The sky seemed to be lightly veiled by a gray veil, and the drizzle fell gently like cow's hair.
A horse-drawn carriage slowly travels along a bumpy, muddy path.
Inside the vehicle, a ragged boy huddled in a corner, his feet shackled and his body bearing the marks of a beating. What was particularly striking were the two jet-black, legless dragons with mouths full of fangs that grew out from below his shoulder blades on his back.
At this moment, they, like their owners, were on the verge of death.
"Boss, are we losing money by spending two thousand gold soul coins to buy this kid?"
Outside the carriage, the young man driving looked at the older middle-aged man beside him with some confusion.
"What do you know? When a martial spirit awakens, the body is affected by the martial spirit, and people who undergo mutations are always in high demand in the market," the middle-aged man said.
"It's just that the people in this small town don't know anything about this business. Otherwise, they wouldn't even be able to dream of losing 20,000 gold soul coins!"
Upon hearing this, the young man driving the car glanced at the unconscious boy inside with some surprise. "So valuable?"
"Of course, I've seen her once before at the auction house in Xingluo Imperial City. She was a leopard woman. Do you know how much she was auctioned for?" the middle-aged man said.
The young man thought for a moment, "Thirty thousand gold soul coins?"
"A full 150,000 gold soul coins!" the middle-aged man said heavily.
"150,000?!" the young man couldn't help but exclaim.
"Pull the cart!" the middle-aged man called out softly.
The young man snapped back to reality and quickly pulled on the reins, thus avoiding hitting the roadside stones.
"Look at you, so pathetic." The middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief, but his ruddy complexion indicated that he was not entirely calm about the matter.
This road is difficult to travel on; if the car overturns, things will get complicated.
The young man swallowed nervously. "How can it be worth so much?"
"You wouldn't understand," the middle-aged man stroked his beard.
"What haven't those wealthy nobles done? Once they get tired of the young and beautiful, they'll seek out more exciting things."
"Catwoman, leopard woman, fox woman, these things always cause a frenzy every time they appear."
"These are all hot-selling items, and there's no worry about them not fetching high prices. Not to mention 150,000, even 200,000 has been a price we've seen before."
"But…" The young man turned and glanced back at the boy in the carriage.
"This kid is a guy, and although he's quite good-looking, but..."
"What's wrong with men?" The middle-aged man raised an eyebrow, as if to say, "You've never seen anything like this before."
"Don't say that there are plenty of men who like this kind of thing. There are plenty of wealthy women who have this kind of training fetish."
"Although this kid is a man, his looks are top-notch, and he won't be cheaper than those beauties."
"I see." The young man nodded.
The middle-aged man fiddled with the jade thumb ring on his hand, saying, "It's just that people in this small place don't know its value, and that young steward is timid. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to afford something of this quality."
"That's because you have good taste, boss."
"Alright, let's get going. We're still a long way from Tiandou City."
"..."
Seemingly disturbed by their conversation, Xuanming groggily opened his eyes.
He was in excruciating pain all over his body, but he didn't even have the strength to shout.
His name is Xuanming. In his previous life, he was an unlucky guy. He started his life in college, then grew up in an orphanage, and finally died of leukemia before he was even twenty years old.
A short life is like a broken table, covered with cutlery and cups.
Reborn, his bad luck remains. He is an orphan who grew up in a dilapidated mountain village. His mother died when he was five years old, and his father was conscripted into the army before he was even born and never returned.
A few days ago, he experienced the awakening of his martial spirit at the age of six.
He thought it would be a turning point in his life, and that his unfortunate life would finally take a turn for the better.
But to my surprise, he was only half right.
This was indeed a turning point in his life, because his life became even darker afterward.
During his martial soul awakening, his body mutated, and two footless black dragons grew out from under his shoulder blades.
His mother's martial soul was a black snake, so this mutated black dragon should be his martial soul. However, due to the mutation of his body, he couldn't retract the two dragons at all. They were like newly grown limbs. Even more awkwardly, the two dragons were like a cat's tail, not completely under his control, and would even occasionally attack him.
His martial soul had mutated, and his body had also mutated, but he hadn't even awakened his soul power yet; he was just an ordinary person.
Before he could even accept that he would have to live the rest of his life as an ordinary monster, the Spirit Hall steward who had awakened his martial soul returned, saying that a big shot from the Spirit Hall seemed interested in his mutation and wanted to take him back to see.
Having had so much bad luck, he didn't believe it, and the patrolling deacon's gaze was strange.
Sure enough, he was sold out.
He was sold to these two human traffickers for a high price of two thousand gold soul coins by that patrolling deacon of the Spirit Hall.
However, judging from what he just said, his value seems to be at least tens of thousands of gold soul coins, far beyond what a mere two thousand gold soul coins can measure.
The timid patrol officer got tricked.
He didn't know whether he should be happy or not.
Tens of thousands of gold soul coins—what a huge sum of money!
He couldn't imagine it, because he had never touched a gold soul coin in his entire life, or even seen one.
He never imagined he was worth so much money.
However, he was going to be sold; he was going to become a slave.
In the Douluo Continent, people who lose their land and place of origin due to natural disasters or man-made calamities, such as droughts, floods, wars, or conflicts between Soul Masters, and are forced to wander around, are called vagrants, and vagrants have no human rights.
The lucky refugees would be captured and enslaved.
Those who are unlucky will starve or freeze to death.
Of course, unlucky commoners can also become slaves in certain situations, just like him.
"A turning point in my life…" Xuanming gritted his teeth and struggled to sit up.
Worth over ten thousand gold soul coins, is this considered a disguised way of reaching the pinnacle of life?
"Kid, behave yourself and stop trying to run away." Hearing the commotion, the middle-aged man turned around and glanced into the car.
Xuanming didn't reply, but hugged his knees and curled up in the corner.
He didn't want to be a slave, so yesterday he chose to escape while the two guys were eating.
The result was obvious: not only did he not escape, but he was also severely beaten and given a pair of shackles that were even heavier than himself.
Fortunately, the two men were still hoping for his wealth and status, so they didn't kill him.
It hurts, but the bones aren't broken.
"If you sell me, how do you plan to divide the spoils?"
A weak, feeble sentence came from inside the car.
Upon hearing this, the two who were chatting casually just a moment ago suddenly fell silent.
How to divide it?
Even after deducting the auction house's commission, you'll still have at least 100,000 gold soul coins.
100,000 Gold Soul Coins!
This windfall is enough for people like them to live a life of comfort and security!