None had the time to worry about others when their own lives were in danger as such they all focused on themselves and continued climbing the huge mountain once the wind stopped blowing.
The sun was now high up in the sky and as they all climbed the mounting the scorching sun was tormenting their backs, except for Hao Jun and the young woman who followed after him, the slaves faces were sunken and their eyes blurry because of extreme hunger and thirst. they all survived off of dry pieces of bread for months, their chest bones could be seen.
But they couldn't stop climbing, no one knew when that wind would start blowing again they had to reach the top as fast as possible, they were also far away from the ground now and even if they did decide to turn back down, feng jing wouldn't let them go free, what could a mortal possibly do against a martial master,?
At the peak of the mountain layed a pavilion made of wood, a roaring jade-green dragon was carved on the pavilion's wooden pillars, and there were two people sitting inside the pavilion as they looked down towards the people climbing the huge mountain.
In the pavilion a well built elderly man with long gray hair and beard that reached down to his waist held a tea cup in his hand, inside the cup the tea was swirling around and steaming hot but a moment later the tea calmed down and stabilized, the elderly man then placed a green leaf inside the tea cup, the leaf immediately melted as if it were ice, and the pavilion was filled with the tea's rich aroma, the tea which were black slowly turned into jade green. the elderly man then took a sniff of the tea before gracefully drinking it.
While placing down the tea cup the elderly man let out a satisfied burp.
"It has been centuries since our sect took in disciples and because of this our sect is being looked down upon by those sects who haven't even existed for a hundred years" the elderly man put down the tea cup and looked towards the person sitting opposite of him, it was a woman dressed in jade green robes, she had both her hands placed on her lap as she gazed below the mountain, the woman looked ordinary, she was no beauty but anyone who met her wouldn't forget her eyes calm and deep as the ocean floor.
"Sigh, this is just the course of history, some sects get buried deep within history while some rise." the woman spoke calmly as her gaze was still focused on below the mountain.
"But you were never the type to care about these kinds of things, why the sudden interest?" The woman asked as she shifted her gaze towards the elderly man,
But the elderly man did not answer, instead brewing his tea all over again
A calm light breeze swept past the them in the pavilion, their hair slightly fluttering in the calm, gentle breeze...
It had been a day and a half since they started climbing the mountain but they were still nowhere near the top.
"The wind"
"It.. It's coming from below now"
One of young slaves cried out in fear, as he looked down, below his feet and saw the jade-green wind rushing upwards as if wanting to knock them of the mountain, but his voice was low and trembling due to hunger and exhaustion most of the other slaves couldn't hear him in time and firmly hold onto the mountain.
"Help,"
They could only utter a single word as the wind knocked them off the mountain they were already exhausted from their long journey and were forced to climb a mountain, they didn't even get rest before climbing the mountain, some of the slaves closed their eyes as they fell the mountain as if giving up on all hope and accepting their pitiful end.
They were nameless slaves and nobody cared about them, they were born as slaves and died as slaves.
The world belonged to the strong, the weak could only look up at the strong from below, but there may come a time when the weak gains an opportunity to clim up, and gain the strength to live their lives freely, but of course it wouldn't be easy and most wouldn't succeed, success wasn't guaranteed to everyone.
Though this trail was filled with danger and one mistake meant death, the reward for passing the trail was just as great as the danger, not anyone in the world could be recruited into a sect and get the opportunity to learn martial arts, if these slaves reached the top of the mountain. Their lives would also change for the better.
"Lord Chi huan, there's another one here!"
Below the mountain village lord Chi huan and his guards had set up camp and had decided to observe things for now, when feng jing ignored them.
"Ugh,"
Some of the caravan guards looked uncomfortable and looked away at what was laying in front of them.
In front of the caravan guards layed the Corpses of some of the slaves who had fallen down from the mountain,
Their Corpses layed there grotesque, all the bones in their bodies were broken apart and their intestines were out in the open, flies and all kinds of animals were attracted to it, even if their mothers came and looked at the Corpses they would not be able to tell which one is their sons or daughters.
Village lord Chi huan stood there looking at the corpses while covering his mouth and nose with his clothes.
All the caravan guards were extremely happy that village lord Chi huan did not order them to climb the mountain once they saw what became of the young slaves.
"All The other youths left seems like they made the right decision, or these corpses would've been them"
The guards looked towards the place where the youths had set up their camp and saw it was empty.
"Sigh, will any of the slaves really reach the top?"
The caravan guards looked at village lord as if wanting answers from him, but Chi huan walked away from the Corpses going back to his carriage, all the caravan guards were tense.
They had come to realize that jade wind sect was truly no place for the weak.
Even though they could learn martial arts and gain wealth and power.
But in their minds they thought to themselves what use is martial arts, if my life was in constant danger.
Compared to the slaves they were given choices. And they chose to not risk their lives for martial arts.