Chapter 143
The Destitute, Reawaken
A rather strange--or, perhaps, insane might be a better word--rumor had recently started circulating in Yuvel Town and the nearby provinces. Per the rumor, there was a strange man perched by the city's entrance, a street-side stall shielding him from the sun, where he sat all day long with a wooden plaque embedded into the ground by his side detailing a list of jobs available. Nothing out of the ordinary about that; rather, a perfectly common sight, especially during the summer season.
Even the jobs listed, for the most part, seemed reasonable: builders, carpenters, manual laborers, haulers, cleaners, artisans... Furthermore, the plaque also included remarkably tempting bonuses, such as secured lodging and food for the duration of work, a relative rarity outside the clan or sect-level jobs.
However, all of that was for naught and wholly erased due to the last line carved onto the wooden plaque: Location, Nameless Forest.
Few thought that it was done in jest and laughed, but the man asserted that it was not a joke, it was not done in jest, and that it was wholly serious; he was looking for precisely 100 people, categorized through the jobs, and once he'd amassed them, they'd depart for the forest and for work.
It became somewhat of a local custom rather quickly that the children and jobless would gather and watch, occasionally tossing passing commentary when yet another unsuspecting passerby queued up and asked the man questions. Within mere days, rumors fanned out well beyond the town's borders into the neighboring villages and even towns some ways in the distance, spreading like an uncontained forest fire.
Lu Yang himself, however, was entirely unaware of it; well, not entirely—he could have supposed, but chose not to. It took a lot out of him to merely sit here and be mocked relentlessly, but as it was for Master Leo and likely the entire Ashland's future... he chose to swallow the pill, though bitter it was. By now, he supposed, the rumor of a lunatic effectively seeking suicidal victims for his dark urges had likely spread far and wide, precluding any 'normal' people from wanting to join.
However, that didn't matter; 'normal' would not function within the Forest, regardless. Furthermore, Master Leo's stew and fruit juice would turn a senile old invalid into a spunky youth capable of lifting up a boulder all by themselves. That was why he did not put any 'requirements' upon the plaque, essentially proclaiming that he would take anything and anyone; naturally, that further enriched the suspicion and doubt, but all he had to do was wait.
The world... was unkind. It was cold, apathetic, brutal, and unceremoniously hazardous. Though he may have temporarily forgotten, having been given blessings of the Forest, the cruel truth of the reality was that the common people bore no crown and that even cultivators and martial artists, in the majority, struggled all their lives, ultimately always falling short.
Soon enough, there would be one—and it precisely happened upon the fourth day. A quite young man walked up to the stall, short, lanky--skeletal, even--and, after inquiring what was written on the plaque, sat down.
"Here," Lu Yang tossed a few ordinary food pellets so that the youth wouldn't die, and the two started waiting together. The boy mostly slept and would then gobble up a food pellet or two once he woke up before falling asleep again.
Once there was one, soon there were two, and then three, and then...
In reality, Lu Yang wanted the rumor to fan out as far as physically possible. Yuvel Town itself did not have enough decrepit to fill up his quota, and neither did the surrounding villages. Well, perhaps they did have enough decrepit, as it were, but not enough among them that had completely given up. All people sitting by and behind the stall were effectively choosing to walk into their deaths, at least in their heads.
They'd made peace with it but did not want to wait for it to come naturally; thus, they made a choice that accelerated it. In a way, Lu Yang pitied them; perhaps most of them would be revitalized, but there was no doubt a few—especially among the old—that would have rather been killed than put to work. Alas, they made a choice, and one that could not be unmade.
Thus, Lu Yang waited.
It would be precisely eleven days since he put up a stall before he had a whole 100 people. While, theoretically, some of them claimed to be carpenters and woodworkers and whatnot, he didn't particularly care; they needed as many manual laborers as physically possible, and they knew they were unlikely to recruit any specialists during the first batch. These people were largely meant to become 'bait'; the next go-around, once they've been 'fattened up' a bit, as it were, Lu Yang would come back out with a few of them in tow.
For now, them just being able bodies capable of carrying logs and stones and digging out dirt would be more than enough. Thus, once all 100 were gathered, he packed up the stall and, under the mocking gazes of the entire town—and many tourists who'd come in the recent days to bear witness to the 'phenomena'—left, a hundred souls in tow.
Their pace was abysmal, mostly because they had about sixty elderly, thirty of whom were massively unwell, at best, but Lu Yang was patient; they took breaks frequently, and he slowly started slipping very small doses (a drop or two) of a fruit juice into the pellet, and by the third day, he realized he maybe should not have.
Even the near-crippled ones were now walking with some spunk in their step, and rumors quickly swirled through the hundred about the 'magic pellets' that 'cured every known disease' and 'made them immortal.' Naturally, none of the people in the 'entourage' were martial artists or cultivators; they were all ordinary mortals, so, to them, this may as well truly be magic.
No, not just to them...
"We're here," Lu Yang proclaimed as they came upon the edge of the Nameless Forest. The souls stirred, and the original hundred had thinned out to 93—seven had escaped, but he didn't pursue them. It was pointless, regardless, and forcing somebody to come wasn't something he was interested in doing. "Before we go in," he added. "I need you all to swear an Oath of Soul that you will never divulge whatever you see, hear, or experience past the border behind me. If you are uncomfortable, you are free to turn around and leave. But without swearing an Oath, you will not be allowed to enter—and if you force your way in, you will die."
"I swear upon my Soul..." A young man—the very first to have signed up—stepped out without any hesitation, hand on heart, and rattled off the entire Oath. There was a rather strange level of determination on his face, though Lu Yang shrugged it off—it likely had to do with the second chance at life.
"I swear upon my Soul..."
"I swear..."
Out of 93, 91 swore an Oath while two chose to leave. Lu Yang ignored them and spun around, leading the remaining 91 into the woods. He was internally rather surprised, though, even at that number; he fully expected it to fall down to below half of the original 100, so retaining 91 was quite a windfall.
He walked slowly with his arms behind his back, and others followed; he could hear their hearts beat like drums, their blood churning. They were anxious, nervous, and uncertain, and their eyes were darting to every moving shadow caused by the whistling of a tree's branch. He didn't reprimand them or tell them to be quiet; he merely matched his pace to theirs the best he could.
"Ah!" someone exclaimed at one point, prompting him to stop and glance back; they'd shuffled to the right, away from a creature that emerged from the side. It was an ordinary deer, entirely unmagical, but due to its sheer size propelled by the naturally thick Qi of the Forest, they may have suspected it to be something else.
"Don't worry," Lu Yang said. "It's just an ordinary deer."
"It's--it's so big..." somebody proclaimed.
"Hm. Most animals here are. Rabbits are the size of smaller dogs, but unless you pester or bother them, they will not bother you. They may approach you out of curiosity but will not harm you. Let's keep walking."
They resumed, still feeling anxious; however, as they kept encountering more animals—some of them even Spirits, though they were entirely unaware—they relaxed, having realized that Lu Yang's words were true: sometimes the animals would come close, curious, but after sniffing them or inspecting them for a little while, they would bolt elsewhere, leaving them alone.
"Ah, w-what is... that smell?"
"It's amazing!"
"My stomach is rumbling..."
Lu Yang grinned faintly; Master Leo's food was loved by the Spirits. He knew well enough that once these men and women tasted it, they'd sooner be killed than leave this place.
"It's a small feast prepared by our cook," Lu Yang said. "Let's go. We're almost there."