The Ashes of Fate - Chapter 2: Sold Away

Translator – SynthSoon

At this point, the rider paused, and then continued in a loud voice: “Even if you are sick with any sort of disease, we will definitely cure you!”

Upon hearing this, the refugees with children at home got extremely excited and came forward to ask questions, some people in the camp who appeared to be doctors and physicians even offered to do physical examinations and compile birth dates and horoscopes.

“Selling oneself ……”

Although An Jing’s bones and frame made him appear a bit taller, he was only eleven years’ of age, which fit the requirements.

He listened to the words of the rider and looked at the queue of vagrants who had already begun to line up with their sons and daughters, and subconsciously clenched his fists, “All for a cure ……”

“My lord, my daughter has frostbite …….”

At that moment, he saw a father and daughter approaching the front of the camp. The father, kneeling in the snow and holding his daughter in his arms, pleaded with the leader and the doctor, “Don’t let her die, please be kind ……”

The girl’s fingers and arms were purple and swollen from the frostbite, and she was barely conscious. In An Jing’s eyes, she didn’t have long left, it would be no surprise if she expired within the hour.

Those doctors, however, didn’t care. They went forward and grabbed the girl’s hand, dragged her sleeves away and pinched her bones for the tests. The girl yelped a little cry of pain, ignoring her they asked the father for the girl’s birth date.

“Uh-huh.” After confirming it, the doctor turned his head and whispered something to the leading rider and the gentleman dressed as a scribe, both of whom wore satisfied expressions.

“Cure her.” The leader said calmly. The doctor took some pills from a box behind him and gave them to the girl with water, and then he applied a reddish-purple oil ointment to the girl’s frostbite.

This instantly caused the girl to scream in reflex, as if she were being burned by fire.

But soon, her dull eyes recovered, staring blankly at her hand smeared with the ointment, and incredulously turned her head to look at her father: “Father, my hand, my hand has feeling!”

“My daughter!” That father wasn’t a man of words, so he knelt down and embraced his own daughter, then forcefully kowtowed several times to the riders and doctors.
“All right, you can go.” The leader was in a good mood, and waved the two off to move on to the next person.

Many people in the refugee camp knew about the situation of the father and daughter, they also knew it was very difficult to save the girl, so when they saw that these riders were actually willing to use medicine to save her and it miraculously worked, the group was thoroughly energized.

They had been completely convinced that these people were the family members of powerful households, and the family lord was indeed very compassionate!

But An Jing, who was standing in the midst of the surging crowd, raised his eyebrows and swept his eyes over the entire camp.

He could see numerous suspicious things.

First of all, these riders’ movements were too skillful, obviously they all underwent harsh training. The leader was also powerful, he could keep his battle stance up constantly, always prepared to unsheathe his blade, relying on his remaining eye to sweep the entire camp with full vigilance.

Secondly, the scribe behind the leader was even more unpredictable. His mother, An ShenShi’s martial skills were seen as relatively standard since she had reached the level of ‘Silklike Internal Breath’. She was considered to be a completely advanced Internal Breath Martial Artist, and was no longer a country bumpkin.

An Jing could tell the level of his mother’s strength, but he couldn’t discern a single thing about the scribe.

This meant that the other party either had a personal technique, or he had already reached the level of ‘Tidal Internal Breath’!

This level of training, this strength, if it really was a big family, it must be a big family – why didn’t they report the family name?

(Something’s off …… but they really have the medicine.)

An Jing whispered in his heart. After seeing that the girl with frostbite, whom he thought was going to die soon. was cured, he was completely convinced that these people had enough medicine in their hands to cure his mother.

They didn’t seem like slave traders either.

They usually only needed children, because only children could be sold, and because they also needed money, they seldom, if ever, accepted sick children, let alone cured them.

On the contrary, these people seemed to really need the children themselves, so they were willing to spend money treating them.

(Is the Dachen Court cultivating Sacrificial Soldiers, or could this be a hidden sect? They are checking bones and asking for birth dates, that’s way too detailed.)

An Jing frowned slightly, if it was a normal family, he wouldn’t mind selling himself as a slave for his mother to get her medicine. After all, normal families couldn’t stop him from escaping.

Even if it was a trafficker, he was also confident he could do the impossible and find an opportunity to escape from their hands.

But in the face of these mysterious people who concealed everything …… he had some difficulty making up his mind, they could be from the South Border Cults or the Heavenly Will Devil Sect, they could even be a Demon who lived deep in the mountains.

Whatever.

Ignoring his instinctive suspicions, An Jing slightly shook his head.

Whatever the case, these people were doing a ‘good deed’ which kept them alive, and he had no other choice now.

An Jing closed his eyes. He thought of his mother, whose condition was deteriorating day by day, and who was not long for this world.

If he sold his body, he would die at worst, but his chances of survival were good. If his mother couldn’t get the medicine, she would die for sure.

There was nothing to hesitate about. Opening his eyes, An Jing took a step toward the riders’ camp.

By now, many children and families have decided to sell their lives.

Selling their children was a way out for both parents and children, especially since the riders were so generous with their food and treatments, everyone with children in the camp was enthusiastic.

In just a short time, more than twenty children had already gathered, and the parents, after receiving their food on one side, looked at their children from a distance, with complicated gazes.

Only An Jing came alone, treading through the snow.

“Huh?”

At this moment, the white-robed scribe beside the one-eyed leader sensed something, and he turned his head to look in An Jing’s direction.

That gaze was careless at first, but it soon turned focused and ferocious.

Under his influence, the one-eyed leader, who hadn’t been paying attention, also turned his head and saw An Jing.

Then, his eyes lit up.

An Jing was still young, thin and less than seven feet tall. At first glance, he looked like the most ordinary vagrant child, at most he was a little taller, but he still wasn’t eye-catching among the people of the Northern Territories.

But the leader and the scribe were both Martial Artists, they could see that the young man in front of them had solid bones and was full of blood energy. Although he was very skinny, it was just a facade.

“You want to sell your body?”

Adjusting the direction of his warhorse, the one-eyed leader looked at An Jing with interest, “If it’s you, I can make a special case for you and give your family two buckets of refined rice!”

“My lord.”

An Jing raised his head and gazed at the solemn, murderous and fierce-looking squad in front of him.

He looked at the leading rider, who was already smiling, and saluted with clasped fists without fear in his eyes, and in a tone that wasn’t overbearing: “I am willing to sell my body, but not for myself, but for my mother’s sake.”

“My father is a scholar, my family has a Martial Arts heritage, we aren’t just any ordinary Martial Arts family. I am also in good health, without disease or injuries, although life in the ice plains is difficult, it was never this harsh.”

“My mother’s pulmonary artery is injured, she is in dire need of lung medicine.”

“May I ask if you can give me a gift of medicine?”

“I am worth the price.”

Upon hearing this, the lead rider’s smile tightened, and he narrowed his one eye to look An Jing up and down, then he pushed his horse forward, which pounced forward and landed beside An Jing.

The huge northwestern warhorse was like a chariot of flesh and blood, and when it lightly leapt down, the ground shook. Even if he knew that he wouldn’t be hit, when such a huge beast was galloping towards him, any ordinary person would inevitably try to dodge.

However, An Jing still maintained his salute posture, his eyelids didn’t flutter and his expression didn’t even change in the slightest.

“Good.”

The one-eyed rider shouted, “If you only practiced Martial Arts and not your courage, you’ll be finished on the battlefield. I didn’t believe you when you said that you had practiced Martial Arts, but now I do.”

He revealed a smooth smile, “You are indeed special, but are you worth the price …… or not?”

The one-eyed rider exchanged a glance with the white-robed scribe, the scribe teased him with the phrase ‘He looks like you when you were young’’ before his figure disappeared into thin air.

An Jing’s eyes narrowed slightly at the moment – he actually couldn’t see the white-robed scribe’s movements at all!

The one-eyed leader also dismounted.

He was as tall and imposing as an iron tower, his body was so full of blood energy that it could make the snow that fell on him melt in an instant, his walking pace was even heavier.

If one didn’t know he was a human being, he would be mistaken as a bison pacing on the plateau based on pace alone.

Fierce and baleful , there was a heavy smell of blood on the one eyed leader’s body, it was even worse than that horse bandit leader who kept plundering the plains. He looked at An Jing, after seriously examining the boy, he laughed satisfactorily and said, “Your foundation is really good, you’re just too skinny, no wonder your foundation is……”

Before he finished his sentence, he reached out his hand and grabbed An Jing’s arm, pressing hard to test his blood and bones.

“You have good bones!” He praised, the one-eyed leader felt like he was kneading a piece of refined iron stone or ice that had been frozen for thousands of years: “The bone is solid, the marrow is firm, and the length is suitable… Good, good, good… I haven’t seen anything like this for a few decades now……”

During this time, in addition to the pain, An Jing felt an invisible qi forcing itself out from his hand. The energy tapped onto his body’s acupuncture points, bringing pain, numbness, and discomfort.

He endured in silence with no expression on his face, yet he was slightly anxious.

This wasn’t an ordinary skill, but rather the ‘Riverlike Internal Breath’, a Martial Realm where one’s Internal Breath could come out through another’s body!

And this surging Internal Breath confirmed the rider leader was also at the ‘Tidal Internal Breath’ Realm!

Just then, the white-robed scribe reappeared, he nodded slightly to the one-eyed leader, and the tall man withdrew his hand, looked deeply at An Jing, and got onto his horse.

“You are indeed worthy.” He said to An Jing from his horse, “This is yours.”

At this moment, on the other side, the white-robed scribe and the doctors packed various kinds of medicinal herbs and foodstuffs into a large box, and two people carried it to An Jing’s side.

“These herbs and foodstuffs should be enough to cure all of your mother’s wounds and illnesses, it’ll also give you a full stomach.”

The one-eyed leader said, “Lift it up and deliver it to your mother.”

“And then come back.”

He had no more to say, because both he and An Jing knew what would happen if one side broke a promise.

An Jing glanced at the chest, it was about the size of his torso and weighed at least a hundred pounds. He knew he got very lucky, and that somehow the one-eyed rider had been very generous, he seemed to value him a lot.

The box of food and medicine, in the frost-ravaged Northern Territories, was enough to buy ten lives.

Without hesitation, he leaned down and grabbed the handle of the chest, lifting it up in one motion and slinging it over his shoulder.

“Thank you, my lord.”

Although his breathing was a bit ragged, An Jing was still able to speak. After he finished speaking, he carried the box on his shoulder, turned around, and walked towards his mother’s shack.