Chapter 505: [ To the Slavemarket ]

Lu Qingling smiled wryly. “Yes, after all, they are not from the righteous sect or even innocent civilians. They are captives from the Evil Sects and those who practice evil powers… most of them are criminals…”

“… …”

Lu Qngling shrugged. “... This was already better than being killed,”

“… …” Allen’s eyes narrowed and anyone could see that he was displeased about this kind of practice… however, who was he to comment on their own laws and rules?

He was just an outsider, a mere tourist!

What laws in this land… doesn’t have one-bit relation to him!

As one who had grown up in a modern civilization where this kind of things doesn't exist, no matter how cruel and indifferent he was, seeing women being collared, whip and sold like a commodity was a terrifying experience--even still, he couldn't do anything nor interfere.

He could actually buy them, save them from their troubles but... have a criminal title isn't one bit assuring. Furthermore, after that, what would he do next?

He just can't accept all of them, can he...?

He's not that nice...

Even still--what a tasteless display...

… …

They strolled and looked around.

There were slave traders, beast fur traders, weapon traders, beast traders; monstrous beast traders…all sorts of people were here.

There were even some precious books, precious weapons, poisons and herbs, secret technique manuals, and other things for sale—this manuals and techniques were different from the Sect’s own treasury—they are, after all, coming from the outside of the Sect--most were found in some ruins and labyrinths…

The group got hungry after all the walking around the place, so they bought crepes at a stall, Rebellion gave the crepe a look as if she saw something rare.

Allen looked at Rebellion puzzledly while taking a small bite out of his crepe.

"Have you not seen a crepe before, Rebellion?"

"Eh? Yeah, master.” Rebellion answered embarrassedly. “On the outside is a warm skin, yet on the inside, it is filled with cold confectioneries. Although it looks delicious...... it's quite unrefined to bite down on it just to eat it. The mouth would be bound to get dirty no matter the effort to try and stop it."

Allen didn't know whether she was complaining or admiring it-- “Ha ha, well that what made Crepe’s wonderful… isn’t it?” Allen mused.

“The sight of noble and graceful women with their mouths full of white cream~ A sight for sore eyes, if I may say so myself~”

“Master, why do I feel as if you have some ulterior motives from saying that…?”

“Did I? Ha ha,” Allen chuckled. “However, I never expected that this place also knows what Crepes were…”

“That is actually because, there were some people from time to time to appear in the Continent bearing strange ideas about foods, weapons, items… as for how they got it, I don't know. Even still, merchants would never waste time to make a fortune… does, such things easily spread…”

Lu Qingling explained patiently while she also bit on her Crepe with a smile.

“As for this Crepe… is that what you call it? Well, if I’m not mistaken, it has already been over forty years ago since this kind of food had appeared on the continent… since then, it was called, Hot Cream Bread…”

“Was that so… well, Celestial Realm was not as boring as I thought then~” Allen shrugged. “Especially this Crepe, it was one of my favorites—the feeling of the sweet and thick sauces sliding and then spreading in my mouth after I bite apart the warm skin is really wonderful~"

"Even if master says that no matter what kind of food it was, for master it's delicious~"

"What are you talking about? I still prided myself as a Gourmet, you know. I know what's good and not~"

"But why do master always says it's good when I mistakenly overcooked it?" Laura pouted as she complained. "Because of that, I can't even find myself a motivation to scold myself for my carelessness..."

"Obviously, everything that Laura makes is good! I would die before I describe my beloved's homecooked meal as disgusting!" Allen declared passionately. "...All of them would be very delicious as long as you are the one who made them!!"

"And that's the problem! What if mistakenly put poison?"

"It's fine, I'm immune to poison~"

"THAT'S NOT THE PROBLEM!!"

Finally, while walking through the buzzing city that certainly didn’t look like the Sect that Allen had imagined after reading many wuxia and xianxia novels, they sat down at a cafe bearing the symbol of the Passing Cloud Sect.

From inside the shop, a dog-eared young girl quickly appeared to take their orders.

"Welcome! What can I get you?"

"Let me see... As for a light meal...this... and that."

"Yes yes. Two Honey Bee Sap tea and a cup of Dragon Black Bean Coffee, as well as Water Bull Stew and Eagle-cry Soup."

“That’s right,”

The dog-eared young girl returned to the shop, swinging her tail back and forth on the way.

After watching her go back inside the shop, Allen couldn’t help but curled his lips in an amused smile. “Now, I’m really starting to feel confused as to whether this is a wuxia novel or a fantasy novel…”

“He he,” Laura chuckled.

“So the Sect also allowed demihumans?”

“Well, of course. However, rather than calling them demihumans… they are more of a spirit…” Lu Qingling replied with a smile.

“A spirit? Not a demihuman?” Allen asked perplexed.

“That’s right… they are quite different compared to demihumans… they are beings that had cultivated for a very long time, giving them a human form… like Grand Elder, for example., She was just an ordinary flower before but due to some miraculous opportunity, she managed to cultivate until her present appearance. As for that lady just now, she was actually a spirit of a beast called Howling Mountain Dog.”

“Wait a moment, then are Demi-humans their descendants then…?”

“That’s right, the young master has great insights!” To Allen’s question, before Lu Qingling could answer, the dog-eared young girl who had returned with their orders had answered instead.

Well, about Demihumans, it was actually a very vague classification. After all, the history of Demihumans have many versions, especially those from the western culture--

Slowly moving the things on the tray towards the table, the dog-eared girl continued; “Actually, from young master’s looks, you must be from the outside of the continent, am I right?”

“Yeah,” Allen nodded. 'You have great eyes,' is what seems to be Allen's eyes were saying. The Dog-eared girl humphed as she showed a proudful expression.

“As I thought, the young master's smell is just too different from other people here," So it was not eyes but nose--but then again, why did she show a proudful expression just now?

Allen smiled wryly as he endured asking, it might cause the dog-eared girl to be awkward. Even still-- "What? Do I smell?" Allen sniffed his clothes and armpit, causing Laura and Rebellion to giggle in amusement.

"Yep! Young Master's smell is just sooo Goo--ah, no, no, n- no. It’s not like it's intoxicating or something--" The Dog-eared girl panic the moment she noticed Laura and the other's crept expressions.

"... I didn’t mean to say it's arousing, no, no please don't pull away from me, even you, young master please don't do that! No, no don't look at me with that kind of expression--I'm going to get wet..." The Dog-eared girl shivered while hiding her face with the tray she was holding.

What a lewd girl...

"Uhun!!" Lu Qingling frowned and coughed loudly. Because of that, the Dog-eared girl managed to regain herself, though her face was still beet red.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

But as if trying to regain her honor, she acted like what happened just now didn't happen, cough and acted calmly;

"An, anyway, the...the Demihumans the young master was talking about should be what westerners called beastmen…right?" She started, though anyone could see her knees fidgeting awkwardly. "...actually, most of them were descendants of some spirits like us… half human half beast, gaining sentient and wisdom… though of course, there was some exception… like those beasts and monster who were gifted by Gods or Mythical creatures to have human form as some sort of rewards…”

“That’s interesting…” Allen muttered as he sipped his coffee with a faint smile. Though, what he meant by interesting was still a debatable matter.

“... He he, then, young master please enjoy,” the Dog-eared girl cover her mouth with her tray and giggled. She then bowed before turning around and left.

“That was some interesting girl~” Allen mused. As his eyes followed the figure of the girl, rushing inside as if she was running away. Though, even though she was doing that, she was still glancing at Allen from time to time, causing her to stumble on some things.

Ararara, she was scolded...

But why is she still glancing at me? What's with the blush...?

"Master... I don't like this place, it has some kinda bad vibe... let's not come here again in the future..." Laura muttered displeased.

"What's with that...?"

"I agree, the air is unclean..." Rebellion frowned as well. Though her glare was fixed in some strange direction.

"... ..." Allen wanted to laugh, but he bit his lips and endured not to. As I thought, jealous women are still one of the best wonders in the world.

Allen's shoulders trembled, though Lu Qingling, sitting at the side, scooted away from the two girls, pale and sweating. She was smiling wryly but anyone could see her fingers shivering...

Allen suddenly had an urge to burst in laughter--

After a few minutes of resting and enjoying their food, in which Laura and Rebellion kept their 'I have an urge to kill some pest right now,' kind of game face on-- especially when the Dog-eared girl who seems to have found some companions and started to come over every passing minute, asking whether he wanted a refill or not, a food, or a napkin or whatsoever kind of excuse...

Still though--this Dog-eared girl has some guts, she actually didn't mind Laura and Rebellion's killing intent, unlike the other women who appeared looking like rabbits who just saw wolves in front of them and hurriedly run away. In fact, she seemed to be quite enjoying basking on their murderous intentions, she was shivering with a pleased expression--

What a dangerous girl--

“After this, let’s go pay a trip to the slave market.” Allen suddenly said after finishing his chiffon kind of cake dessert.

“Eh?”

“Master?”

Laura and Rebellion, who was glaring at the particular figure who was once again getting scolded by the manager -looking miss, raised their heads and look at Allen in shock. What? Slave market?

“... pardon me for asking master, but what do you want to do in the slave market, master?”

"I agree, master. To go to such filthy place, I fear master's eyes would be hurt. I'm against from going!" Rebellion raised her hand to show her strong objection.

“...Of course, I want to buy a slave or a beast.” Allen shrugged as he said: “Our family is too little now, how can we always deal with everything ourselves? Besides, a slave is good since we don’t need to doubt their loyalty… as for beast; I just want to see what kind of beasts and monsters they had in their hands…” Allen’s handsome face flashed a brief expression of excitement.

Although Allen wasn’t fond much less interested in slave trading but, he didn’t live for a single lifetime.

Especially in his previous lifetime, he had seen far too many disturbing scenes, even parents selling their children for money was not uncommon…

Still...

“… …”

Divine Martial Continent had many countries, over many years of wars, there were many prisoners of war. Those captives, in large part all became slaves.

Just because the Jade Emperor was the legendary Jade Emperor, it doesn’t mean he had already controlled the entire continent on his palm. Unfortunately, Jade Emperor is just an empty title and anyone can become the Jade Emperor as long as they have the ability to do so…!

That is the reason why clan wars always occurred…

As for the various sects, they always retained their aloof stances from mundane affairs attitude—even still, they are two types of powers in the Jianghu—Evil and Righteous Sects…!

If the mundane world has wars from various clans and families for power, the Sects only had each other—Righteous and Evil Paths, both of them were like oil and water, never existing in one place!

In Divine Martial Continent, slave markets were extremely popular. The various sect whether they were righteous or evil wasn’t an exception. After all, as long as one was an expert or has some uses, they are worth it!

Obviously, only influential and powerful people can afford a slave.

Though most didn’t bother with this kind of things—especially righteous sects such as the Passing Cloud Sect, whose pride were as high as the heavens. Even still, they wouldn’t stop merchants from selling…

Besides, all the slaves pass through a strict examination—The Passing Cloud Sect would never let any innocent people be sold within their place. As long as one was a criminal or cultivating an evil path, they would allow it.

After all, even if they were the righteous sect, they completely aren’t the follower of the Buddha’s doctrine…!

Although Laura and Rebellion were against Allen going to such trading places, but since Allen was extremely adamant about it, they could only sigh and shrugged. Master's orders are always absolute.

Even if Allen ordered them to kidnap women to become slaves, they would do so without hesitation--much less, it was just going to buy slaves.

As they left the shop, the Dog-eared girl happily run towards them to escort them--this scene caused Rebellion and Laura's killing intent reached MAX and was about to punish some bad kids when, a young middle-aged-looking woman, around thirty to forty years old, seems to be the manager or owner of the shop, caught the 'bad kid' before the two 'mommy wolves' got her, and harshly scolded her.

Allen could only smile, amused at them as they went straight towards the door. Then. suddenly, they were stopped in the doorway--it was the middle-aged woman, who apologize to Allen and the others.

Allen smilingly said he didn't mind, though Rebellion and Laura's expression were severe--the middle-aged woman, whose name seemed to be Tang Wei, gratefully look at Allen.

Laura and Rebellion started complaining but Allen immediately stopped them, apologizing to Tang Wei in return. However, what Allen didn't expect was that the moment Rebellion and Laura turned around to leave, Tang Wei who escorted them out slipped and grabbed Allen's arm, who immediately supported her.

"Are you ok--?!"

"Ah, I'm fine, thank you so much...!" Tang Wei hurriedly stood up, looking at Allen shyly.

"Is something wrong?" Laura turned around and asked, frowning.

"No, it's nothing..." Allen smiled wryly. He then looks at Tang Wei and said, "It's good that you're okay. Thanks for the good food,"

"It's my pleasure...!"

Allen scratched the back of his head as he put his hand in his jean's pocket. He touched something small and hard with his fingertips. But Allen was hesitant and couldn't pull it out.

The middle-aged woman; Tang Wei was waving at them happily while saying, 'Please visit again sometime~!' with a happy and gentle expression. Though, if one looks closely her cheeks were slightly dyed pink--

No one noticed, not even the perceptive and overprotective Laura, or Rebellion, nor the people around them--Ah, there's actually one--

Lu Qingling was staring at Tang Wei in shock and horrified.

It was fast and she just saw it coincidentally but--the moment Tang Wei slipped and grabbed at Allen's arm, her hand went towards Allen's and slip a piece of paper in there, before acting like nothing had happened.

It was completely smooth and natural.

But still... what the heck was that...?

She didn't even need to use her brain to know what was inside that paper--no, what was written in that paper--!!

What a terrifying woman...!!

So this is what being matured, means...?! At this very day, Lu Qingling kneeled to someone aside from her master and cried out in her heart, '...Today, I saw a real master in love! A real mature woman! And... I've learned something new...!'

As for the man in question, Allen smiled wryly as he accepted it. Well, it was not him who made the first move so it should be okay~

... Right?

Allen thought if he had some time to call her to ‘play’ but thinking about Laura and Rebellion's overprotective tendencies, he could only sigh.

... What a waste--

As for the story about how Allen made a copy unknown and run towards a certain shop in secret... that's a story for another time...

*** ***

“So, what now…”

It was still the first time for Allen in this place so naturally, there wasn’t anyone he recognized.

They were not at all familiar with how to do slave transactions and only casually looked around.

“This young master, do not know if I can help you?” a merchant asked with etiquette. Though, his figure having a beer bell was a minus...

People like them always have nasty disposition--courtesy in novels and movies. It's an unjust accusation but most of them, did have terrible character--

Allen turned around, and with an amiable smile, he said: “We have come to buy slaves, can you introduce us to a good one?”

“Of course, I am here to serve the young master. But I don’t know if the young master wants male or female slaves, do you have any special requirements?”

Allen thought and said: “I want talented and useful people, any race will do. If there is a powerful young demon beast, it will also do.

“Young Lord, then, you came to the right place, please follow me.”

The boss’ business was unexpectedly quite big. He owned a large building. And inside there were slaves everywhere; there were transactions happening as well as price negotiations.

Once the price negotiations were successful, the business transaction was immediately completed.

Allen was very curious regarding the slave market, his eyes looked all around at the many races he had only heard about.

For instance, the Barbarians, the Evil Cultivators, and most of all different kinds of monster beasts.

The boss led Allen, Laura, Rebellion and Lu Qingling the chaperone, inside a large spacious room—probably meant for VIP customers as the room was clean with good looking decorations.

Immediately, the fat boss hustled out of the data room and gave a stack of resumes to Allen. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled at Allen. “Young Master can take a pick on these people,”

Allen carefully sifted through the resume as he raised his eyebrows occasionally.

"Young Master, are you not satisfied?" The boss asked anxiously, as this affected his commission, which was his only source of income. He was actually one of the most well-known slave traders with a good reputation--so, having unable to satisfy a costumer would be a minus on his good fame(?)

"There are a few people that are quite exceptional. However..." Allen raised his clear cold red eyes, “Let me have a look at them personally… I don’t trust mere information, I want to see them by myself and judge them personally~”

As expected, all of them were evil cultivators and criminals that had killed countless people. Although they should have been killed but due to their usefulness in staying alive, most were thrown into slavery—of course, all slaves wore a slave collar—a piece of a leather collar with special inscriptions that would kill them the moment they behave strangely.

When Allen read about it, he had realized that it was a bit similar to his dark curses—especially one that he had given to Lan Ling ‘er—though his was a superior method and didn’t need any external source!

…obviously, Solomon wasn’t hailed as the Prince of Witches for show…!