1 The Wonders of Liquor

Jian Xiaorou sat at rock bottom at age 23. With no friends or family who cares, and as someone who was not only inexperienced in terms of fighting, he was also quite slow in the head. Relying off of liquor and wine to satiate his boredom and depression, he was the epitome of trash. It was hard to find a job, in a big and crowded city such as the one he was currently in, he had virtually no chance of success. There was no fortuitous encounter that allowed him millions of dollars.

In fact, it was quite the opposite. He sank more and more into poverty as his inheritance from his parents drained. Factoring in the liquor and wine he spent all of his days with, he spent nearly a thousand dollars a day drinking expensive wines and liquors. This was not a feasible lifestyle for him with his unemployment, but Xiaorou believed in living life to its fullest. Sure, there were martial arts academies and schools opened everywhere, but Xiaorou had no motivation.

He thought, "Why should I have to spend time on something that I don't even like?". Of course, he knew he was running out of money, but he simply didn't care. He viewed this as a game and nothing more than that. His parents had instilled hard work and respect in him, but it had seem to all vanish when they had died. In his current state, he not only had no money, he had no chance of enrolling into academies or schools as they both would carry a hefty tuition fee. He had no options but to keep on drinking his problems away. He had believed he truly, had no hope.

That was until one particular day. A day that would change his life forever, for the better or for the worse.

Seeing as he had no more money left, Xiaorou had three options left, and that was to either sell his body, organs and all, find a job and hopefully secure it, or stop drinking and die of starvation inevitably. Xiaorou had no intentions of dying just yet. He thought to himself, "Today, I make a change".

He stepped out of his shabby apartment complex and took a deep breath, the sun glaring into his eyes. He reeked of wine, and sweat, and looked akin to a homeless person. He truly, was a vile individual. His current motivation was only to make money for more wine and liquor, nothing more and nothing less.

He walked for quite some time from his shabby apartment to the bustling cities. Hundreds of vendors littered across the streets, tens of martial arts academies with huge banners stretching across the blue sky. This, was the definition of a city. He walked out, struggling to find a job until, he saw one particular shabby and run down school.

"Yin-Yang Martial School", quite the generic name. However, this was just the job he was looking for. In front of the door sat a small board of sorts, it was infused with inner qi, a form of energy that martial artist had. The board read, "SMALL SCHOOL, JANITOR REQUIRED". Xiaorou thought, this was the perfect opportunity. Though the school is shabby and run down, to run a school you require lots of money regardless.

He walked to the entrance door, admiring the old and refined wood that laid there. He then took a step inside the school and immediately began coughing from the excessive dust inside. The school had obviously not been cleaned for a good 30 years. It was filthy. Rats, cockroaches, spiders, they ran rampant everywhere. The sounds of a rats squeaks could be heard occasionally. This place, was disgusting.

Xiaorou looked around, spotting a horde of rats. Instinctively, he jumped. Even his home was in a better condition than whatever this was. He was ready to leave, but just as he was turned to exit, an elderly voice called out, "Oh, a visitor we have, do we?". Xiaorou turned around to see a white inner qi hand extend and grab onto him. Being a regular human with no abilities he had no resistance against this. He yelped, screamed, and struggled as much as he could. He couldn't break free. He was pulled back until he stood face to face with an elderly man who looked as if he were at least 100 years old. The old man who had a thin figure and a long beard stared into Xiaorou's soul. "Unfortunate.. Low perception but high energy. Truly unfortunate. Did you come here to apply?".

Xiaorou was in a state of shock, after he was pulled with a white hand that was immensely strong, this old man had just.. Spoke to him so casually? Was this the difference between commoners and martial artists? Heavens, this was a night and day difference. Xiaorou contemplated, if this old man that strong he might have a career chance. He had made up his mind, regardless of his odd entrance, he had no other choice, what was he gonna do? Go to a big academy and get thrown out for being a pathetic drunkard?

Xiaorou shook his head, "I came here to apply for the janitorial position."

The old man raised an eyebrow and nodded. He spoke softly, "This place is run down and infested with pests, clean it all up and I will pay you a heavenly stone of low quality".

This was a treasure, what was a heavenly stone? It was what martial artists used for currency, it not only served as a way to get energy quickly, it served as a way to make payments. Obviously the worth of these to commoners could only be labelled as immense. Xiaorou eagerly nodded his head, he had no awareness to the hell ahead.

The old man nodded and spoke once more, "Great. I will be counting on you, clean this place up. There are a total of three floors but you are not permitted to enter the third floor. There are also a total of 50 rooms for the first two floors. Good luck."

Xiaorou had trouble processing this, 50 rooms? This place looked run down and vile, there was no way this place ran for 50 rooms. He had no idea where he even was, he hadn't taken the time to look. He was in a library of sorts, but it was... Oddly clean here, as if no dust or rodents could enter here. He sighed, realizing what he got himself into. There was no use taking it back now as he needed the money regardless.

Xiaorou spoke, "I'll need a broom, a lot of buckets of clean soapy water, and a mop. This place is infested with rodents and pests, if possible I'd like a way to kill them as well."

-END OF C1-