomfortably cramped. Some kids were forced to sit on the floor or stand as they travelled along the bumpy roads. Normally, children would complain about these kinds of conditions, especially since they were forced to endure for multiple hours without food or water. However, the atmosphere was instead silent and stifling.
Despite their apparent talent for cultivating to become immortals, they were unable to feel much joy towards this prospect. After all, they were only children, young children!
They had always heavily relied on their parents and families until now. Suddenly being ripped away from their homes and loved ones was a massive shock.
Clunk!
Finally, they had arrived. The rear door swung open and the bright midday light filled their eyes. Yaan squinted until he could see properly, but his mood immediately dropped when the Lord Immortal entered his gaze.
“We’re here, get out.” The old man instructed, indifferent to their discomfort and apprehension. The thirty children obediently scurried out from the wooden carriage and were met with the sight of yet another village. However, this was clearly no ordinary village, since it lay at the foot of Heavenly Path Mountain.
The robed man didn’t wait for them, instead walking towards the village purposefully, before opening the gate which separated this village from the outside world. He didn’t open the gate with his hand, but shocked all of the children once again when he casually flicked his wrist from afar, somehow causing the wooden gate to fling open!.
Compared to the majestic Lord Immortal himself, their destination beyond the shanty wooden gate was far less impressive. This quiet settlement was protected by an old wooden fence, it didn’t seem to be anything special.
Yaan glanced back as he followed the crowd, then felt chilled when he saw that right behind them, lay the dark forest. He knew this forest well, since it was the same forest surrounding Lightstone Village, preventing the common folk from ever leaving their birthplace.
This forest was dangerous, home to wild beasts the likes of which mortals could not hope to defeat. He had been told that Lightstone Village existed in a place that the beasts were unable to find, and that all other places in the dark forest were too dangerous. Yaan did not know whether or not this was actually true, but seeing an unfamiliar part of the dark forest naturally caused him to feel wary.
He turned around and tried to forget about the forest, instead walking into the village ahead.
The children looked around curiously. It seemed like this was their final destination and perhaps their new home. They were apprehensive, but also a bit excited. They were able to see people in the village, coming and going from the simple wooden huts. They appeared to be carrying out some sort of work on the strange looking farm patches scattered throughout the village.
It looked like an ordinary village, aside from the fact that all of the residents were quite young, most being in their teenage years. That said, Yaan felt like something was off with this place…
“Xinti!” The children jumped in fright as the robed man suddenly yelled out with a booming voice. His voice was louder than any human voice should be, yet he had hardly opened his mouth to produce this staggering volume.
A few moments passed by, before a chubby looking young man came running from the centre of the village. Although he was also young, he was clearly a few years older than any of the other village residents. Once the young man reached their group, he immediately clasped his hands together and bowed deeply.
“Greeting, Elder Sun!”
“Mm. These are the new arrivals, have them settle in.” After saying this, the robed man waved his hand, signalling for the children to walk across to the chubby young man who was wearing a flattering expression. As always, his commands were impossible to disobey. His natural presence carried with it a sort of invisible pressure, forcing them all to walk onwards like a herd of sheep.
“Wait, not you, Elia.” The elder stopped Elia before she could move. She looked up at him in surprise with a questioning expression.
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“This village is no place for a high grade talent. You will be coming with me.”
“Oh…ok then…” She looked concerned, helplessly turning to the others from Lightstone Village. Of course, there was nothing that anyone could do. Yaan and the others could only sigh, leaving Elia feeling hopeless and alone as she was led away.
‘Damnit!’ Yaan gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He had resolved himself to protect the other children from the village, but when it came down to it, what could he really do?
Nothing! He was powerless, completely unable to help!
The Lord Immortal…no, Elder Sun, departed without waiting around for long. The chubby young man named Xinti wore a flattering expression the entire time, until the elder finally disappeared.
At this point, his entire demeanour changed.
“My name is Xinti, but you lot will all call me Lord Xinti, got that?” He puffed up his chest and looked down at them arrogantly as he spoke.
Everyone felt speechless that he could act so pompously after the subservient act he put on in front of the elder, but they didn’t say anything, because Xinti exuded a similar aura to that of the tax collector who visited their villages once every year. He was clearly weaker than Elder Sun, but he was certainly more powerful than any normal man!
“This place is called Zong Village, it is part of the outer sect of the Heavenly Path Sect. The rules in this village are simple. If you want to eat, then you need to work! If you disobey me, or annoy me in any way, I’ll beat you down like the talentless trash you are! Let me tell you now, I’m an esteemed Qi Gathering Realm cultivator, something you mortals can only dream of!”
Hearing all of this, Falca couldn’t hold himself back.
“But aren’t we supposed to be learning to become immortals?”
“You dare to interrupt this lord, brat?!” Xinti’s expression darkened and he glared at Falca, but after a moment, a sadistic smile plastered his wide cheeks.
Suddenly, his body moved at a speed which was incomprehensible for his overweight stature. His figure blurred past the children and he arrived before Falca in an instant.
Bang!
Xinti’s palm slapped across his face, causing Falca to spin around multiple times. Falca slammed into the floor and rolled across the dusty ground, leaving a trail of splattered blood behind him. He began crying and clutched his head whilst his disfigured face throbbed painfully.
Xinti just watched and laughed as the boy pulled himself up without daring to raise his head.
“Anyone else feel like speaking over me? Huh? No, of course not. Because you’re all cowardly trash!”
Everyone went silent. They were all thoroughly shocked. For most of them, this was the first time that they had ever witnessed such a barbaric act of violence!
Some of the young village residents glanced over at Falca’s pitiful state, but they didn’t look surprised in the least.
“Anyway, it’s true that you can earn the chance to cultivate here. If you earn enough through hard work and slog, then it’s possible to buy a cultivation technique. This is the rule enforced upon all of the outer sect villages by the main sect.” Xinti continued speaking casually, as if his act of violence meant nothing.
They were once again left speechless. If he was going to answer Falca’s question anyway, why did he slap him so hard that the boy’s skin was torn from his face?!
“Hehehe, that said, good luck earning enough for that. So long as the village continues to produce resources, and so long as not too many of you die before you reach the age of 16, then the main sect won’t interfere with my rule!” Xinti laughed evilly, sending chills down Yaan’s spine.
After saying some more arrogant words and confirming that everyone was respecting his authority now, Xinti assigned the children to their housing and jobs.
Yaan soon discovered that his initial uneasy feeling was not just him being paranoid. Xinti wasn’t joking around when he told them that they needed to work if they wanted to eat. They weren’t even provided with a complimentary meal upon their arrival, they were given no time to settle in. Yaan and the others were forced to begin working immediately on their assigned jobs. If they didn’t work, they would be unable to buy food.
As for Yaan himself, he was assigned the lumber job. This job consisted of chopping down hundred year old dark oak trees, then cutting the felled trees into lumber and dragging the lumber to a processing centre.
Although these trees were not particularly large despite being a hundred years old, hundred year old dark oak trees were quite durable. The lumber was often used in basic medicinal pills and treasures for the higher ranking sect members. Cutting through this wood was arduous for the young village residents and took hours of hard work.
Yaan was not accustomed to this sort of task, whilst it was exhausting beyond belief. He probably ended up spending twice as much time resting compared to actually swinging the axe.
By the time Yaan finished his first day of work and cut down a single tree, his hands were cracked and bleeding from holding the wooden axe handle, whilst his muscles ached badly just from swinging the oversized tool. This axe could be wielded in a single hand by an adult, but it was still not a suitable tool for a small child such as himself.
He worked all through the night, driven entirely by his hunger.
He spent another hour dragging the wood back to the processing centre. For his troubles, Xinti payed him a sum of three bronze coins. Since Yaan didn’t yet understand the currency in this place, he didn’t think much of it and accepted the payment without complaint.
He wasn’t so accepting after discovering that this could only afford him three large potatoes. He had worked for nearly 14 hours and only earned three damned potatoes!
He of course complained to Xinti about this.
“So what? If you want to eat more, then work harder.” Xinti was far from understanding, not caring about his plight at all.
It was obvious that the job of cutting down trees was not suited to the younger children. In fact, this task was usually only given to the boys who were at least ten years old! But, since Xinti needed more dark oak wood, Yaan was unluckily assigned this unsuitable role.
“But how can I survive on just this? I already worked as hard as I could!” Yaan protested.
Nearly 14 hours of work in one day? Of course, he took longer than others because he was quite young compared to most in this village, whilst he was not used to cutting down trees. Even so, how could a child possibly work for longer than this? He needed to sleep, especially after doing so much hard work!
Actually, the only reason that Yaan and the other children were able to work for so long was owing to the environment of Zong Village, which sat at the bottom of Heavenly Path Mountain and benefited from an atmosphere rich in Spiritual Energy. Of course, the residents of Zong Village were oblivious to this fact, but Xinti understood it well…after all, the nourishing Spiritual Energy was also why he could get away with feeding them so little.
“I don’t care. Go away before I beat you.” Xinti began to sound irritated and waved his hand dismissively.
“But-”
Bang!
The moment Yaan disobeyed Xinti’s order, the obese young man lashed out and struck him in the stomach. Yaan flew back and slammed into the door, then tumbled outside and rolled through the dust like a rag-doll. His stomach ached and was badly bruised, he felt like that strike must have inflicted some unseen damage to his organs.
Yaan stood up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He grimaced and clutched his stomach as he painfully hobbled away. Tears welled up in his eyes, but even after forcing himself not to cry, that feeling of hopelessness and rage resurfaced within his heart.
“Damnit…”
He hated it. Yaan felt aggrieved, this was all too unfair! His family were unjustly massacred and he was then torn away from his home village, forced to work as a slave for the sect that was responsible for their murders, just in order to survive. How was this fair? How could something like this happen to him?!
Unfortunately, Yaan could only admit that this was his reality.
He had no ability to resist, no right to complain, no option but to work. He had no time for anything except for working and sleeping. The one short moment of pleasure that he relished each day, was when he bit down on the potatoes, appeasing the relentless pain in his stomach for a brief period of time.
Day in, day out, he worked. He chopped lumber with the axe. His mind was filled only with the need to eat and the desire to survive.
It wasn’t just Yaan, everyone in this village was worked to the point of breaking. Many were slightly better off than Yaan though, since they were allowed to pick herbs. The older boys were almost all forced to work hard labor, and due to his bad luck, Yaan found himself lumped together with this group at just six years of age.
Despite arriving together and vowing to look out for one another, the children from Lightstone Village hardly had this luxury. They were all caught up in their own work and any free moment was spent either resting or eating.
Like this, a month passed by.