infodatos Chapter 40 Buying Blood Slaves
Chapter 40 Buying Blood Slaves
"Okay, please come with me."
The one-eyed old man tucked the roster under his arm.
He led Li Tianran deeper into the street.
The slave market was located in a cave in the Rift Valley.
After following the old man inside...
As far as the eye can see, there are rows and rows of iron cages stretching as far as the eye can see.
The oil lamp flickered on the stone wall, cutting the faces of the people in the cages into two halves of light and shadow.
Blood seeped from the cracks in the stone slabs underfoot, from some unknown cage, making the ground sticky when stepped on.
The old man led him to a row of iron cages.
"This batch of goods was sold to us by people from Black Wind Mountain."
The old man stopped in front of the innermost row of cages, took out his key, and weighed it in his hand.
"One Jin Guang Nunnery and two Shui Yue Nunnery, both from legitimate nunneries."
His dantian was sealed, his meridians were dead, and he couldn't use his cultivation.
But the fundamentals are still there; their physique, voice, and stamina are far superior to those of ordinary blood slaves.
Rogue cultivators disliked bald heads, thinking they were unlucky and wouldn't fetch a good price; only those in the know recognized them as top-quality goods.
Li Tianran glanced down.
Inside the cage, three nuns sat side by side, their robes tattered, their feet chained, and the ordination scars on their bald heads glowing a pale blue under the oil lamp.
The one on the far left is sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, his lips slightly moving, chanting scriptures.
The one in the middle is looking down.
The one on the far right huddled in the corner, pulling his monk's robe down in an attempt to cover his ankles.
One-Eyed tapped the cage with the key.
"The one on the left is from Jinguang Temple."
Come, look up and let the immortal master see.
The nun opened her eyes.
The lamplight shone on her face from the side, revealing her cool and aloof features and chapped lips, but her facial contours were still visible.
She glanced at Li Tianran, then closed her eyes again and continued chanting, her face blank.
"This voice is the best. It hasn't gone hoarse after reciting for more than half a month. It has strong breath support and a stable tone. It can recite all day without stopping."
The herb garden in the temple is used for growing medicinal herbs. They have great stamina; if you buy them and bleed them, they'll survive for several months longer than others.
He walked up to the nun in the middle and asked her to look up.
This one was younger, with chubby cheeks and timid eyes. He glanced up at Li Tianran and then quickly looked down, his eyes filled with confusion and fear.
"The nun from Shuiyue Nunnery was ordained less than half a year ago."
Young, with abundant blood and energy, resulting in heavy bleeding.
"He's timid, so you don't need to bother watching him."
The third one huddled in a corner.
She stood up after being called out a few times. She was taller than the other two, with thin shoulders and a faint old scar on her bald head.
When she looked up, her gaze didn't waver, but quietly landed on Li Tianran's face, carrying a hint of expectation.
The old man walked to her side and lowered his voice.
"This one is also from Shuiyue Nunnery, and she has the best figure among the three."
She has long legs, a slim waist, and a well-proportioned frame. She lost some weight after being confined for a month, but her core is still there. She'll regain the weight in a few days.
When they tried to capture her at Black Wind Mountain, she hit someone on the head with an incense burner and was knocked unconscious with the back of a knife.
She never cried or made a fuss when she was kept in the cage, but they thought she was too quiet and wouldn't be able to take care of people, so they dumped her on me.
If this nun weren't bald, she would at least be the top courtesan in a brothel.
Bald heads look the same with the lights off.
If you're willing to train them, they're worth more than ten female cultivators.
Li Tianran said, "I'll take them all."
The one-eyed man was taken aback.
"You want all three? You have such a big appetite!"
Li Tianran ignored him and counted out the spirit stones, placing them on the cage.
The one-eyed old man accepted the spirit stones and, while untying the iron chains, leaned closer and lowered his voice.
"If you want something even more exciting, I have other connections."
Black Wind Mountain recently received a new batch of goods, all with Qi Refining properties, but they are expensive, costing at least five hundred spirit stones each.
This batch was selected before testing; it's cheap. Try it first, and if you like it, then buy more.
Li Tianran secured the iron chain and was about to walk out.
Suddenly, he heard hurried footsteps behind him, and someone bumped into his lower back.
Soft.
He turned around and saw that the person who bumped into him was a young man in a gray cloth shirt and shorts, carrying a large wooden box in his arms. The box was rattling with chains.
The boy staggered a couple of steps before regaining his balance, nearly dropping the wooden box from his hands.
Li Tianran withdrew his hand. The boy looked up. His gray cloth shorts were washed until they were almost white, the soles of his shoes were worn through, his face was covered in mud, and his hair was tied up in a mess.
The tip of my ear was burning all the way from my earlobe to the base of my ear.
Li Tianran could tell at a glance that the person in front of him was a tomboy, dressed as a man but with a woman's body.
The boy bit his lip and remained silent for several breaths before bending down to pick up the chains scattered on the ground and adopting a businesslike tone.
"I'm sorry."
Li Tianran said, "Hmm."
The boy picked up a few more chains and suddenly asked, "Fellow Daoist, why are you buying so many nuns?"
Li Tianran didn't shy away from the fact that this was the Demonic Market.
He said calmly, "Bloodletting."
A hint of reluctance flashed across the boy's face. After a moment of silence, he asked again, "Can we not buy the nuns, but buy the group of strong male slaves next to us?"
Li Tianran: "There's no difference."
The boy became agitated: "It's not pitiful for men to bleed, but it's so pitiful for women to bleed with their heads shaved."
The one-eyed old man chuckled beside him.
"Young man, your logic is that if a bald person bleeding is more pitiful than someone with hair, then bald people should be exempt from taxes?"
The boy ignored him and stared at Li Tianran.
Are you going to buy it or not?
Li Tianran ignored her and walked towards the exit while holding onto the iron chain.
The boy picked up the wooden box and chased after him: "Which sect are you from?"
Li Tianran did not answer.
"A rogue cultivator."
Still no answer.
The boy suddenly lowered his voice: "I heard that the Blood Spirit Sect has a Blood Burial Plain that specializes in growing Blood Spirit Grass. Are you from there?"
Li Tianran didn't stop walking.
That bump just now gave it away; it's all soft and squishy, it's definitely a woman.
Now, three sentences have pinpointed the Blood Burial Site.
She is looking for herself, and she knows where to look.
There's something wrong with this person.
Li Tianran was thinking about how to deal with it.
Just as I stepped out of the market, a familiar abacus sound suddenly came from the street corner.
He quickly pulled his hood down and turned into the side alley.
The boy was so startled by his sudden action that he almost bumped into the wall. He staggered up, carrying the wooden box, and was about to speak when the boy pulled him into the depths of the alley.
Li Tianran stared at her: "Shut up."
The sound of abacuses growing closer at the alley entrance, and Ma Wencai's voice came through the wall.
"One-Eyed, have you seen my junior brother?"
A man wearing a black cloak that covered half his face, with a curved sword hanging at his waist.
He owes me 145 spirit stones and hasn't paid them back; he's run away.
I waited for him outside the outhouse for most of the night; that kid was slippery as an eel.
The one-eyed man's slow, leisurely voice drifted over.
"I saw it, it went west."
Ma Wencai's face lit up with delight, and he quickly asked, "When did you see it?"
One-Eyed: "Just now."
Ma Wencai cursed, "This little bastard is slippery as an eel."
After he finished speaking, his footsteps faded away in the opposite direction.
Emerging from the alley, One-Eyed, with a bone dangling from his mouth, gestured westward with his lip.
"He's been looking for you for a whole day and night, he's been looking for you since yesterday."
There's a swamp about five miles to the west; he'll be able to wander around until dark. You'd better hurry."
Li Tianran did not turn around.
He quickened his pace and walked towards the north side of the market.
"Hey, wait for me."
Just then, the tomboy caught up again, carrying the wooden box and panting.
"You owe them over a hundred spirit stones."
You've managed to survive this long; your creditor has a really good temper.
If it were me, I would have cornered you in the alley by now.
"But you ran really fast just now to avoid your debt collectors, you must have practiced."
Li Tianran suddenly stopped, and the boy almost bumped into him again.
He turned to look at the boy, his voice turning cold. "What exactly do you want?!"
The boy took a few breaths and put the wooden box on the ground.
"I want to go up the mountain with you. I heard there are prisoners of the Heavenly Sword Sect being held on Blood Burial Plains?"
She looked him in the eyes without any hesitation.
Li Tianran: "You are from the Heavenly Sword Sect."
The boy remained silent for a few moments, without denying it.
Li Tianran: "You bumped into me on purpose just now."
The boy said, "I really wasn't looking where I was going."
After the collision, I realized you might be a disciple of the Blood Spirit Sect, so I followed you.
Li Tianran said, "And then?"
"I want to see if the prisoners of the Heavenly Sword Sect are still alive."
The boy turned the Taoist robe inside out and showed it to him, then quickly stuffed it back in.
"I have a fellow disciple who was captured by the Blood Spirit Sect, and I haven't heard from her since."
Some say she's been imprisoned on the Blood Burial Ground. Is she still alive?
Li Tianran looked at the Taoist robe.
The sword pattern on the cuff was exactly the same as the one Shen Qing had worn.
Li Tianran was stunned after hearing this.
I can't figure out what's going on in this tomboy's head.
He sneered, "You've revealed your identity, and you still want to come up the mountain with me? Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?!"
The boy chuckled, "Heh, you can't beat me."
Upon hearing this...
Li Tianran raised an eyebrow and tried to detect her aura, but he couldn't find anything!
He seems to have some skill, but he's hiding it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have dared to follow him, and I was even planning to go up the mountain with him.
Li Tianran: "What's your name? What do you want to do?"
"You can just call me Xiao Lu."
"I went up the mountain to save people, of course."
Li Tianran pondered for a moment.
"I can take you up the mountain, but you have to give me some spirit stones. Once you're up there, you can't wander off. You have to figure out how to become a blood slave yourself."
"Sure, no problem, deal!"
The boy's eyes lit up, and he readily agreed.
He took out more than twenty spirit stones and a water-repelling pearl from his pocket, then rummaged through the wooden box to find the Taoist robe and stuffed it into the deepest part of his storage bag before handing it to Li Tianran.
"I've given you everything. I'll disguise myself as a blood slave and go in with you later."
Without saying a word, Li Tianran immediately took the storage bag.
As expected, the people from the Heavenly Sword Sect did not give up on Shen Qing. It seems that my plan has been half successful.
I wonder how strong Lu is right now, and whether he can make the Blood Spirit Sect stand up.
"Let's go."
Li Tianran held the iron chain firmly.
Ten strong male blood slaves and three nuns followed behind, their chains making a crisp sound as they dragged.
The boy followed beside the group, mingling among the blood slaves, keeping his head down like the others, but his steps were lighter than anyone else's.
At dusk, the blood burial ground was established.
……
It was already late at night when Li Tianran finished his task.
After settling the nuns in, he went to report back to Old Man Han.
As usual, Han Laomo only asked a few questions and didn't elaborate further.
By the time we left the cave, it was completely dark.
Zhao Ling, who was waiting outside, said that a new blood slave had been squatting on the edge of the field and wouldn't leave no matter who called him.
He knew who it was without even having to guess.
Li Tianran walked along the mountain path towards the cave, but halfway there he suddenly turned a corner and circled around to the edge of the spirit field.
The area near the entrance to Field No. 9, which faces the gray fog, is right next to the mountain.
In the gray fog, a thin figure could be seen squatting on the edge of the field, with a blood slave talisman on the back of the neck, hugging his knees, and looking up at the moonlight shining through the mountain gate.
That posture didn't look like he was spacing out; it looked like he was waiting for someone.
Li Tianran did not return directly to his cave. Instead, he went around to stand behind a protruding rock near Field No. 9 for a while.
That was the spirit field managed by Zhang Xuan.
The fact that the tomboy was squatting on the edge of the field looking at the moon itself reveals a message:
She wasn't afraid of being discovered, nor did she intend to run away, which meant that the person she was looking for was still on the mountain.
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard Xiao Lu speak.
He was talking to an old blood slave next to him.
She had moved next to the blood slave at some point and was taking something out of her bosom and stuffing it into his hand.
The old blood slave opened his palm; it was a candied plum.
"You eat it, it's sweet."
The old blood slave shakily stuffed the plum into his mouth, chewed it a few times, and his cloudy eyes brightened for a moment.
Xiao Lu looked at him and suddenly asked, "How long have you been here?"
"Three years, almost four years."
"Have you ever seen a female disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect?"
Her face was very fair, her hands calloused from sword practice, and she was of medium height and very pretty.
The old blood slave slowly shook his head.
Li Tianran smiled.
Shen Qing was mostly staying in Su Yingxue and Zhao Ling's spiritual fields, and also in Li Tianran's woodshed, having only recently arrived.
It's normal that Zhang Xuan had never seen the old blood slave.
Chen Xiaolu remained silent for a moment, then took out a plum from her bosom and stuffed it into his hand.
"It's nothing, I was just asking. You're eating plums."
Li Tianran stepped back from behind the rock and quietly walked back along the edge of the spiritual field.
The relationship between Shen Qing and Chen Xiaolu is definitely not simple.
This so-called little deer sneaked into the Blood Burial Plains, risking being captured and bled out by evil cultivators, just to confirm whether a prisoner was still alive.
This goes beyond the bond between fellow students.
He suppressed his own judgment and quickened his pace toward the cave.
Back in the cave, the three nuns each occupied a corner.
Those chanting scriptures are still chanting, and those who are asleep are already fast asleep.
The one with the best physique leaned against the stone wall, his knees bent, and the old scars on his bald head gleamed a pale silver in the dim light of the spirit stone.
She wasn't asleep; her gaze remained quietly fixed on him, following him from the doorway to the stone table, and then from the stone table to the movement of him opening the storage bag.
He pulled out the Imprisoning Immortal Basin and put one of the nuns into it.
She watched as the nun turned into a wisp of smoke and disappeared into the basin, her expression unchanged, only curling her knees half an inch closer to her chest.
Li Tianran ignored her.
He sat cross-legged on the stone bed, placed the meteorite spear across his lap, and opened the tattered animal skin book.
The three spear techniques are: Armor-Piercing Style, which targets armor and scales; Cloud Piercing Style, which infuses spiritual energy into the spear tip to form a spiral; and Horizontal Sweeping Style, which uses the spear's tail to parry and counterattack.
He held the gun horizontally in his hand, the rust on the barrel rough and cold against his palm.
The spiritual energy was poured in, but most of it leaked out, leaving only a very thin wisp to seep into the spearhead, giving off a very faint silvery-white glow that lasted for a moment before going out.
Take it back, refill it, it leaks again, refill it again.
After repeating this several times, he figured out the pattern: the more spiritual energy he poured in, the more it leaked out; slowing down the process allowed more energy to seep in.
He closed his eyes, compressed his spiritual energy into an extremely thin line, and slowly pushed it into the gun barrel.
This time, the silver light on the spearhead shone for two more breaths before extinguishing.
Two breaths are enough to pierce through a layer of scales.
Suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps came from outside the stone gate.
He opened the door, and Shen Qing was standing outside.
Her Taoist robe was stained with mud from the spiritual field, and she clutched a dented copper kettle in her hand.
"She came to see me, but she doesn't look like my junior sister Chen Xiaolu."
Li Tianran leaned against the door frame, his expression turning serious.
"Chen Xiaolu is my closest junior sister in the Heavenly Sword Sect. I have known her for five years."
She has a sweet tooth, her swordsmanship is always off, and when she orders two bowls of wontons, she leaves them across from her to get cold if she can't finish them, but...
She paused, her voice beginning to tremble.
"That person doesn't resemble her."
But that face was Chen Xiaolu's face, that voice was her voice, and even her cravings were exactly the same, yet I still felt something was off.
She looked up at Li Tianran.
"Furthermore, Chen Xiaolu never calls me 'Senior Sister,' she calls me 'Aqing.' There's something seriously wrong with her!"