Jiang Nannan walked forward, looking absent-minded.
The light in her beautiful eyes faded bit by bit.
She naturally knew what would happen next. From the steward's up-and-down measuring gaze, she was being sold just like a commodity.
Helplessness and humiliation filled the young girl's mind.
She was unwilling to accept this, but for the sake of her mother, she had no other choice...
The brightly lit street was packed with people.
Today, banquets were set up everywhere in the Mystic Yin Sect, and pink lanterns were hung. According to the shopkeeper, there was a joyous occasion for the whole realm to celebrate, as festive as a holiday. Many commoners could only get a few full meals by taking advantage of this, so even though it was getting late, there were still plenty of pedestrians on the road.
"Sigh, what do you guys think the big happy event for the Mystic Yin Sect is?"
"Not sure. I guess it must be the wedding night of some young master from the Mystic Yin Sect tonight!"
"Maybe some elder in the Mystic Yin Sect has broken through their realm in cultivation?"
"..."
Beside the street, many people were full of food and drink, picking their teeth, bragging, and shooting the breeze.
Jiang Nannan walked past in silence.
She did not want others to know that the protagonist they were discussing was her...
Then, an untimely voice rang out.
"Sigh, have you guys ever heard of an organization called the Holy Spirit Cult?"
A middle-aged man in simple, commoner-like clothing suddenly lowered his voice and spoke.
"Holy Spirit Cult? Never heard of it."
"What kind of cult is that? Is it as powerful as the Mystic Yin Sect?"
"..."
"Tsk tsk tsk, so ignorant!" The uncle put on a mysterious expression, waved his hand, and motioned for the few people around to lean in.
"You must have heard of Evil Soul Masters!"
"Hey, you fellow!"
"Don't fucking scare me, damn it!"
"Just tell it like a ghost story, I'm going back to scare others with it."
"So uncultured!" The commoner uncle calmly waved his hand. "This Holy Spirit Cult is a sect of Evil Soul Masters, but... it's also a sect for us common folk!"
"Total bullshit! I'm an ordinary commoner, so am I an Evil Soul Master then?"
"Let me finish!" Interrupted one after another, the uncle still maintained his smile, unhurried and calm.
This caused even Jiang Nannan to stop in her tracks unnaturally.
Although his voice was extremely small, she was, after all, a Soul Elder, and her hearing far exceeded that of ordinary people.
Doubt arose in the young girl's heart.
Evil Soul Masters? Under the influence of Shrek Academy, those were the most detestable bad people who slaughtered the innocent everywhere and bullied ordinary commoners.
Yet what this person said, why...
"Hehe, then you better listen up!" The uncle rolled up his sleeves, took a fierce gulp of wine, a hint of drunkenness on his face, but his voice grew increasingly high-pitched.
"I ask you, everyone knows the Spirit Hall."
"I've heard of it, but ten thousand years ago, it seemed to commit all sorts of unpardonable crimes, burning, killing, and looting, and was eventually destroyed by the ancestor Tang San leading the Heaven Dou Empire..."
"Utter bullshit about unpardonable crimes! Burning, killing, and looting, did you see it?" The uncle glared at the person who answered.
"Well, no..." that person said sheepishly, then forced a weak defense: "But that's how the history books write it."
"Heh, history books, those are just used by the nobility to fool us!"
"I ask you, for an ordinary family nowadays, how much money does it take if they want to awaken a Martial Soul and Soul Power?" the uncle continued.
"I heard the Zhang family did this thing, and they said... to invite a noble to help awaken it costs at least over a hundred Gold Soul Coins. Even for Old Man Zhang, just awakening his son's Martial Soul once bankrupted his family. The most important thing is that the Martial Soul his son awakened was still a hoe. I heard Old Man Zhang passed out from anger right then and there. Such a good family, tsk tsk tsk..."
Nearby, an old man who looked like a shop assistant sighed.
After all, the monthly expenses of an ordinary family of three only amounted to a single Gold Soul Coin, and a hundred coins would take at least ten years of eating and drinking nothing to save up.
"That's right, if you win, this money will naturally be reimbursed by the nobility, and your child will be recruited into their ranks with resource provisions, but if you lose... then you really lose everything."
Hearing this, everyone shook their heads.
They only felt a sense of lament at this rather than complaint.
After all, for ordinary families, living in peace and safety was already a blessing, let alone anything else.
"Yet ten thousand years ago, the Spirit Hall that you all call evil would freely help every household awaken their Martial Souls without charging any fees. Once they discovered you had talent, they would even automatically reimburse you and send you to a local academy. Afterwards, whether or not you joined the Spirit Hall depended entirely on you..."
"What?!!"
The people around were all dumbstruck.
In this century, awakening a Martial Soul was something only noble lords could enjoy. For a commoner like you to talk about wanting to awaken one was pure prodigal behavior!
Yet ten thousand years ago, it was actually free!
The disparity can be imagined...
"Is this news of yours real?"
A farmer doubted.
"In this world, there's such a good organization?"
"Hmph hmph, more than that..."
The uncle's face grew increasingly flushed, obviously feeling the effects of the alcohol.
"This Spirit Hall back then was even committed to the unification of the continent. Let me ask you, if the continent were unified now, would every household still need to be conscripted? Would we still need to fight wars?"
"Then why did the ancestor Tang San... want to stop the Spirit Hall from uniting?"
Someone was full of incomprehension.
"Because his mother was the Blue Silver Grass Soul Beast, and his father hooked up with a hu- cough cough, and because the Blue Silver Grass was being hunted by the Spirit Hall at the time, his mother sacrificed herself and died, which is why he has always been hostile toward the Spirit Hall."
"So that's how it was!" Someone understood in a flash.
"His dad's tastes really were..."
"That's not all, the more interesting part is coming." The uncle was almost drifting off to sleep, but he still forced himself to fight the drowsiness and said, "It's said that when Tang San was little, his father completely ignored him. A four or five-year-old child had to cook for himself and also cook for his dad. His dad was a drunk, and if he didn't know how to cook himself, he would have starved to death!"
"Didn't they say his dad was Clear Sky Douluo, that his strength was very high?" Someone raised a question.
"Strong, but his character was no good. Especially since his mother had sacrificed herself, he drank and wallowed in despair all day. It's said that if not for relief from people in the same village, Tang San would have been f***ing starved to death long ago!"
"I'll keep going."
"Back then, he was young, and his father didn't pay attention to him. Even when he reached the age of six, the optimal timing to awaken his Martial Soul, his dad didn't make any statement, just acted like a dead pig..."
"So you guys guess, who awakened his Martial Soul?"
The uncle wore a mysterious smile.
"Could it be... the Spirit Hall?!!" Someone said with a face full of disbelief.
"Mmhmm, you guessed right, it was the Spirit Hall." The uncle shook his head with emotion. "After the awakening, he also relied on the subsidy that the Spirit Hall issued to Soul Masters every month to get through the most difficult early stage..."
"What a fucking beast!"
"Isn't this just biting the hand that feeds you, smashing the pot after eating the meal! How could he be such a person!"
"..."
In an instant, public anger surged.
In other words, I could endure the darkness because I had never seen the light.
Yet just because of one moronic Tang San, bang, my original happiness was gone!