WARNING
This story arc and chapter touch on human/child trafficking. If this is a trigger/landmine for you, please stop reading now.
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Why was it just the girls who were sent over?
Because they could maintain the livelihood of the city's original inhabitants while allowing them to build up a fortune. It did not matter whether they were young and tender or mature.
Once they entered the city, they would all become a single kind of person-the kind who would live a life worse than death, and who would never see the light again.
Rows of carriages from all over Zhongdu would gather here, then disperse. More than a dozen innocent lives would be crammed into those sealed compartments.
Whether it was a woman who entered regardless of age, or a child who exited regardless of gender, they would all turn into other animals. There were no longer human beings, but livestock up for human trade.
Their necks were secured with ropes, and they were unkempt and shabbily dressed. It made no difference where they were transported to, because it would all be perpetual night everywhere they went.
There were innumerable brokers in Zhongdu. If someone were to draw a winding line from North to South, they would be able to trace out a long journey forged in blood and tears. En route here was Dong Lin's daughter who had frozen to death, and a solitary Gu Shen who had yet to find his home.
This was a meticulously constructed and isolated spot that was cleverly hidden in the remote mountains to evade the authorities. From here, they could reach out to the human world with the most cold-hearted claw ever.
It would tightly clench the hearts of those who lost their women and children; at the same time, it would drag in even more innocents into its den.
The reason the copper bell summoned Gu Shen here was not to tell him where his home was; rather, it was to urge him to search for that fixation in his heart.
Those memories about his "mother".
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Gu Shen was not called Gu Shen. Before learning martial arts, his name should be Chuanzi. The Daoist priest carried him through the forest for half a month before he reached a densely populated place.
The Daoist priest had intentionally starved Chuanzi until both his legs were weak. He sprawled over the Daoist priest's back, not even having the strength to jump off.
Both of his eyes were swollen from crying, and he had lost his voice from wailing. It had only been half a month, and he was so starved he was emaciated.
His back was dripping with cold sweat even though he was lying on the Daoist priest's back, and his stomach was so empty that he could not even regurgitate the acid in it.
"The child looks as if he's almost dead from hunger." The man weighing him turned Chuanzi's head. With his hand at the side of his neck, he said, "This isn't fucking easy to sell. Who wants to buy an invalid? People spend money to buy sons, not masters.1 This thing can't run or jump, how do you expect me to convince others?"
