บท 50: Slave

*Things like sexism and racism are purely for worldbuilding and to make it more realistic. Thank you for your understanding.*

Boss Zheng stood two meters tall and was adorned in a green robe with golden lacing as he stared down at the man.

He looked at the man in the eye but instantly determined him to be no one of importance. After all, Boss Zheng was a grand Stage 5 cultivator and also one of the two Stage 5s that had fought with Qing Fang after he had transformed!

He was an aged and powerful man who could see the distasteful drugs running through the man's veins just with his eyes. And in the face of his gaze, Boss Zheng was surprised that the man wasn't overly submissive but even a bit...confident?

He seemed to always be wearing a serious expression as his gaze uncaringly went from the puny Stage 3 customer to the Stage 5 treasure that he had come to appraise.

And at that moment, his eyes instantly widened as he leant back with a rare expression of surprise on his face!

He picked up the claw as long as his finger like it was weightless and subconscious rubbed his right arm...

His powerful eyes seemed to decipher everything that the claw was as he only shut his eyes in thought after a mere second of looking. 'I never thought that after weeks of searching, news of that thing would show up here of all places.'

Boss Zheng opened his steely eyes and used them to stare right at the customer who was in possession of it.

"Where did you get this?" Boss Zheng's voice was intimidating and imbued with some power that caused stares to wander over this way and the beasts locked in the cages to fall silent and whimper.

"It was given to me by my boss. For payment, of course." The man seemed still in the face of a Stage 5 and answered crisply and clearly which made Zheng's brows furrow immensely.

"Well then, who is your boss. And don't mince words." Zheng didn't waste words and ordered the cultivator to speak domineeringly. His mind wavered as he pictured a huge, white and winged beast that had bitten his entire arm off!

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that." The man said as his eyes shifted to other cultivators behind the desk that were staring at him dangerously. They knew that their boss was interested in the claw and instantly had malice in their eyes as well.

"Haha, you're funny." Boss Zheng said with a completely unamused expression as his eyes seemed to lock onto the man. "I won't ask again, weakling. Tell me who your boss is or you will lose your head."

This time, the man seemed to start sweating as he gulped loudly. His eyes looked to his right and left haphazardly as he felt the urge to flee. "I'm sorry, but..." He started but choked on his words as an angry expression came over the face of the Stage 5 before him.

He felt as though he was suffocating under the pressure and his knees would soon cave in! However...

The pressure suddenly receded as Boss Zheng's face went back to normal. He sighed deeply as he placed the claw back on the desk and spoke.

"Hmmm, this claw is of an interesting origin and an unusual path. Its strength is middle Stage 5 which is usually ten-thousand bronzes for something of this size, but due to its unusual path I'll place the value at twelve thousand."

The man brought his sleeve up to wipe the sweat off of his brow and chuckled nervously. "Haha, I thank Boss Zheng for his magnanimity." But even now, Boss Zheng seemed to have some anger in the gaze directed at the man...

Boss Zheng nodded sharply as he gestured to a small staircase behind the desk. "I hear you are looking for some exclusive imprinted slaves? Unfortunately, we don't breed bathumans and haven't heard of any other establishment that does either. However, we do indeed have dragonmen, the best in the black market. Please follow."

Boss Zheng began walking away and turned down the small staircase.

"O-of course." The man stammered before walking after Boss Zheng and past the female cultivator he had spoken to before who was smiling at him brightly. She followed after him too.

The stairway that was lit by candlelight was only a few meters long and one could clearly see the wooden-boarded floor at the bottom of it. Walking after Boss Zheng, the man clenched his fists from anxiety as his thoughts ran wild.

'What is the deal with that claw?! Why did he attach so much importance to it?!' The man began to think of his "boss" in the dark alleyway in an unfavourable light. After all, he had put him in so much danger! The man even though he might lose his life!

"Here we are." Boss Zheng spoke with his usual sternness, however, he directed a sideways glance at the man who smiled awkwardly in response.

At the bottom of the stairway was a long corridor about twenty meters long in each direction. Cages were built into the wall that had metal bars which shone with strange golden patterns that were instantly recognisable as formations.

They started walking as the man gazed at all the beasts inside the cages. There were ferocious wolfmen and dogmen that had disfigured furry skin and a disgusting face that looked horrifying. Their large eyes that were completely black with pupil looked so inhuman that it made the man shiver.

"Our exclusive slaves range from Stage 3 to Stage 4 cultivation and are all available for imprinting to grant the owner complete control of the slave. However, with your budget, the Stage 4s are out of your reach." Boss Zheng said as he navigated past tens of horrifying disfigurements of nature and towards the end of the corridor.

"Okay..." The man said meekly as he looked behind him to see that same female cultivator and her bright smile.

Boss Zheng suddenly stopped and looked to the right side of the wall and gestured towards three cages, to which the man stopped and looked.

"These are our Stage 3 dragonmen that we have bred and readied for imprinting. There are two males and a female; the two males are higher Stage 3 and middle Stage 3, and the female is middle Stage 3 respectively. Dragonmen are a good choice of slaves because they have inherited a small part of the natural suppression that dragons have which constitutes their hard scales. All three are Fire path and very deadly." Boss Zheng nodded as he looked at the man's reaction.

The man looked into the cages and stared at the three demi-humans. Standing three meters tall and hairless, they were completely covered in scales, red on their back, shoulders and the top of their arms while they were a cream colour on the underbelly and everywhere else. They were loosely a humanoid shape except they had three large and thick claws on all four of their limbs. Their eyes looked human, with a smaller pupil and white sclera, however, they didn't have an iris which was reminiscent of most beasts.

Their heads were not human-shaped either, with the two males having a more dragon-shaped head with protruding horns. The female was the same except she lacked horns which the man guessed was because she was female.

"And what generation of breeding are they?" The man asked out loud. He didn't own slaves but knew how to determine their calibre.

Boss Zheng replied unhurriedly. "These three have all gone through seven generations of breeding, with the first generation being a pure human and juvenile pure Fire Dragon. These three have a dragon bloodline of more than seventy-eight per cent due to more pure dragons in the later generations, all Fire Dragons of course."

"And how strong is the Fire Dragon's bloodline?" The man asked while gazing at the three dragonmen that had awoken and were staring at the three of them warily and with apparent intelligence.

"Well, the fire dragon is seen as having a weak bloodline among dragons, however, don't mind this. Dragons with strong or even legendary bloodlines are never used for demi-human breeding as there are only losses and no gains. After all, we breed dragonmen to give them human intelligence while having the strength of their dragon bloodline. However, stronger dragons already have intelligence so there's no point." Boss Zheng took the time to explain carefully as he also watched the dragonmen that he had bred.

"I see..." The man said before pointing to the higher Stage 3 male dragonman. Its eyes instantly flashed fear as it saw the finger in its direction, draconic roars screeching from its beak-like maw weakly. "How much is this one?"

Boss Zheng looked at the dragonman sternly and it instantly quietened down before he replied. "You can afford all of them, but this one will cost you nine thousand bronzes. A fair price."

'That means I will get three thousand bronzes!' The man perked up at the thought of the money coming his way before looking over and asking another question. "And how much are the other ones, just so I know?"

"The female will cost you eight-five hundred and the male will be eight thousand."

"Hmm, I'll take the higher Stage 3." The man thought after careful consideration. Although an extra five hundred bronzes appeal to him, he, again, considered himself a careful and cautious man. And after nodding to confirm he was sure, Boss Zheng waved his hand and the iron bars flashed with the golden light of the formations and disappeared.

The dragonman wailed and jumped to the back wall while screeching madly in terror. Seeing this, Boss Zheng spoke over the loud wails that caused other beasts to become restless. "You can imprint it here, just place your hand on the core of the formation at the nape of its neck. The imprinting will be done just like that."

"Actually..." The words of the man caused Boss Zheng, who was walking toward the beast to hold it still, to turn around with a frown.

The man continued. "It will be imprinted by another, so can you knock it unconscious for me?" He had an awkward smile as he asked.

Zheng just stared dully at him for several moments before turning to the dragonman and grasping it by the neck. It struggled madly in his grip before it fainted and stopped moving. Boss Zheng then held it for a few more moments before dropping it to the floor.

"It is now in a coma, but the pain from the imprinting caused to its beast essence should wake it." Boss Zheng said as he stepped aside and let the female cultivator attach a rope around its neck. She then used it as a lead and dragged the body over to the man before graciously handing him the rope.

"Thank you for being so considerate towards my demands, haha." The man scratched the back of his head as he dragged the body back up the stairwell as the two followed him.

"Do not worry, sir. Buying our exclusive products gives you an exclusive experience!" The female customer said with so much fervour that the man thought she would strike a pose...

They came back to the counter with many strange stares at the unconscious dragonman dragged around by its neck crudely on the floor. A few even burst out laughing in the background.

Zheng then came and snatched the claw from the desk and the man watched it simply disappear into thin air, his eyes landing on a silver ring around one of his fingers.

"Would you prefer bronzes or silvers?" The female cultivator asked and the man promptly licked his lips and almost replied instantly.

"Silvers, thank you."

Three silver coins were taken out by her and placed on the desk and the man quickly took them and placed them in his pocket unceremoniously. However, the two didn't seem to mind as a bright smile was still directed at him. Zheng, though, looked at him strangely before speaking.

"Tell your boss that I'm interested in meeting him... I'm guessing you using that claw as payment was a message to me, yes? Well, tell him that I'm greatly interested in that beast, especially if it's alive." Zheng said with a voice sterner than ever before.

The man was stunned for a second before, he too, smiled brightly. "I'm glad you understood, master Zheng. I'll be on my way now."

After that, the man quickly walked out while dragging the dragonman by the neck under the eyes of all in the shop. However, none dared to stop him as they had seen him exchange words solemnly with a Stage 5 cultivator...

...

Whereas Zheng quickly vanished into the back rooms of his slave trade where he was welcomed by the sight of a particular cultivator. Zheng ignored him and walked to a large desk and sat behind it.

"Should I follow?" Little Jiang asked in an interested tone, obviously having seen the entire interaction.

"No. Let him pass the message on to his boss." Zheng said seriously as he closed his eyes in thought, seemingly thinking about many things at once which made him sigh defeatedly.

"Are you sure, the clue could lead you to fulfil your quota. It's been weeks and you only have nine hundred women and still no rare beast!" Jiang said goadingly and emphasised Zheng having no rare beast.

"I said no. If that guy's boss can take down that monster without us hearing about it, he's definitely strong. Following his subordinates around likely won't escape his eyes either. The Big Boss said we have to lie low during this time, we can't risk anything that might give us another powerful enemy." Zheng said and even opened his eyes to look at Zheng to emphasise his order.

"Whatever you say, boss." Jiang said lazily as he swung round on his chair eccentrically.

...

The man hurriedly dragged the body of the dragonman through the streets of the black market amidst hundreds of weird stares and soon reached that same deep alleyway that turned into complete darkness.

He leant the body of the dragonman against the wall, its scaled body covered in tattoo-like brands lit by the moonlight. After that, he looked into the darkness and spoke loudly.

"Hello? I'm back!" He shouted quite loudly, but not enough to reach the market behind. However, the alley was silent so there was no chance that someone wouldn't hear him if they were there.

"Yes, you are." The deep and grating voice came again from the darkness and spoke concisely.

"Here! I brought the slave, a higher Stage 3 dragonman! No one in the city has bathumans so I got you this! It's unimprinted, like you wanted! The owner said that you must place your hand on the core of the branded formations at the nape of its neck to imprint it!" He shouted to the voice that seemed far away. Then, the man took the slave and brought it to the edge of the darkness and dropped it.

He stood and stared deeply into it, thinking he could see the outline of someone. He spoke with a smile on his face. "I understand that senior doesn't want to be seen out in the open, but you can trust me to not speak of you. If you need me to do things again, I would happily help senior!"

A laugh came from the darkness that made the night seem colder.

"If you say so..."

The man smiled brightly before turning away and shouting one last time. "Senior, my name is Long Cai! Come find me if you need me!" After that, Long Cai moved away hurriedly in the direction of his cousin's drug shop.

And from the darkness, a huge white hand with fingers that had four-inch black claws reached out and grabbed the rope that was tied to the dragonman, pulling it into the darkness.

...

Qing Fang stared at the dragonman that lay on the stone floor face-down.

Over its entire body, there were lines burnt into its scales that formed to make intricate symbols that he recognised as a formation. He would've liked to be able to make a formation like this himself, but he never attached any importance to non-battle related things when he was in Qing clan.

It was undisputed that Formation Masters were incredibly useful and sought after, however, it took a lot of time to become one. Formation Masters were the cultivators that made the defensive formations, designed mystical pagodas and, at a high level, used the art in battle.

Qing Fang still remembered a ball of mystical light that was flung onto a Stage 6 and chained him to the ground with mysterious runes that he thrashed about within during the Huoyan crisis.

However, becoming a Formation Master was something he simply didn't have time for. Nor did he have the resources or masterful teachers.

Throwing that to the back of his mind, he placed a large hand on the nape of the dragonman and felt a rune appear in the dark space which housed his black soul. The golden rune was minuscule compared to his unlocked soul and pulsed rhythmically.

After that, the branded scars on the dragonman lit up with golden light before sinking into its skin. However, once they sank in, the dragonman immediately started convulsing on the ground pathetically which caused Qing Fang to have a troubled expression.

He picked it up with two fingers by its horns and dangled it from the air so it wouldn't destroy the house with its higher Stage 3 strength accidentally. It hung there, convulsing, for about thirty seconds before its human-like eyes shot open and stared at Qing Fang.

He dropped it to the floor and it landed before standing there quietly and obediently.

"Good. You shall be called Nu Li for convenience's sake." Qing Fang said as he looked down on the thing that managed to reach his upper thigh with its height.

"Yes, master." The human language came from the thing and replied diligently. It then looked up to meet its master's gaze with intelligent eyes. Qing Fang stared back down with a ferocious expression which caused the thing to smile with its eyes.

"Nu Li...what a hurtful name, master." The dragonman spoke right before its body crashed into the ground with unprecedented force.

*Nu Li (Núlì) means slave in simplified Chinese.*

*3,124/3,000 words*