8. Begging or The Chores of an Old Lady

(In the morning, At some house in the slums outside of Golden Prosperity City)

Mo Tian's body felt heavy, limbs sluggish as he stirred. A dull ache throbbed while his fingers twitched against the rough rags he used as bedding. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open, met by the dim morning light filtering through a crack in the ceiling.

The air was cold. His breath fogged slightly as he pulled the thin rags he used as a blanket tighter, but it did little to warm him. Distant voices and the creak of cart wheels seeped through the walls, reminding him that it was morning.

If he was still strong, he would not have any aches waking up in such a place. However the body of a child and a weak cultivator did not have the same luxuries. But he had to get up and find something to eat. He did not have any money, since the gold coins were taken from him together with his old clothes. He quickly stepped out of the house in his improvised green robes. When he walked out, he saw that the shop next door was already opened. Curious, Mo Tian walked over. Inside of the store was an old woman attending to customers. A normal old woman would not be able to run a store before it was robbed clean, so this old woman was definitely a martial artist and a strong one too. The women seemed to notice Mo Tian's stare.

"Hey kid, what are you doing here?" says the old woman with a tone more vigorous than here age would indicate.

"Hey grandma, can you give me food if I do chores?" says Mo Tian while trying to imitate a child.

The old woman was slightly taken aback by Mo Tian's directness, but thought nothing of it as this happened often when people came to her store with their children. So, after thinking for a moment the old women seems to have thought of a chore that the child could do for some food.

"How about this? I will give you different chores each time you come here to get some food. But I will only give them to you if you complete them." says the old women. She has used this trick to drive away a number of beggars as they have a chance to earn more by begging in the city than working for her.

"Really? Alright! What chores do I need to complete for breakfast?" says Mo Tian in a voice that would make him seem like a adorable and obedient child.

"Well let's start today with fetching some water from the well. You can find the well right?" said the old woman as she send Mo Tian out of the store with a big bucket in his hand and continues to tend to the customers.

After Mo Tian left the store, he walked around the slums in search for a well. He could not find one, but he found the main street towards the city where tons of merchants were passing. At the side of the road, he saw many beggars asking for money. Despite the amount of beggars, it appeared that every beggar had at least a few copper coins.

Now he finally understood the old woman. She just gave him the chores that are harder to drive him away, but begging all day would deprive Mo Tian of the opportunity to train the 'Training Space Mind Technique'. Therefore, he approached one of the beggars at the side and said "hey you! Do you know where I can find a well?"

The beggar looked at him as if he was an idiot, but proceeded to think about it carefully. After a moment he said "The well huh? Why would the slums have a well. You would need to enter the city to use the well. However to enter the city you would have to pay the toll, so the best place is to go to the well on the hill in the south. It is a little far, but at least it's free."

When he said that the beggar put out his hand. Mo Tian was confused when he saw that. He had lived of the funds of his parents in the beginning and then started stealing to get by before this, so he had never really begged like the kids on this street.

Seeing Mo Tian's confused face, the beggar got angry "If you want information you have to pay for it, are you an idiot? That's how beggars work. Do you think we just get coins thrown into our mugs? You look just like a beggar how don't you know this."

Realizing that the beggar kid was trying to extort money out of him, Mo Tian just looked at the kid with a terrifying cold face. When the kid saw this he felt chills down his spine, but continued to press for money by saying "You can't be unwilling to pay right? Do you want to be excluded from our Golden Prosperity beggar's association?"

Not listening to the beggar kid for a moment longer, Mo Tian drags the kid to an alley at the side of the road and starts to beat him up.

*AAAH! Ugh! Umpf* "Stop! Stop! Alright I don't want your money! Just stop beating me!"

After a few minutes, he stopped beating the kid and started asking more questions.

"Hey kid, what's that Golden Prosperity beggar's association you were talking about? Don't think about lying or I will continue to beat you up."

"I lied to get you to pay up. Everyone uses that lie to the merchants. Who would support the beggars of a city, that's just wasting money."

"Next question, tell me what you know about the underworld of this city?"

The beggar got chills as Mo Tian asked that question.

"I can't answer that. Everyone knows that those questions are just asking to give up your life."

Getting pissed at the indecisiveness of the beggar. Mo Tian just started asking questions and beat him up every time he did not want to answer a questions. Half an hour later, Mo Tian had extracted a lot of information out of the kid, but the kid did not look so good when he saw Mo Tian walking away. He was beaten up, although the injuries were not severe it hurt, and he did not even get paid for the information he gave.

After a long walk to the other side of the city, Mu Tian finally arrived. Perched atop a lonely hill, the ancient well stood in quiet solitude, its weathered stones worn smooth by time and the elements. Cracks lined its surface, filled with creeping moss and stubborn vines that clung to the damp stone. The wooden bucket, long aged and splintered, hung from a creaking rope, swaying gently in the cool breeze.

Mu Tian slowly lowers the bucket. Looking down, the darkness seemed endless, the water far below reflecting only the faintest shimmer of light. Once the bucket hits the water, it sends ripples on the surface. After the bucket is filled with water, Mu Tian begins to pull up the bucket again.

*Ugh* mutters Mu Tian. He finally realized that it was much heavier with his current body than he expected. After tugging the bucket for about 5 minutes he manages to lift the wooden bucket above the well far enough to fill his own bucket. Afterwards, Mu Tian lifts the bucket he got from the old woman above his head and returns back to the slums.

When he arrives at the old woman's shop, the old woman looks at him as if he was an idiot. She says "You took a really long time to return, couldn't you find the well in the city?"

Mu Tian replies "You have to pay toll to enter the city, but I have no money."

The old woman approached and took the bucket from Mu Tian's arms. She put the bucket somewhere in the back and returned with a piece of leftover bread and a wooden mug with water in it. She asked "Do you still want to do the chores? It is going to be really hard for someone like you. You can just beg at the main street, you know?"

Mo Tian nodded.

*sigh* sighed the old woman. She did not want to be burdened with the responsibility of a child at her age. But since Mo Tian was persistent.

"Come back every day early in the morning, when the sun is at its peak and when the sun starts to come down. During those times I will give you chores and food." Said the old women.

Mo Tian nodded again at the words of the old women. Seeing that the old woman had nothing to tell him and went back to attend to customers, he left the store and headed back into the abandoned house where he stayed.

He quickly arrived in the hidden basement. He sat down cross-legged on his makeshift futon. He already made a plan for what he would do after the chores of the old neighbor. Firstly, he wanted to master the 'Training Space Mind Technique'.

The first level was about creating the mind realm. The cultivator must first empty their mind and focus inward, then use their mental strength to graft out a space or draw spiritual energy into their consciousness. By meditating for extended periods, they gradually form a personal space, starting as a blank void or a misty expanse. The size and stability of this space depend on the cultivator's mental strength and comprehension. Using mental strength makes it harder to learn the technique, but grants greater stability than using spiritual energy. Since Mo Tian does not have spiritual energy, he needs to take the harder method.

After Mu Tian reviewed the first level of the technique, he began to be seated in absolute stillness, his breath slowed, his thoughts sharpening into a single thread of focus. The world around him faded. There were no distractions, no rustling leaves, no distant murmurs, only the vast emptiness of his mindscape. This was similar to the 'The Whispers of the Demon', but now this space was no longer empty.

It was a boundless space of swirling mist and shifting lights. Memories surfaced like ripples in a pond, emotions threatening to break his concentration, but Mu Tian steadied himself, pressing deeper.

He shaped his will into a blade, carving through the mist of memories, severing stray thoughts like dead branches. The weight of his own consciousness pressed against him, a storm raging within, but he did not waver. Each breath refined his focus, each slash forged his will stronger.

When he opened his eyes, the world seemed to have changed a little. He could also feel that his memory has become clearer. Memories he should not be able to remember became clearer. The training was complete for now.

When he was done, Mo Tian started to think about the difference between the 'The Whispers of the Demon' and 'Training Space Mind Technique'. Mo Tian realized that the 'The Whispers of the Demon' is focused on strengthening the unconscious mind, while the 'Training Space Mind Technique' is focused on strengthening and refining the conscious mind. This meant that Mo Tian could possibly cultivate them together. After quickly testing it, Mo Tian got excited. They don't interfere with each other, but amplified each effects. This was a great boon to Mo Tian, but also more straining to his mind. Letting him suffer from headaches after a few hours of training.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw that the sun had already reached its peak. Therefore he had to go to the old woman again. This time he had to refill the shelves of the store. This pattern started to repeat itself for days.

The old woman had various different kinds of chores, like chopping firewood, fetching water, sweeping the dust in front of the store, cleaning the whole store, cooking and washing dishes. It was different chores each day.

Time started to pass slowly.