Qingzhou.
Yuanyang Prefecture, Xianggu County.
Yuan Shun Escort Agency, in a corner of the backyard.
This is where the escort agency stores firewood and charcoal, and normally few people come here, but at this moment, there were more than ten thin figures standing scattered on the open ground.
These people are fifteen or sixteen-year-old teenagers, most of their bodies are still undeveloped, and their faces show a long-term malnourished complexion.
These youths are the new servant disciples recruited by the Yuan Shun Escort Agency this year.
When they first entered the Yuan Shun Escort Agency, each of them was extremely excited.
Because the servant disciples of the Yuan Shun Escort Agency have the opportunity to learn some basic martial arts skills.
Those who excelled have the chance to be promoted to apprentices.
Once they become apprentices, they can learn real martial arts and can follow the escort master to participate in tasks.
With time, as they become proficient in their skills, they too could become escort masters.
Although being an escort master is considered a risky job in the Jianghu, for these youths from impoverished backgrounds, it is already a very good occupation.
At least they can fill their stomachs, and perhaps gain some profit.
But now, they have been here two and a half months.
Their excitement has slowly turned to gloom.
Only one or two servant disciples at most get to become apprentices out of a batch, and often, entire batches fall with none standing out.
Seeing that half a month later is the assessment day.
Each is well aware of how well they have trained.
The majority of the servant disciples already knew they had no chance of being selected, so they began to slack and idle away their time.
In the past few days, several have already begun skipping the evening training sessions.
At this moment, Duan Rong wiped the fine sweat from his forehead and ran into the courtyard from the side door.
He was the last servant disciple to arrive, as he had been assigned to the horse stable furthest from here.
Duan Rong wore a brown short jacket, and his body appeared slightly thin due to long-term hunger.
In fact, his bone structure was not small.
Duan Rong glanced around at the number of people in the courtyard, and about only a dozen were left.
Yuan Shun Escort Agency recruited over thirty new servant disciples this year, and already more than half had left even before the assessment.
Duan Rong sighed, but he actually understood why those who left had done so. These servant disciples had to work hard every day and then come here to train in the evening. If there was hope, they could grit their teeth and persevere.
But if they knew they wouldn't be selected, what meaning was there in working themselves to death like this?
Duan Rong's eyes fell to the corner of the courtyard, where old weapon racks stood.
Those racks held abandoned and broken sabers for the servant disciples to use in training.
The moment his eyes caught sight of the weapon rack, they suddenly brightened, for the rack now held an additional saber.
Duan Rong excitedly walked over, found the newly added saber, and grasped it in his hand.
This was an ordinary Cow Tail Saber, with a worn handle, and the blade had several chips, much like a scarred and worn veteran retired from the battlefield.
Duan Rong took a nervous breath and silently thought to himself, "Read Artifact Spirit!"
As he silently chanted, a set of data appeared before his eyes.
Artifact: Cow Tail Saber.
Artifact Spirit Tier: Tier Two.
Devouring Requirements: Host's Spiritual Power Level 2 (Not Met).
Devouring Effect: Five Tigers and Sheep Blade Mastery, Asura Blade Introduction, Plum Blossom Saber Technique Introduction.
After seeing the data, Duan Rong's bright eyes instantly dimmed. These old discarded sabers were either Tier Two or Tier Three, which he could not devour at all.
He silently cursed in his heart and put the Cow Tail Saber back onto the rack. He had only transmigrated to this world a few days ago, and although he had inherited the original owner's memories, many situations were still confusing to him.
Especially the ability to devour artifact spirits that came with him. So far, he still didn't know if this ability was reliable or not.
After all, he had already tried all the discarded blades on the rack, and none had been successfully devoured.
Duan Rong stood dejectedly in the line.
As soon as Duan Rong entered the crowd, a few people covered their noses and distanced themselves from him.
"Smells like horse dung, smells terrible!"
Duan Rong indeed reeked.
He worked at the horse stable, where the horses were important assets of the escort agency.
Every day he had to feed the horses softened feed and also clean up the horse dung.
If there was an escort mission the next day, he had to brush down the horses for the task.
After a day's work, it was inevitable to be covered in sweat and the smell of horse dung.
Seeing the disdainful looks on those people's faces, Duan Rong remained completely unfazed.
In his past life, Duan Rong was an insurance salesman who had long developed a thick skin, indifferent to scornful or contemptuous looks, which to him were like a gentle breeze or drizzling rain.
"Just let a few of you ungrateful people be choked..." Duan Rong thought to himself as he saw those people distance themselves and still glance at him reproachfully.
At this moment, a broad figure appeared at the courtyard gate.
Zhao Mu was an intern escort master at the agency, a burly man.
Because of a minor mistake during his last task, he was scolded harshly by the leader and was assigned the thankless task of training servant disciples.
Although Zhao Mu was quite dissatisfied, he couldn't slack off. The leader didn't already have a good impression of him, so if he didn't teach properly, he might miss his chance to turn official this year.
That would be a loss!
Zhao Mu, crossing his arms with a sheathed Cow Tail Saber in them, walked over the threshold with a swagger.
Zhao Mu spit on the ground, his dog-like gaze sweeping over the group, stopping on Duan Rong, and called out, "Kid, come over here and clean my saber with an oil cloth!"
Duan Rong, standing alone in the line, was noticeable and got picked by Zhao Mu.
Duan Rong wrinkled his nose and reluctantly went over, while a low snicker came from those behind him.
In fact, Zhao Mu hadn't chosen Duan Rong just because he was noticeable.
Having come up from being a servant disciple himself, Zhao Mu knew very clearly who was good at training and who wasn't.
Duan Rong not only trained poorly, with no chance of being selected as an apprentice, but he had also been seriously ill recently and completely fell behind in progress, so cleaning his saber at least provided some value.
Duan Rong took the saber from Zhao Mu, grabbed an oil cloth from the windowsill, and sat on the step of the courtyard gate.
This cloth was soaked in castor oil, which offered some maintenance when used to clean the saber.
Duan Rong drew the saber from its sheath, and the blade shone with a chilling light, utterly different from the dilapidated look of the discarded sabers on the rack.
Duan Rong thought to himself, "What a great saber," as he rolled his eyes and, with a thought, wanted to check the artifact spirit tier of the saber in his hands.
"Read Artifact Spirit!"
Looking at the set of data before him, Duan Rong was astonished.
Artifact: Cow Tail Saber.
Artifact Spirit Tier: Unranked.
Devouring Requirements: None. (Met)
Devouring Effect: Five Tigers and Sheep Blade Introduction.
He had initially thought that such a good saber's artifact spirit tier would be higher than those discarded sabers on the rack.
However, the result was quite the opposite.
The artifact spirits of the discarded sabers on the rack were either Tier Two or Three, yet the good saber's artifact spirit in his hands was unranked.
This meant that the artifact spirit of this good saber was far inferior to those of the discarded sabers.
"This..." Duan Rong couldn't quite grasp the reason behind it.
"Could it be that the longer a weapon is used, the more it absorbs a person's essence, thus nurturing the growth of the artifact spirit?"
But this was just Duan Rong's guess, and he would have to verify it in the future. He didn't dwell too long on this uncertain issue, especially since being able to devour the artifact spirit of this saber was a good thing for him.
Moreover, the devouring effect was the introduction to the Five Tigers and Sheep Blade.
For him, it was a godsend.
Even though it was just an entry level, if he truly reached that level, it would be more than enough to be promoted to apprentice.
Duan Rong was overjoyed.
"Devour!"