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After the fiasco that was his disastrous meeting with Mobei, he went to clear his hand in the marketplace.
The open market worked at specific hours, bustling with the life of the merchants selling, and shi class nobles looking down at everyone.
"Thief, give back what you stole!" yelled the stall owner at the young slave with black dirty hair. The young boy who looked no older than ten years old ran away with two meat buns.
"Slaves don't deserve to breathe the same air as humble people like us." muttered the stall owner, as the guards ran after the slave. It was the central busy market, filled with various goods. Like all markets it was heavily guarded by the officials. One official ran out of the office of the Market Commandant.
The market spanned almost 500 acres each in size. The market was divided by streets into nine sectors. Each of the sectors was divided into lanes and each lane had an entrance sign that told what the specialty was on that particular lane.
Shang Huahua was out in the market's section of the meat. He was tasked to buy the freshest horse meat he could find by his shixioing for cooking. [1]
'Great Master Airplane' for the majority of his childhood had grown up in Beijing. He couldn't help but drool over the tasty horse meat displayed on the stalls.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" screamed someone behind Shang Huahua, after a young slave ran past him. The slave turned back to look at him, sending him the meanest glare his child's face could make.
"Shit! That's the future scum villain! I completely forgot about Shen Jiu and Yue Qi!" thought Shang Huahua before following the young slave. [2]
"Maybe if i save the scum villain before he becomes a black lotus, then he won't abuse the future protagonist! Then Luo Binghe would have no reason to raze the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect to the ground!" thought Shang Huahua, determinedly running after the younger child. [3]
Shen Jiu having noticed a cultivator was following him, ducked under a small crack in the wall. The yellow of the An Ding Peak robes greatly resembled the Huan Hua gold, thus many confused the two for the other.
Shang Huahua hopped onto his blade. He had recently got his new shiny blade from the Wan Jian Peak, the name he gave it was, Hēixiū. [4]
Shang Huahua laughed out loud whenever someone asked the blade's name. The modern meaning of it would be lost on them, and the people would only repeat the blade's name.
He went up the houses, and landed near the spot he knew his son would hide in. After all, what father would he be if he forgot his creation's habits and personality?
"Pspspsps, come here! I have tanghulu." said Shang Huahua, taking out the sweet tanghulu from his qiankun pouch. He called for the child, like one would call for a stray wild cat. Shang Huahua swore that he heard the child hiss like a wild cat.
Shen Jiu carefully hid himself further under the small crack, and held his breath. He only crawled out when heard the cultivator footsteps leave.
"Found you!" said Shang Huahua loudly. He threw the child over his shoulder like a sack of rice.
"Now where's Yue Qi? I need to find him before the slavers leave the town." spoke the cultivator, unaware that he was speaking his thoughts out loud. Shen Jiu bit and hissed him, trying to run away from the older teen.
"How does he know Qi-ge?! What is this sleazy cultivator going to do to us!?" thought Shen Jiu, still hopelessly trying to bite the older teen's fingers off.
Shang Huahua squeaked at Shen Jiu's attacks, almost dropping the young child on the stone pavement from surprise. Well, he shouldn't have been so shocked that the street kid didn't stick to the fair rules when being kidnapped by a stranger.
Shit, Shen Jiu was a street kid. The kid didn't even have bamboo shoes, and he was more bone than skin. His black hair was filthy and looked brown because of all the grim and dirt on it.
Shang Huahua wondered how the slaves could manage to walk without shoes! Like wouldn't it be painful when accidentally stumbling upon some glass shards?
Shang Huahua decided, that from now on he will make Shen Jiu's and Yue Qi's life thousand times better! Purely for selfish reasons, of course! He only wanted to make the future antagonist be indebted to him.
Since the system didn't appear to deduct B-points from him, it didn't see any issues with him changing the scum villain's arc. Which was crazy! Didn't the system want everything to go as close to canon as possible?!
Yue Qi should be somewhere near, he had never left his Xiao-Jiu alone for long yet. The young kid must have just ran off to hide, upon noticing the cultivator.
Shang Huahua carefully listened to the people around him, hoping to catch the slippery slave boy.
Suddenly a sharp copper coin was thrown his way, hitting his arm. Shang Huahua clutched his arm. The kid on his back took advantage of that to run off, but not before flinging a metal can at the cultivator.
Shit, did he really just be outplayed by a kid? In this world you can't underestimate anyone!
Just as he let out a sob of pain, an evil idea formed in his mind. A shamelesly genius idea.
"S-someone please h-help me find my didis! I don't know w-what i would do without him!" using all his tear glands power, he sobbed out his sob story of his younger brothers wandering away from him in the market.
He made sure he acted extra pathetic in front of the crowd. The people around him, assumed he was from Huan Hua Palace. The Huan Hua Palace known for it's spoiled and rich disciples, made people quickly form a huge crowd around him, listening to his sob story.
The shameless strategy worked effectively. Some aunties decided to help him find his "younger brothers", thinking they would get a huge reward for helping a rich cultivator teen.
One auntie went south, another north. He waited until both the aunties arrived with two kids in their grips. He thanked them for the help with two poaches of silver copper coins. The woman teard up, praising the young cultivator for being a good older brother.
Which was rude! Why do people think only Huan Hua Palace wears yellow robes?! Well, he couldn't complain much about it this time, because it played into his hand.
"Hello, future shidis! I'm t-taking you both to s-study in a cultivation sect. My shizun sent me to-" said Shang Huahua, unable to muster the courage to say anything with how intense Shen Jiu stared at him.
Shang Huahua avoided the hit to the middle leg by Shen Jiu. Yue Qi put his didi behind himself, he made himself appear bigger to the disciple.
Okay, he really was going to use plan B now! He threw the kids over his shoulders, carefully adjusting them so they won't fall off accidetally.
"Well now, what should i do? I probably just need to take care of them, until they both join the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect! Then boom, i have two loyal shidi's." thought Shang Huahua, holding the two kids in both of his arms. The three of them flew on the blade, going up to the clouds.
As far as he remembered he wrote that the family of the sect members could join the sect, without any entrance exams. For once, his bad writing was helpful to him in this low-fantasy xianxia world!
The young scum villian, and fiture sect leader were too distracted to kick and fight him. Both of the kids were utterly fascinated with the scenery below them. Everything looked far prettier from the sky, especially the rice terraces.
Hilly slopes were filled with thousands of rice terraces, as the setting sun dyed the ocean surface and the rice paddies in orange hues, the geometric patterns formed by the reflection of the sunset and the paths between the paddies created a fantastic view of the whole beauty of it.
Really it was a super breathtaking view from the sky! From his one time trip to his relatives on the airplane, 'Great Master Airplane' instantly fell in love with the view of the ground from the sky.