novelraw Chapter 952 - 523: Heaven-Sent Drought
Chapter 952 - 523: Heaven-Sent Drought
She walked through the market and unexpectedly saw quite a few families putting grass marks in the hair of their three- or four-year-old children and bringing them out for sale. Two children combined were sold for only sixty copper coins.
What does sixty copper coins mean? It’s the cost of a roast duck in Chiming City!
Outside the city, at the burial ground, lay many pale, slender skeletons. These were from mortals who, in order to survive, had no choice but to "exchange children for food" with neighbors, swapping and killing each other’s children to eat.
This scene with no rain had persisted for more than half a year. This world is not like Huaxia, where the tax burden on mortals is extremely heavy. Besides satisfying the state governor’s needs, they also have to pay an enormous amount of "Immortal Silver" as tribute to the Immortal Sect or Demon Sect in their area, making life even more wretched. In ancient Huaxia, if driven to desperation, people could revolt, shouting, "Princes and generals, are they born from a different seed?". Naturally, those who couldn’t survive would follow suit and rebel.
But here, mortal lives are as insignificant as ants, no matter how they choose, small arms can never twist the big legs of a cultivator. So, they can only live in humiliation and die in silence.
Now sensitive to the world’s spirit energy, she discovered that over the ten human settlements she traveled through, resentment and death energy were thick in the air. If not addressed, it would eventually lead to a desolate state and chaos with ghostly creatures running rampant. However, the Immortal Sect or Demon Sect managing this vast territory seemingly does not care about the livelihood of mortals.
Faced with such circumstances, Ning Xiaoxian could only lament their misfortune, unable even to give much charity, and had to continue on her journey. She was merely an alien, neither human nor demon, not a god, unable to save the masses from calamity.
When the sun was at its zenith, Qi Zai found a small town to rest. Long-distance travel is extremely exhausting. Although Ning Xiaoxian’s body is strong, she had to stop frequently to relax, plus there was no ghost chasing her from behind, so she didn’t need to hurry.
However, this town was extraordinarily different. Qi Zai, after looking down from the sky and seeing the thin resentment in the air above, chose this town. Upon landing, they saw that the residents were not like those in the dozens of previous areas, haggard and listless.
In the inn where she stayed, not only was there clean water provided, but they even sold spirits. As Ning Xiaoxian’s cultivation deepened, she started to care more about nurturing her spirit and body, and her accommodations became much more refined than before. This was originally not unusual, but in such a drought season, the fact that eateries and taverns still sold drinks was, in itself, a rare event.
Qi Zai and Qingluan transformed into two small birds, one white and one green, perched on her shoulders for rest and to conserve energy. Thanks to the husband and wife taking turns flying, traveling at this speed wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. As she wandered through the town, she found that although the residents didn’t seem wealthy, they did have sufficient essence, energy, and spirit; their movements were robust and powerful. Trees in the town still provided patches of green shade, shielding passers-by from the lingering summer heat.
Even the market she just passed was bustling with commerce and noise, clearly not interrupted like most towns she passed through before.
As she pondered, a six- or seven-year-old child ran over from the crowd ahead as if caught up in play with friends and unintentionally bumped into her, then attempted to run away.
Ah, a little thief. Such pickpocketing tactics are indeed popular everywhere.
How could Ning Xiaoxian let a mortal child succeed? As the child was about to bump into her, he felt as if gently pushed away by an invisible stream of air, unable to touch her body. Though young, he had seen enough oddities to know that this person must be of different caliber, so he dared not make another move and turned to run.
But after taking just two steps, his body suddenly felt light—he was lifted by the collar.
Passers-by saw her, a delicate woman, lifting the child single-handedly like lifting a straw, showing some sympathy. However, as rural women are typically quite strong, this wasn’t particularly impressive. Seeing this, the child’s companions quickly surrounded her, faces displaying a wolf-cub-like ferocity.
These still wet-behind-the-ears little brats wanted to attack her? Just as Ning Xiaoxian displayed a bemused expression, a child behind her flipped his wrist, pulling out a small pottery knife to stab her in the back. Made from sharpened broken pottery shards, it wasn’t much of a weapon, but once pierced into flesh, it could cause great pain, easily breaking into an enemy’s body. When pottery dust flowed along the bloodstream and reached the heart, it could even be fatal.