Slave trade unexpected gains

The sun descended on the horizon in one of its usual sunsets, painting the clouds orange and taking the golden hue from the sands along with the warmth, as if it were a husband fleeing with his few possessions from a wife wielding an iron pan.

The moon slowly took the sun's place stealing the warmth and covering the blue sky in a dark veil with beautiful shining stars providing a little light to the bustling city down below that possessed countless little dots from the lanterns of the caravan stalls, tents, and buildings.

"Young Master, take a look at these daggers you never know when you might need them."

"Come eat at the wandering pigeon, we have everything from sand mantis eggs to flying cockroaches!"

"Welcome to the Bizarre. Fate readings, charms, divinations, love problems? The Bizarre has you covered."

"Handsome, why don't you come spend the night with me? Only 10 primeval stones."

A tall, muscular young man with deep bags under his eyes, disheveled hair, and dressed in a torn, bloodied, and dusted white robe was called by the vendors everywhere he went.

By all means, he looked like a mortal servant who had been brutalized by his master, but what these merchants were interested in wasn't his appearance but his bulging sack on his shoulder and his belt with a copper plaque having a single line indicating he was a rank 1 Gu master stopping them from openly mugging him.

"20 primeval stones for a used woman? Have you gone insane?! Do you think I'm made of money?!" A young, ugly man, followed by 2 family servants trying to calm him down, spewed saliva everywhere while negotiating with a bald man with a large belly and muscular arms.

'There you are. Trying to overcharge your customers.' Wang Wei ignored the frantic ugly man yelling at the top of his lungs and observed the scattered rows of cages separating the slaves into qualities.

Low for mortals.

Medium for former Gu masters or mortals with special skills or traits.

High for gu masters.

Wang Wei glanced at the only slave he wanted from this slaver and quickly confirmed that the small cage in the middle of the tent containing a single slave was still there.

A variant human, an old hairy man that had received damage to the soul and had essentially turned into a vegetable.

Wang Wei had never killed something with a crippled soul; he didn't know if he could get the benefits of an intact soul but the potential benefits did nothing but tempt him. 

'If I can get his refinement attainment or even just his refining talent things will go smoother for me.' 

"I can go to Gui He and get 2 virgin women for ha-"

"Then go to Gui He and stop wasting my time. I have clients to attend to." The bald man raised his voice when he saw Wang Wei from the corner of his eyes.

"But I assure you the women Gui He sells aren't as beautiful as mine." The bald man held the beautiful face of the woman next to him who remained unmoving, her green eyes staring blankly at the abyss while the bald man squeezed the woman's smooth copper skin.

The bald man then turned to Wang Wei and smiled at his regular customer looking at the elderly men in the cage.

If the bald man didn't know better he would have thought Wang Wei's eyes shone with desire not much different from a lecherous man looking at a beautiful woman at his mercy.

"How have you been, Wang Wei? Did you finally change your mind?" 

The bald man signaled one of his servants while he went next to Wang Wei, leaving the ugly man he was just negotiating with behind, not fearing the ugly man would steal his goods. 

'Tsk! Just wait until I'm a rank 3 Gu Master. No one will be able to look down on me, especially you Tang Mei. I saved you from starving on the streets. I gave you a roof over your head, food, clothes, love and you damn whore still backstab me the first chance you got!' The ugly man clicked his tongue and left after seeing Wang Wei. 

'Treasonous backstabbers will always be treasonous backstabbers. Elder Wang Hao should have killed all the Tangs after causing the downfall of us founding families.'

"Young master." His servants quickly followed after him thinking their young master had come to his senses to not offend a rank 2 Gu Master when he was only a rank 1 Gu Master.

'Shame had you caused a ruckus. I could have gotten compensation from the Feng Clan leader.' The bald man glanced at the ugly man leaving his business before focusing on Wang Wei.

"Western Desert has been too peaceful. There are fewer slaves and even mortals are more expensive than usual." 

Wang Wei casually remarked while he walked towards the cage containing the old hairy man.

Even the clean hair covering his body couldn't conceal his frail, bony body, nor could the fragrant perfume cover the pungent smell coming out of his mouth from organs starting to fail.

"This always happens when a clan leader of the top clans is about to die." The fat man started gossiping while grabbing a cup of tea from his servant. 

"The top clans preserve their strength. They even order their vassals to lay low in case something happens. Especially when the deceased clan leader leaves behind more children than he could count." 

Wang Wei nodded while grabbing a cup of tea from a muscular servant and pretended to be interested in what he had already heard from other slave traders.

"Sigh nobody thinks of us small merchants. We will only earn profits when conflict starts. Until then, we'll barely scrape enough to stay afloat." 

"Sigh, I understand. I also have my own difficulties." Wang Wei put on a facade and immediately ignored the bald man's sob story. 

"Jin Cai 1000 primeval stones is too excessive. You know I have only one use for slaves; you have no way to heal the hairy man, and you can't even keep it alive. He will die before you can sell it at the next clan." Wang Wei placed his sack of 300 primeval stones on a nearby table and loosened the knot letting them spill.

"If you don't sell it now, it will become a corpse, and corpses can only be sold as cheap food for beasts." 

"..." 

Jin Cai stayed quiet for a long time before speaking.

"Old hairy men are at least refinement masters. They are only sold when their owners are desperate, and each one of them sells for at least 1 million primeval stones. Your Feng clan is 800 years old your Wang family is even more ancient if you can find a soul path meth-"

"If is not guaranteed." Wang Wei finished his tea and placed the cup on the table. "Maybe if you reach one of Xiao Cities, but it's not guaranteed you will arrive in time. If it was guaranteed why would you put him for sale?"

Wang Wei took a primeval stone from his sack. "My payment is guaranteed Until morning. After you leave with the caravan there will only be ifs."

"..."

After a few moments of hesitation, whether genuine or false, the bald man gave in. 

"Fine." Jin Cai opened a cabinet from the table and took a paper and brush. "Sign here."

"Do you remember my initial offer?" Wang Wei casually remarked when he saw he had to pay 300 primeval stones.

"..." 

"From what I heard the highest offer was from the medical hall elder who wanted to dissect him. How much did he offer? A single primeval stone? Oh, forget what I said. You can sell the hairy man's corpse to him instead."

'You cheapskate! You are going to inherit the wealth of a rank 4 and you can't spare a few primeval stones?' Jin Cai inwardly cursed Wang Wei while putting on his usual polite smile. "Didn't you bring 300 primeval stones to buy him?"

"Didn't I offer 50 primeval stones for the hairy man? When did I say I'll use all my money to buy the hairy man?" Wang Wei pretended to be confused while scratching his head.

'Then why did you act as if this was your final offer?' Jin Cai had the urge to rip the contract into pieces but Wang Wei spoke before he could attempt to.

"I plan to respect our price but I couldn't help but notice those 3." Wang Wei turned his gaze to 3 elderly men dressed in plain robes eating rice.

"I also noticed you have…"

…

"Father…"

"Enough, son. What is done is done." I raised my voice, giving my back to my filial son crying while I held my own tears back. 

"I've lived far too long. I can't continue being a burden, much less when there's barely any food. I can't keep watching as you slowly become a skeleton taking the little food out of your own plate for this dying old damned dog."

"Father don't!" I felt the hands of my son holding my shoulders with a strength I didn't know was possible, and with that same strength, he turned me around, forcing me to face him.

Slap!

I slapped my son. My heart bled when I saw him freeze in an instant. This was the first time I had ever laid a hand on him.

"Sacrifices must be made. This world is too cruel to allow innocent people to be happy they either die or they join this cruel world." 

My voice became weak and tears started flowing down my face once I saw my son's eyes reflecting my own face as if my own inner self was judging me for what I had done so many years ago. I remembered my daughter's eyes filled with fear and desperation her cries begging me to come back for her to not leave her alone in the desert.

I could no longer hold my tears.

"This world almost feels as if it is alive as if it can't stand seeing happiness." I let out everything I had been holding closed for 80 years.

"You fall in love with the most beautiful woman in the world only for her to be mercilessly taken from you. You love your children, but famines just had to strike, forcing you to choose between your last 2 children or they both die. You work tirelessly saving up as much as you can only for your efforts to be stolen in an instant and justice forces you to kowtow to your wife's murderer while you beg for your remaining child and your own life"

I sighed and gritted my teeth, avoiding looking at my son's betrayed eyes, comprehensive eyes, or clueless eyes. I didn't know which they were, and I didn't wish to know.

"I'll sell myself to slavery use what you get to survive to build your own family. Please hide your savings and save enough to never be forced to repeat what I did. If fate allows it, may we meet again in the doors of life and death."

…

Thud

The body of an old man fell on the ground, eyes wide open, while his killer casually kneeled and wiped the blood off his dagger with the old man's clothes.

'1235 man soul. Only one remains the most important one.'  

Wang Wei walked towards the cage containing the hairy man while leaving 5 corpses behind him.

'Did blood get on my face?' Wang Wei touched his cheek, which felt wet, and retracted his hand, seeing a transparent liquid. 'I'm sure it's not saliva. Tears couldn't be I killed them fast… Are these my tears? Why am I crying? Those humans were not me.'

Wang Wei put those thoughts on the back of his head and entered the cage where the hairy man lay breathing weakly.

'I can't afford to hesitate nor cry for mortals if I don't hurry to grow strong and steel my resolve. I'll be used and discarded like a used condom like those I just killed.'

Swoosh!

Wang Wei stabbed the back of the hairy man's head, piercing his brain in an instant and putting him out of his misery.

"Shit." 

Wang Wei subconsciously cursed as soon as he experienced the hairy man's memories in an instant.

'Just why of all the possible times… sigh system or whoever brought me here doesn't want me to have an easy time.' Wang Wei breathed deeply while the hairy man's last words rang in his head. 

'I curse your eighteen generations, Ling Hu Xu!'

...

2123 words