"Father, I'll be good! I don't eat much either. Please don't sell me!"
"If I don't sell you, what will our family eat? Your little brother hasn't had meat in three days. As his older sister, you ought to make a little sacrifice. Three taels of silver, no bargaining!"
The human trafficker was about to hand over the money when a gold ingot struck the man.
"Ten taels of gold. I'm taking her."
Zhou Yunshen held out a hand to her. "My name is Zhou Yunshen. Will you come with me? I have grass porridge at my place. You can have as much as you like."
The little girl wiped her hand against the back of her trousers, then placed her small, chilblain-covered hand in his.
Zhou Yunshen picked her up and wiped her grubby little face. "From now on, your name is Jiang Shuyue, and you're my disciple. Call me Master, and I'll let you rub my belly!"
Three hundred years later, Jiang Shuyue had grown into a graceful young woman, and her cultivation had reached the Golden Core stage.
She watched her senior sisters and junior brothers return from their training journeys in the mortal world, green with envy.
"Master, all three hundred inner disciples and four hundred outer disciples of our Immortal Cloud Sect are allowed to go down the mountain to train. Why can't I?"
"Everyone outside says my Golden Core cultivation is fake. Apart from the sect tournament, no one has even seen me! I want to visit the mortal world too!"
Zhou Yunshen tossed her his life-bound Magic Treasure.
"You are you, and they are they. How can you be spoken of in the same breath? Put your Magic Treasure away. You can leave when you reach Deification!"
Jiang Shuyue pursed her lips. Unwilling