While standing in line with all of the other children below eighteen in the Lu family household, Ji Kang craned his head to the side, trying to see what was happening at the front of the line from his position towards the back. At sixteen he was towards the upper end of the age range, but there weren’t many in the line who were younger than twelve.

Ji Kang knew there were more children in the extended Lu household who weren’t in the line, but he doubted that whatever they were doing, they would need the five year old Qiu Zhi, or the two year old Mo child. He didn’t know why the Lu family had gathered the children of all their servants, but everyone in the line was speculating about it.

Cai Zhen, the daughter of one of the women who worked with Ji Kang’s mother washing the household’s laundry, was telling anyone who would listen that the Lu’s were planning to marry the Second Young Master Lu Wu off to one of them.

Mo Gang, the son of the gardener, thought they were going to throw out the family of anyone who was taller than the Young Miss Lu Xia.

By this point Ji Kang had come to terms with the fact that no one had any idea what was actually happening and had moved on to wondering why all his peers were imagining such fantastical stories. Surely there was an entirely mundane explanation for this that didn’t involve ludicrous marriages or height-based disaster.

His personal pet idea was that someone had stolen something from the family and all of the children who were old enough to be likely suspects were being interrogated one by one. Though as the line grew shorter he had started to doubt that explanation. Everyone who had so far gone into the building they were lined up in front of, had not long after left by the door on the other side of the building looking confused.

Ji Kang had never been interrogated by the Lu’s, but he doubted the universal reaction among his fellow children to that would be confusion.

This had been going on for about the time it took to burn one joss stick, and Ji Kang thought they were more than halfway through based on how long each child had spent in the house and how many were left.

When it finally came time for Ji Kang to enter the house he found himself in the main hall. He had never gone into the house of the family his mother worked for and he was surprised by how expensive everything looked. He knew the Lu family were very wealthy and influential, but he had previously had no point of reference for what that meant.

In the main seat at the head of the hall Ji Kang saw an old man he didn’t recognize, seated on either side of him was Lu Wuji, the father of the current generation of Lu children, and an unknown middle aged man with a refined bearing.

While doing his best to not gawk like a bumpkin, Ji Kang approached the small group seated toward the back of the hall. Mo Gang, whose father often crossed paths with the members of the Lu family, had advised Ji Kang to keep his eyes lowered and Ji Kang thought that was quite possibly the best advice he’d ever received from the foolish older boy.

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Arriving in front of the seated people in the hall, Ji Kang bowed and remained silent.

“Come closer and give me your hand.” Said the middle aged man.

When Ji Kang approached and offered his hand the man turned it over and put two fingers on Ji Kang’s wrist, falling into silence for several moments.

“What’s your name?”

“Ji Kang, son of Ji Shui and Ji Yun.”

The middle aged man dropped Ji Kang’s wrist and waved him back.

“He has enough talent to qualify, barely.”

“Excellent, with him and the other one our Lu Wu will have two subordinates when he joins the sect.” Said Lu Wuji, speaking for the first time since Ji Kang entered.

“Boy, it has just been determined that you have sufficient talent for cultivation. Our Lu family will sponsor you to join the Azure Grove sect under the condition that you enter into a contract to serve and protect my son Lu Wu.”

Ji Kang was stunned, everything was happening so fast he had no idea how to respond, but he knew that this was a once in a lifetime chance that he must seize.

“Yes Master Lu!”

Immediately after speaking Ji Kang started re-evaluating his future. Before this moment he had long known that as the son of a dockworker and a laundry woman his future prospects were bleak. Although his parents had hired someone to teach Ji Kang to read, they weren’t able to afford the kind of education necessary to put him on the track to become a court official.

While Lu Wuji sent a servant to prepare a copy of the contract they had drafted for the other child who had already been selected, Ji Kang congratulated himself on his first instinct of showing more enthusiasm than he felt. The more loyal, humble, and sincere he appeared right now, the less chance of additional strict clauses being added to the contract. As long as he became a cultivator, anything was possible in the future.

Ji Kang had never had a good opinion of the Lu family, nor did he want to live out his life as a servant, but he knew he was in no position to negotiate for better terms so he would just have to rely on his ability to find loopholes in the contract in the future.

When the servant returned with the contract, the middle aged man stood and made his way over. A brush and paper slip appeared in his hand and he started drawing a blend of illegible characters and mystical symbols. Ji Kang assumed that would create a magical component to the contract. He scanned the contract as quickly as possible, trying to gain an initial understanding of what he would be agreeing to, though he never considered not signing it.

“This talisman will hold you to the terms outlined in the contract. Should you violate it after beginning cultivation, you will suffer from qi deviation and die. You must give your consent to be bound by this spell.”

The middle aged man pasted the talisman onto the backside of the scroll the contract was written on, and as Ji Kang signed his full name golden scripts in the shape of six chains shot out between Ji Kang and the contract before fading.

“You may leave now.” Lu Wuji spoke again into the following silence and Ji kang bowed before taking his leave.

Once Ji Kang had left the main hall a servant appeared to usher him out the back, and another went to tell the others waiting outside to disperse. After being told to return to the Lu residence before dawn the next morning ready to depart, Ji Kang started walking home.

As soon as he was out of sight of Lu Manor, he started running. He needed to prepare as best he could, let his parents know, and also study this contract that might shape the rest of his life.