An Oriental Odyssey

The boy in the cage saw that they had not even taken a few steps before he found the world suddenly spinning. It turned out that his whole body and the cage were picked up by the trafficker and thrown on the stone platform, it was his turn to be sold: "Who wants this?!"

    Someone immediately asked: "What is this?"

    "It's a person!" The trafficker ripped a strip of cloth off his robe to bandage the wound on his hand, but he did not forget to continue to sell his goods, "Buy and take home as a slave, chop wood, feed the horses. This is cheap, just 40 yuan!"

    "40 yuan? To buy this child? Even so thin?! Are you saying this is cheap?! 40 yuan can be used to buy a good donkey!"

    "Don't underestimate him, this boy is very strong, he is stronger than a donkey. When I took him across the desert, a horse along with its baggage sank into quicksand, and it was singlehandedly pulled out by him!"

    "Don't be a trafficker anymore! You should go be a storyteller! Your skills are really impressive!" People laughed at him again.

    The trafficker was really anxious this time, he jumped up: "This time, you all don't deserve to see anything real, your grandfather and I won't come to this ghost market in the future!" Then he picked up a three-pronged iron rod and hit the iron cage, sparks flew everywhere. The trafficker laughed, and the young man and his companion who were about to leave stopped in their tracks when they saw this scene. 

    The boy who had just woken up, who had just been catching a butterfly off the shoulder of the young man when he was suddenly thrown onto this stone platform, and now his mind was ruthlessly provoked. Feeling aggrieved, the iron rod and sparks stimulated his blood, and his energy instantly surged up. He growled, gnashed his teeth, grabbed the iron bars of the cage and shook them with his lean hands. 

    The cage made creaking sounds as if it were about to fall apart. Looking at this, the buyers also became a little excited seeing this lively scene. The trafficker grinned: "It's not over yet." After saying that, he swung the iron stick and brought it down, aiming for one of the boy's fingers. Everyone thought that the boy's finger would be shattered at once. Who would have expected that the boy would stretch out his hand and catch the iron rod mid-air? He grabbed it with his hand, and when he applied force, the iron rod actually bent like it were noodles. 

    The crowd cheered, and some people inquired, "This wild thing, how can I take him back and train him?"

    "Hey, hey, look at the way he is, you can't even control him now!"

    The trafficker snorted: "I can't control him? If I can't control him, how did I bring him here? Those who are willing to buy should be optimistic. This slave, like a beast, must be handled like this."

    As he said that, he dug out some red-hot charcoal from the fire next to him and was about to use them to burn the boy's hand. Suddenly, someone flew out and kicked him in the chest. The trafficker's eyes rolled, and his butt hit the ground again. He clutched his chest and was about to rage but then vomited a mouthful of blood. It was clear today was not a good day for him. He opened his mouth and saw a young man with a golden scarf wrapped around his head. "What are you doing?!"

    "I've bought this kid. If you injure him, it can be counted as injuring me. There, money, now, open the cage and let him out!" The young man said as he threw money over. The trafficker caught it, but he was still unwilling and loudly shouted, "You bought this person, but you also kicked my chest, injured me and caused me to vomit blood. How do we calculate this?"

    "Want to extort me?" The young man smiled, "I have money to pay, but you are not worth it!"

    The trafficker became furious, he drew his sword and swung at the young man, but his opponent was agile, simply dodging left and right, unscathed and still had time to joke: "Oh, how dare you go out to see the world with this little ability? I kicked your chest lightly, I should have crippled your hand back then!"

    Trafficker: "Ah, it was you who hit me with a hidden weapon! Where did this thief come from? I want your life!"

    The trafficker lunged forward with his sword, and the young man jumped and dodged again. He was very flexible, some members of the crowd applauded, enjoying the fun. Suddenly, the young man pulled off his belt and with a flick of his right hand, the flexible belt straightened out into a sword with a cold glimmer. The trafficker's eyes became bloodshot and he turned to pounce. 

    It seems the patience of the young man had run out, he longer wanted to tease with dodging, he pointed his sword and went straight at the trafficker! The trafficker raised his sword to book it, but when the originally very hard-looking iron sword met the young man's sword, it seemed to become paper and hay, it snapped in half. The trafficker did not even have the time to beg for mercy, he could only close his eyes and accept his fate. 

    At that moment, the young man's companion spoke up. Although his voice was cold, he was pleading for others: "Just a businessman, do you really want his life?"

    That advice was said as if this situation was not a big deal, but the sword stopped. The trafficker who was already frozen and cold sweating stayed on the ground, unable to get up. The young man put away his sword and still smiled, "Hehe, I'll spare you. This youngster just wanted to see how powerful you are. No matter the colour of your beard, shouldn't you still treat people as people?"

"Yes, as you say."

"Well, I've paid the money. Can I take the child in the cage?"

"I will hand over the cage for you." The trafficker was about to get up, but he found that his legs and feet have become soft, but he could not get up at all. 

    The young man laughed loudly: "Look at how weak you are, why waste the effort?!" He said as he turned around and swung his soft sword, the trafficker yelled, "Don't!" But it was too late, the extremely sharp soft sword came down and the railings of the iron cage shattered into six or seven pieces. The dirty boy inside seemed to have been waiting for this moment for a long time and instantly jumped out of the iron cage. He stretched out his body like a strong and energetic little eagle, the next moment, he had already risen, climbing over the rocks raised high above.

    The young man was taken aback and stammered incoherently. He turned back to the trafficker who was still on the ground: "Ah, ah, ah, Hey, what trick is this? How can he fly?"

    The trafficker was aggrieved: "He can't fly, he can jump, he can jump very high. I told you, don't let him out, but you didn't listen to me! It's over, you can't catch him anymore. I'll say it now, he ran away in your hands, I won't refund the money."

    The dirty boy climbing the rocks turned to look back at the young man as if to thank him for his rescue, and also seemed to be condescendingly laughing at his ignorance. The cold night wind blew in through the cliff openings into the ghost market. The boy seemed to rise with the wind, jumping higher and higher until he eventually disappeared from everyone's view.

    The young man watched the dirty boy from the cage disappear with his eyes wide open, not only could he not accept him as a servant, but he also did not even receive a word of thanks. The young man looked quite regretful, he retracted his soft sword and returned it to his waist, lowered his head and sighed. 

     His companion took a few steps forward and said: "If you don't get serious, it'll be daybreak soon." The young man immediately nodded and that little show of regret disappeared in the blink of an eye: "Let's go!"

    It's only the young that have this advantage. They can always remember that there are better and more fun things waiting for them down the road, it's not a pity to miss one thing here and there.