"Yes, I've heard of that place", as Di Tianming replied, he was reminded of the time when the three men had forcefully taken away the old beggar's corpse. It soured his mood.
"Hehe. Good! Good! Come with me then, I will take you to the boss to get the job", the creepy beggar replied laughing, showing off his not so charming grin.
"What sort of job do I have to do?", Di Tianming asked nervously because of the name of the place was very dark, obviously, as they walked in the direction of the Corpse Valley.
"Oh! Relax~ You don't to worry at all. It is very easy job with good pay", the creepy beggar tried to comfort Di Tianming as he continued, "All you need to do is move corpse to the hill of corpse. You have that right? Nothing else, easy right?"
"R-Right."
Despite the assurance that the creepy beggar gave, Di Tianming did not feel comfortable. The name 'Corpse Valley' was way too sinister to have anything to do with easy or safe and the pile of corpses he had seen on the second day of his arrival were the clear evidence of this.
However, he still wanted to go. He wanted to quench this curiosity of his about this world and this was the only way.
Why?
Turns out being beggar was pretty much of a sin in this world. No really, those born as beggars or those that have been reduced to the status of beggars have been branded with a seal on their back located on the left shoulder blade.
They are imbued on the human body with the help of a special technique along with a seal imprint which was heated to an extreme temperature and was then pressed against the back of a person. Very painful.
This was a curse for a lifetime. The fate of those being branded was only death, if not the eternal suffering of starvation, pain and sorrow. They are stripped off their name, status and origin.
This was why no beggar had a name. Every beggar, or more accurately salves would call each other like "Hey, you!" and other things.
Thus, beggars can't enter any district and can't enroll in army.
Di Tianming also found out about this recently when he saw multiple people with the branding seal and of course he got one too.
So is the reason for Tianming to go to the Corpse Valley despite the dangers involved in it.
As the two walked along the path, a familiar scene came into view. A hill piled up due to corpse of humans and animals and a familiar smell of rotten corpse which made one to throw up.
The creepy beggar didn't have any reaction towards the hill of corpse or the rotten smell. Surprisingly, Di Tianming didn't throw upon smelling the scent, maybe due to the previous owner of the body, though the hill of corpse was still a disturbing sight to see.
Soon, they passed by the corpse hill and entered a small wooden cabin.
Inside the cabin sat a fat pig-like man, fanning himself and eating. He had his hair tied into a bun and wore fairly decent clothes. The two parties saw each other.
"Greetings Sir Xiao Zhu!", the creepy beggar immediately bowed deeply and saluted.
[T/N: Xiao Zhu means Little Pig.]
"Xiao Zhu?", Di Tianming immediately recalled the name. It was mentioned by the old beggar, apparently the cause of the late 'Di Tianming''s death was a person named Xiao Zhu, who beat him to death.
However, his trail of thought was broken when he heard an angry shout.
"You damn bastard! You dare not show respect to me!?", Xiao Zhu was angry when he saw the sickly-looking beggar ignore him.
Di Tianming who had snapped out of his thoughts immediately bowed and said in a flattering tone, "Oh, great sir. I had hit my head a few days ago and am suffering from memory loss. Please forgive me of my insolence".
Even though he wanted to kill Xiao Zhu for the sake of the previous 'Di Tianming', there wasn't really a grudge between him and Xiao Zhu at the moment and really wasn't the same guy who was beaten to death.
So, Tianming decided to keep himself under control until he gets powerful enough.
Xiao Zhu, upon hearing these words, had calmed down a bit. It was normal for beggars to be a bit absent minded. He said, "So you are here to become a Corpse Carrier?"
"Yes, sir. This brother here wanted to earn money faster so I recommended him to come here", before Di Tianming could reply, the creepy beggar said quickly.
"Oh! Fine you can go and collect your reward for recommendation and take him to register as well", Xiao Zhu said indifferently, he didn't care.
"Thank you, sir!", the creepy beggar bowed to Xiao Zhu and turned to Di Tianming and said, "Let's go".
Exiting the cabin, the creepy beggar said suddenly, "Ha~ That pig really pisses me off. Hey! Next time you see the pig bastard remember to greet him like I did otherwise he would be really pissed".
Di Tianming was stunned by the creepy beggar's sudden change of attitude. It was like heaven and earth, just a moment ago this guy was so respectful to that Xiao Zhu and now he is cursing behind his back but thinking about it, it made sense.
As if remembering something the creepy beggar said again, "Right, about a week ago or so, some guy didn't greet him so, that pig bastard beat that beggar to death".
"Oh", Di Tianming's facing darkened immediately after hearing this.
The two walked towards the back of the cabin. There was a tent erected, the two entered.
"Sir, we are here to register this brother. I recommended him", creepy beggar said respectfully, again a complete change of attitude.
"Hmm", the man sitting inside the tent lacked response but he still took out a wooden tablet and threw it towards them.
The creepy beggar caught the tablet and gave it to Di Tianming. Tianming took the wooden token and saw "1591" written on it.
"Say the number written on it", the man said.
"1591", Di Tianming replied.
"Hmm", the man recorded the number inside a book and waved his hand, indicating them to leave.
Seeing the man ask them to leave, creepy beggar hesitated.
"What?", the man asked seeing the two have not left yet.
"S-sir, my reward for recommending?", creepy beggar asked hesitantly.
"Oh. I already gave you the award. You may leave", the man said nonchalantly.
"B-but Sir Xiao Zhu said-"
"You bastard! You dare disobey", the man said coldly.
"Thank you for your reward sir. We're leaving", creepy beggar left gloomily after saying that and pulled Di Tianming along with him.
Along the way, creepy beggar was silent. After walking for quite a distance Tianming couldn't help but ask, "What happened back there?".
"What happened!? Oh, don't be so naive! Those bastards didn't want to give me money for recruiting you. Bunch of mother****!!"
The creepy beggar shouted angrily. He felt wronged and hurt ...and powerless by the fact that he couldn't do anything against this injustice.
Tianming didn't know what to do about it right now but he felt sorry for the guy.
"I'm sorry"
"Don't be sorry! This is how these bastards work. You know, if my cultivation wasn't crippled this bastards wouldn't be anything in front of me. I could have killed them with just a filck"
Tianming was startled by what the creepy beggar said. He thought, "Cultivation? Him?"
Noticing his strange gaze, the creepy beggar laughed, "What? You don't believe me? Hah! I don't blame you. Back in the day, just hearing this grandpa's name would struck fear in people's hearts. Hahaha!"
"Anyway, now that you have become a Corpse Carrier, you will have to join a team to work with".
Saying this creepy beggar looked around as he spotted a group of three people and shouted to them, "Hey, you guys! Yes, you three! Come here!"
When Tianming looked at the three, he instantly recognized them. Yes, they were the same three beggars who had taken away the old beggars dead body.
"It's you!", the three too recognized him.
Although Tianming's health has improved compared to the past but his overall appearance hasn't changed.
"You guys know each other? Great. That makes things easier. Ok then, bye!", the creepy beggar took his leave.
"This fellow is a good person though creepy looking", this was Tianming's first impression of the creepy beggar.
After seeing the creepy beggar leave, Tianming turned towards the three and greeted them, "Hello, I recently joined the Corpse Valley and was looking for a team".
"Oh, so you became a Corpse Carrier too huh", the one in the middle said as he continued, "You can join our team. We were having a hard time since one of our teammate died".
"D-Died?", Tianming was stunned.
Looking at Tianming's stunned expression, the three beggars felt strange as the one on the right asked, "What? Don't tell me you became a Corpse Carrier without knowing the dangers involved?"
"Yeah, don't tell me you didn't know just how many people die doing this job, mostly beggars?"
"...."
Tianming gave no response, his expression dazed. He kind of expected it but how can people died while moving corpse?