"Your name's He Pingsheng? How old are you?"
Inside a dark hall that looked like a ruined temple, a bare-chested man looked at the boy before him, who stood less than five feet tall, and asked in a rough voice.
The boy answered respectfully and with extreme caution, "Boss Zhang, I'm fourteen this year!"
"What Spirit Root?" Boss Zhang asked offhandedly.
He Pingsheng replied, "A five-element spiritual root!"
Upon hearing that, Boss Zhang broke into a satisfied smile, then mocked him. "So you're a money pit! Hahaha..."
"Hahahaha..."
The men around them, all reeking of sweat, roared with laughter.
Their laughter mingled, shaking dust loose from the rafters in drifting showers.
When Boss Zhang stopped smiling, the others' laughter stopped right along with it, as though they were puppets on strings.
Smack! Boss Zhang's grimy, grease-covered hand landed on He Pingsheng's thin shoulder. "That Uncle Jiang of yours, or whatever his name is, has some ties with me. I only agreed to take you in because he pleaded with me!"
"You're fourteen, not a little kid anymore. Starting today, you'll be responsible for hauling water on Bamboo Peak!"
"But remember this: the masters and ladies on Bamboo Peak are immortals who can fly through the heavens and burrow through the earth. Every one of them is exceedingly exalted. Show them proper respect whenever you see them. If you upset them, your life could be forfeit!"
He Pingsheng's heart tightened, and he hurriedly answered, "Yes!"
Boss Zhang continued, "There are two places on Bamboo Peak that need water. One is the masters' cave residences!"
"The other is the dining hall for us menial workers!"
"They use plenty of water. You'll have to get up before dawn every day and start hauling, and you won't stop until night. You can't take even a moment's rest in between!"
"Otherwise, you won't finish the work!"
"Got that?" Boss Zhang barked.
He Pingsheng nodded. "Yes!"
"Third, take him around and show him the ropes. Don't let tomorrow's work fall behind. If the masters hand down a punishment, none of us can bear it!"
A tall, thin middle-aged man stood up and led He Pingsheng out of the pitch-dark hall.
He Pingsheng!
Fourteen years old!
He had been born in the outer sect of the Great Void Sect, and both his parents had once been its outer disciples.
Unfortunately, when He Pingsheng was eight, his father, He Sanjie, had gone out in search of opportunities and been killed by a Demon Beast. Less than a month later, his mother had also died under mysterious circumstances. Then a group of Great Void Sect cultivators had barged into their home and plundered every last cultivation resource his parents had left behind.
From then on, He Pingsheng had lived with Jiang Jian, his late father's good friend.
At nine, He Pingsheng's Spirit Root had awakened.
At the Great Void Sect's awakening ceremony, he had awakened a five-element spiritual root encompassing metal, wood, water, fire, and earth!
He had a Spirit Root, certainly, but this kind was the hardest to cultivate with.
In the cultivation world, such a Spirit Root was known as a "money pit."
It took countless resources to build up any cultivation with it.
Put it this way: the resources required to nurture one person with a five-element Spirit Root could often nurture ten or even several dozen cultivators with single-element Spirit Roots.
Not one of the Great Void Sect's elders or disciples had been willing to take him as an apprentice. In the end, He Pingsheng had not even qualified to enter the outer sect.
Recently, with no hope of attaining the Great Dao and old age drawing near, Jiang Jian had decided to abandon cultivation and return to the fields. He intended to go home, marry, and have children to continue his ancestral bloodline. Unable to care for his old friend's son any longer, he could only recommend He Pingsheng to the Servant Class on the inner sect's Bamboo Peak, where he would become a Servant Disciple.
As the name suggested, a Servant Disciple did chores and manual labor.
The cultivation world was not populated entirely by immortals, and even immortals had to eat, drink, and relieve themselves. In particular, disciples at the Qi Refining stage could not yet live without food, making people who attended to their daily needs indispensable.
Every major peak of the Great Void Sect had a Servant Class responsible for cleaning, meals, running errands, and other tasks. Broken down into categories, there were no fewer than several dozen kinds of work.
Of all those jobs, hauling water was the most arduous.
After all, the many people on an entire peak consumed enormous quantities of water each day.
Furthermore, the water had to be fetched from the Mountain Spring behind the mountain. Though the round trip was only two li, the path rose and fell over rugged, difficult terrain.
He Pingsheng had chosen to suffer here because he still harbored a sliver of hope for the Great Dao and the path to immortality.
Although he was only a Servant Disciple, being on Bamboo Peak put him close to immortals. Proximity meant opportunity. With enough good fortune, he might yet obtain a method or two for cultivating immortality and comprehending the Dao, and thereby set foot on the immortal path. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
It was with this dream in his heart that he had asked Jiang Jian to recommend him to Bamboo Peak.
As for hardship?
He had not been born with a golden key in his mouth. What life in this world was free of suffering?
Han the Third took He Pingsheng around Bamboo Peak and showed him two enormous water vats.
He Pingsheng's daily task was to fill them.
Filling those two enormous vats, however, required at least twenty trips behind the mountain.
For a fourteen-year-old boy, that was undoubtedly a tremendous challenge.
"This is your room!" Han the Third finally brought He Pingsheng to a courtyard.
This one courtyard contained six or seven rooms.
Each Servant Disciple had a room of his own.
After receiving the key and iron chain, He Pingsheng unlocked the room. It was utterly bare. Never mind everyday necessities-it did not even have a quilt.
Fortunately, it was summer, so he would not freeze at night without one.
There was, however, a large iron bowl.
"The dining hall is right at the front!" Han the Third said. "Just go there on time for your meals every day. If you're late, there won't be anything left..."
After those last words, Han the Third hurried away as though he had something to attend to.
He Pingsheng looked around the room, only to find nothing worth looking at once again.
So he locked the door, shouldered two buckets on a carrying pole, and headed behind the mountain.
Strictly speaking, he could wait until tomorrow to start hauling water.
But preparation made things succeed, while neglect brought ruin. If he truly waited until tomorrow and something went wrong, he would have no room to recover. He Pingsheng therefore went ahead of time, both to familiarize himself with the route and to see how long it would take him to fill the two vats.
Behind the mountain, a clear stream flowed down from the summit, becoming a waterfall that struck a boulder and sent up snow-white spray.
The waterfall was small, only a foot wide, but it flowed ceaselessly, providing enough water for the entire peak.
Below the boulder, the waterfall formed a clear, shallow pool.
The water was so clear that he could see the sand and stones on the bottom.
He Pingsheng brought over the two large buckets, filled them with clear water, then shouldered them and started back.
The two buckets were heavy, weighing him down so much that he could barely breathe.
The two-li mountain path took him a full quarter of an hour.
At that pace, he could make at most two or three trips in a two-hour period. Twenty round trips would take at least fourteen to sixteen hours.
To make tomorrow's work a little easier, He Pingsheng returned to the water after his first trip.
He decided to make at least five trips today, so tomorrow would not be quite so exhausting!
One trip!
Two trips!
Three trips!
The night grew steadily darker.
When He Pingsheng came to fetch water for the fifth time, he suddenly noticed something at the bottom of the pool flickering with a faint light!
"What's this...?"
He Pingsheng drew a deep breath and approached. Not far away, on the bottom of the clear pool, lay a battered earthenware basin.
The basin was dark, and it happened to be reflecting a sliver of moonlight.
"Ah..." He Pingsheng wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I thought it was some treasure, but it's just a battered basin!"
"Still, even a battered basin has its uses. I'll take it back. It'll be just right for washing clothes and my face!"
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