Chapter 1:

The city bustled in activity as it did every Sunday morning. It was only 9 in the morning and the market just opened. Not one person that needed to buy something would be late. People were afraid to miss the best products and end up with second end products. There were two types of shops, outside and inside ones. It was not surprising to anyone that inside shops were the most prestigious between the two. Most of the time those prestigious shops were for cultivators whereas outside shops were mostly used by normal people. There was still cultivator shops outside but only low level and cheap items could be found there.

Selling and buying were not the only economic activity that would take place here every Sunday morning.

If one does not look closely they would not notice small, ragged, skinny kids. Some of them would work for a coin giving indications on the market while others would steal. No matter how much money you could get from stealing you had to be alive to enjoy it that’s why only the most courageous and daring children would even think about it.

To keep your life, the most important thing was to guess who was a cultivator and who wasn’t. That's you had to be very knowledgeable and know every shop, what they sold, who was the seller and even which shops had the most people coming to it.

Even if a cultivator was 99 percent of the time from a rich family and would not buy groceries or he would be the whole town laughingstock. That did not mean that stealing from people buying food was safe.

Some very rich family employed cultivators' servants and not being a cultivator did not mean you could not beat a kid to death. The main difference between a low-level cultivator and a mere mortal was their perception. That’s why, If you stole from a cultivator he would take a few seconds to notice, even if you had hands as fast as Wei's.

Wei was a dark-haired and green-eyed kid with a dirty face. He had been stealing for a few years and was considered the best in the slums.

He was overly cautious. He could wait hours before choosing his target. He would look at every detail. Did they have a weapon? Did they sweat or not? He would observe the way they walked what they bought? What they wore? Even how much they spent !?

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

And this time he had chosen a very fat man that sweated a lot which for Wei ruled him out as a cultivator. The man did not look rich nor did he look poor. He was clothed in a very sober way, all in black. However, he only bought high-quality food. He was a perfect target.

There was a saying in slums “If he is rich enough to get fat he is fat enough to get stolen".

Wei observed his target for a few minutes then moved. He entered the crowd while staying a few meters from his target. The fat man was minutes away from the fish shop which was one the best spot since it had one of the shortest escape route. Furthermore, buying fish was a very important matter if you didn’t want to die from sickness. That’s why most people took their time. Finally, The man was in front of the shop talking to the fish seller. Wei ran.

It was all about speed and that was all he had. He passed right next to the fat man. At most, he grazed him. His fingers worked their magic. Eventually a few seconds later, he could feel the big and heavy purse in his pocket. Thus, he could not help a smile from appearing on his dirty face.

However, he would not dare stop running. Besides, he could see the end of the street where he had to turn left. Suddenly, he heard a shout

“ MOOOVE YOU FUCKING PEASANTS !!! IF I DO NOT GET MY PURSE I WILL KILL YOU ALL !!!”.

Wei slightly turned and witnessed a human meat cannonball charging towards him. Fear overwhelmed him and he quickly understood he had been mistaken. This man was a cultivator and the only reason he was not already dead was because the man was obese reducing quite a bit his speed.

Besides, in a few seconds, he would reach the end of the street where his last resort was. As a matter of fact, a few meters to his left was the sewer entry. In spite of the man being a cultivator, If he got there he was saved. First of all, because this meatball cultivator was too big to get in the narrow sewer entry and in addition because the sewer was a maze that only kids from the slum knew by heart.

As he turned he felt some hope he might survive. Although it was quickly crushed by the second shout from the man:

"A HUNDRED SILVER TO THE ONE THAT STOPS HIM !!!!!"

Wei's face lost all its color. In spite of him speeding up, as one could expect it did not take long for a well-placed leg to appear in front of Wei. The last thing he saw before he fell and hit his head on the ground was the sewer a few meters from him