"Who hit you?"
Jiang Yi's voice was neither loud nor high-pitched.
But He the Venerable's body trembled as if scalded by fire. He jerked his head to the side, trying to hide his swollen red cheek with his shoulder.
He tried to force his usual devil-may-care smile, stretching the corners of his mouth so wide they nearly reached his ears, but his voice came out painfully dry:
"N-nobody! We were just messing around... Brother Yi, really, just messing around. I bumped into something by accident! It's nothing, don't ask... Don't go looking for trouble!"
"Brother He." Jiang Yi's tone was still calm, but deep in his eyes, a flicker of Fire Attribute Radiance—forged by his Little Refining Yuan Fire Control Technique—leapt uncontrollably, sharp and dazzling.
"I'll ask one more time. Who. Hit. You?"
Marshal Yang had been right. The Demon Dao Dharma Lineage was no place for warm feelings and harmonious brotherhood.
The Cattle and Horses at the bottom could still stick together instead of harming one another because there were no fundamental conflicts of interest.
But take a few steps up the ladder, and trouble would soon come knocking at your door.
'Just look at this!'
'I've only been an Inspector for a few days, and trouble has already sniffed me out?'
Jiang Yi lowered his eyelids, concealing the fiercely leaping Fire Attribute Radiance, and looked at He the Venerable, who only wanted to let the matter drop.
He the Venerable had none of the bravado he'd shown while bragging yesterday. His back was bent like a shrimp as he waved his hands dismissively.
"It's really nothing! Brother Yi, you don't understand... Before I joined the Qianji Sect, my whole family were tenant farmers for a Qi Cultivation Clan.
There was a Young Master in the clan who loved to watch people slap their own faces for his amusement... For a dou of rice, my father knelt by the ridges of the field and slapped himself a dozen times... SLAP! SLAP! He thought I didn't see. Afterward, he even came back and told me gleefully that the master had been merciful, and our family would get to eat a full meal that night."
He clutched the two long-cold cornbread buns in his hand, head bowed, not daring to look at Jiang Yi. His voice rambled on:
"Later, my father worked himself to the bone, taking on a few more acres of the master's Spirit Fields. He was as tired as an old ox, pinching every single talisman coin, and somehow managed to send me to a Daoism school in the city.
There were seventy or eighty Child Students in the school, and I was the oldest. I didn't know anything, and the teachers looked down on me.
I wanted to learn more characters and read more Daoist Scriptures, so I had to suck up to the young masters in the city every day, copying scriptures for them in exchange for some paper and ink... There was a doggy door in the back courtyard. I remember one time, two young masters from prominent clans made a bet. One said that no one could possibly crawl through it..."
He the Venerable's voice was filled with shame, but he still forced a smile onto his face.
"I'm worthless... For fifty talisman coins, I bent over, got on the ground, and struggled to crawl through.
Just as I got through, I heard someone say I definitely couldn't crawl back... S-so I turned around and crawled back from the other side... Back and forth, I earned a hundred talisman coins."
The kitchen was silent as He the Venerable continued talking to himself:
"Those two young masters were laughing so hard they were bent over double. And I was just there, covered in dust, picking up my talisman coins one by one from the ground... In that moment, I suddenly understood how my father must have felt back then, kneeling on the field ridge and slapping himself... I swore a secret oath that I would make something of myself!
For the first two years after coming to the Qianji Sect, I was just like you, Brother Yi. I was willing to endure hardship, willing to work my fingers to the bone! By the third year, I finally got a chance to go down the mountain and return to my hometown... My parents were gone. Those few acres of Spirit Fields were still there, but my second uncle was farming them.
The Young Master who used to love watching people slap themselves had become the clan master. He praised my father as a master farmer and even asked when my term of service would be up, saying the clan had plenty of fields now and he could spare a few acres for me to farm..."
"I clenched my teeth and returned to the mountain, swearing I'd rather die than be a tenant farmer living at someone else's mercy! I desperately saved money, doing odd jobs for others, just to scrape together enough talisman coins to attend a single lecture on the Inner Peak!
I worked until I was seeing stars, all in the hopes of learning some real skills, of turning my life around, of standing up straight and being a man... But it's too hard!
Brother Yi, why is it so damn hard for people like us to stand up straight!"
He the Venerable's voice grew quieter and quieter, as if his strength was being drained away bit by bit. The cornbread buns he was clutching fell to the floor.
Jiang Yi sighed softly, but he couldn't find any words of comfort.
Even without the Celestial Book, he could guess what had happened.
It was just those two jackals, Zhang San and Dong Si, trying to make trouble for him.
But they were afraid of offending Marshal Yang Xun from the Quenching Room, so they took their anger out on a soft persimmon like He the Venerable.
"I'm the one who got you involved in this, Brother He."
He the Venerable had been choking back his sobs, but hearing Jiang Yi's words, his shoulders began to shake violently. Broken sobs escaped from his bowed head.
A moment later, perhaps decades of pent-up bitterness finally surged up.
He the Venerable suddenly grabbed Jiang Yi's arm and wailed:
"Brother Yi! I'm so worthless! Zhang Chao and Dong Ba tried to force me to trip you up... I refused, so they told me to crawl between their legs!"
"Brother Yi, I've lived for so many years, how am I still so worthless! I want to cultivate, too! I want to never have to crawl through a doggy door again and stand up straight... But... but why is it so hard!"
He the Venerable's chest heaved like a broken bellows, letting out ragged, gasping sounds.
After holding it in for so long, he finally broke down and cried, but he didn't dare to cry too loudly. He just gripped Jiang Yi and repeated:
"Brother Yi, I can't breathe!"
Jiang Yi stood quietly, and the flicker of Fire Attribute Radiance seemed to be suppressed, silently dissipating.
He slowly knelt, picked up the dusty cornbread buns, blew on them, and pressed them back into He the Venerable's hands.
"A few hundred years ago, the ancestors of the most powerful Major Sect and Dao Race on Beimang Ridge also clawed their way up from a situation just like ours.
Brother He, you just watch. From now on, no one on this Red Flame Peak will be able to cause trouble for us again!"
...
...
「Early the next morning」
Before the bells of Guanlan Peak had even rung, a crowd of Mortal Servants had already gathered outside the Labor Institute.
Compared to their usual numb and listless state when heading to work, today they showed a bit of cheer. Everyone was rubbing their hands together as if in anticipation.
The reason was simple.
It was payday!
After toiling away for a whole month, they would finally see talisman coins fall into their pockets. How could they not be delighted!
When the bell's chime echoed across the peaks, the gates of the Labor Institute swung open, and a Little Daoist Child with red lips and white teeth called out:
"Form a line! No pushing, everyone will get their share!"
Then, three Little Daoist Children had the Inspectors distribute payment according to the sign-in sheets.
"Zheng Dajiang, one hundred hours, twelve hundred talisman coins... He the Venerable, one hundred twenty hours..."
Jiang Yi swiftly counted and then distributed the money. Though he had just become an Inspector, he showed no awkwardness in flipping through the ledgers and calculating wages, earning repeated nods from the Little Daoist Child beside him.
In contrast, Zhang Chao and Dong Ba's station was inevitably filled with bickering and arguments, an irritating sound to overhear.
It took a full hour before all the talisman coins were finally distributed.
Jiang Yi pinched a stack of talisman coins. They were made of talisman paper and came in three types according to their denomination.
A one-coin note was yellow, a ten-coin note was purple, and a hundred-coin note was red.
The reason talisman paper was used as currency was said to be due to the scarcity of Spiritual Energy on the Nanzhan Continent.
Talisman paper was easy to carry, and because it was recognized by the Daoist Lineage, it possessed a trace of spirituality. It could be used for drawing talismans, writing, or as fuel in Artifact Refining, so it wasn't entirely without value.
Due to these factors, it was widely favored by the Dharma Lineages and could be considered a common currency, seen everywhere.
However, Jiang Yi had also heard that on the Dongsheng Continent, which was governed by the Immortal Dao, wealthy Cultivators used Spirit Stones directly as currency—a clear sign of their extravagance.
Jiang Yi collected his talisman coins, tucked them into his robes, and didn't spare Zhang Chao or Dong Ba a second glance.
"See? I told you. That guy Jiang isn't going to stick his neck out for He the Venerable just to mess with us for no reason!"
Seeing Jiang Yi leave without causing trouble, Dong Ba said smugly.
"We still need to be on guard. The dogs that don't bark are the ones that bite hard!"
Zhang Chao's gaze was dark as he instructed:
"You and I shouldn't separate for the next few days, so he doesn't find an opportunity!"
A vicious look appeared on Dong Ba's dark face, and he revealed his yellow teeth in a grin.
"I'd rather he overestimate himself and give me a chance to blow off some steam!
I was going to give him a cut of the money, but he didn't know what was good for him! And that He the Venerable is a real piece of trash, sucking up to that guy Jiang and licking his ass crack!"
Zhang Chao shook his head.
"Younger Brother Dong, don't underestimate him. I heard he's already reached the Qi Cultivation Second Layer and he's still young. It's best not to make a mortal enemy of him.
If he gets lucky someday and climbs to the Qi Cultivation Fifth Layer, we'll be the ones to suffer."
Dong Ba scoffed. His term would be up in a few more years. When that time came, he'd go down the mountain, return to his village, and live a life of leisure.
First, he'd kill the entire family of the Chief Constable who put a warrant out for him back in the day. Then he'd find a nice spot and go back to being a mountain king.
Live to seventy or eighty, then kick the bucket. It would be a life worth living!
"A barefoot man isn't afraid of one with shoes. What the fuck do I have to be afraid of!"
Dong Ba spat on the ground, uttering a piece of rustic slang.