Chapter 4 – First Tutorial Quest (3)
Miaomiao ran as fast as he could and managed to ditch the white robe young man with an expensive-looking jade sword.
'MUAHAHAHAHA! MINE! IT'S ALL MINE!'
He couldn't stop laughing in his mind as he continued running, following the main road and the crowd toward their common destination.
In most cultivation novel settings, running away from foes was humiliating, and it might form heart devils that could prevent cultivators from advancing to a higher realm. But for Miaomiao, he had no F to give.
'I wonder how much I can get from this. This should give me enough funds to solve my food and house issues.'
Since Miaomiao was penniless, this treasure sword could be sold for cash. He planned to pawn this thing at any random shop he could find in a town.
He drew the sword and examined its quality. It was a jade blunt sword with carved Chinese characters on its hilt.
Wei Feng
'How cute. You write your name on your item. What are you, a kindergarten kid?'
As Miaomiao was mocking the owner of this sword in his mind, the hand that was holding the weapon emitted white smoke. He dropped the jade sword after the burning sensation kicked in.
"OUCH!! WUTDAFUQ!?"
Miaomiao felt as if something hot had entered his hand. It burned a bit of his palm, leaving the red skin area where he had held the sword.
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The burning sensation concentrated inside his belly, which distracted Miaomiao from the system messages. The pain subsided after a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, the jade sword dimmed as if it lost all of its energy.
His loud profanity attracted attention from nearby travelers, who were heading toward the city in the same direction. An old man walked toward Miaomiao.
"Young man, that's a dangerous weapon you have."
"Huh?"
The elder advised Miaomiao, "That is a yang sword, a treasure sword of Mountain Goose Sect. Only the top outer disciples of the sect can wield this. If you keep holding onto it, the sword will absorb the yang qi in the air and transfer it into your body. If you can't handle yang qi, they will burn your body alive. Say, why do you have such a dangerous weapon, young man?"
Miaomiao was astonished. He almost picked it up again, but he stopped after listening to the old man's kind words.
"It's that dangerous?"
"Yes. That's why it is usually kept inside a yin sheath. Hurry, sheath the sword before it burns you."
Miaomiao followed the old man's instruction and returned the sword to its sheath.
As soon as the sword was properly contained, the hot aura around it subsided. Miaomiao and the old man heaved a sigh of relief.
"Thank you for your advice, senior."
Miaomiao was respectful. He turned around and cupped his fist, bowing toward the elder.
"Haiz. It's good that you're alright. I don't want to see a tragedy of someone as young as you die because of ignorance," the elder gave Miaomiao and meaningful look, "I won't ask you how you get this sword, but be careful when you pick up something odd. It might be cursed, or it might contain a trap mechanism. You can't trust strange items or strangers. Remember this well."
Miaomiao had a chill running down his spine. He thought he almost died because of this yang sword.
'That young man from before, did he scam me? Why did he give such a dangerous weapon?'
It was a wake-up call that he was no longer living in a peaceful civilized world. Miaomiao bowed to the old man again.
"T-Thank you for saving my life! I was ignorant!"
"Hahaha! It's okay. Having a thousand friends is too few, having an enemy is one too many. It's good to make friends, right?"
The kind old man laughed and patted Miaomiao's shoulder. Just then, he finally noticed that the elder was as tall as him. Moreover, his toned muscle and constitution were thick, which revealed that he wasn't an ordinary old man.
His wrinkle face had several scars on the cheek, eyebrows, and nose. It wasn't hard to tell that this old man was a seasoned warrior.
"My name is Wei Huang. Would you mind if I ask your name?"
Seeing the politeness and the friendliness of the elder, Miaomiao humbly bowed again, "I'm Mao Miaomiao."
'Cat Meow Meow?' The elder's face twitched as he misheard Miaomiao's full name.
"Anyway, are you traveling alone? Would you like to accompany us? We have bodyguards, so it is safer to travel together."
Miaomiao looked around. Although there were many people on the road, not all of them were friendly towards each other. He could hear random commotion yelling, the sound of sword fights, and occasionally explosion from far away. As they traveled, these people fought among themselves.
Looking around some more, Miaomiao's eyes met with a dozen travelers, and they were staring at his jade sword. Some of them whispered to each other and pointed at him.
Miaomiao could tell from their facial expression and gesture that they were hesitating if they should mug him. It was a miracle that Miaomiao was still alive up until now with his current cultivation base.
"T-Then, I'll accept your offer. Please take care of me, senior."
Wei Huang laughed, "It's fine. It's fine! Come, come with us!"
Wei Huang guided Miaomiao to his caravan.
Seeing that Miaomiao had friends, the crowd nearby didn't dare to make a move against Miaomiao anymore. They clicked their tongues and turned around, searching for other prey.
The caravan that Wei Huang was leading Miaomiao towards was an organized group. Everyone wore a white uniform, and escort soldiers had shining silver plate armors, including full helmets. They also dressed their carriage horses with plate armor, similar to warhorses in medieval Europe and what Qing Gui's horse had.
A white 4-wheel wooden carriage was at the center of their formation. A silhouette of a young maiden could be seen, sitting inside the carriage behind a thin layer of the curtain. Miaomiao could tell from a glance that a VIP was in there.
Upon getting to the caravan, 20 escort soldiers, donning in the same white robes as Wei Feng, bowed toward Wei Huang.
"First elder, sir!"
Sure enough, Wei Huang was a big shot. Everyone gazed at him with their utmost respect.
Miaomiao thought that he would be invited into the carriage, but he was wrong. Wei Huang's attitude flipped 180 degrees as soon as he turned towards Miaomiao.
"Now that we're alone, I'll be frank. I didn't approach you because of virtuous conscience. Instead, it's that sword… Could you return the sword to me?"
Miaomiao was taken aback. At first, he thought that the old man was a kind old man, but he seemed to desire for the sword.
"Ahem, I think you've misunderstood me. You see, I saw the carved name on that sword from afar, and it belongs to my grandson, Wei Feng. I don't know how you get your hands on it, but could you return it to us? I'll compensate you handsomely."
The old man didn't hide his killing intent. His eyes glowed in red light, and escort soldiers, who were guarding their boss, also glared at Miaomiao. Their cold aura almost gave the latter a heart attack.
"Crap."
Miaomiao found himself running into another trouble right away. Moreover, he had fallen into a honey trap.
'I'm powerless right now. I will accept this humiliation and live for another day.'
Miaomiao sighed in resignation and handed over the jade sword, "If I've offended you and your grandson, I hope that you'll forgive me."
Wei Huang receded his killing intent and accepted the sword with a bright smile, "Good! You're a considerate young man. Don't worry, I'll compensate you as promised!"
The old man tossed a coin bag at Miaomiao. Inside, there were 20 gold coins and one glowing stone in it.
"Those are 20 gold coins and a spirit stone. Have you ever seen one, young man?"
Miaomiao shook his head. He didn't lie since it was the first time seeing the currency of this world.
"Okay, one gold coin is worth 1,000 taels of silver, and one spirit stone is commonly exchanged for 1,000 gold coins. Do you get it?"
Miaomiao nodded repeatedly. He was grateful enough that Wei Huang and his men didn't kill him on the spot, "Y-Yes. I understand."
"Good. Don't exchange that spirit stone to gold, okay? Use it to cultivate and increase your strength. As for the gold coins, you can start over a new life with this, alright?"
Miaomiao kept nodding.
Seeing that the short hair young man understood, Wei Huang laughed, "Now, hide that bag in your cloth and move along! Don't get yourself killed on the way to the city."
"Err, you're not bringing me along?" Miaomiao was surprised by this development. He still thought that Wei Huang would take him with the group.
"I've got my sword, and you've got your gold! You'd better be grateful that I haven't killed you yet. NOW BE GONE, SLAVE! SHOO!"
Wei Huang waved his hand. A gust of wind hit Miaomiao's chest as if he was blown away by a tornado.
The nearby travelers and Wei Huang's soldiers laughed at Miaomiao.
"The Wei Clan rules one-third of Mountain Goose City for a century, and this brat has the guts to provoke them? Does he want to die?"
"Obviously, no one with the right mind dares to offend them. Well, he's a stray slave, so that might be it."
"A slave entering the Mountain Goose Sect's examination? HAHAHAHA! Now, that's a joke!"
Everybody mocked Miaomiao and ignored him as if he was an insignificant being.
Meanwhile, many thugs observed Miaomiao with greed.
"Do you think he has anything valuable?"
"Those are clothes from the western country. Only those barbarian westerners wear odd clothes like that. I think he's a runaway slave from there."
"Bah, if he has something valuable, those men from the Wei Clan must have taken them. Did you see how he got sent flying?"
"Right, let's ignore him and find other prey. That brat is penniless."
Despite wanting to rob Miaomiao, they concluded that he was a penniless slave.
Miaomiao got back on his feet after being FUS-RO-DAH'd by Wei Huang. He was frustrated that the old man robbed the jade sword away from him, but the conversation and the mockery of onlookers caught his attention.
'Slave… Everyone keeps calling me a slave.'
Miaomiao scratched his head and played with his pricky short hair again.
'Slave… Cultivators… Ancient China…'
He recalled something as he focused his sense on the hand that was touching his hair.
'Right, there is THAT culture.'