The alley reeked, overflowing with sewage.
He passed by gaunt pedestrians, their eyes faint with hunger and glinting with a feral green light.
Ji Xiu clutched a worn paper package to his chest. He held it tightly under his patched brown robe with arms so thin they were just skin and bone, his gaze cold as he entered a dilapidated, drafty shack.
Only after he had firmly shut the door did he let out a breath of relief, a little warmth returning to his eyes.
"Brother, why don't you... you just sell me!"
On the bed, a small, thin figure heard the noise and poked her head out from under a tattered quilt. She watched the package in Ji Xiu's arms, biting her lip hard. After a long moment, her eyes dimmed as if she had made some momentous decision.
But when her timid words reached Ji Xiu's ears, he didn't respond.
He simply opened the paper package, placed the dried herbs by the stove, and brought over a small bundle of dry kindling to start a fire. He added fresh water, brought it to a boil, decocted the medicine, and carried it to the bedside.
Ji Xiu looked at his sister in this life, Ji Wei. Her small, palm-sized face was sallow and gaunt from a cold. His own sharp brows knitted together tightly. After a while, he sighed.
"Drink the medicine."
"I'll make us something to eat."
He walked to a crumbling wall made of rammed earth and looked at the millet jar, which was already scraped clean.
Ji Xiu pressed his lips together. His reflection in a nearby jar of clear water revealed a pair of lucid, bright eyes and the face of a boy about sixteen or seventeen years old.
'In my past life, I'd still be in school at this age.'
Unfortunately, in this world, one's birth determined almost everything.
How could it possibly allow you to live a life of leisure for no reason?
The gnawing hunger in his empty, oil-starved stomach rose in waves, making him want to retch. He could only force it down.
Hunger!
Hunger!
Hunger!
SPLASH!
He scooped up a ladle of water and gulped it down. GLUG, GLUG, GLUG. The stray hairs at his temples were dampened by the spray. Ji Xiu gasped for air, the burning, intense pangs of hunger...
...finally subsiding just a little.
A few days ago, he had woken up to find himself in Anning County, within Jiangyin Prefecture of Cangzhou, in the Great Xuan Kingdom.
Not only was his home destitute and drafty, but he had also gained sixteen years of memories and a younger sister.
What was even more tragic was that...
before his memories had awakened, the original owner of this body, driven to desperation by his inability to survive, had signed himself away to support the family. With one deed of sale and his name struck from the Government Office's household registry, he had entered the nearby Anning Lin Residence and become a Household Slave, joining the ranks of the lowly.
Entering was the easy part.
Getting out again would be far more difficult.
Moreover, he was a servant with no "Art" to speak of. He had no specialized skills like a chef, butcher, Groom, or Medicinal Farmer... he couldn't do any of them!
Because of this, he had only sold himself for a mere three taels of Silver. Ji Wei's minor illness and the cost of supporting her had already used up most of it...
His wages after that were pitifully small, and as an indentured servant, he was fated to toil face to the loess and back to the sky for his entire life. He could see his entire future stretching out before him, bleak and unchanging.
The very thought of it was dim and hopeless.
As for escaping, there was no way.
In this era, being a Runaway Slave was a serious crime!
Besides, he had a burden to drag along. If they were caught...
the punishment would likely be worse than death!
Looking at Ji Wei on the bed, Ji Xiu didn't deny the ugliness of human nature.
Though they were of humble birth, their family had good genes.
He had truly considered it...
However, for someone with his own bottom line, he couldn't bring himself to do something so foul.
Even if this cruel world offered him no way out, as long as he kept moving forward...
'I will carve out a path to survival!'
"There's no more millet in the house. Make do with this for now."
"And another thing, don't ever say that again."
"Sell you? Heh, do you even know what a slave is?"
He found two cold, hard flatbreads by the stove, no telling how much flour and sawdust was mixed inside.
Ji Xiu stared at them for a long time before sighing. He got a bowl of water, soaked one of the flatbreads in it, and handed it to Ji Wei. He stuck the other one in his mouth.
Instantly, the dry, hard sensation, like gnawing on a piece of wood...
...nearly shattered his teeth!
He bit down hard with a CRUNCH, then straightened the hair of the bewildered-looking Ji Wei, a self-mocking smile on his face.
"A slave has no freedom!"
"A slave has no control over their life or death!"
"A slave is treated as property!"
"If you aren't prepared to endure all that, don't make rash decisions about your own fate."
The little girl's face instantly turned snow-white.
Seeing that she wouldn't bring it up again, Ji Xiu's expression softened.
"Don't worry. No matter what, you and I share the same blood."
"As long as I'm here, you won't starve."
"I'm heading to the Lin Residence. Remember to bolt the door."
As soon as Ji Xiu finished speaking, he pushed open the door. The moment his left foot crossed the threshold, a bone-chilling wind scraped against him!
The stubbornness that had just surged within him almost completely dissipated. He wiped his face, unsure if it was a tear squeezed out by the effort of chewing the flatbread, or the water that had splashed on his cheek earlier.
"This goddamn world!"
'No, I can't accept this fate!'
'Money, power, freedom... '
'One day, I'll fight for them all! I absolutely refuse to sink into this mire!'
...
「Anning County, the Lin Residence!」
A burly man with a full beard, a pair of sheet-iron bracers, and a whip in his hand stood there, looking like someone not to be trifled with.
He stood inside the main gate of the Lin Mansion, looking down at the scattered group of ten or twenty sallow, emaciated young servants in grey clothes, and spat.
"You newcomers better keep your wits about you. Don't go offending any of the nobles in the inner residence. Otherwise..."
"Your deeds of sale are in the master's hands! A whipping and three days of starvation would be getting off easy!"
CRACK!
The whip shot from the man's hand, striking a stone monument that had been intentionally placed to the side. With a sharp crack, the stone... exploded!
The servants were instantly scared into silence, not daring to move a muscle.
Below, Ji Xiu kept his head down, standing silently in an inconspicuous corner at the back.
'It's already come to this. Complaining is useless. With no special skills, I can only lie low and wait for an opportunity.'
'However... this brute named Qin Biao is just a Residence Guard, a hired thug for the Lin Residence!'
'Yet he can break a stone monument with a single crack of his whip?!'
Ji Xiu clenched his fists, his pupils contracting. Vaguely... it seemed he had just grasped a heaven-defying opportunity to change his fate!
'If I could also possess such 'Martial Power', could I...'
He was pondering this to himself.
Up front, Qin Biao had already coughed twice and called for the stewards from the various masters' courtyards, as well as the kitchens, stables, and latrines, to come and pick their people.
In an instant, the crowd of servants thinned out. Seeing his job was done, Qin Biao yawned, put away his whip, and prepared to leave.
However—
"Stop! Stop, quickly!"
A delicate cry suddenly came from outside the mansion gates!
Everyone turned to look.
They saw a young lady in a cloud-patterned brocade dress with charming features. Her face was etched with anxiety as she stumbled, nearly falling before being caught by a maid at her side.
"Second Miss?"
Seeing the newcomer, Qin Biao turned and froze. Immediately after...
NEIGH~!!
The sharp whinny of a horse erupted, and Qin Biao's expression changed, his nervousness palpable.
"Damn it, it's... that spirited horse the Master chose for the Second Miss!!"
"Why has it gone wild??"
All they could see was a magnificent horse, pure white without a single stray hair, crashing through the threshold like a raging beast and charging straight in!
Qin Biao's heart tightened.
He wanted to help, but he was too far away.
He could only watch as the horse was about to knock aside the stumbling Second Miss and send the servant at the very back flying. A cold sweat broke out on Qin Biao's brow, and he rushed forward!
If... if it hit a few servants, it wouldn't be a big deal.
But the Second Miss was a precious young lady. If anything happened to her, he, a mere Residence Guard and not a true "Martial Artist," would definitely not be able to bear the consequences!
But something he had never in all his calculations anticipated happened!
SWOOSH!
The servant who was doomed to be sent flying, at the very instant the 'Thousand-Mile Snow' was about to hit him... bent his waist, flexed his knees, and leaped backward!!
"Beast, halt!"
A stern command exploded forth!
Immediately after, the leaping youth squeezed the horse's belly with his legs and brought a hand down hard on its back!
In an instant, the spirited horse, which had been charging like an arrow loosed from a bow... became docile, lowering its head and snorting softly!
"What—!"
The sudden turn of events made Qin Biao's eyes bulge like bronze bells!
Just then, the afternoon sun cast its light on the youth's profile, making his face, already gaunt from long-term malnutrition, seem as if carved by a knife and chiseled by an axe.
In addition... Ji Xiu's brows were now knitted tightly, as if frozen over. His hawk-like eyes were filled with a cold light as he pinned the horse down, like a lion battling a tiger, rendering it immobile.
At that moment, the young lady in the cloud-patterned dress, who had just been helped up by her maid after an embarrassing stumble, also stood frozen in place.
No one knew.
What in the world had just happened.
Only Ji Xiu himself, standing on the horse's back, knew. Though a tsunami was raging in his heart... he kept his expression taut, just barely preventing it from cracking.
'This is...'
'What?!'
His mind was filled with shock!
Just a moment ago!
In that life-or-death instant!
The very moment he was about to be unluckily sent flying by the horse behind him!
In his mind, a 'Daoist Talisman'—one he had worn constantly as a 'Protective Talisman' in his past life, obtained from a famous Daoist Temple...
...suddenly manifested!
And so, relying on pure instinct... he had drawn upon its 'power'!
[Primordial Daoist Talisman: A thousand Magic Techniques, ten thousand Divine Techniques, all comprehended in a single day!]
[Current Tutor: Ji Xiu]
[Tutor attempted to tame the spirited horse. 'Horse Riding Skill' successfully prepaid.]
[Condition: Tame a horse one thousand times to complete the task and unlock the next 'Prepaid Future'!]
[Currently available Martial Arts and Skill Daos to prepay: Zero!]
...