Chapter 516 – Qing He
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How come there was a little girl at his assigned residence?
Lin Ming looked at this 10 or 11 year old little girl. She was wearing trousers and her sleeves were pulled up. There were patches on her pants, and she carried a heavy wooden basin in her hands. The bangs that covered her forehead were still dripping with drops of crystal clear water, and her dainty face had a small nose that curled upwards. Her lips were round and her cheeks were flushed red; she was like an apple wet with the morning dew. A fresh, simple, and natural air rolled off of her.
As the little girl saw Lin Ming, she was also surprised. But, after several breaths of time, she seemed to understand what was happening. “Are you Lord 9566?”
“Lord?” Lin Ming shook his head, “I am no lord. Do you also live here?”
“Mm! My name is Qing He and I live here with my grandma. In the future, my grandma will also take care of Milord’s daily needs.”
As the little girl spoke, the tent curtain was pulled aside. A 60 year old plus old woman appeared at the tent entrance. She had a head full of white hair, and her face was engraved with years of labor. Her eyes were slightly rusty but revealed a hint of respect.
“Milord, dinner is almost ready. Milord, please enjoy yourself.”
The old woman and her granddaughter Qing He were both slaves. But even within slaves, there was still a large difference in the statuses between them. To them, Lin Ming was a martial artist, thus someone who was to be called ‘Lord’.
In the Giant Demon Tribe, those martial artists that were at the Pulse Condensation period or above were the main producers; gathering Blood Demon Crystals depended on these people. In order to guarantee that they could put more of their energy into mining, they had special people to look after their daily life.
This grandmother and granddaughter combo were Lin Ming’s assigned servants.
The tent was nearly completely empty. It could be described as utterly poor. Within the center of the tent there was a short table. On the table there were vegetables, pickled vegetables, and a small dish of cured meat. There was also a bowl of fragrant rice.
It wasn’t considered a sumptuous dinner, but there was a very pleasant and rich smell. For the past several days, Lin Ming had been trapped in the prairie, eating dry rations day after day until he felt like his lips had gone numb. Seeing such a dinner on the table, he took the chopsticks and picked up a piece of cured pork, biting down on it and devouring this delicious scent.
“Great taste!”
Lin Ming praised. As a martial artist, his appetite was much greater than normal person’s. He quickly cleared out all the vegetables on the table.
After quickly eating, Lin Ming inadvertently looked up, only to see Qing He standing in a corner of the tent, quietly pursing her lips as she stared at the cured meat underneath his chopsticks.
As Qing He saw Lin Ming looking at her, she immediately panicked and asked with a bit of fear, “Does Milord wish to drink some water?”
“I’m not thirsty. Have you eaten yet?”
“I’ve eaten. We already ate first.” The old granny walked beside Qing He, quickly hinting for her to pour Lin Ming a cup of water.
Lin Ming seemed to discover something. He put down the chopsticks and walked around the tent. This tent was very small, it only took several steps for him to see everything. There wasn’t much furniture inside. On the stove there was a pot, and behind that was a tank of rice. He picked it up, sensing the lightness of it.
He turned and lifted the pot cover. Within it, there was a small amount of rice gruel. Within the gruel, there were some vegetables. Almost all of the rice grains had been eaten. It seemed that this was the dinner of the grandma and granddaughter.
Seeing this, Lin Ming didn’t know what sort of feeling swelled in his heart. This grandmother and granddaughter were mortals and also slaves. In this Giant Demon Tribe, it was hard to imagine just how difficult their life had been.
As for today’s food, he had eaten a great deal of their rations, especially that slab of cured meat… as he remembered the gleam in Qing He’s eyes, Lin Ming felt a bit guilty.
In this Giant Demon Tribe, a mortal slave had no status. They really were no different from a farm animal. If they were unlucky enough to be owned by a bad master, then their fate would be miserable.
“Is this what you usually eat?” Lin Ming put the pot lid back on.
“Mm…” Qing He silently nodded, her eyes red.
“And the cattle and sheep in the back courtyard?” Lin Ming pointed outside of the tent. In the back, there was a number of cattle and sheep that were tied up.
“That is the main family’s cattle and sheep. If we let them out every day, we can exchange for some rice.”
Lin Ming sighed. He took out true essence stones from his spatial ring and placed them on the table, “Qing He. Tomorrow, go and buy some fish, ducks and chicken. And buy some more rice too.”
“This… this can’t be used.” Qing He whispered. “Here, only blood crystal can be used to buy things. Other things cannot be used. Not just that, but we are slaves. If we take a blood crystal to go out and buy things, then we could be robbed…”
A bloodstone was currency made from the most low quality Blood Demon Crystals. 10,000 bloodstones were equal to one Blood Demon Crystal. The Giant Demon tribes had no rules that protected slaves. If a slave were to have their bloodstones stolen away as they went shopping, that was their bad luck. They could even be killed. As long as their master was compensated, then anything was possible.
Lin Ming felt uncomfortable in his heart. He put away all the true essence stones and said, “You go rest. I’m going to cultivate…”
“Mm…”
The tent was very small. The grandma and granddaughter left the main tent and squeezed themselves into a small adjacent tent, leaving Lin Ming alone. Lin Ming sat down on a bed and took out some pills, swallowing them down. He began to repair his meridians a bit at a time, directing his true essence to help speed up his marrow regeneration. If he continued for four or five days, he would be able to fully recover.
Before that time, Lin Ming could only endure all of this.
In order to recover from his wounds, Lin Ming didn’t sleep for the entire night.
Early in the morning, just after daybreak, Lin Ming heard the sound of pots and pans colliding from the nearby tent. Before long, Qing He opened up the curtains. She popped in her tiny head and said, “Milord, your meal is ready.”
The morning meal was very simple. There was a dish of pickled vegetables and half a pot of gruel. Because he had arrived, the gruel was much thicker today than it was yesterday. This was probably the reason that Qing He ate with such gusto. She cleaned out her bowl, and even licked the bottom.
“I’m full.” Qing He said. She rinsed out her dishes and went to the back, pulling up the cattle and sheep. “I will go graze the animals.”
“Be careful.” The grandma urged as she began to pick up the dishes.
Seeing this, Lin Ming didn’t say anything as he finished his gruel. A 10 or 11 year old girl with an undeveloped body only had a bowl of gruel to eat. Not just that, but she also had to go and graze sheep. This was the life of a common human...
The truth was, there was also some crab meat in his spatial ring that came from the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm. It was only that the crab meat required a cooking temperature that was far too high in order to cook, and the energy was too rich so a mortal was unable to eat it. Today, he was prepared to exchange some true essence stones for a bloodstone in order to improve the life of the grandmother and granddaughter.
But at this time, the rear fence door opened, and two ten foot tall Giant Demons appeared in the back. As Qing He saw these two Giant Demons, her small face paled and she took several steps back. Her small fists were unconsciously balled together at her chest. Obviously, she was extremely afraid of these two Giant Demons.
“Lord Mo Da’s third wife has given birth to a boy. You do not need to help the cattle and sheep graze. We will take them.” The Giant Demon in the front blankly said. Since Mo Da’s third wife had given birth to a son, there was to be a big feast in three days. Thus, these animals had to be slaughtered.
After he finished speaking, the other Giant Demon went to gather the animals. There was a total of two cows and five sheep.
“This…” The granny felt a bit of foreboding in her heart. If she had been able to graze these sheep and cows for another half month, she would have been able to get a bag of rice. If they were taken, could she still obtain rice? “Two lords, these cattle and sheep…”
The Giant Demon that was rounding up the animals didn’t bother to respond to her. But then, he suddenly looked up and saw Lin Ming. ‘Mm? There was a martial artist here?’
A common mortal slave was poor and had few belongings. But, a martial artist was different. This sort of slave usually had many possessions that could be taken.
“Mm? There are two sheep missing?” The Giant Demon suddenly said.
The grandma’s face went white as a sheet. “My lord, how is that possible. We had taken five sheep at the start, how could there be any missing…”
“Cut the nonsense! If I said there are two missing then there are two missing!” As the Giant Demon spoke, he angrily pushed at the grandma. This Giant Demon was very strong. If he were to push down this grandma, then it was likely that she would break some bones.
However, the Giant Demon’s arm only reached halfway before he was stopped by someone else’s hand. Lin Ming had quietly and calmly appeared by the old grandma’s side.
“Boy, you are quite brave!” The Giant Demon was angry and wanted to move his hand. But, no matter how he tried to move it, it was like his hand was stuck in space; it was impossible to move.
“Cut the crap. How much are two sheep, I will compensate you!” Lin Ming’s mind was bright like a mirror. He was well aware just what this Giant Demon’s goal was. He didn’t need to banter around with them. He would remember everything that happened here today. Later, he would completely clear away all of their debts.
“Take out ten bloodstones!” The Giant Demon stretched out his hand.
“You…” Qing He’s eyes were red with anger, and her hot tears almost spilled out. “Ten bloodstones are enough to buy five cows!”
The Giant Demon only sneered; he simply didn’t care about Qing He’s words.
“I do not have bloodstones. I only have true essence stones.”
“Heh, 100 true essence stones are one bloodstone!” A true essence stone wasn’t much help to a Giant Demon. Thus, the exchange rate was very low.
“I will give 100 true essence stones, so leave behind two sheep. This is my bottom line!” As Lin Ming spoke, he grabbed onto the Giant Demon’s arm. As he suddenly pressed down his fingers, a thick wave of killing intent covered the Giant Demon.
The Giant Demon broke into a cold sweat from the pain. Lin Ming’s hand was like a pair of iron pliers. After all, this Giant Demon was only a Demon Soldier. As soon as Lin Ming pressed down on him, he felt a bit of fear. He took the true essence stones, left behind two sheep, and hurriedly left…
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At noon, the granny was cooking a feast of steaming lamb stew and sheep soup. Little Qing He’s face was flushed red, and she was happily smiling.
“Big Brother, this is for you to eat.”
As Little Qing He ate, she would constantly place some meat in front of Lin Ming. Every time she would wait for Lin Ming to eat it and then ask, “Is it delicious?”
“Delicious.” Lin Ming would honestly say. He was unable to restrain a sigh. With meat to eat and some clothes, it was enough for a common mortal to be happy.
After Lin Ming ate, he sat in meditation to recover from his wounds. He had to restore himself as quickly as possible, thus he wasn’t able to spend time trying to comprehend the Laws of Space and Time.
Like this, the days slowly passed. The Silent Green Tribe still hadn’t organized anyone to go and mine Blood Demon Crystal ore. And on this day, Lin Ming’s injuries and meridians had finally healed.
In his reconnected meridians, true essence happily flowed through. A thick swirl of true essence was condensed in his dantian, extremely eye catching. In his bones, his marrow was like thick and shining golden soup…
Lin Ming gripped his fists together. “It’s time to collect my debts. But before that, I have to first absorb the Disenchanting Dream Light.”