Thousand Link Slavers had been operating for decades. They had their own method of operation and a certain order to things at this point.
They would raid only one ruined city, and then spend the rest of a season traveling and selling those slaves off before raiding another ruined city. They were the hyenas that ate the carcass of the loser during every war in the region.
Right now, the camp of the Thousand Link Slavers was swelling up with the great number of slaves that they had captured during today's raid. They would stay here for a couple of weeks to round up any potential slaves in hiding within the city and play with the low quality maidens that they had captured. After all, the high quality ones had to be sold to the brothels as virgins.
Most thugs did not fully understand the way things went in the camp, but they were good at following the flow. Some would construct cages, others would tend to the ropes and the horses. The cooks were always busy, but they were plenty enough to feed the whole camp. During this hustle and bustle one might have even forgotten that they were all thugs and criminals.
Appraiser Tong was not like the rest. He knew every job to do in the camp and assigned the thugs properly to make sure things were going smoothly. He had neither the patience for a riot nor a fire. He had captured 2 fine treasures that would be worth dozens of slaves each. He had to dedicate his time and energy towards making sure they did not lose their value or get sick.
There were solitary cages, each beside another, and all of them made of strong interlocked bamboo. This design by Appraiser Tong made sure that not even 3 adult men could break free without a knife. Since pushing or pulling the bamboo in any direction would instantly interlock with other bamboo to make the struggle pointless. There were 5 such cages, 2 were already full with other kids and 2 more would be filled now with Tian Mingyun and Huo Lan.
Appraiser Tong had not untied them yet. He had to check on their health first. He was no healer or apothecary, but he could see parasites and feel fevers just fine. He made sure both of them were in good health, tho the girl seemed to be starving. He tossed over pine fleas into each cage, more than each of them would need. But the insects had simply had their legs removed, not dead. As such, they would not rot and could last each slave for a week.
He made sure to toss some jerky into the girl's cage as well and left her and the gray haired boy with lots of water. Though he was thinking about why that boy had such hard yet jet black fingernails. He could not figure out why, but it seemed that the boy might carry more value than he thought.
Tian Mingyun and Huo Lan did not move until Appraiser Tong went into his tent to rest. The tent was right across the cages so that he could keep an eye on them. Tian Mingyun quickly used the interlocking parts of the bamboo to untie his mouth and hands. Huo Lan followed suit and spoke as soon as her mouth was free.
"Where are we? Where is my brother?"
Tian Mingyun was glad that he was at least stuck here with someone he knew.
"You might not have seen well during that commotion, Huo Lan. Your brother is safe with the soldiers. We got taken here as slaves."
Huo Lan sat down and started eating jerky. Her face was oddly calm for a recently kidnapped 9 year old child.
"That is good. I will be fine so long as Big Brother is safe."
Huo Lan was brave. She had no concern for her safety when she was unsure if her big brother was safe. However, it was clear that she was stressed on the way here as she started rambling while chewing jerky.
"You know, my big brother is not born strong. He has good stamina, but his hands and face are so sensitive. He cried and his cheeks were bruised for days when I threw a snowball at him once. He also kept bleeding whenever we were picking berries from a thorned bush. But he has a kind heart... I am sure he will be liked well in the army. I just hope they don't make him work too hard."
Huo Lan's expression looked like she was making peace with never seeing her brother again. Tian Mingyun was about to encourage her, but he was stopped when a boy from the cage right over spoke.
"Ah, what a good little sister you are. I wish every brother had one like you! Mine tripped me when were running away so that she could run away while I was captured! I cut lumber for her in the cold winter to feed us, and this is the thanks I got!"
The boy that spoke was clearly no older than 12 if one looked at his face, but his body was a different story. He was as tall as Huo Lan's father was before he died, and far more muscular looking too. He was only wearing a leather vest and a weird looking skirt that was as thick as a blanket. The girl in the cage next to him spoke up in an irritated voice too.
"Oh, to hell with you and your sister! I heard that story so many times in the last 4 days! I just wish they would sell us off already so that I could have some time away from you, you muscle headed moron!"
She was speaking while hanging from the ceiling of her cage like a bat with her feet. She looked older than all of them, about 16 years old. Her hair was black and long, while her legs looked really full of muscles. She was wearing an odd piece of clothing as well, it looked like a second skin tightly wrapped around her whole body other than her head, toes, and fingers.
Tian Mingyun did not pay much heed to the now ongoing bickering between the muscular boy and the upside down girl. He already had all the information he needed about why the 4 of them were captured in these cages next to one another and fed so well. He spoke his mind to Huo Lan.
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"Huo Lan, I think all of us are here because we are worth more. All of us are clearly odd compared to other kids."
Huo Lan listened while eating a whole insect, and spoke back after she swallowed.
"That boy looks stronger than soldiers, but he looks only about as old as my big brother. That big sister is also really strong looking. Being upside down like that with just her toes is so hard. Even I need 4 fingers to do that." After she was done speaking, she quickly leaped up and held the ceiling bamboo sticks with 4 of her fingers while casually eating the insect in her hand.
Tian Mingyun climbed up and down a lot of buildings and ruins as well, so he knew how heavy one's own body would be on their fingers. He watched with an open mouth as he saw Huo Lan's forearm twitch and swell with power as she kept hanging by only 4 of her fingers.
The upside down girl now seemed interested, she yelled at Huo Lan.
"Oi, little girl! Were you also from a traveling theatre? That is impressive for your age!"
Her face was now smiling. She seemed very excited to see someone who was potentially from her field of work.
"Traveling what? I was just born like this. My mom said it was uncouth for a girl, so I am doing it while she is not around." Huo Lan spoke while eating the insect without caring for how she looked.
The upside down girl seemed disappointed and turned her back while speaking.
"Ugh! You are just a muscle ape like Shupi Juren here! All the same! Am I the only one who trained here?"
Shupi Juren was the one that spoke up after the upside down girl was done with her tirade.
"Forgive big sister Yanku Zhimei. We may bicker often, and her words may sting, but she simply misses her family. She has sung me many poems and songs and danced just as many times in order to soothe me. I would not have been sane if not for big sister."
Shupi Juren apologized for her sake and then returned to arguing with her as if his words were a dream. Huo Lan and Tian Mingyun could not make much sense of this duo so far.
Tian Mingyun was shocked to see that his book was not with him. He was certain that the bearded, tall, old guy must have stolen it. He may have memorized every word in it, but the pictures of the herbs and animals within were priceless.
Tian Mingyun was quietly sitting and contemplating while Huo Lan was talking about her big brother. That was when Yanku Zhimei spoke again, yelled to be more accurate.
"Hey gray haired boy! Why are you so quiet? Are you a mute or something?!"
Tian Mingyun was flustered. He looked at her with his eyes open and bloodshot. He was breathing fast just from hearing that word when he thought he had overcome it with the Cauldron Fevers recipe.
Huo Lan spoke to Yanku Zhimei, who was confused about Tian Mingyun's reaction.
"He goes quiet sometimes. Don't bully him over it."
Tian Mingyun calmed down after he saw Huo Lan trying to defend him. He took a few deep breaths. He had not been honest with Huo Lan yet, and these people were sharing his current plight. He owed honesty to them.
"I used to be mute. I am good at writing and reading, but I am not used to speaking yet. My mouth feels dry after I speak too much. I don't like it."
A normal person would have apologized for bringing something like that up, but Yanku Zhimei was far from normal.
"Oh, that sounds useful! Being able to read and write is precious. Only my grand aunt could do that in the family, she wrote down all the plays and read out our lines for us."
She was focusing on the wrong thing again. Shupi Juren sighed. He could apologize for her enough times to fill the heavens with his voice, but he could not make her act normally. He just shrugged and sat down. He resumed talking about how evil his sister was for abandoning him again. Huo Lan was going off about her big brother and Yanku Zhimei talked about her large family who all worked at the traveling theatre.
Tian Mingyun was meditating while surrounded by the oddly lively voices of his fellow 3 prisoners. This did not feel bad. Hell, this might have been more fun than being at his den. Thinking of it like that, he was able to focus on starting his cultivation.
The cultivation journey for each person was different. But the first thing that had to be done before even refining the skin was to make sure one's circulation could be felt. For every stage of body refinement, the circulation system was the method of extracting impurities. One had to feel their blood flowing into the muscles, the organs, and the brain. The most difficult part was feeling the lungs cleansing the blood and filling it with air.
For some, this process of feeling the circulation took only a day. For others, they suddenly felt it while doing everyday things like swimming, not even intending to be cultivators. But for someone like Tian Mingyun, this would be a difficult first step.
The first part of his circulation that he felt was his heart, the most basic thing to feel as it was the loudest noise within one's body. By the time Tian Mingyun could feel his heart pumping, relaxing, and pumping the new blood it accepted from the lungs, it was already the dead of night. The other 3 had fallen asleep and Tian Mingyun's head was getting dizzy from focusing for so long. He slept on the hay covered floor of his cage with surprising ease, as he was used to sleeping in such conditions.