Eating Town of Black River

The bone-chilling wind swept through the furnace room, crumpling the boy's ragged hemp clothes.

The boy was named Chen Mo. The ground beneath his feet was a place that devoured people without even spitting out their bones.

"Ugh, we can't pay the tribute again this month."

A taller boy sighed and patted Chen Mo's thin shoulder from behind. "I don't know if we'll make it through this winter."

The so-called tribute wasn't food grain, but copper coins stained with the blood and sweat of the poor.

The domineering Black Tiger Hall went door to door to collect it. Those who knew their place paid up voluntarily. Those who didn't soon learned to behave after their hands and feet were broken.

"A-Cai, didn't your father recently find work as a waiter? And your little sister's embroidery should earn some money too, right?" Chen Mo asked.

"They're all jobs that barely keep us fed. Waiting tables only pays three coins a day. As for my sister's embroidered handkerchiefs, there are people who want them, but we don't dare advertise. She's still young, and we're afraid that if the Black Tiger Hall finds out..."

Chen Mo gave a slight nod. "That's true."

The two fell silent for a moment.

Black smoke seeped through the window cracks behind them, scorching their skin until it was dry and cracked. It was also choking.

The two were lowly laborers at the Iron Furnace Room in Black River Town. They sweated and bled as they worked, earning just two bloodstained copper coins a day.

"I heard Xiao Wu was offered as a living sacrifice yesterday..." Zhang Cai said. The last glimmer in his eyes dimmed even further.

It was because laborers like them couldn't see the slightest hope.

Though the Iron Furnace Room nominally belonged to the prefecture and county, the Black Tiger Hall controlled it in practice.

The swords, spears, and armor that the laborers forged with their lives were sold to the prefecture and county by the Black Tiger Hall through "middlemen." The middlemen took their "liaison fees," while the Black Tiger Hall pocketed its "hard-earned money."

But everyone knew who truly suffered!

The hall's killers were all butchers. If a household couldn't pay enough, they took that family and offered them to the furnace, claiming that weapons forged after a living sacrifice gained spiritual essence, and that being sacrificed was the family's glory.

Zhang Cai suddenly turned to Chen Mo, looking flustered. "A-Mo, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up. I forgot your father was also..."

"I'm fine... My father was offered as a living sacrifice half a year ago."

Chen Mo had once learned from Master Wu, an old furnace worker, that the living sacrifice half a year ago had actually been meant to be Chen Mo. But to save his son's life, Chen Ying had taken his place at the furnace...

Chen Mo's gaze dimmed. His rough fingers unconsciously rubbed the hem of his clothes.

He didn't belong in this world. He had arrived here by chance three years ago, so he felt he didn't deserve the life-saving kindness Chen Ying had shown him.

"A-Mo, do you think these days will ever come to an end?" Zhang Cai asked dully.

Chen Mo came back to himself and considered the question seriously. After a moment, he spoke. "Only if we grow strong ourselves can we keep others from bullying us. And the only way to grow strong is to practice martial arts."

In the world as it stood, every injustice came from an imbalance of strength.

Zhang Cai clicked his tongue in disbelief. "How could martial arts ever be within our reach? Last year, Black River Town produced only two martial artists, and it cost a fortune. We have no money and no backing, and we can't even escape our lowly status. How could we possibly learn martial arts?"

Chen Mo listened without replying.

Inside the furnace room, the bellows groaned like a dying beast.

Zhang Cai rubbed his nose, red from the cold, and continued. "Besides, you need aptitude to practice martial arts. I heard Master Wu say that only one in a hundred people becomes a martial artist, and only one in a thousand has exceptional talent. And that's just the bare minimum."

Martial artists valued their natural constitutions. Ordinary people were shut out of the martial path from birth.

But another glimmer of light appeared in Chen Mo's eyes. He thought he might be able to give it a try, because yesterday he had awakened a martial arts talent.

He focused slightly, and several lines of text appeared in his mind.

[Thousand Hammer Refinement, Mountain and Water Cultivation]

[By tempering the essence of mountains and waters to the utmost, you can draw out the source potential of materials and transform it into your comprehension of martial arts.

Must be paired with a cultivation method to take effect. Different methods require different natural treasures to temper.]

Chen Mo pondered. He didn't know what Mountain Essence and Water Soul referred to. Did the iron ore forged in the furnace room count? If it did, he knew a little about forging iron.

As long as he could improve his comprehension, the threshold to martial arts would be as good as nonexistent for him.

The only thing he lacked now was... a cultivation method!

Seeing Chen Mo fall silent, Zhang Cai patted his shoulder again. "A-Mo, martial artists are far beyond our reach. Don't get carried away. Better to think about how to scrape together this month's tribute. Don't you have an uncle? Why not ask him to lend you some?"

Chen Mo suddenly remembered.

His grandfather had had two sons: the eldest, Chen Ying, and the second, Chen Bao. The old man and Chen Bao now lived in an alley in the western part of town.

Chen Bao had a son named Chen Hang. The year before last, they discovered that he had some talent for martial arts, so Chen Bao poured his money into Chen Hang, sending him to a martial arts school in the hope that his nephew would bring their family wealth and glory.

The old man had always favored Chen Bao. When the family divided its property, he had given Chen Ying's family very few copper coins, while most of it went to Chen Bao.

Now that Chen Ying was dead, and Chen Hang had a promising future in martial arts, the old man was even less likely to give Chen Mo any support.

Of course, Chen Mo knew all that.

He was just wondering if he could ask Chen Hang for a cultivation manual. Even a simple illustrated martial arts book would do. He wouldn't even ask for it outright; he'd say he was borrowing it, and see if they still had any family feeling left.

With that thought, Chen Mo immediately said goodbye to Zhang Cai and headed home.

Zhang Cai warned him, "Keep your eyes open on the way, so you don't run into Black Tiger Hall thugs on patrol."

"Mm. You be careful too."

Chen Mo's father had died as a living sacrifice, and his mother had passed away from a serious illness three years ago. Only the two siblings remained, depending on each other.

His older sister was named Chen Lan, and she was four years his senior. As the eldest daughter, she ran the household and held it together.

Black River Town wasn't large, and Chen Mo soon arrived in front of a dilapidated house.

But when you least wanted to run into someone, that was often exactly when you did.

"Well, look who's back. Chen boy, I was just explaining things to your sister. Come and learn your lesson too."

The speaker was named Huang E. He bared a mouthful of yellow teeth.

He was a thug from the Black Tiger Hall. One hand braced against the door, and with a sudden surge of strength, he made it shake, dust raining down.

Though Huang E was only a half-trained martial artist, snapping Chen Mo's neck would have been child's play.

Chen Lan shot Chen Mo a look, telling him not to say anything rash.

Chen Mo stood beside Chen Lan. She leaned slightly to one side, shielding half of him with her body.

Huang E bared two rows of yellow teeth. "I'll say it again: one hundred and fifty coins every month, not one less! For every coin you're short, another Chen family ghost goes into the furnace!"

As he spoke, he flashed a sinister smile and fixed his gaze on Chen Mo.

Chen Lan hurriedly nodded. "Don't worry, Master Huang. Don't worry, Master Huang. We'll pay the full amount. It's just... could we have an extension—"

Before she could finish, Huang E cut her off. "Don't even think about it! Not a single day's delay. I'll come for the money in ten days."

Huang E swaggered away to the next household.

Chen Lan pulled Chen Mo inside and shut the door tight.

The howling cold wind battered the door, making it tremble without pause.

Chen Mo lit a candle. In its glow, he noticed several tiny scabs of blood on his sister's wrist. Huang E hadn't struck her; they looked like needle pricks from embroidery.

Chen Mo knew that to keep him from being offered as a living sacrifice, his sister had worked herself day and night at odd jobs: washing clothes for others, embroidering, working in the fields, and even hauling heavy loads.

But she had never handled a needle and thread as a child. How could she know how to embroider?

It wasn't as if Chen Mo felt nothing, but what could he do?

The two of them earned a hundred and fifty or sixty copper coins a month, and the tribute alone took one hundred and fifty. They had already pawned everything of value in the house. They would have to go without food and drink to make ends meet.

Chen Mo thought it over.

The only way out of this predicament was to rely on those eight words—[Thousand Hammer Refinement, Mountain and Water Cultivation]—and step onto the path of martial arts. Only then would there be a sliver of hope!

"Sis, let's go to Second Uncle's house?"

Chen Lan stared at him in surprise, mouth half open. "What would we go there for?"

"Just... to borrow something."

Chen Lan tucked her hair behind her ear and thought for a moment. "Our family and Second Uncle's family have grown more and more... distant. I doubt they'll lend us money."

Chen Mo answered honestly. "Sis, I'm not asking to borrow money. I want to borrow a martial arts manual from Chen Hang and practice."

Chen Lan's eyes widened like saucers.

Though she was only a woman, she had heard the strong, brawny guards say that even someone with the right foundation in martial arts needed three to five years to achieve a little success.

With the deadline for the tribute only ten days away, failing to pay in full meant death. Practicing martial arts now was no different from courting it.

But instead of blurting out everything on her mind, she asked, "What made you want to learn martial arts?"

Chen Mo's thoughts swirled. In the end, he came up with the most reasonable excuse he could. "Learning martial arts might not work, but it can at least strengthen my body. I won't spend too much time on it. I just want to... get a little stronger and be able to protect myself."

Chen Lan didn't refuse. "All right. Then let's go now."