I appeared in a dirty alley. After taking a quick look around, I headed in the direction that sounded the noisiest. The alley opened onto a street that felt oddly familiar. Old women were selling vegetables from blankets lying on the ground, and busy men and women could be seen everywhere, hauling boxes and guiding wagons. It looked a lot like where I always appeared in Dragon Gate City.


    The architecture of this city didn’t feel too dissimilar from the Wastes. The common blue brick and yellow tiled construction was evident everywhere. However, the buildings here were much taller. Most reached at least four stories, with some over six.


    The clothes were of a slightly different cut. The collars, hem, and trims were all a bit off from what I was used to, but it was all subtle. My clothes might have marked me as a foreigner, but their tattered state put me in the same economic class as the people here, so no one gave me a second glance.


    As I looked around, I began to wander aimlessly through the streets. I had teleported here without any real idea of what I wanted. I wanted a normal life, but I didn’t even know what that meant. I had no idea how normal people lived. All my time had been spent with cultivators. The only true mortals I had ever really talked to were the Pavilion attendants.


    What was a mortal anyway? The general answer seemed to be anyone weaker than yourself. For low-level disciples, a Martial Disciple 1 was a mortal. For high-level Disciples, anyone up to Martial Disciple 3 or 4 might be a mortal. For a Martial Master, any Martial Disciple could be seen as a mortal.


    As I looked around at people who had never cultivated in their lives, I had to wonder if it was even correct to call them Martial Disciple 1. That’s how the system had referred to me when I died without having cultivated. If everybody was a Disciple, then were Disciples mortals?


    The nature of mortality filled my mind, and I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. I was just walking. As the day began to fade, my stomach began to growl. I needed to find a place to sleep for the night. I needed to find a meal. Where could I go?


    After a bit more wandering, I found a street full of vendors selling various foods to the passersby, so I approached to buy something to eat.


    There were people selling some type of bun, people selling skewers of unidentified meat, and a lot of people selling stir-fried vegetables they were making over an open flame.


    I decided to approach a man who was standing behind a tandoor oven. I watched him take a piece of dough, make a pocket in it with his thumbs, place some meat inside the pocket, seal it up, wet his hands, and stretch the dough ball into a flatbread. Once it was about the length of his forearm, he picked it up and slapped it to the inside wall of the oven. After attaching several more, he scraped the first one out. It was a crispy golden bread that he then placed in a basket in front of him.


    I walked up to him. “What are you selling?”


    “New to the city?” he smiled. “The name is on the sign. It’s guokui!”


    I nodded, accepting the name. “How much?”


    “What kind do you want?” he asked, pointing to his sign. “Pork is five copper, lamb is eight, beef is ten.”


    I was amazed at the low prices. Everything I bought for centuries had been valued in gold. I looked into my storage space and realized I didn’t have any copper. I had never needed it before. My face flushed with a tinge of embarrassment. I put my hand inside my robe to hide removing money from storage.


    “Beef,” I said, placing a small silver coin on his counter.


    The old man looked at the coin then at me and hesitated. “It’s a little early for me to break a silver. Why don’t you just have this one on the house?”


    He slid the coin back to me.


    Was it true or was he just trying to be kind? “Please… take it.”


    He breathed out a heavy sigh, but slid the coin into his money box and pulled out nine large 10-copper coins.


    “Do you want hot oil on it?” He gestured to a small pot of red liquid sitting on his counter.


    Unsure, I shook my head.


    “Alright, then.” He picked up one of the crispy breads with tongs, folded it in half, and passed it to me. “Here you go, enjoy.”


    I was about to leave, but I didn’t know where to go. I looked back at the man.


    “Do you know where I can find a place to stay? I’m new here. I’m not sure where to go.”


    “Hmm, looking for a place long-term, or just for the night?” he asked as he started working on another batch of bread.


    “Long term,” I decided. I needed a place to stay. If his recommendation didn’t work out, I could just leave.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    “How much you looking to spend?”


    “I… don’t know.” I didn’t have too much money in my storage space. I would need a job to pay for any place I wanted to stay. How much did jobs pay? I had no idea. “How… how much do people get paid here?”


    I couldn’t help but wince. A former Martial Lord, Lord of North Lake City, had no idea how to get a job or how much to expect to get paid.


    Realization crossed the bread seller’s face, and he gave me a compassionate look. “It’s the time of year for awakening ceremonies, isn’t it? You were awakened and decided to come to the city to make something of yourself?” He shook his head. “Kid, life is tough here. It’s going to be a hard life. You might want to go back home.”


    “I can’t…” I didn’t know how to explain things.


    The old man breathed out heavily. “Alright, look. I need to work here another few hours. Help me out and you can stay at my place for the night. In the morning, we can talk about your future. Deal?”


    I looked at the man. I wasn’t sure if I should trust him, but he seemed to have a sad look in his eyes, not a malicious one, so I decided to accept his offer.


    “Alright.”


    The man gave me a long look that gave me a feeling of remorse. “What’s your name?”


    “Su Fang.”


    “Fang, you can call me Old Pei. Head on over to the well down the street and wash up a bit. I need you to help me knead some dough. It might not look it now, but this place is about to get crowded, and we need to be prepared.”


    After another half hour, the sun finally set below the horizon. That’s when the people arrived. They descended upon the street vendors eating everything in sight. Old Pei and I were constantly busy kneading, filling, stretching, and cooking guokui. We sold hundreds that night, but when I looked at what we had earned, I couldn’t help but feel depressed. All that work had amounted to only a few silver. Was this all a mortal could expect from such hard labor?


    After the crowds dispersed, Old Pei guided me through the process of storing his oven and workbench. Then, he led me to his home.


    The area where we had been selling food was simple. All the buildings were made from crude bricks, and there were no decorations to make the area more beautiful. At the same time, it was well maintained. All the buildings had been in good repair which showed a modicum of wealth for the people who lived there. They weren’t wealthy people, but neither were they poor.


    The location of the old man’s home was different. Instead of brick, all the buildings were made out of rough-hewn timber. Most of the buildings had missing or broken boards, and rotten wood was a common sight. It wasn’t that the people who lived here didn’t want to maintain their homes, they just couldn’t afford to.


    The buildings reminded me of my shack in the Su Clan. I had a hard time believing that a strong wind wouldn’t blow them over and make the entire place collapse.


    It was getting late at night, and both of us were tired from several hours of hard work, so the old man led me into his house. It was a one-room affair made out of solid wood. The only thing inside was a ragged sleeping mat.


    He took the blankets from his mat and laid them on the floor. “You can sleep here for the night. Tomorrow we’ll figure things out.”


    I looked him in the eyes. This simple gesture nearly made me cry. “Thank you.”


    “Get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”


    Not wanting to keep him from his rest, I lay down on the blankets he prepared for me. Sleep didn’t come easy to me. Memories of a past life played through my head and prevented me from drifting off, but the exhaustion of my body finally won out, and I faded into unconsciousness.


    <hr>


    I woke up to Old Pei entering the house carrying two cups and a couple of sticks of fried dough. He sat down and handed me one of each.


    “Doujiang and youtiao. Perfect for waking up after a long day.”


    I looked at the warm cup of white liquid he gave me and took a sip. It was simple but had a nice tangy, savory taste. As we ate, Old Pei began discussing my future.


    “Last night you saw what it takes to survive in the city. We worked hard for several hours and only earned 33 silver. Now, before I can go back to work today, I have to go buy flour, meat, and wood to keep the stand supplied tonight. After costs, we made a total of 1 silver 30 copper yesterday.”


    He took out a small silver coin and three large copper ones and placed them in from of me.


    “The two of us working together for several hours only made a little over one silver, and that was on one of the busiest nights of the week. That’s all we have to pay for food, housing, and everything else we need. Living in the city is a hard life. Are you sure you won’t go back home?”


    “I can’t…”


    The old man nodded, and his face turned solemn. “In that case, you need to decide what you want to do. Don’t spend your life like me. You still have a chance to be something more than a poor street vendor. What do you want to do? What are you good at?”


    I thought about what to tell him. There were several things I could say. I was so good at alchemy that I could use it to prosper beyond his wildest dreams. That’s not what I wanted, though. I wanted something simple. I wanted something normal, but I didn’t even know what that meant.


    The big question I had to decide was if I wanted to cultivate.


    I wanted to see the fire seed. I wanted to see the Formation Emperor, if only from a distance. To live long enough for that to happen, I had to be a Martial Master, so I had to cultivate.


    “I want to cultivate.” I was unsure of exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew I had to do that.


    Old Pei dropped his head in defeat. “Yeah… I know. All young men dream of cultivating and becoming warriors of legend. Listen to me. It’s not going to happen. Becoming a cultivator means resigning yourself to a life of torture that will be far, far shorter than you can possibly imagine. Please, don’t.”


    I leaned back against the wall of the house and stared at its broken roof.


    “I have to. There’s something… someone I want to meet. I have to cultivate to live long enough. I don’t want to be a soldier. I don’t want to be a legend. I just want to live.” I looked at the man. “If you know a way to cultivate and live, please tell me. I don’t want to die.”


    It looked like the life had left the old man. “The only ways to survive are to have power beyond anyone else or to be beneath everyone’s notice. With the awakening ceremonies happening, the palace will begin its yearly recruitment soon. They can teach you cultivation. If you want to cultivate and live, become a servant. That’s the only way.”


    After finishing his piece, the old man stood up and walked out the door. As he did, I checked him in qi vision. He was a basic mortal with no cultivation at all. I could only wonder what happened to him in the past. A brother, son, or lover who was a cultivator and had an end similar to the ones I had? I didn’t know, and I couldn’t ask.


    I accepted Old Pei’s advice. If I could become a servant in the palace, that would place me exactly where I needed to be. I just didn’t know how difficult it would be to be hired for such a position.