Little Pink Starfish

Taichang Slave Market Where People Are Sold Like Livestock

The pedestrian Big Boss had stopped to question quickly disappeared into the crowd.

“What’s so special about this slave market?” Big Boss asked Xiao Wei.

Xiao Wei shook his head. Slaves are just laborers—what could be special about that?

Big Boss grinned. So even this little attendant doesn’t know something for once!

“Xiao Gu?” Yu Xiaoxiao turned to Gu Xinglang.

Gu Xinglang shook his head too. He only knew that Vermilion Bird Kingdom had a Mount Taichang, but that was the extent of his knowledge.

Yu Xiaoxiao turned to Tianxingzi. “Daoist, do you know?”

Finally able to lift his head with pride, the Daoist smugly replied, “You military types only know how to defend territory, not how to expand it. Don’t even know about the Taichang slave market?”

Gu Xinglang shook his head again. “Nope.”

Yu Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes. “Enough already. It’s good enough if Xiao Gu can stop Fengtian from being overrun.”

“Princess,” Big Boss said awkwardly, “Isn’t that a bit harsh on Fengtian?”

“I’m just being honest,” Yu Xiaoxiao said. “Bear Bear, we must be truthful people.”

Big Boss shut up. If the princess wasn’t afraid of being politically incorrect, why should he be?

Gu Xinglang asked Tianxingzi, “So what’s special about this slave market?”

Tianxingzi explained, “This is where Vermilion Bird sells off criminal slaves and barbarian captives. The market opens near year-end and lasts seven days.”

Yu Xiaoxiao asked, “Barbarians—does that mean beastmen?”

Tianxingzi: … What the heck is a beastman?

Gu Xinglang gave a dry cough and tugged at her hand, whispering, “In Vermilion Bird, they call people from the Miao regions barbarians. They’re said to be uncivilized and wild.”

Yu Xiaoxiao: Miao regions? Where’s that now?

“Let’s take a look,” Tianxingzi suggested. “If we’re lucky, we might find a ‘barbarian’ skilled in medicine—worth the purchase.”

Yu Xiaoxiao exclaimed, “A savage who knows medicine?! Then what do you call the ones who don’t? Monkeys?”

All the companions with zero medical skills: …

From inside the carriage, Granny Wang commented coldly, “Criminal slaves being resold? Who would dare buy such people?”

In front of Granny Wang, even the arrogant Daoist softened his tone. “They’re not regular slaves, Granny. These are officials who committed crimes and were demoted into slavery.”

Granny Wang snorted. “Even worse. Their morals are questionable. What if they ruin their master’s household reputation?”

Tianxingzi shrank under her words.

Yu Xiaoxiao whispered to Gu Xinglang, “She’s always so aloof. Where am I going to find her a second husband?”

Gu Xinglang rubbed his face and tried to straighten his expression. “Let’s just take a look.”

“Okay,” Yu Xiaoxiao said, eyes scanning for food shops. “But I’m still looking for something tasty.”

The group followed the crowd through two streets until they reached a wide open square. Raised stone platforms stood across the area, each holding kneeling men and women, their arms bound behind their backs. Even the spaces between platforms were packed with more waiting slaves.

“What a spectacle,” Second Boss muttered to his crew.

Granny Wang dismounted and scanned the prettier female slaves with a sharp eye—not a single one of them should be purchased!

Yu Xiaoxiao also got off her horse and said to Granny Wang, “If you like that guy, Granny, just buy him.”

Granny Wang silently stared at her princess. Why would she want to buy a man?

Seeing her face change, Yu Xiaoxiao bolted.

Gu Xinglang glanced at Granny Wang. With nothing to say, he turned and chased after his wife.

But the moment she stepped into the market, Yu Xiaoxiao regretted it. Raised with the belief that all lives are equal, she was appalled by the half-naked, bruised, and chained humans on display like livestock. A sudden urge to lead a slave revolt surged within her.

Gu Xinglang stayed protectively at her side. “If you don’t like it, let’s leave.”

“Come take a look!” a slave trader nearby shouted. “These are this year’s top-tier criminal slaves! Women are beautiful, men are strong! Expensive, sure—but think of their former identities. Isn’t it a bargain?”

The crowd surged forward to the platform, carrying Yu Xiaoxiao and Gu Xinglang along.

They found themselves in front of the largest stone platform in the market.

“I’ll take her clothes off so the customers can get a good look,” the trader called from atop the platform.

Laughter and cheers followed.

“Let me go!” a woman’s scream rang out.

“Still don’t get your place?” Crack! A whip struck someone’s body, followed by the trader’s harsh rebuke.

Yu Xiaoxiao didn’t hear the woman’s voice again, but she did hear a man’s stifled grunt of pain.

“Should we go up?” Gu Xinglang asked. He wasn’t feeling any better than his wife—after all, the Gu family had once been wronged and nearly wiped out. If their whole household had been paraded and sold like this, he might not have survived.

“Ah-di!” the woman screamed again.

“Strip her! We paid top price—how do we know she’s really some noble’s daughter and not just a maid faking it?”

The crowd’s excitement grew louder.

Yu Xiaoxiao pushed off the ground and flew up to the platform.

“She’s gonna fight!” Big Boss shouted. “Prince Consort, the Princess is going in!”

Before Gu Xinglang could move, Xiaozhuang and Xiao Wei had already leapt up behind Yu Xiaoxiao. The three-meter-high platform required them to kick off the wall halfway to gain momentum.

Gu Xinglang glanced at the platform’s height—generals were never that good at lightfoot skills—so he led the rest of the group through the crowd instead.

The audience wasn’t fazed. In Taichang’s slave market, martial artists were everywhere. People flying around rooftops was normal.

Yu Xiaoxiao landed on the platform and saw a teenage boy shielding a young woman, her clothes half torn. Clearly, she was the one the crowd had wanted stripped.

Several shirtless brutes were whipping the boy. Blood flew with each strike, and one splatter even landed by Yu Xiaoxiao’s foot.