Huang Tao was in a good mood as his horse galloped across a valley and he smiled even more happily when he turned around to see the bundle that was being dragged behind his horse.
He had placed the two boys in a sack and tied it at the mouth with his whip which allowed him to drag them along as the horse galloped away.
"I should be able to sell them for at least fifty gold coins each and together with everything that they had, I have made a profit this time around." He said happily.
There was a big market for young children, especially those who had yet to awaken their meridians. They could be used to harvest low-grade herbs that didn't require qi to harvest, they could also be used to test elixirs and pills, there was also quite a number of rich families that required servants for their young masters; the list went on but the most lucrative trade had to be the brothels. The two boys were very good looking and Huang Tao knew that he could get at least one hundred and fifty gold coins if he sold them to a brothel.
With the amount of gold that he would receive after the trade, Huang Tao was quite sure that he would be able to buy a silver grade low tier rejuvenation pill to heal an old injury that had been bothering him for several months.
As he thought about it, Huang Tao began to whistle in excitement, but his mood took a nosedive when his path was obstructed by an old man.
"Get out of the way old man." Huang Tao shouted without any intention to stop.
However, his demon horse seemed to have encountered a ghost and it began to whine in terror as it desperately tried to buck Huang Tao off its back in its bid to escape.
"Calm down." Huang Tao shouted as he hit the horse to control it, but it seemed not to feel the hit because it sharply turned to the side and this time, it successfully managed to throw the man off its back.
It was just about to run away, but the old man lifted his hand and the horse immediately stopped as all the hair on its body stood up in terror.
"Who are you?" Huang Tao asked rudely as he stood up from the ground but all his courage left him as soon as the old man turned to look at him.
Huang Tao felt as if he had been thrust into an endless void where an instant lasted for an eternity. In that endless instant, he felt like he was a speck of dust whose existence had no significance. It was terrifying and although the sun was out, he began to shiver in cold and intense fear.
"Forgive this foolish one for not recognising mount Tai." Huang Tao stuttered and immediately fell to the ground in obeisance.
He had seen many experts, but he had never encountered one who was so terrifying; even the city lord who was already in the Qi transformation realm didn't have the ability to make him feel this insignificant with a single look.
Huang Tao knew that there were higher realm experts, but such experts could only be found in hegemon sects and it was truly bad luck for him to encounter one in a backward place like the outskirts of Han city.
"I don't know how I offended the lord?" Huang Tao asked again when the other continued to keep silent.
Huang Tao wanted to run away, but the old man's aura kept him rooted to the ground and he had a bad feeling that if he dared to make any moves, the old man would only need to increase his aura by a little bit and Huang Tao would be turned into blood mist.
The old man didn't care about Huang Tao and focused all his attention on the unconscious boys who had been stuffed in a sack.
He carefully picked them up and disappeared on the spot while Huang Tao turned into a blood mist without any resistance.
...
Yu Nianzhen didn't know how long he had been unconscious, but when he came to, he was lying on a hard surface and someone had already bandaged his wounds.
"Xiaoyue." He called anxiously as he tried to get up from the hard surface, but a force pushed him back.
"He is beside you." An old voice said and Yu Nianzhen immediately turned to the side to see Jiang Yue, who was lying next to him on a stone bed.
Yu Nianzhen examined Jiang Yue for a moment and when he was sure that the other was okay, he sighed in relief and then turned his attention towards where the voice had come from.
On the other side of the stone bed was a very old man with long white hair and a pair of twinkling eyes that seemed to be smiling. He was wearing a tan robe made of hemp and his shoes seemed to have been woven using some sort of dried plant. The man had a bluish-black tinge on his body and the slight tremor of his hand as he drank from a broken cup showed that he was not in good health.
"Thank you for saving us." Yu Nianzhen said as he once again tried to get up so that he could cup his fists to show his gratitude but once again, a force kept him down.
"Your wounds are still mending." The old man offered an explanation.
He took a large gulp from his cup and then smiled at Yu Nianzhen, "everything happens according to heaven's will and it was fate that I happened to pass by when I did."
Yu Nianzhen frowned slightly when he heard that.
From what he had learned about the Cangxing world; fate, especially that which involved life and death produced a cause and effect that should never be taken lightly. It was said that the heavens would severely punish someone who ignored a life-saving grace causing them to stagnate in cultivation.
Yu Nianzhen had no intention to ignore the life-saving grace and as someone who had vowed to transcend the world's peak, it was doubly important to ensure that he didn't incur any bad cause and effect.
"If there is something that I can do for the elder, this young one is willing." Yu Nianzhen didn't beat around the bush and the old man smiled in satisfaction; he knew that he hadn't picked the wrong person.
"Recover well first." The old man said and Yu Nianzhen was indeed feeling tired so he nodded his head and then went back to sleep.
Jiang Yue recovered fully in just three days, but Yu Nianzhen who had endured a more brutal beating took slightly more than a week.
After the first day, the old man had allowed them to get out of bed and when they did, they found out that they were in a small cave that had nothing but a stone bed and several stones that functioned as stools.
The cave was at the outer edge of a forest and parked outside was a closed wooden cart tied to a brown bullock.
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue had learned that the old man was a trader who travelled from village to village as he sold goods from his cart. He was also a cultivator at the peak of the origin forging realm which was more interesting for the two who had transmigrated from the modern world and knew nothing about cultivation.
On this day, two boys and an old man sat around a stone table as they sipped hot tea from broken cups.
"Place your hand on it." The old man said as he placed a clear coloured crystal ball on the stone table.
Yu Nianzhen had seen something similar at the beggars' sect and he knew that it was called an origin test stone. However, the one at the beggars' sect had a diameter of one metre, but this one was significantly smaller and only had a diameter of about thirty centimetres.
Jiang Yue hadn't seen anything like it and he curiously looked at it before he placed his right hand on the crystal.
As soon as he did, the inside of the crystal ball began to blur as a kind of misty smoke spread within the crystal and a breath later, the white smoke congealed and formed a gorgeous moon pearl.
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue looked at the moon pearl in fascination, but since they didn't know what to make of it, they turned questioning looks at the old man who was smiling gently.
"The moon pearl is a weapon used by illusion martial artists and its appearance shows that young Yue has an aptitude for cultivating the illusion path." The old man explained and the two boys turned their attention back to the pearl.
The pearl looked like a condensed moon and as he looked at it, Jiang Yue felt an urgency within his body which caused his heart to beat faster.
"What's that number?" Yu Nianzhen asked when he noticed a small number floating above the moon pearl.
The old man laughed happily as he looked at the number, 'grade ten talent, unprecedented.'
"Take your test first." The old man said as he looked at Yu Nianzhen.
Yu Nianzhen frowned, but still obeyed the old man and placed his right hand on the crystal ball.
A moment later, a black smoke gathered within the crystal ball and then congealed into a pitch-black sword.
The old man nodded happily, "sword aptitude and also a grade ten talent."
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue waited for the old man to take a sip of tea before he began speaking.
"Everyone in our Cangxing world is born with an innate tool called an origin weapon. The origin weapon represents one's aptitude and the number above the weapon is a measure of aptitude."
"Is ten good?" Jiang Yue asked with a hint of worry in his voice.
The old man looked at the two boys and laughed, "it is said that the current strongest in our Cangxing world only has an aptitude of six."