Beggars, bums, drug addicts, fences.
Lower District—that's where all the trash society throws away ends up.
"Mister... I'm hungry... just a penny... please, just one penny..."
They say if a normal person walks into Lower District, they'll be stripped clean within minutes. Xu Yun, stepping into that place, kicked away a young beggar approaching him.
"Beat it. I'm from here too."
"Tch! Screw you! Here, eat this!"
The beggar kid who'd been dying just a second ago spat and took off running. Xu Yun bared his teeth.
"Lower District never changes."
Just because you're born in Lower District doesn't mean you stay there.
Actually, people born there usually leave with big dreams, trying to forget the nightmare of that place.
Of course, most end up as escort porters at best, or tavern workers, or shop clerks.
If you're really lucky, you become some grunt for an evil sect, and that's considered a successful life.
In that sense, Xu Yun had been pretty damn lucky.
He'd gotten into Quan Family Manor, a second-rate sect, sure, but one with some muscle.
Though really he was just a servant pretending to be a disciple, and yeah, Quan Family Manor got wiped out today.
"Xia Lao! You here!?"
Walking through Lower District's alleys like he owned the place, Xu Yun entered a house reeking of funk and called out to an old man burning cannabis in the corner.
The old guy was hooked on weed and booze, hands always shaking, but without Xia Lao, Xu Yun never would've gotten into Quan Family Manor.
Xia Lao was the one who taught Xu Yun to read.
Can't read? You'll never succeed.
Xu Yun had that drilled into his head since he was a kid, so he stole cannabis and liquor for the old man.
In return, he learned to read.
Nearly got himself killed doing it a few times, but it was always one of those things he was glad he did.
As Xu Yun walked in, lost in memory, the old man responded with a droopy expression and total indifference.
"Damn brat. Why'd you crawl back here?"
"Missed you, Xia Lao. But check this out first."
"Hmm?"
Xia Lao tilted his head at the iron box Xu Yun handed him.
"What's this?"
"Found it. Any idea what kind of iron this is?"
"Hmm..."
Xia Lao examined the box from every angle, then snorted.
"What? Think it's millennium cold iron or something? Blue steel maybe..."
"It's just iron."
"...Dammit."
Quan Yi told him to make absolutely sure his son Quan Zhu got this, so Xu Yun figured it had to be some expensive metal.
Hearing Xia Lao say it was just a hunk of iron made Xu Yun grind his teeth.
"Where'd you get it?"
"Told you, I found it. Xia Lao, can you buy this off me?"
"Hmm... Just for the iron value, you could get maybe half a silver coin."
"After your cut?"
"Obviously I'm taking a cut. With the fee, it's even less."
"Xia Lao... you really gonna do business with me like this?"
"Sir, why are you being like this?"
Xu Yun smiled as he said it, but Xia Lao coldly shut him down.
"Well, can you at least open it?"
"One silver coin."
"Are you insane!? The box is worth half a silver coin and you want a full silver coin? Just ask me to give it to you for free!"
"Don't like it? Leave."
Looking at the grumpy old bastard, Xu Yun ground his teeth and thought it over.
If Quan Yi, the master of Quan Family Manor, entrusted this to him in that crisis, it couldn't be some ordinary item.
What if there's some elixir inside for Quan Zhu?
Then he could get at least a hundred silver coins, maybe even gold coins.
'No.'
Even though he'd been training the Sudden Enlightenment Technique steadily, he still didn't have proper internal energy. This could give him that.
Internal energy.
If he could get even five years' worth—the minimum for third-rate status.
The hope that it might be in there made it impossible to give up.
"Open it."
"Sure thing."
When Xu Yun handed over one silver coin, his entire life savings scraped together, Xia Lao started working on the box without hesitation.
After fiddling with his pick for a while, Xia Lao said with a troubled expression.
"This thing won't open."
"...Xia Lao. You messing with me? Don't screw around."
"No, seriously. What the hell?"
He looked at the keyhole again.
After poking around with the metal pick for a while, he sighed and returned both the silver and the box.
"Won't open. This isn't something I can handle."
"There's a box Xia Lao can't open?"
"I can't open every damn box. This seems like some special kind..."
Xia Lao kept tilting his head, then smacked his lips.
"This looks like one of Qiao Gang's boxes."
"Qiao Gang? The legendary master thief Qiao Gang?"
"Mmm... yeah. You know about Qiao Gang's treasure map, right?"
"Yeah. But the Righteous Alliance and Dark Black Lotus said it was fake. Some shadowy force trying to mess with the martial world."
"Right. The reason people thought Qiao Gang had a secret vault was because of boxes like these. About ten years ago, they spread all over the martial world. Open this box and you could find Qiao Gang's vault, they said."
"And?"
"And what 'and'? The Zhuge and Sima families gathered up all these boxes to open them. They gave up."
"How do you know that?"
"I'm a pretty skilled craftsman myself. The Sima family asked me to help open boxes. But everyone gave up in the end. The boxes could be melted, sure, but checking the contents was impossible."
"So?"
"Eventually the masters pooled their power and used sword energy to crack open the boxes... but inside was just a scrap of paper."
"A scrap of paper?"
"Yeah. A scrap. They opened hundreds of boxes and every single one had the same paper."
"What'd it say?"
"'Next time.'"
"...Ah."
What a shitty prank.
A box that only opens with a master's sword energy, and that's the message inside?
Must've pissed everyone off.
"That's why Qiao Gang's vault was declared total bullshit."
Thought it was a jackpot. Turned out to be a total bust.
As Xu Yun ground his teeth, Xia Lao chuckled.
"Keep it as a souvenir. Who knows? Maybe you'll be able to open it."
"What's the point if it's just a scrap of paper inside?"
"You never know. Could be a jackpot. Like I always told you—life's all about taking chances. You don't know till you try."
Grinning, Xia Lao pulled out a box from the corner.
Different size and shape from Xu Yun's, but also made of iron.
"I keep one as a souvenir too. If you look around, there's probably tons of Qiao Gang's boxes."
"...Oh yeah?"
"So, we done here? Lemme sleep."
As Xia Lao yawned and started nodding off, Xu Yun ground his teeth and trudged outside.
"Dammit."
His head was spinning, maybe because his hopes got crushed.
Thought he could make at least some money off this thing.
"No choice, I guess."
Time to go back to pickpocketing, something he hadn't done since joining Quan Family Manor.
Xu Yun sighed and headed toward Zhangyun County's market.