Chapter 455: Mount Tu |
[The sixth lifetime of the Book of a Hundred Lives (Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox) is ready.]
[Given the host's current cultivation level and soul strength, it is not necessary to seal the host's memories for this lifetime. However, the Book of a Hundred Lives will apply a degree of blurring to the memories in accordance with the host's soul's capacity for absorption.]
[While protecting the host's mental state and soul, the Book of a Hundred Lives will preserve the host's memories to the greatest extent possible. The host need not worry.]
[Memories that have been blurred within the Book of a Hundred Lives will gradually become clear again as the host's cultivation level rises.]
[Does the host wish to enter the sixth lifetime?]
As the Book of a Hundred Lives finished speaking, two options appeared in Xiao Mo's mind: [Yes] and [No.]
Xiao Mo did not hesitate, and chose [Yes.]
He had been looking forward to the sixth lifetime of the Book of a Hundred Lives for a very long time.
[Please enter your name, host.]
Xiao Mo entered his real name once again.
He had used his real name before, and he used it now.
Even back when he was playing in the most remote corners of the world, he had always used his real name.
There was no particular reason beyond the fact that using any other name felt uncomfortable to him. If he was going to experience life, he needed to feel like himself.
And the very instant Xiao Mo entered his name, his consciousness blurred, and he quickly fell into darkness.
"Hey! You little human brat! Wake up!"
"Human brat! I told you to wake up, did you not hear me?"
"Are you sleeping like you are actually dead?"
"SPLASH!"
Through the haze, Xiao Mo heard someone calling out to him then a bucket of cold water came pouring down onto his face.
Xiao Mo shuddered, and his eyes snapped open.
As his vision gradually cleared, his mind began to come back to him as well.
He pushed himself upright and looked around, only to realize that he was inside an iron cage, like a chicken or duck locked up for sale.
All around him were dozens of identical iron cages.
Inside the cages were children, boys and girls alike, none of them older than five or six.
Some of the children were crouched in their cages, arms wrapped tightly around themselves, their faces full of terror.
Some of them stared blankly ahead, their eyes dim, as though they had completely given up hope for the future, no longer knowing what lay ahead for them.
Others were crying silently, but doing their best to hide it, afraid of being discovered and beaten for it.
Xiao Mo looked down at himself, and found that he too was nothing more than a child of five or six years old.
The place he was being kept was a dim, gloomy storage room.
This storage room was like a prison. Only a narrow strip of faint light filtered in through the edges of the windows, adding a faint trace of life to the darkness, just enough to tell whether it was day or night outside, so that one's mind would not collapse entirely.
"Get up!"
"All of you, get up!"
"Keep sleeping and I will eat every last one of you!"
"Do you all want to end up as rice pot stew?"
The voice that had woken Xiao Mo rang out again near his ears.
Xiao Mo turned his head and saw a pig demon, standing upright, going about waking the other children.
This pig demon had the body of a man and the head of a pig, its transformation into human form incomplete.
Whenever he called out and a child failed to wake, he would dip a ladle into the bucket in his left hand and throw the water straight into the child's face.
"BANG!"
Just as Xiao Mo was trying to figure out where he was, the door was kicked wide open.
The pig demon heard the commotion and hurried over at once, his large ears flapping back and forth, the curled pig's tail at his back swinging from side to side like a dog's.
"Oh my! Old Brother Gou, you are finally here! This old pig has been waiting for you a long time!"
The pig demon fawned and hovered eagerly around a dog demon, who had a human body but the head of a dog.
Xiao Mo noticed that most of these demons had human bodies and beast heads.
He was not sure whether it was because their cultivation was too low to allow them to transform into a fully human form, or whether they deliberately kept some part of their demon heritage.
"How is the batch of goods I asked you to prepare?" The dog-headed man glanced at the pig demon with a flat expression. "I will tell you now, the place these are being sent to this time is the home of a very important figure. You know what that household is like. Their standards are high."
"You can rest easy." The pig demon rubbed his trotters together and said with a grinning laugh. "This one naturally understands."
"Old Brother Gou, look at this little girl here. Three generations of servants, background spotless and clean, skin smooth and tender, and passable looks to boot."
"And look at this little boy over here. Do not be put off by how skinny he is, sir. His bone structure is unusually fine. As a guard or errand boy, he would be absolutely suited for the role. And children like this are very easy to keep fed."
"Then there is this one. This little boy is not bad either. A handsome face. Give him a little more to eat and he will fill out and get a better complexion. When he is older, even if you do not want to sell him off to a pleasure house for a good price, keeping him for yourself would be perfectly fine too."
The pig demon led the dog demon through the room, introducing each child as they went.
This group of demons walked through the place as though appraising merchandise, pausing and looking at each cage they passed.
Wherever their eyes landed, every human child trembled with fear, faces pale as sheets.
Before long, the pig demon led the dog demon to the cage where Xiao Mo was being kept.
The dog demon looked Xiao Mo over, taking in his ragged clothes and frail appearance. Xiao Mo looked back at the dog demon.
The dog demon smiled, bent down, drool dripping from his mouth. "Little thing. You are not afraid of me?"
Having processed his situation, Xiao Mo then shook his head nervously, and quickly switched to nodding his head, putting on a frightened expression.
In reality, he would naturally be afraid if this were the real world. But in the Book of a Hundred Lives, after everything he had been through, Xiao Mo was more focused on observing and gathering information about this lifetime than he was on feeling fear.
Seeing Xiao Mo's expression, the dog demon assumed he had simply frightened the child into a daze, and straightened up with satisfaction, turning to the pig demon at his side. "That one, that one over there, and that one, those two human girls as well. Five of them in total. I will take all of them."
"Of course, of course."
The pig demon nodded eagerly, then called out to the people nearby. "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and pull these human children out!"
"Wash them properly and put decent clothes on them. Do not dirty the lady of the house's courtyard." The dog demon instructed.
"Understood, understood. These humans, being able to enter that great lord's residence is the fortune of three lifetimes for them!"
With those words, the pig demon raised a trotter and slapped the servant beside him. "What are you still waiting for? Take them to wash up and change into clean clothes! If they disgrace us, I will roast every one of you into suckling pig!"
"Yes, Master! We are going right away!"
Several pig demons hurried to open the cages and led Xiao Mo and the others away.
Half a stick of incense later, Xiao Mo and the four other children had been washed, dressed in clean clothes, and loaded onto a carriage.
Two quarters of an hour later, the carriage came to a stop, and Xiao Mo and the others were herded off.
Xiao Mo looked up.
On the tall gate plaque above, two characters were written: "Mount Tu."