Immortal Cage - Chapter 13: Difficulties in the Path of Life
After Yu Lie left the Grand Miscellaneous Courtyard, he walked through the damp and cold shanty area, pondering where he should find a suitable place to stay. However, he glanced at the sky and quickly dismissed the idea because it was getting dim, and in another hour or two, the yamen responsible for managing the child labor and task handovers would close.
Yu Lie had to hurry. He needed to hand over the task of subduing the demon first so that he could receive talismans from the yamen, ensuring he wouldn't be penniless and could afford to rent a new place.
Walking briskly, Yu Lie arrived at the street and noticed that despite the dimming sky, there were more pedestrians on the street. Yu Lie paid no mind to it.
Unlike the yamen's regular working hours, the child laborers in Heishui Town preferred to be active in the evening and at night, resting or cultivating their bodies in their residences during the day.
This lifestyle was closely related to the Heishui River because the evening and night were the most active times for the black snake fish in the river.
Living off the land, living off the water.
The black snake fish generally possessed demonic energy and were nourishing, but their sizes varied. The smaller black snake fish were not as powerful as true beasts, and being aquatic creatures, once they were out of the water, their threat to humans decreased significantly.
Therefore, even ordinary child laborers with mortal bodies could be lucky enough to catch black snake fish from the Black River and earn valuable talismans.
However, the black snake fish were just a local specialty within a radius of a hundred miles. The Black River flowed through thousands of miles, teeming with aquatic creatures and demons. Occasionally, fierce eighth-grade beasts or even seventh-grade monsters would jump out of the river to prey on the child laborers on the shore.
Only the formidable child laborers and adult masters in the town could hunt down such beasts and monsters!
Therefore, fishing in the Black River, even on the cliffs near the town, was not easy or safe.
What's more, Yu Lie was walking on the street.
He casually glanced at the pedestrians and clearly saw that any child laborer carrying fishing tools also carried various weapons - axes, hooks, spears, bows, armors, gleaming with cold light!
Some people carried iron cages for fish but did not have other fishing tools, instead carrying more weapons. These people often moved in groups, looking fierce and intimidating.
Once night fell and the child laborers and apprentices finished work at the yamen, the town's control over the vast number of child laborers weakened. It was relatively safe in the streets and residential areas, but it was not safe elsewhere, even within the town's boundaries.
In the nighttime of Heishui Town, the most dangerous threat was not the beasts or monsters but humans, living humans!
As Yu Lie walked, he glanced around a few times and then averted his gaze from the pedestrians.
Heishui Town was not large, and he soon arrived at the yamen's office.
One after another, child laborers were coming in and out of the spacious yamen gate, their expressions either worried or joyful.
The town's yamen was not a place for handling cases. Heishui Town never had a case brought to the yamen for judgment in a year. Its main purpose was to provide official rewards and task assignments.
Adjacent to the yamen were the official alchemy rooms, butcher shops, bookstores, and divination halls.
Yu Lie mingled in the crowd, and not long after, he walked out of the yamen's main hall.
Yu Lie was fortunate. During his seclusion for cultivation, someone had verified the locations where he had eliminated demons and confirmed his achievements one by one.
After leaving the yamen, Yu Lie found that due to his fast pace, he didn't have to wait long to receive his rewards. The sky was still early, not dark yet, and several halls next to the yamen were still open.
Yu Lie pondered and thought it would be better to make the most of his time. He turned his steps towards the divination hall next to the yamen.
The divination hall was responsible for assessing the child laborers, promoting them, teaching etiquette, and other duties under the jurisdiction of the yamen. It was somewhat similar to a household registration office for child laborers, with additional responsibilities.
In remote and small towns like Heishui Town, the divination hall also arranged accommodations, distributed rations, and assigned positions to new child laborers.
The building of the divination hall was not large, and unlike the other places made of stone, it was entirely made of wood. Although it was all raw wood without any paint, only the outer layer was coated with vermilion powder, barely creating the appearance of a temple with red mud walls.
However, when Yu Lie entered, he felt like he had left the rough Heishui Town and arrived at a true cultivation place.
Approaching the end of the workday, there was only an old child laborer sitting on the main stage of the courtyard, with a few young gray-robed child laborers waiting, all bowing and flattering the old child laborer on the stage.
Yu Lie was at the back of the line and could clearly see that the gray-robed child laborers had various packages in their hands, some carrying fish and meat, others carrying large and small bundles.
The old child laborer on the stage, with his dead fish eyes, didn't even lift his eyelids and dismissed the waiting child laborers one by one.
"Clear-spirited perch? Rare in the town, but it's gone bad. You want to work on the farm to grow meat fields? No, no, the fish is too stinky. Either be a tenant farmer without land first, or take the fish back."
"You want to work in the divination hall? No matter how much money you give, it's not enough. Wait until I'm close to death, then come and try."
"Tiger meat? If it's a gift, it's good to have a tiger whip, even without spiritual energy, it has a bit of charm. I'm in need of that. You have it? Send it tomorrow? Then come back tomorrow."
This old child laborer with dead fish eyes was responsible for assigning various positions to the child laborers who came to collect them.
Newly arrived child laborers in Heishui Town could stay for free for the first three years, and the town promised to provide an opportunity to learn the art of cultivating, including alchemy, refining, and formation arrays, guaranteeing the child laborers' survival for the first three years.
The large and small packages in the hands of the child laborers in the divination hall were bribes for the old child laborer, hoping to secure a better position.
Because just like the free arrangements in the miscellaneous courtyard, the positions provided by the town were full of pitfalls, and one wrong step could cost a life.
Yu Lie patiently waited and finally, it was his turn.
The old child laborer on the stage asked, "Name?"
"Yu Lie."
"Hmm, found it. No positions available at the moment, qualifications not met. Are you here to collect a livelihood?"
"Is there a position in the alchemy room recently, something safer?"
Hearing this, the old child laborer with dead fish eyes stared without lifting his eyelids and said, "There are positions like pill slave, corpse slave, herb slave... Which one do you want?"
Upon hearing these choices, Yu Lie's brows furrowed subconsciously.
The pill slave was a test subject for pills, and everyone knew that their fate was bound to be tragic; the corpse slave cultivated their own vitality with corpses; the herb slave was responsible for collecting herbs outside the town...
Each position mentioned by the old child laborer was a death trap! The first two were undoubtedly fatal, and the third one might not lead to death, but it often resulted in the quickest and most complete demise.