Chương 31: Chaos and Order
As far as Ma Sa could tell, the world had two games that were constantly in motion.
Within the Order of the Settlements, the goal was simple: Acquire the most properties possible (be they insubstantial things like knowledge or skills, or substantial things like wealth) without violating the consent of others in the process. As long as something was given willingly and there was no direct and calculated distortion of fact during negotiations, if there was regret after the trade one could only blame themselves for making a bad deal.
In the Chaos of the Jianghu, the goal was even more simple: Make yourself as hard to kill as possible.
For this reason, the Jianghu was mainly roamed by men. This was because, although the game was constantly in play, eventually everyone was either a loser or a quitter. The losers were killed while the quitters left the Jianghu for the Settlements. Humanity could continue with only a handful of men but if the women were to perish, the population would decrease sharply. There was an instinctual understanding of this that had evolved along with mankind. Only the groups that protected the females from harm had descendants that existed today.
Females certainly could, through cultivation, grow as strong as their talent and hard work allowed, however, not many were willing to make the sacrifices necessary to tread such a path. It was an instinctual drive, for both sexes, to desire to procreate and raise the next generation as a continuation of themselves. To pass on their knowledge and life experience in order to raise a child that could achieve things that they themselves could not was a common desire held by many. Motherhood was something that many women anticipated despite knowing of the struggles that came along with it. It was a rare chance to accomplish something bigger than one's self. Children represented potential for the future of the species as a whole and, as such, only heinous criminals would dare to touch them. Sadly, there was no shortage of these types in the Jianghu.
Whilst there was nothing to stop a female cultivator from conceiving a child, the time and attention that pregnancy, and subsequently raising the child, took away from their training would likely make them lose a large portion of what they had worked for. It was possible to recover and had certainly been done numerous times in history but, for the many successes there were also countless failures. As such, the fact was that most who were decisive enough to tread the path of fighting for dominance in the Jianghu, without quitting, did so with the intent of sacrificing their opportunity for motherhood. There is always a price to be paid for everything of value.
Children were the least common sight in the Jianghu. They were usually only traveling through it with their families and that mostly occurred along the protected toll roads. It was rare for a family to travel through the wilds of the Jianghu proper unless they were trying to be discreet or they were confident of their power. Children were easily recognizable to the people of the Qian continent as they did not bear the Soul Sigil of an adult. Soul Sigils were bestowed during the Coming of Age ceremony. They were much like tattoos except one didn't need to directly look at them to sense them. If an adult looked at someone with a Soul Sigil, they would simply know 'Adult', if they saw someone without one they would simply know 'Child'. It was really quite an ingenious system that was created back during the Dawn of Civilization by one of the early leaders in thought, Bai Wu Qing.
It was not only the young that bore no Soul Sigil. There were also much older people who simply couldn't function properly in society. They genuinely couldn't grasp the concepts of intrinsic and extrinsic property and/or couldn't look after themselves.
There were far fewer people with disabilities in this world as, unfortunately, medicine was very different from Ma Sa's previous world. While the martial physicians here could accomplish many great things that would be impossible on modern Earth, there was no cohesive research structure. Only the powerful martial physicians would possibly be able to assist them. Unfortunately the higher level a martial physician got to, often the more fickle they would become about life and death, as they had been desensitized to it in the Jianghu. Those parents whose children were merely a little slow would often happily care for them until old age. Often, in the closer knit communities of the slums, neighbours and relatives would gladly share the burden of care with the parents. Such occurrences actually brought communities even closer and tightened the bonds of trust and friendship.
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Ma Sa mulled over the interplay between Order and Chaos in the Qian continent as he walked to Old Guan's residence in the slums. He was a little concerned about how he was going to find opponents to fight against if they all recognised him as a child and decided not to attack him. He considered asking Old Guan if he could bestow him the Soul Sigil before he left. As a soul cultivator, Old Guan was eminently qualified to inscribe it. Besides, Ma Sa had fulfilled the qualifications of adulthood long ago. He was an adult back when he was still living as Dave after all!
As with many things in life, there were Pro and Cons to this decision. As a child he could enjoy protection but that was precisely what was getting in the way of his growth right now. The decision was permanent and there was no going back once he decided to stand on his own. If he remained a child he would likely only be able to temper his skills against demon beasts in the Jianghu. If he went there as an adult he could very well end up back at character creation due to attracting the attention of a powerful entity as he battled with strong adults in his seven year old body.
It wouldn't be so hard if he had just picked an older appearance at the character creation! At the time, though, he had had no idea that he would progress so quickly. No, he came to the decision that it wasn't worth attracting the extra attention. He was in no immediate rush right now. He would head to one of the wilder areas in the surrounding Jianghu and battle against the demon beasts. However, his first order of business would be to track down his uncle Ye Zhu. He had heard from Ye Zhen that the Ye clan had an outpost near a mineral vein to the Northwest. He would first try his luck there and then move on to Mt. Ginyan, a little further to the West. Mt. Ginyan was fabled to be the home of a massive demon beast and, when it stirred, the beasts who resided on the mountain would surge out into the surroundings in terror. The Ginyan Beastwave was a favourite of those who were in the business of selling beast cores and other materials.
With his mind made up, Ma Sa hurried his steps towards Old Guan's place. After a long and lecture filled farewell, Ma Sa made his way towards the Southern gate. He figured it would be faster to head to the Northwest outside of the walls than navigating the streets.
A few minutes later Ma Sa produced the mission slip he had taken from the Contributions Hall and showed it to a rather incredulous looking guard. The mission was one that he had taken hastily the evening before and it was to gather some beast materials. There was nothing particularly rare or from powerful beasts on the list so the guard assumed that the kid was a young talent under Forgemaster Su Won being sent out to test his strength.
"You're going out alone?"
This was the issue the guard had. It was unheard of for a kid to be sent out alone for a mission to the Jianghu. He was asking out of genuine concern.
"Yes. But I'll be meeting up with my uncle at their encampment soon. It's not far." What Ma Sa said wasn't technically untrue. How soon was 'soon' and how far was 'far'?
The guard furrowed his bushy brows and eventually gave way.
"Hmmm... Well, alright but be careful. The Jianghu is not a playground and it can be cruel to weak and strong alike. Take care of yourself out there kid!"
Ma Sa smiled and nodded at the old guard. He could tell that he was a nice guy. Ma Sa would certainly take care of himself as best as he could. It was just that his definition of taking care of himself involved throwing himself into a wave of demon beasts and trying to fight his way out...
Ma Sa waved goodbye to the guard and took his first few steps into the Jianghu. He ran at a leisurely pace along the road and then cut West into the trees once he was out of sight of the gate. Now his adventure to temper himself could truly begin!
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