Across the mountain clusters, on the serpentine dirt road, two young n were making slow progress in dragging a massive crate on wheels behind them.
To tell the truth, only one of them was actually putting in effort, the ropes of the cart sinking into his sweaty torso harshly as he grit his teeth and dug his feet inches deep into the soil with every step.
His partner, a younger man with a frail physique, was occasionally tugging another rope connected to the cart, although his expression was just as grim.
"I cannot believe this! Singular custors aren’t allowed to borrow the carrier bulls? Bullshit! He was just discriminating against , Elder Shen was! I’m sure of it!"
His hardworking partner glanced at him with a complicated face and then shook his head.
"There is a rule like this, actually. The sect doesn’t want any affluent disciples to hoard rare resources from their peers. So there are a lot of restrictions on bulk sales.
"If you didn’t have that dallion with you, you couldn’t have walked out of the Treasury with so many materials."
Han Xuhan snorted, not wanting to go into an argunt with this guy over this matter.
After he had failed to find any quick mode of transportation, much to the amusent of Elder Shen, this young worker, Xiao Po, had volunteered to assist him with it. Recognizing the goodwill, and having no other choice, Han Xuhan had accepted it.
Although he was an ordinary junior worker in the Treasury, he could punch a hole through Han Xuhan’s torso easily, judging by his sheer physical power. Han Xuhan had seen him dodge that middle-aged worker’s kick with ease, but even if that kick had landed, it probably wouldn’t have moved him.
After dragging the mountain of goods a hundred more ters, both of them had to sit down to rest for a while. After activating a just-purchased qi-fuelled fan, Han Xuhan spoke up again, in the mood for small talk.
"Brother Po, if you don’t mind asking, how did you end up working in the Treasury? I an, your physical strength clearly cos from Martial Cultivation. Most disciples in the sect can barely afford to cultivate their body in this path..."
"Ahaha... This matter... is a bit personal..." Xiao Po laughed awkwardly. Just as Han Xuhan was about to shift the topic, he decided to say it anyway for so reason.
"I entered the outer court of the Crimson Snow Sect about five years ago as one of the newly recruited disciples. My family at that ti had a big business in the northern corner of the continent. I could afford to spend hundreds of spirit stones every week without feeling the pinch!"
Han Xuhan felt a bit of shock, surveying the slightly older youth up and down once more. His economic conditions had clearly deteriorated since then. Nobody would associate him with the word ’wealthy’!
"Naturally, I made the most progress in the Martial Path. The Mystic Arts require talent, lineage, aptitude, and affinities, but the Martial Path only demands money and practice. This is why I could cross the fifth phase of the Physique Transformation realm within five months!"
A few months?
Han Xuhan thought back to what he knew about Mu Ran and Xuanyuan Zhou’s martial cultivation. Both of them had started out on the Martial Path long before entering the sect.
Both were around the fifth phase as well, having made multiple breakthroughs since entering the sect two months ago.
Xiao Po... This guy was almost at the sa level as those two freaks!
"But one day, I got so terrible news from my ho. Apparently, one of my rotten cousins had forcefully snatched away a crippled rogue cultivator’s wife. To avenge the humiliation, the cripple put his life on the line to master a dangerous unorthodox Mystic Art!"
"....."
"Recognizing the threat, my spoiled cousins banded together to kill him, but ended up getting themselves killed instead. To avenge them, my uncles dragged my father into the matter, ordering an assassination on that cripple’s whole family."
"....."
"But the deaths only made the cripple more desperate. He broke past the peak of that unorthodox Mystic Art and survived the heavenly tribulation, refining himself into a very formidable Mystic Artist. Then he invaded my family’s compounds and slaughtered every living being inside."
"....."
"Upon learning this news, I hurried back ho. But that guy... That hateful bastard... He was just waiting to weed out the last mber of my clan—. He ambushed while I was mourning their deaths there!
"But the Mystic Art he practices is weak in front of Martial Arts, as it turned out. So, even as an uninitiated Soul Reformation realm cultivator, he failed to kill . He only managed to cripple my spirituality as I escaped.
"Returning to the Sect, I took my grievances to the Sect Master himself, who assured that he’d help get justice. However, my cultivation potential was already finished. I had neither the money to cultivate on the Martial Path, nor the spirituality to cultivate any Mystic Arts.
"In the end, I had to move out of my mountain peak, expelled on technical grounds. The Sect Master took pity on and offered a job in the Treasury. Since then, I’ve been scrimping and investing into my Martial Cultivation whenever I can, hoping to reach the peak of the Physique Transformation realm one day and regain my potential under the heavenly tribulation!"
Concluding his tale, Xiao Po sighed and stood up, tugging on the ropes of the cart again. Han Xuhan stared at the foggy sky silently while walking alongside him, not knowing what to say.
This sudden subplot... Wasn’t it the most copy-pasted story in every cultivation novel? This sort of developnt always happens within the first 200 Chapters!
Except, he was hearing it from the vantage point of the villains this ti. Although Xiao Po professed himself to be an innocent victim, Han Xuhan wasn’t foolish enough to believe everything he said!
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