The difficult path of cultivation for a grassroots female practitioner

Chapter 1052: Sinister Intentions Xin Ziqi was stunned for a moment, then shouted angrily, "You're talking nonsense! What makes you think we're thieves?"

However, the squad leader ignored her completely and ordered his soldiers to point their gleaming spears at them, preventing them from resisting.

The deaths of Master Chen and Granny Liu made everyone realize that they were actually quite vulnerable to death.

Although this death is not a death in the actual sense, no one wants to be worse than others and fail to complete the task.

Xiao Han said in a deep voice, "If you want to resist, then be prepared to leave here, otherwise you may suffer even more humiliation."

She was really worried that these big shots would be beaten half to death and suffer all kinds of humiliation for resisting.

So either don't resist, suffer less humiliation, wait for a chance to turn things around, and continue to endure for another three years.

Either fight back fiercely, fight to the death, fail the mission, and leave this place.

Those bigwigs clearly understood this as well, but no one was willing to voluntarily seek death and leave unless it became unbearable.

Fortunately, these people haven't humiliated anyone too much so far; they've only ordered their hands to be tied with rope so they can't resist.

The wooden javelins and baskets were confiscated.

The leader had them escorted into the city, but instead of taking the main street, they went through a maze of alleyways.

Xiao Han looked around and saw that most of the houses in the city were made of rammed earth and wood, with tiled roofs.

The soldiers were all wearing dark-colored armor, but she couldn't tell what the material was.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, they were led to the side gate of a courtyard.

The soldiers drove everyone into the courtyard. A middle-aged man, about forty years old, with a short beard and wearing a wide-sleeved robe, came out of the house. He was clearly not a commoner.

The foreman stepped forward and whispered, "Brother Jing, these people are very strange. Their clothes and headdresses are top-quality. Yet they carry stinking animal hides and endure my harassment without complaint. They are definitely not nobles from the royal city."

After a pause, he added, "Let's lock them up and interrogate them first. If they don't have any powerful backers, then strip them of their clothes and headdresses and send them to Brother Jing's estate as slaves."

The middle-aged man, Jing Huai, gave a soft "hmm" and then said to the foreman, "You go and do your job first. I'll handle this matter well. If my judgment is correct, you'll get your share."

The underling was overjoyed. "Brother Jing and I are like brothers. I trust you to handle things. I'll be going now."

After saying that, he hurriedly returned to the city gate to continue his duties.

Jing Huai then walked over and examined the items in the basket one by one.

Besides some dried meat, wild vegetables, a few wild fruits, and water in a bamboo tube, the basket contained animal hides and a small amount of clean, white coarse salt in a ceramic jar.

He glanced around at the silent crowd, whose eyes showed no fear, and was quite surprised.

He had seen most of the nobles in the royal city, but he didn't recognize any of these people.

But if they were ordinary people, or people with ill intentions, their eyes shouldn't be so open.

Looking at the clothes and headdresses of these people, he was even more secretly alarmed.

He had the privilege of seeing such clothes once before, worn by a young nobleman, who was said to have inherited them from his ancestors.

He was well-educated and knew many inside stories.

Such precious items are rare; most are found in the tombs of our ancestors.

If these people were tomb raiders, they wouldn't be wearing these clothes so openly.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the clothes and headdresses worn by these people were left behind by their ancestors.

He brought the earthenware jar to the crowd, then grabbed a handful of salt and sneered at them, "You're selling smuggled salt; that's a serious crime."

He then said to the two soldiers, "Bring them in one by one; I want to interrogate them carefully."

So it's really easy to fabricate a crime.

At this moment, these big shots finally realized that the space they were in was not a cultivation world without government officials or the imperial court.

The system here is completely different from that in the cultivation world.

In the world of cultivation, you can enter any city simply by paying an entrance fee. No one cares about your identity, nor will they arbitrarily arrest you.

But this place is different. Here there are government officials, strict systems, and even more corrupt officials who oppress the people.

Of this group, only Xiao Han considered that entering the city might raise questions about his identity.

But she didn't say anything, nor did she think of a foolproof plan.

Because she gradually figured it out.

These powerful figures come here to undergo trials and tribulations. All their actions, whether good or bad, are part of their spiritual practice.

She had already planned it out: if anything unacceptable happened, she would simply smash her head against a pillar and die, then be teleported out.

Therefore, Xiao Han felt very calm.

The other cultivators frowned slightly, because they all thought of the same problem: they didn't have a legitimate identity.

Then Xin Ziqi immediately said loudly, "We are from the Sun Tribe. That little bit of salt was something we brought with us to eat on the road. It wasn't for sale. Our tribe sent us to the royal city to see for ourselves, but we never expected to be falsely accused of selling smuggled salt."

She deliberately shouted loudly to remind everyone to identify themselves as members of the Sun Tribe, who lived near the desert.

She never expected that this identity would not only fail to exonerate them, but would also become an important condition for her to oppress them with a clear conscience.

Jing Huai immediately pointed at Xin Ziqi, "Bring her in first."

Two soldiers escorted Xin Ziqi into the inner room.

The furnishings inside were very simple, with only a low table and a cushion.

Jinghuai walked to the low table and sat down cross-legged.

Two soldiers escorted Xin Ziqi in and shouted sternly, "Kneel down!"

Xin Ziqi was stunned for a moment before realizing that he had underestimated the bitterness and humiliation of being an ordinary mortal.

Seeing that she stood still, one of the two soldiers raised his spear and struck Xin Ziqi's knee hard.

Xin Ziqi felt a sharp pain in his knees, his legs went weak, and he involuntarily collapsed to the ground.

Jing Huai, seated above, ignored whether she was kneeling or slumped over and asked, "Speak, who are you, and what brings you to the royal city?"

Xin Ziqi sat slumped on the ground, his voice icy as he said, "We are from the Sun Tribe. We just came to the royal city to take a look around. We haven't done anything wrong. What right do you have to arrest us?"

Jinghuai then asked, "Where is the Sun Tribe? How long have you been traveling, and why do you need to carry so much salt?"

In order to shed his identity as a salt smuggler, Xin Ziqi told the truth: "The tribe is located in a place close to the desert. We traveled for about three months."

Jinghuai suddenly laughed.

Everything that seemed illogical now makes sense.

There are indeed many tribes far from the capital that are not under its jurisdiction.

These tribesmen, having never been subject to royal rule, naturally did not exhibit the fear and timidity that ordinary civilians felt when facing soldiers and officials.

After all, the nobles in the royal city who were not afraid of them would have revealed their true identities long ago if they had been treated like this.

Their clothes and headdresses were likely left to their descendants by their ancestors who did not take them into the tomb.

Even if these people might be nobles in the tribe, so what?

This was simply an incredible windfall delivered to him by heaven.

He immediately beckoned to one of his subordinates and whispered a few words to him.

The subordinate obeyed the order and soon brought four robust middle-aged women.

Two women stepped forward and each lifted Xin Ziqi up on one side.

Xin Ziqi shouted sternly, "What are you trying to do?"

She had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

But what happened next was even worse than she had anticipated.