Chapter 38:

Chapter 38

~~~~Tai Su~~~~

It is not said often but people are animals. Civilization, laws and every single trapping we like to pretend make us greater than common animals merely hides this, it does not change it. Humans are lazy, indolent, unwilling to work hard or do anything but the bare minimum we need to get by.

There are however three ways to get even the laziest of slobs to work hard.

To get a human to work hard you need to do one of three things, make the work itself fun by either making it a competition or a way to get renown or something else they crave. People that would otherwise waste away staring blankly at the world around them, can put on months of constant effort from dusk till dawn with little to no break if you make whatever you want them to do fun for them to do.

I should know, I did it in my past life.

The other two ways to get people to act are religion and spite. Religion is a complicated topic, but in short if people believe that to do an action is something the Heavens demand of them, then they will do it, but it is inconsistent. Some will work hard, harder than any other method you could possibly use to motivate them even and others will barely work a bit harder than they otherwise would have, but it will still be an improvement over merely forcing them to do it.

The third way to get people to work hard is spite and from what I have seen in this life it seems to be the Empire of the Blazing Sun's preferred way of operating to the point I imagine it's actually written somewhere. I haven't seen it, but I would be more surprised if it wasn't.

Spite seemed to motivate every single one of Feng Shan's subordinates to try and improve and act.

"I'll get it this time." A male voice said angrily.

His sling continued spinning, the rocky projectile getting more and more momentum with each spin.

The man was focusing on his target and with a single flex of his wrist he released one of the arms of the sling.

The projectile flew into the air and proceeded to fly into the distance. Its trajectory was not something I easy to follow, but it's destination was easy to see and hear as the stone crashed into a thin tree branch and completely severed it.

The branch fell and silently hit the ground.

"Impressive strength." I commented with a smirk.

It was truly impressive, it was also nowhere near what he wanted to hit, because he completely missed the cooking pot we prepared as a target and it wasn't even close. The man had strength, but the issue is that the target he hit was as far from the target as he was.

"Next time try to hit the target though." I continued, my voice carrying a faint hint of mockery.

The man looked angrily at the pot as if it has insulted his great grandmother and proceeded to prepared another projectile.

Around us, seven other slingers tried and failed miserably to hit the target.

The one that came the closest was Haoran Lin who managed to throw a projectile close to the target, everyone else though? They did even worse than the man I just mocked, at least he hit something other than the dirt and he certainly hit the furthest.

A woman accidentally released the bullet near her feet and yelped in fear as it nearly hit her leg. It wasn't the first time this happened and it likely won't be the last, nor was she the only one this happened to.

Nobody cared now, not even her, she just started spinning the rope.

Slings are not precision weapons, not at distance at least. They are meant to scare off predators and while you could use them against formations of warriors, hitting a single target at anything but close range is difficult. Difficult is not impossible however.

Another wave of stones left and none of them hit the cooking pot.

It was starting to get late, the sun wasn't quite starting to go down, but we were an hour or two from that time.

The gathered civilians started looking angrily at the pot and at the sling, as if it's the fault of either for their poor aim. For our part, Bao and I were looking at them, encouraging them and making sure that they didn't do something stupid with the slings.

"Everyone stop. Someone go and gather the stones, Haoran Lin, give your sling to Bao. Bao, please show them how you use a sling." I ordered.

I didn't know the name of anyone else, and saying you would have been quite insulting and so it was Haoran that had to give up his sling which he did without complaint.

The other aspirants proceeded to do as I ordered with only a minimum of whining.

Feng Shan came near me and looked at them as they worked.

"Slings aren't very accurate." He observed.

I nodded, that they weren't.

"Unlike bows they are harder to point, but hardly impossible. A pity we can't use some proper munitions as lead bullets are especially terrifying. These stone ones can harm, and if you're lucky they'll bruise or maybe even break a bone before they break, but they are better than nothing.." I answered.

They weren't the only ranged weapons we prepared for them. Behind us Ya Xue was smoothing out the various branches everyone brought her while Da Xiu was sharpening rocks and Mei Lin and Cheng Lin were preparing the string and assembling our little improvised weapons.

The biggest sticks would be turned into crude spears as they had the knives attached to them, the others? They would have sharp stones put at the tip and turn into javelins.

The civilians may not be the most prepared, but they were hardworking and angry enough at a lifetime of being looked down upon by the cherries as well as whatever they did during this Trial to put in the work and learn.

"Why did you not come with any yourself? You came far better prepared than any of us, even discounting the supplies from the sect." He asked, suspicion evident in his tone.

Oh, now that's interesting, it didn't seem like we came with anything too outlandish from my point of view.

"We came with a standard bannerman's kit and some extras for staying out in the open as well as some calligraphy supplies. We expected a long road into the wilderness until we reach the sect and then take the Trial. The kit was quite useful, when it proved that the physical Trial was doing just that. We didn't take slings because we didn't expect to see the sort of combat it would be useful in." I answered.

"Nobody expected this Trial." He replied bitterly.

"What did you expect?" I asked softly.

It seemed it was a bit of a soft spot, but I was genuinely curious.

Neither I or Bao knew anything about the Trial we are to face. I guessed that it could some sort of nature survival event or arena fighting based on the stories of my past life, but I didn't know. Most of the things Bao and I took were things to either help us on the road to the sect or serve as supplies to get started, because if the stories from my past life were true, then if we wanted to get any sort of resource, including paper, we would have to work for months for even the most meager of wages to afford anything more than food, water and shelter.

They came in handy yes, especially the paper and writing coals, but I didn't know what the trial would be and the last thing I needed was for him to think that I knew.

I don't need enemies, and there isn't any faster way to get enemies than to have people think you cheated.

"Elements training like in the stories, staying out into the cold with no protection, learning to cultivate, going through obstacle courses on top of bamboo. That seemed to be the consensus among everyone back home and what the training courses that were created trained us for." He answered bitterly.

So they spent money for the wrong training. I'd laugh as it is quite funny despite the fact that people died for it, but I knew better than to do that so I abstained.

His words made me wonder if the sect wasn't sabotaging the city dwellers' efforts to prepare for the Trial. Cities are excellent for gathering resources and knowledge, because that's where the money is made from people exchanging ideas, knowledge and resources and turning them into something else. If something becomes known and that something is valuable then it won't remain secret for long no matter how much you try to hide it.

Knowledge of what the Sect Trials could be is beyond valuable. Becoming a cultivator is the fastest way to climb up the social ladder and do so in a way even noble connections and genius can't match. Doing so can bring prestige, influence and genuine power to the individuals that succeed, as well as to their families.

"I see, we certainly didn't have any of those fancy training courses back home, I had to go find a fox to even teach me how to read and write, because nobody that knew was willing to teach me or asked for money I wasn't capable of producing." I replied.

Few people in the area surrounding my home village knew how to read, but there were people that knew and some of them were willing to teach. The issue is that they asked for the sort of wealth it took decades to gather for my family and I knew financial traps when I saw them.

It doesn't matter how important education is, getting into debt that can take decades to clear is not a good investment for you or your family, especially when the payoff is not guaranteed.

"A fox not asking for money? Now you're pulling my leg, no way that happened." He said incredulously.

I nodded, the foxes may have a reputation for greed, but they weren't stupid. There are other ways to pay for services beyond money.

"Teacher Hao Wen agreed to teach me and Bao how to read and write in exchange for us vouching for her as she was both a merchant and a fox. We made introductions, vouched for her character to the local villages and the town and she managed to settle down and open an atelier that makes book copies and teaches those that want to pay how to read and write or write letters for them." I answered.

His brow furrowed.

"That's the sort of virtuous occupation you don't expect from a fox, they always try to just swindle you out of your money."

Trade tends to be like that, you try to get the best trade you can get for the least effort on your part. It doesn't always mean you swindle people, but to those that are bad at it or in a particularly bad spot it can certainly seem like that.

The trick to doing it right and not being hated by your community is to be a part of the community. Your hard bargains need to be matched by contributions and participation in your community and with the occasional donation and willingness to help at genuine cost to yourself that others can't deny and most merchants just don't understand this.

Many merchants don't understand how community works or believe it applies to everyone but themselves and it is why many learn to hate them, especially when merchants start thinking that everything can be bought.

"I don't doubt it, but my teacher is no ordinary fox." I declared proudly.

Defending the honor of the woman that taught me how to read came easily to me, especially as it was warranted. Being willing to up and go and risk death in a foreign land that hated you in order to win a bet is not the sort of thing normal people were doing.

The other man snorted at that.

"I'll believe it when I see it, but first let's see how your wife handles the sling." He replied.

The stones were brought back now and Bao was looking over them to select her ammo. Not all stones could be used as ammo, they needed a certain weight and size to be useful. It would be easier to use lead or other metals than just normal stone we found, unfortunately we had none.

Bao's family has some lead bullet the size of a fist her father used to smash the head of wolves a few years ago, but unfortunately we didn't take any with us. Some sling rope on our part would have been useful.

'Why didn't we take any again? There's no reason not to take any with us even if it's not immediately useful.' I wondered.

The thought was quickly discarded as I had far greater things to focus on than me not taking some rope with me.

The sling started to spin and all of us waited to see what she would hit.

"Think she'll hit it on the first try?" Feng Shan asked.

Others around us were asking similar things and I suppose that was fair. I did build up her reputation and expectations placed on her by singling her out.

"The first two hits are to get her used with the sling, the third is where the fun part starts." I answered.

Two throws to get herself used with the sling, and the third to hit the pot is a reasonable enough thing to expect, especially as there's no wind to take into account now.

"Excuses." He replied with a laugh.

The stone bullet went loose and against all odds hit the pot and Bao looked at the Sling as if it betrayed her.

The silence all around us was deafening but Bao cared not one thing for it. She put another bullet in the sling and shortly after let it loose. This time she hit one of the two handles to the side, the one to the right to be more precise.

The third time she technically speaking missed the pot, technically. She threw the bullet through the hole in the other handle. It wasn't a hit, but it was far more impressive than any hit could have been.

Some did not see it go through the hole properly but those that did looked in fear and awe at Bao.

"You were saying?" I asked as I turned to Feng Shan.

The man looked like he just ate a lemon. Some of the others were shocked, others dismayed and even I was surprised, even as I did my best to hide it with a confident smirk.

Bao had never shown this level of skill before. Hitting something that far in the first hit? She's done it before with her favorite sling and her family's handmade and polished bullets. Throwing a bullet through the hole in a handle of a pot without hitting the pot? Even on her best day she wasn't that accurate.

Something changed to allow her to do this and I knew that the only thing that changed was Qi.

The silence was so thick one could cut it with a knife.

"Don't look so glum everyone, that's the result of eleven years of training and experience using it against wolves. If you trained for that long, you too would have hit that, it would have been embarrassing if you didn't, so continue training and when it comes to hunting down the cherries you won't miss." I shouted.

Bao gave me a smirk, she knew quite simply that my words were a bald faced lie, but she played along and gave the sling back to Haoran Lin.

Everyone else started training again and I turned towards Feng Shan who continue to look at the pot in wonder to find if there's some trick he missed.

There wasn't any, just years of training and Qi nonsense.

"Have your men prepared for the water run?" I asked.

Our water stores are still up, and we have enough for ourselves, but I've decided that we will also go with them there to help, because they've had issues with animals attacking them.

I won't be able to reach it, but Da Xiu and Mei Lin will and I will follow until I can't anymore and wait for them.

"Yes, it's why I came here in the first place. Thank you for agreeing to help us, just that coal would have been enough to help us place markers." He answered.

"Couldn't you have just put a cut into the wood? You have the knives." I asked

He shook his head and smiled bitterly.

"We tried, the closer we get to the river the harder the trees are to damage, and the cuts we do made seem disappear in hours." He answered.

So the trees cultivate too? And only near the river just where the animals are going crazy. This confirmed to me that whatever is happening near the river is something especially arranged by the sect.

Also if that's the case then I suppose I could see where the issue was.

According to what we've seen and what the sect wrote down about the beasts, they are both less likely to attack during the night, but especially so at sunrise and sunset, and they also stay near the river and the mountain slopes. Combine that with them not being able to follow their steps back through the forest easily and doing it at night to avoid issues.

The issue is never reaching the lake, all you need is go roughly south and while it might take some time on account on there not being any easy to follow landmarks, the greater issue is coming back and doing so without the beasts killing you.

"I see, when are we leaving?" I asked.

The faster we got this done with, the better.

"As soon as you are able to." He replied with a grin.

Perfect, I was already ready. My spear was at my side and so was my waterskin.