In the cold winter of Qu Town, the beggar Hua Shui tightened his thin and tattered linen clothes and walked on the icy ground with his red feet. The hard soil was very prickly, and with the pebbles on the road, a few more steps barefoot would leave a shallow wound.
Hua Shui felt no pain.
The severe cold had frozen her feet to the bone, but no feeling reached her brain.
She walked numbly, eager to find some food.
When the severe cold came, she was driven out of her former home and new beggars took over.
Without shelter and food, she wouldn't survive more than two days in this icy and snowy weather.
Hua Shui had no awareness of death, so he didn't feel afraid. He just felt extremely hungry and wanted to eat something.
Kequ Town is not rich. The food rations the residents here have are barely enough to feed their families. They can only eat two meals a day, and eat only until they are 50% full at each meal, to ensure that the family's food rations can last until the beginning of next spring.
Therefore, Hua Shui's weak prayers did not bring any food.
The five-year-old girl didn't feel anything, she had long been accustomed to it, her life had always been like this.
But this time she was really hungry.
She looked at the white snow on the ground, stretched out her skinny, yellow hands with smelly black mud between her nails, and scooped up the white snow.
"It's so white, just like steamed bun." Hua Shui recalled her memory of half a white steamed bun she begged for when her parents were still alive. She tasted a small piece of it and the taste was so sweet to her heart. Her heart was filled with happiness at that time.
She wanted to taste the steamed bun again, so she took a bite of the snow-white bread in her hand.
The cold snow melted in my mouth, but the floral water no longer felt cold, it just felt so sweet.
Hua Shui fell in front of the snow and saw an unruly man wearing a thin white shirt, with his chest open and his long hair flying in the wind.
Zhang Shen hugged the unconscious Hua Shui and held her horizontally in his arms.
"Has the last bit of heat that supported my body been taken away along with the white snow?"
A gentle spell fell on Hua Shui, restoring the temperature of her gradually cooling body.
He pushed aside the dry and yellow hair that was dirty and condensed with flower water, revealing a skinny face covered with mud.
"I don't know whether it is your luck or misfortune to meet me."
Zhang Shen took out a meat egg and integrated it into its body.
Hua Shui has no talent for cultivation, and her physique is much worse than that of an ordinary child, but she is a suitable choice. For the purpose of the main body, a specimen with poor talent and even poor physique is needed.
Such samples can yield more useful intelligence.
Zhang Shen placed the flower water in a corner and murmured.
"With the meat egg in your body, your vitality will be enhanced."
"But your body is too weak. There is not enough energy to supply the egg with to transform your flesh."
"It's hard to starve to death, but it's also hard to change your current life for a long time."
"I don't know whether it is good or bad for you to live in such a day."
When Hua Shui woke up, it was already dark. Crystal snowflakes were floating in the sky, and there was no one beside her.
She only felt that the people she saw before she fell into a coma must have been hallucinations. Her body exuded the foul smell of dirt and other things. Except for her parents, no one else was willing to hug her.
But she suddenly felt as if her body had regained some strength, and her limbs regained feeling, transmitting the cold touch to her.
Hua Shui was a little confused, but didn't think much about it.
I got up and continued to wander around Qu Town in the dark and snowy night, hoping to get or pick up some food in the garbage.
Four months later, Sanjiacheng, Tieling.
Spring is in the air and the grass is growing vigorously.
In a cold pond, a shirtless twelve-year-old boy broke out of the water, lay on the edge of the pond, gasping for breath, trying to drive away some of the cold.
The cold pond in spring is still bone-chilling. Just by sticking your fingertips into it, you can feel the chill penetrating to your heart.
Strip before the iron
He took off his clothes and jumped in. He stayed there for a while. At this moment, his body was frostbitten all over and he was twitching all over.
He took deep breaths, trying to warm himself up.
But the coldness in his heart did not waver at all.
Tie Da is a branch of a branch of a branch of the Tie family branch in Sanjiacheng. Although his blood relationship with the direct line of the Tie family is very distant, he still has the surname Tie.
Also because of this surname, his parents still had more than ten acres of land to cultivate and a thatched house to live in.
It is enough to have enough food and clothing and not starve to death or freeze to death, but anything more is just a luxury.
Originally, Tieda thought that this was nothing. He had been living this kind of life since he was born, and it had been more than ten years. He had long been accustomed to it and didn't think it was a big deal.
However, a few days ago, before spring arrived, a caravan came to Sanjia City to do business.
This is the busiest time in Sanjiacheng.
Every year when the caravan came, every household would take out the resources they produced and exchange them with the caravan for some daily necessities they needed, and the wealthy would also spend gold and silver to buy exquisite toys.
At that time, Tieda also followed his father to buy salt, linen and other supplies needed for the family.
At that time, he saw a little boy of three or four years old, wearing a fluffy sweater and a mink hat. He was very cute and was sitting there flipping through a book of miniature paintings.
Tieda was curious for a moment, so he went over to watch it and was fascinated by it as soon as he saw it.
Each of the little people on it was very interesting, and was something he had never seen before.
However, Tieda could see the paintings but not the words, which made him very distressed.
The child also seemed to notice Tieda's embarrassment.
"You can't read?"
Tieda nodded.
"Didn't your parents hire a tutor for you?"
Tieda nodded.
"Why?"
Tieda answered for the first time: "My parents said they couldn't afford it."
The three or four-year-old children showed extremely surprised expressions and were completely confused.
"My father said that everyone should study. Only by studying can one be sensible and become a talent."
"Your parents don't want you to study? Don't they want you to become a talented person? It's just a little money. Even if your family is poor, you can still send you to a private school if you can't afford a teacher, right?"
The child is innocent and tells his confusion and the importance of reading.
Tie Daze stopped talking, he didn't know how to answer.
Later the child left and went to find his father who worked as an accountant in a caravan.
Tieda also returned to his father and remained silent.
Tieda did not ask his father why he could not go to private school.
He didn't have a clear answer in his mind, but he perhaps realized the reason: his family was so poor that they couldn't even afford to send his child to a private school.
After that day, Tieda suddenly became sensitive to things like numbers.
For example, a jar of yellow, bitter and scarce salt that would last a year would cost thirty cents.
For example, after deducting the food rations for their family of three and the four taxes to be handed in, the annual output of more than ten acres of land could only be sold for sixty or seventy cents.
For example, scraps of cloth and linen used to make clothes cost more than ten or twenty cents every year.
For example, various household expenses.
For example, the cheapest private school in Sanjiacheng costs one hundred coins a month, not including pens, ink, paper, and books.
…
Tieda became more and more silent, as if the heartless and happy Tieda before that day had disappeared. He became more mature and stable, and smiled less and less.
"The fish from the cold pond has fresh, cold and nutritious meat, and one fish costs forty or fifty cents." Tieda muttered a few words to himself amid his panting.
This cold pond was discovered by him by accident. It seemed that no one else had discovered it because it had appeared not long ago.
Also, because the cold pond was newly formed, it is not big or deep, and there are not many fish in it.
But after discovering it, I felt great.
Treasure.
Tieda knew very well that this place was not remote and that sooner or later someone would discover it.
For this reason, even though the cold winter had just passed and the spring was still cold, he still jumped into the cold pond, risking frostbite, and caught all the fish in the cold pond before others discovered him.
"I must grasp it! Only then will I or my descendants have a glimmer of hope!"
Tieda gritted his teeth. He had never been to school, but he had understood some things. The disparity in the world brought him disappointment, but also made him grow.
Even though this growth was only a tiny bit, there wasn't much hope that he could change his current situation.
Suddenly, a delicate fragrance wafted over, and the shirtless Tieda felt sleepy and fell asleep without any resistance.
Zhang Shen's figure emerged from the side.
"There isn't much spirit in the body, but it seems to have some kind of nascent obsession."
"Although this obsession is not yet strong enough and has not yet experienced the test of hardship."
"But I hope you can give me a surprise. After all, meeting is fate."
He threw out a meat egg and it merged into Tie Da's body. The coldness in his body was eliminated and his complexion regained its rosy color.
Without entering Sanjia City, Zhang Shen directly changed direction.
One sample is enough for one region. Unless there is an extremely special and unique existence, Zhang Shen will not be an exception.
After three years, Zhang Shen only had ten eggs left.
He had traveled almost all over the blessed land. Except for some dangerous places and the mountain gates of some big sects, he had hurriedly passed through all other places.
"Chuan County, I'm back here again." Zhang Shen once again stood in front of the county seat of Chuan County.
Compared to more than six years ago, there is a hint of solemnity here, there are more cracks on the city wall, and some dark black marks on it are eye-catching.
Entering the city, it was still as lively as before, but among the people coming and going, some always had fear in their eyes, and the slightest disturbance could cause a drastic change in their emotions.
"The sects and families in Chuan County are still there, but there are fewer ordinary people in Chuan County."
Thinking about the journey I had taken, the closer I got to Chuan County, the more obvious traces of fighting and slaughter I saw.
Zhang Shen suddenly understood something.
“The spirit comes from man.”
"Back then, I took away their spirits. In order to maintain their cultivation and to maintain their immortality, some of them chose to fight outside and seize the spirits stored by other forces, which in turn set off far-reaching waves."
“But there are also some who did not plunder other forces.”
“They reached out directly to ordinary people.”
"Drain the pond to catch all the fish. Select a group of people to kill and obtain a large amount of spirits to fill the gap."
Immortal cultivation and demonic cultivation are just different in concepts and methods; their essence is the same.
Normally, the two are clearly distinguished.
But when immortal cultivators are forced into a corner, most of them don’t mind being demon cultivators for a while.
As long as you are not like a real devil cultivator, who keeps killing and plundering the spirits cultivated by others, the cultivation world will not care.
Zhang Shen touched his chin and said, "So, everything started because of me. Am I the source of the trouble?"
"But it doesn't really count. I robbed them, but it wasn't my order that they reach out to mortals."
"Is that an inducement?"
Zhang Shen didn't feel much guilt.
In a world of personal power, the weak are so sad.
The original body has been hiding and trying every possible way to strengthen itself, just because it does not want to become such a weak person with no power to resist one day.
"Forget it. When I have the chance in the future, I will eliminate this group of immortal cultivators."
When there is no other way, Zhang Shen feels that he will cross the bottom line, but when there is still a way, Zhang Shen prefers to compete with other forces rather than attack mortals who have no power to resist.
Since you don't like it, just destroy it when you can.