Chapter Forty-One: Those Rats

In response to Wang Changsheng’s cries came only a sweep of darkness. He had no strength to resist and was instantly engulfed by the shadow. No matter how fiercely he struggled, the darkness remained impenetrable.

He sensed that the shadow enveloping him was likely a magical artifact, something akin to a sack. Regardless of how much force he exerted, even when unleashing all the true energy in his body, he could not break free.

Soon after, Wang Changsheng felt himself hoisted onto someone’s shoulder, jolting along as he was carried away.

“What is this? Have I been captured?” Wang Changsheng was on the verge of tears.

Since arriving in the Immortal Sky Realm, he had not even begun cultivating when he encountered a wolf demon, then a giant python. He barely escaped the python’s clutches, only to be seized by someone, bundled into a sack, and hauled away.

Was this a kidnapping?

Wang Changsheng suddenly felt the Immortal Sky Realm was far too perilous—not only were the monsters dangerous, but people were even more so!

After his futile struggles brought no result, Wang Changsheng simply gave up. Clearly, the person who subdued him so easily and trapped him in the sack had no fear of his meager abilities. The way his captor appeared without a sound and deftly caught him in the sack suggested this was hardly their first time.

He had no idea how long the jostling lasted. Inside the bag, his body ached, his head throbbed, and he felt dizzy and confused.

He had only just knocked the python senseless, and now he was experiencing the same sensation himself.

“Where are you taking me?” Wang Changsheng shouted, “Hey! Who are you? What do you want?”

“Let me down!”

“If you don’t let me down, I’m going to fight back!”

“Believe it or not, if I lose my temper, I’ll even chop myself!”

His curses and shouts were met with nothing but more violent jolting. No one bothered to reply.

Just as Wang Changsheng thought he was about to faint, he suddenly felt himself being flung through the air.

Thud!

“Argh! What heartless brute is tormenting an old man?!”

He hit the ground heavily, howling in pain. With no way to see outside the sack, he was completely unprepared for the fall, which left him badly bruised. If he had been outside, such a height would have been nothing.

“Stop your yapping!”

Finally, someone outside responded, not just with words, but with a kick to his face.

“You bastard…” Wang Changsheng was on the verge of murderous rage—no, he already wanted to kill! But clearly, he was no match for the cultivator outside; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been captured so easily.

“Elder!”

In the midst of Wang Changsheng’s wailing, he heard a hoarse voice—the one who had captured him.

“Elder?” Wang Changsheng was puzzled. Such a title was usually reserved for sects. Was he kidnapped by some human-trafficking sect?

“Hm!” Another cool voice answered, and Wang Changsheng realized a second person had arrived.

“All this time and you’ve only caught one?” the Elder’s voice questioned.

Upon hearing this, Wang Changsheng’s expression changed. All this time and only one captured? Did that mean this sect regularly lay in wait for victims?

“Could I really have been snatched by traffickers?” Wang Changsheng wanted to cry but had no tears left.

As for resisting, he hadn’t even been a match for the gray-robed figure—now there was an Elder, surely even more formidable.

“Elder, it’s getting harder and harder to catch people these days!” the gray-robed cultivator said gruffly. “Those with low cultivation always have companions, and the strong or well-connected ones are impossible. If they’re too far away, it’s risky—if we’re discovered, there’s trouble! I only managed to get this one by lying in wait near the Bordering Mountains. He’d almost gotten away!”

“The Bordering Mountains? He came up from the Mortal Realm?” the Elder replied. “You’re clever, lying in wait at the Bordering Mountains.”

The gray-robed cultivator forced a laugh. “The Elder flatters me.”

“Open it and let me see,” the Elder ordered.

The gray-robed cultivator opened the sack, exposing only Wang Changsheng’s head.

Now the gray-robed cultivator also revealed his true face. When Wang Changsheng looked at them both, he was briefly stunned.

The gray-robed cultivator regarded Wang Changsheng without much expression, but the Elder’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“All this time and this is what you bring me?” The Elder pointed at Wang Changsheng in astonishment.

“Elder... it’s really hard to find anyone these days!” The gray-robed cultivator replied awkwardly. “The Sect Master has ordered that anyone with a background is off-limits—one wrong move could bring disaster! This was all I could find in this godforsaken place…”

The Elder could only sigh in exasperation. “This one’s blood is nearly dried up—what use is he to me?”

“What do you mean, ‘this one’?” Wang Changsheng muttered under his breath. “I was just traveling along, minding my own business, and now I’ve been hauled off like this…”

Of course, he dared not say it loudly. The Elder was clearly in a foul mood; if Wang Changsheng offended him, he’d be slapped to death and have no one to blame but himself.

In fact, the gray-robed cultivator and the Elder both looked youthful, probably thanks to some longevity technique, while Wang Changsheng appeared to be an old man. The whole scene was acutely awkward.

“So, Elder, do you not want him?” the gray-robed cultivator asked.

“Who said that?” The Elder roared. “Keep capturing more!”

The gray-robed cultivator, embarrassed, clarified, “I meant, do you want him…?”

He pointed at Wang Changsheng.

“Hmph, his blood is nearly dried up—what use is he? He won’t live long, and his cultivation is low. Throw him into the menial labor quarters,” the Elder snapped impatiently.

The gray-robed cultivator hesitated, then nodded. “Yes!”

The Elder’s figure vanished in an instant. Even with Wang Changsheng’s eyesight, he could not tell how the Elder disappeared.

“So if you don’t want me, can I go…?” Wang Changsheng asked nervously.

“Go? Go where?” the cultivator replied. “Since you’re here, stay put! You’re lucky you were caught during Elder Yun’s tribute collection. If it had been another Elder, even if they didn’t want you, you’d have been slapped to death!”

Wang Changsheng’s face fell. That one sentence revealed much: tribute collection? So the captured cultivators were all… offerings?

Offerings—that meant being eaten, didn’t it? Did this sect… eat people?

“If I were lucky, I wouldn’t have run into you…” Wang Changsheng said, miserable.

He hadn’t died at the fangs of the wolf demon or the giant python, but nearly ended up in someone’s stomach!

Had he been a little younger, with more blood in his veins, he would have been eaten as an offering!

“What kind of world is this…” Wang Changsheng wailed in despair.

The gray-robed cultivator dragged him to the menial labor quarters. Once out of the sack, Wang Changsheng saw the bag shrink rapidly, until it was the size of a palm.

He could hardly believe he’d just been stuffed inside that tiny thing. Did it really fit?

Apparently it did. Not only had he fit, but he hadn’t been able to escape. Such was the power of cultivators!

“This is the menial labor quarters,” the gray-robed cultivator said, pointing at a rundown courtyard. “There are people inside—go on in. From now on, work hard here. If you’re lucky, you might become a sect disciple someday. Things will be better then!”

“Sect disciple?!”

Wang Changsheng heard nothing else—those words alone echoed in his mind. If he could become a disciple of a place like Cloud Palace Peak, he’d have no complaints, perhaps even be excited. Yet what kind of sect was this? No one explained anything; the gray-robed cultivator simply dumped him and left.

He’d said he could become a sect disciple, but Wang Changsheng was certain—he absolutely did not want to belong to this sect.

Because, as far as Wang Changsheng knew, this sect… liked to eat people!

“I, Wang Changsheng, will never eat another person!” he declared resolutely.

…

What Wang Changsheng didn’t know was that, not long after he was taken away in the sack, another cultivator appeared at the spot where he’d been captured.

Had Wang Changsheng been present, he would have recognized this man as the cultivator from Cloud Boat who’d collected the travel fee.

“Hm… I was only gone for a moment, and now he’s gone…” The Cloud Boat cultivator’s face darkened with confusion.

He closed his eyes, sensing the surrounding energies.

“The stench of those rats…” His face changed as he immediately hurried off in a certain direction.

Unfortunately, he did not catch up, nor did he find any trace of Wang Changsheng. His expression grew grim. After some thought, he could only return to Cloud Boat.

Wang Changsheng’s abduction was no small matter for them—it had to be reported immediately!

Especially since it was those rats who had taken him. In their hands, Wang Changsheng was probably already…