On a summer afternoon, a sudden downpour enveloped the entirety of Great Azure Mountain like a veil. Rainwater slid off the eaves, congealing into silver-white streams that incessantly scoured the bluestones below.
At the Ji Family Spirit Medicine Shop, Shopkeeper Ji stood inside the store, clutching a small teapot as he gazed at the gloomy sky and the torrential rain outside. He stroked the handlebar mustache at his lips and instructed the shop hand, "It's raining so hard, and there won't be any customers today. Clean the shop up and close early. Oh, and open the cistern for skywater later. It's been raining for a day and a night now; the dirty water should be flushed clean."
"Yes, Shopkeeper." The shop hand responded and picked up a rag to wipe the counter.
Shopkeeper Ji lifted his small teapot and took a sip of tea, preparing to head into the back room for his afternoon rest. When he looked up and saw the great lamp hanging in the center of the shop, illuminating the entire place as bright as day, he hissed as if suffering a toothache and muttered, "It's been on for three whole days, consumed one superior-grade spirit pearl, and hasn't earned even half a copper coin. What a huge loss! I'm never turning it on again tomorrow!"
"Uncle Ji—" A soft, childish voice rang out. A little girl wearing a heavy rain cape stood at the shop entrance, a bamboo basket nearly as tall as herself strapped to her back.
"It's Ah Ruo." Shopkeeper Ji hurriedly set down his small teapot and stepped forward to help remove her basket. "Why did you come in such heavy rain? Come in and warm up!" Saying this, he had the little girl take off her rain cape and stand beneath the great lamp. A gentle light flashed, and the little girl's clothes, which had been almost completely soaked, instantly dried.
"Uncle Ji, hurry up and turn off the lamp! I'm fine!" The little girl said repeatedly. She was about five or six years old, exceptionally adorable with jade-like fairness. Her skin was so white and tender it seemed water could be squeezed from it, and on her tiny, palm-sized face, two deep dimples appeared whenever she smiled.
"It's fine! I've had this lamp on for three days already; I don't care about it being on a moment longer!" Shopkeeper Ji waved his hand, reluctantly retrieving the spirit pearl from the lamp. The originally bright shop instantly darkened.
"Uncle Ji, I picked a few fuling mushrooms in the mountains yesterday. Take a look." The little girl took out several large clumps of earth from her medicine basket.
"Let me see. Hmm! These fuling are good quality; each one must weigh twenty to thirty catties!" Shopkeeper Ji furrowed his brow. "Girl, you didn't go deep into the mountains to pick these, did you?" Fuling this large, if they grew nearby, would have been picked by someone long ago.
"I found them by accident." Du Ruo's large, grape-black eyes turned nimbly. She didn't directly answer Shopkeeper Ji, instead asking sweetly with a smile, "Uncle Ji, fuling strengthens the spleen and harmonizes the stomach. Can I give some to Grandmother and Father?"
"You can. How do you know fuling strengthens the spleen and harmonizes the stomach?" Shopkeeper Ji asked in some surprise.
"Didn't Uncle Ji mention it last time?" Du Ruo said softly, looking up, her long lashes fluttering.
"Not bad, Ah Ruo is truly clever." Shopkeeper Ji stroked his goatee in satisfaction, but then remembered that this girl had slipped into the mountains again, and he scolded her with puffed beard and glaring eyes, "You child! Do you know how dangerous the mountains are! You—"
Du Ruo lowered her head and stuck out her tongue, standing obediently before Shopkeeper Ji to hear the lecture.
"Old Ji!" A thunderous call.
"What is it!" Shopkeeper Ji was in full swing lecturing someone when he was suddenly interrupted; naturally, he was in a foul mood.
"Why are you lecturing people again, you old geezer?" The newcomer laughed heartily, striding into the shop. His fan-sized large hand gently rubbed Du Ruo's small head. "What's wrong, Ah Ruo? Why is Uncle Ji scolding you? If he's bullying you, tell me, and I'll teach him a lesson!"
"Go, go! None of your business! You're just adding to the chaos!" Shopkeeper Ji waved his hand irritably.
The burly man stood firmly in place without moving and said with a smile, "Old Ji, I'm here to see you about something."
"What are you looking for me for? What, are you sick?" Shopkeeper Ji sized up the burly man from head to toe. "Come, come, let me take a look. I won't charge you a consultation fee!" Saying this, he reached out to grab the man's wrist.
"Pah! Even if you were sick, I wouldn't be!" The burly man brushed aside Shopkeeper Ji's outstretched hand. "I'm here to buy fasting pills!"
Shopkeeper Ji was taken aback. "You're going down the mine again? Didn't you just come up two days ago?" The burly man was called Tie Niu, a miner at a nearby spirit mine. Every time he went down into the spirit mine shaft, he would come to Shopkeeper Ji to buy fasting pills.
"You don't know?" Tie Niu asked in surprise, giving a light punch to the chubby little boy beside him. He spoke in a muffled voice, "Little brat, gone mute?"
The chubby little boy beside Tie Niu gave a simple, honest smile. "Uncle Ji, Ah Ruo."
"Know what?" Shopkeeper Ji asked in confusion.
"Starting yesterday, Cloudmist Sect began recruiting disciples." Tie Niu said, "I can't let him go to Cloudmist Sect empty-handed, right?" Tie Niu and Shopkeeper Ji had both previously been nominal disciples of Cloudmist Sect, so as long as their children possessed cultivation aptitude and could afford the tuition, Cloudmist Sect would accept them as nominal disciples.
"What?" Shopkeeper Ji was stunned. "They're recruiting disciples now? Don't they usually only accept people starting in the tenth month?" It was only May right now.
"I don't know about that." Tie Niu scratched his head. "Anyway, they moved it up this year."
Shopkeeper Ji rolled his eyes. He should have known asking this crude fellow was a waste of breath! He turned around and took out a palm-sized box of pills from behind the counter. "Here, Dunzi, take this. These are Mortal-grade medium fasting pills. Eating one can sustain you for a month without food or drink, and can even restore a bit of spiritual energy."
When Tie Niu heard they were Mortal-grade spirit pills, his expression turned troubled. Du Ruo, standing at the side, also secretly clicked her tongue—Uncle Ji was truly generous! In the cultivation world, spirit pills were divided into three categories: Mortal-grade, Earth-grade, and Heaven-grade. Each category of pill was further divided into four ranks: inferior, medium, superior, and supreme. Fasting pills were the most common type of pill in the cultivation world. Low-grade fasting pills didn't even rank on the scale; they couldn't even be called Mortal-grade spirit pills, and even ordinary people could refine them. One inferior-grade spirit pearl could buy ten or so of them, and eating three or four a day meant you didn't have to eat food. However, the fasting pills in Shopkeeper Ji's hand were spirit pills refined by an alchemist. Once something was called a spirit pill, the price was completely different.
"Old Ji..." Tie Niu scratched his head and mumbled, "I..." He could afford these spirit pearls, but he didn't want to waste spirit pearls on fasting pills. His son was beginning cultivation, and there would be many places he needed to use spirit pearls in the future.
"I prepared these for Dunzi long ago; consider it a congratulatory gift for his entry into Cloudmist Sect!" Shopkeeper Ji said.
"How can that be right!" Tie Niu refused repeatedly. He knew Shopkeeper Ji didn't live a wealthy life either, and he didn't eat such high-grade fasting pills even during his own cultivation.
Shopkeeper Ji ignored Tie Niu and forcefully stuffed the box of fasting pills into Dunzi's hands. "Dunzi, the most important thing as an outer disciple is to remember the word 'endure.' No matter what you encounter, remember that your father didn't raise you easily. You must win some face for him!"
"I understand, Uncle Ji!" Dunzi nodded forcefully. His father was an outer disciple, and he had grown up in Cloudmist Sect since childhood, so he naturally understood how hard the lives of newly entered nominal disciples were.
"Knowing is good. These fasting pills aren't anything valuable either; just a small token from Uncle Ji." Seeing that Dunzi was unwilling to accept them, Shopkeeper Ji deliberately put on a stern face and asked, "What? You look down on something from Uncle Ji?"
"No! No!" Dunzi waved his hands repeatedly. "Uncle Ji, I..." His simple, honest little face flushed bright red.
The man lightly patted his son's shoulder. "Accept it. Thank you, Uncle Ji!"
"Now that's right! You're not some little girl; what are you acting all bashful for, you're a grown man!" Shopkeeper Ji said with a grin.
"I know. I will definitely work hard!" Dunzi said in a muffled voice.
Tie Niu turned his head and asked Du Ruo, "Ah Ruo, I'm taking Dunzi to Cloudmist Sect in a bit. Are you coming?"
"No." Du Ruo shook her head. Cloudmist Sect was the nearest cultivation sect to their town. Every year in the tenth month, they would take in a batch of disciples aged six to ten. She and Dunzi had both just turned six this year, which was why Tie Niu asked. Cloudmist Sect disciples were divided into nominal disciples and inner disciples. Aside from a few children with especially good aptitude who caught the eye of a Golden Core True Lord within the sect and were directly accepted as inner disciples, everyone else started as nominal disciples. Cloudmist Sect nominal disciples not only required good cultivation aptitude but also demanded a hefty tuition fee paid each year. Her father had previously been an outer disciple of Cloudmist Sect, but—where was she supposed to scrape together the ten inferior-grade spirit stones a year for tuition?
Seeing Du Ruo's conflicted expression, Tie Niu glanced at Shopkeeper Ji, then said hesitantly, "Ah Ruo, Cloudmist Sect is also recruiting laborers. Why don't you try applying too? With your aptitude, Cloudmist Sect will definitely want you. Laborers don't have to pay tuition."
Shopkeeper Ji's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he also suggested, "Ah Ruo, you can go try it out. Although laborers aren't proper disciples, they'll still teach you how to cultivate. Cloudmist Sect's cultivation heart method is definitely better than the ones you can buy outside. Moreover, laborers also get paid every month. As long as you cultivate diligently, you won't have to worry about lacking opportunities in the future." He had watched this child, Du Ruo, grow up. She was obedient, sensible, and her cultivation talent wasn't bad. For her not to cultivate and to live a mediocre life would truly be a waste.
Du Ruo asked hesitantly, "Do laborers have to sell themselves? How much is the monthly pay?"
"Laborers aren't slaves; you don't have to sell yourself. Laborers get at least five lower pearls a month, right?" What Shopkeeper Ji called "five lower pearls" was five inferior-grade spirit pearls.
"Yeah! Yeah! Ah Ruo, if you go to Cloudmist Sect, you'll be able to stay with me." Dunzi nodded vigorously in agreement.
"Uncle Ji, Uncle Niu, what do laborers have to do? Serve as maidservants for female disciples?" Du Ruo asked in confusion. She truly wanted to become a nominal disciple at Cloudmist Sect, but not for the sake of ascending to immortality. She wanted to cure her father's illness. Although she didn't understand medicine, she knew that using only secular worldly means, there was no way to make her father—whose lower body had completely lost all sensation—stand up again. Since she couldn't become a disciple now, becoming a laborer was also quite good.
Shopkeeper Ji shook his head. "Those are things maidservants do. Cloudmist Sect laborers mainly do miscellaneous tasks like raising spirit beasts, watching over spirit herb gardens, overseeing spirit mines, refining elementary spirit pills and spirit artifacts, and so on."
After Shopkeeper Ji's explanation, Du Ruo finally understood. Most of Cloudmist Sect's laborers were low-level cultivators whose aptitude wasn't very good and who had no hope of advancing. They were specifically assigned to do miscellaneous tasks that formal disciples disdained to do and had no time for, yet ordinary people were incapable of doing.
"You mustn't look down on Cloudmist Sect laborers. While there are indeed many cultivators inside with poor aptitude and mediocre achievements, there are also quite a few outstanding ones. Many of Cloudmist Sect's current core inner sect figures started out as laborers. Actually, becoming a laborer at Cloudmist Sect is even harder than becoming a nominal disciple."
"Harder than becoming a nominal disciple?" Du Ruo looked at Shopkeeper Ji in confusion.
Shopkeeper Ji explained, "To become a nominal disciple, as long as your aptitude is good and you can afford the tuition, you can generally be selected. But laborers are different. First, the aptitude requirements for laborers aren't as high as for nominal disciples. Second, laborers don't have to pay tuition and even get paid every month. So many laborers within Cloudmist Sect are descendants of sect disciples or children of cultivation families. Cloudmist Sect also only recruits laborers once every ten years, and the number of spots was never large to begin with. After removing the spots reserved for those with connections, the remaining laborers all have to be selected based on true ability." If Du Ruo hadn't been so obedient and sensible, Shopkeeper Ji really wouldn't have dared to suggest she become a laborer at Cloudmist Sect—there were all sorts of people in there.
"That's right. If it weren't for your good aptitude, Ah Ruo, I wouldn't dare let you try applying. I never even considered this path for my own brat," Tie Niu said. If he himself hadn't been an outer disciple of Cloudmist Sect, with Dunzi's aptitude, he couldn't even become a laborer.
Du Ruo suddenly realized. So the cultivation world also cared about connections and relationships. "But I haven't cultivated before. Will Cloudmist Sect want me?"
"There's no need to worry about that." Shopkeeper Ji smiled. "For laborers like you who are young and possess cultivation aptitude, after being recruited, someone will teach you how to cultivate for the first three months. After three months, if you can pass the examination, you can become a laborer."
"Uncle Ji, what happens if I don't pass the examination after three months?" Du Ruo asked again. Given Cloudmist Sect's methods, those who didn't pass probably wouldn't end up well, right?
"Either you pay tuition for those three months—ten inferior-grade spirit stones—or you sell yourself to Cloudmist Sect for ten years," Shopkeeper Ji said.
"Ten inferior-grade spirit stones for three months of learning?" Du Ruo was shocked. She had long expected that Cloudmist Sect wouldn't do business at a loss, but she hadn't expected Cloudmist Sect to be so ruthless.
Seeing her shocked expression, Shopkeeper Ji laughed and said, "But selling yourself for ten years to learn Cloudmist Sect's orthodox heart method is worth it! Ah Ruo, rest assured. Laborers accepted into Cloudmist Sect based on true ability basically all pass the examination."
Du Ruo thought for a moment. "Uncle Ji, according to what you said, aren't laborers and nominal disciples basically the same?"
"Silly child, of course there's a difference between laborers and nominal disciples." Shopkeeper Ji was amused. "Otherwise, everyone would become laborers. Why would anyone be a nominal disciple!"
"What differences?" Du Ruo asked.
"There are many differences. Nominal disciples have specialized instructors to teach them how to cultivate, whereas laborers only have instructors for the first three months after entry; the rest of the time, they must cultivate on their own. Nominal disciples can focus on cultivating, while laborers must complete their assigned work every day before they can cultivate..." Shopkeeper Ji rattled off a whole list of differences between laborers and nominal disciples. "Ah Ruo, go back and discuss it with your father before deciding whether to go or not. Your aptitude is good, and you're smart. A small laborer examination definitely won't stump you. Actually, there's also a benefit to being a laborer: after working at Cloudmist Sect for five years, as long as you don't do anything to betray the sect, you can leave at any time. But for nominal disciples, wanting to leave Cloudmist Sect isn't that easy."
Du Ruo mused to herself. Even if she didn't pass the examination after three months, she would only have to sell herself for ten years. If she passed, she only had to sell herself for five years. After ten years, she would only be sixteen, and having learned some cultivation methods at Cloudmist Sect, she wouldn't have to worry about finding work when she came out. Five inferior-grade spirit pearls were enough for her family to live on for a year! Du Ruo calculated secretly. At home now, Grandmother had senile dementia, Father was paralyzed, and her younger siblings were still little. The whole family relied solely on her stepmother washing clothes and emptying night soil for others. The family was so poor they could barely afford the next meal! She had already been considering whether to sell herself as a maidservant. Now she was only going to be a laborer—what was there to think about? Selling herself for ten years was better than selling herself for a lifetime, right?
"Uncle Ji, I'll go back and tell Father right now!" Saying this, she put on her rain cape and was about to run outside.
Shopkeeper Ji grabbed her at once. "You girl, so rash and hasty! I haven't given you money for your fuling yet!"
Du Ruo stuck out her tongue with a grin. Shopkeeper Ji laughed and rubbed her small head. "I won't give you silver then." Saying this, he had someone weigh out two pecks of brown rice for her.
"Uncle Ji, thank you." Du Ruo squirmed a bit and thanked him in a small voice. Those fuling weren't worth two pecks of brown rice at all.
"Alright, go on home." Shopkeeper Ji lightly patted her small frame.
"Yes!" Du Ruo clutched the brown rice and ran home.
Tie Niu shouted toward Du Ruo's retreating figure, "Ah Ruo, if your father agrees, come find me at the town entrance later!"
"Okay!" Du Ruo responded from afar.
Shopkeeper Ji sighed and turned back to Tie Niu, saying, "If only that rotten boy of mine were half as sensible as her!"
"Isn't that the truth." Tie Niu gave his son a pat. "Look at how sensible Ah Ruo is! Your conditions are much better than hers! Watch her and you need to work hard too, understand?"
"I understand!" Dunzi said loudly.