Yu Nianzhen had witnessed a lot of ceremonies in his thirty years of life, but nothing as bizarre as the one he had just experienced.
He had expected that the ceremony would be atypical given that it was being held by beggars, but nothing could have ever prepared him for what happened next.
After the beggars stood in a long queue that extended past the front stone gate, the first person on the line had walked up to the person seated on the putuan and spat on him.
Yu Nianzhen had thought that this was some kind of slight and had expected the crowd to protest in outrage but none of that had happened.
Instead, the second, third, and every beggar after that had walked up and done the same thing when their turn on the queue came.
Yu Nianzhen was severely disgusted, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to look away.
Three hours later, the spitting ceremony had ended and the man at the top of the stairs was covered in spit and his clothes were sticking on several parts of his body, making him appear as if he had been rained on.
From his position, Yu Nianzhen could even see several patches of coloured phlegm on the man's clothes which made him feel sick to his stomach.
Yu Nianzhen may have been fighting not to vomit, but the young lad who had followed him to the front seemed as excited as ever.
No, he seemed to be even more excited and Yu Nianzhen had a disturbing feeling that the boy wished that he was the one sitting at the top of the stairs being spat at by thousands of beggars.
This observation made Yu Nianzhen feel even more disoriented.
Was being literally drowned in other people's spit supposed to be a good thing?
Was there something wrong with this world?
Yu Nianzhen looked at the boy strangely, but the other didn't seem to notice or otherwise mind it.
"I heard that chief Zhang has broken through to the Qi transformation realm and is only slightly weaker than city lord Han." The boy said as he looked at the man sitting at the front with unconcealed admiration.
Yu Nianzhen didn't know how to respond to that.
If the man was so impressive, why wouldn't the beggars choose a different ritual to honour him? Yu Nianzhen could think of a thousand different and better ways to say 'congratulations' that didn't involve spitting on someone.
Also, what Qi transformation realm?
Yu Nianzhen was about to ask the boy about it, but the crowd had become excited again and he had no choice but to turn his attention to the front to see what was happening.
"The recruitment for the beggar's sect is about to begin." The boy said excitedly as he looked to the front.
At the front, chief Zhang-who Yu Nianzhen now knew was the leader of the beggars' sect had moved to the side and in his previous position, there was a table and on top of it, someone had placed a clear coloured crystal ball that had a diameter of about ninety centimetres.
"What's that?" He asked the boy as he pointed at the crystal ball.
"It is an origin test stone." The other answered excitedly but the words meant nothing to Yu Nianzhen since he didn't know what an origin was.
"We will be able to join the beggars' sect if we pass the test." The boy continued and Yu Nianzhen felt his blood chill in his veins.
He was desperate to wake up from this bizarre dream but not even that was enough motivation to let him join the beggars' sect.
After everything that had happened, Yu Nianzhen had come up with a few truths about the beggars' sect.
One, being filthy was a way of life for the members of the sect and the very thought of it made Yu Nianzhen feel sick to his stomach.
Second, if he somehow excelled and became chief in the future, he would have to suffer the spitting ceremony.
"Our life will be set if we can join the sect."
Yu Nianzhen was of a different opinion, he felt that his life would be over if he dared to join the sect.
His legs worked faster than his brain and when the other lad wasn't looking, he slipped into the crowd and quickly made his way out of the front gate and away from the beggars' sect.
In his mind, he had already decided to either find a different way to exit the dream or find a more dignified way to exist within the dream.
Yu Nianzhen made his way through the streets; carefully taking in his surroundings and the more he walked, the more he noticed the strangeness around him.
He had always been a considerably strong person but even he had his limits.
At first, Yu Nianzhen only sighed in admiration when he saw a woman carrying what looked like several hundred kilograms of goods but the sigh turned to shock soon after.
It was somewhat normal to have one incredibly strong person in one area, but Yu Nianzhen had seen more than twenty in a stretch of about one hundred metres.
Some looked to be only five to six years older than his current self, but they could easily carry hundreds of kilograms without breaking a sweat. Even the old people were incredibly strong which gave Yu Nianzhen a very surreal feeling.
Strength was not the only strangeness.
Yu Nianzhen had seen a young lady sinking her right hand in the ground and soon after, a seedling had sprouted from the same place.
It was all very strange but Yu Nianzhen was in no position to further investigate because his stomach was grumbling loudly and the afternoon sun was causing him to lose strength even faster.
Yu Nianzhen entered a side alley off the main street to hide from the sun and while he was there, he took the opportunity to rummage through his tattered clothes.
In his exploration, he discovered a small pouch hidden in a secret pocket in his robe's chest area and to his delight, there were fifty gold coins within.
Yu Nianzhen didn't know the worth of the gold coins and didn't expect them to be of much value since his current self was a street child. However, he hoped that it was enough to buy some food since his stomach was literary touching his back.
Other than the pouch, Yu Nianzhen also discovered several scraps of torn paper in the sleeves of his robes.
The writings on the papers were in a foreign language, but strangely enough, he could read them without a problem; just like he had been able to speak the local language without actually knowing the language.
The pieces of paper contained information about some menial jobs like cleaning this and that stall or weeding a certain flower garden. There were also rewards corresponding with each job which helped Yu Nianzhen understand how his current self had amassed fifty gold coins.
After taking out a gold coin from the money pouch, Yu Nianzhen returned the rest, including the torn papers to their previous locations and left the alley.
Luckily, it turned out that Yu Nianzhen had been worried for nothing because a gold coin was more than enough money to feed one person for an entire year.
This discovery was, however confusing for Yu Nianzhen.
If one gold coin was so valuable, why did his current self insist on living on the streets when he had fifty gold coins?
Yu Nianzhen didn't understand the rationale and because he didn't, he didn't dare to be careless with the gold coins.
He only used one gold coin to buy several steamed buns, three new robes, a pair of shoes, one geography book, one history book, and a map.
Unfortunately, none of the cheap inns were willing to give him a room because of how filthy he was, so he followed a line of carriages and left Han city.
After leaving the city gates, Yu Nianzhen used his new map to navigate and eventually found the Han River that flowed just outside the city.
It was already late in the evening and he knew that the city gates would soon be closed so Yu Nianzhen planned to find an isolated place to take a bath and then return to the city before the gates closed.
With this in mind, he hurriedly walked along the river's bank and after ten minutes of walking, he followed an inlet and eventually arrived at a small cove beneath a cliff.
The cove was well hidden which would allow him the privacy he desired and when he was satisfied that there was no one around, he cautiously entered the cove but froze in shock before he could make his way into the depths.
"You…" He called in surprise, but a sudden splitting headache forced him to cease his words and close his eyes in pain.