As evening fell, the sky burned with crimson and gold, slowly fading into a dark purple at the edges.
The clouds kept shifting, sometimes like wild beasts, sometimes like birds in flight, never staying still.
The fading light spread across Emberveil Mountain, covering the forests and rocks in a dim red glow.
The whole mountain looked warm, but also carried a quiet sense of danger.
At the foot of the mountain, a lively scene had formed.
Stalls were set up in rows, and people shouted loudly, trying to attract attention.
The voices overlapped, creating a noisy and crowded atmosphere.
“Fresh deer meat!
Just slaughtered today!”
“Sweet cheese!
Fresh and soft!”
“Cheap sale!
Everything is two primeval stones!”
This was not a real market, but a caravan that had stopped here to rest while passing through Emberveil Mountain.
The region where Emberveil Mountain is located is called the Southern Border.
This land is filled with countless mountains, and Emberveil Mountain is only one among them.
On each mountain, there are villages, where people live together through blood ties and kinship.
Between these mountains lie deep forests, dark and isolated, filled with steep cliffs and dangerous terrain.
The environment is unstable, and many ferocious beasts and strange insects live within.
For ordinary people, passing through these areas is almost impossible.
Because of this, the Southern Border is harsh and isolated, making trade extremely difficult.
Most people spend their entire lives on a single mountain, rarely leaving their homeland.
The most important form of trade comes from caravans that travel between mountains.
Only large caravans can gather enough Gu Masters to face the dangers along the way, moving from one mountain to another and maintaining the flow of resources.
The caravan in front of them was like this, made up of many different family forces.
This was normal.
Only a few families that lived off trade could afford to run a full caravan by themselves.
Inside one of the caravan’s taverns, a young man was causing a scene.
“Where’s the wine?
Bring it quickly!
Do you think I can’t pay?”
Jia Jinsheng slammed his fist onto the mushroom-shaped table, his voice loud and unstable, clearly drunk.
“Young Master Jia, your wine is here!” The waiter rushed over and placed the wine in front of him.
Jia Jinsheng grabbed the bamboo cup without hesitation, raised his head, and drank it in one go.
“Good wine… really good wine…” he laughed, but his voice sounded hoarse and strained.
With a bang, he slammed the cup onto the table and shouted, “More!
Bring more!
As much as you have!”
The attendants in the wine shop did not dare offend him.
Jia Jinsheng came with the caravan, and his status was not low, so they could only endure and serve him carefully.
Fortunately, the tavern was already crowded.
People filled the mushroom tables, and even the narrow passages between them were packed, voices clashing into a loud, chaotic din.
Jia Jinsheng shouted drunkenly, but in this kind of noise, he did not stand out much.
The young man wore a long golden robe, with a luxurious silk belt around his waist.
A square jade piece hung at the center, smooth and faintly shining, with a single horizontal mark carved on it, forming the character “one.” This clearly showed he was a Rank 1 Gu Master.
But he was already over twenty, and even now he remained stuck at this level, unable to advance.
From this alone, anyone could see that his aptitude was nothing worth mentioning.
Jia Jinsheng drank one cup after another, trying to drown his sorrow in alcohol.
With his back to the crowd, no one noticed that as he drank, tears quietly streamed down his face.
His mother died early, his brothers treated him coldly, and he himself was weak, with poor ability.
In this world, who would understand his suffering, who would care about his pain?
There is always a reason behind someone’s misery, though it is not absolute.
Still, it holds some truth.
Everyone carries their own story.
Among his brothers, he was the youngest, the most handsome, and the one who resembled his father the most.
Because of this, he once received favor.
But fate was cruel and gave him the lowest aptitude.
In this world, Gu Master aptitude is divided into grades.
Setting aside the legendary ten extreme physiques, among the normal grade, he belonged to the lowest—D-grade.
Aptitude determines how fast one cultivates and how far they can go.
With D-grade aptitude, there is almost no future.
Because of this, Jia Jinsheng had lived under oppression from his older brothers since childhood, often being looked down upon and bullied.
He was not willing to accept it.
He wanted to resist, but his aptitude held him back.
No matter how hard he tried, he could not change his situation.
Recently, through the Butterfly Letter Gu, he learned that his father felt his time was running out and planned to divide the family’s wealth.
After returning, he gave each of his sons a caravan and said the inheritance would be decided based on their performance.
The four brothers were Jia Fu, Jia Gui, Jia Jinsheng, and Jia Yinsheng.
Among them, Jia Fu and Jia Gui were Rank 4 Gu Masters, Jia Yinsheng was Rank 3, and only Jia Jinsheng was still at Rank 1, making him weakest among them.
“If I were leading a caravan alone, my father would definitely arrange trusted people to protect me.
I would still have a chance to compete with them.
But now he pairs two people together.
With my strength at only Rank 1, I will be suppressed by the others.”
Jia Jinsheng sighed deeply, his heart full of resentment.
“Damn fate… why did my father only give me D-grade aptitude?”
He had no way to change it.
He could only drink, pouring cup after cup of clear wine into his mouth, trying to numb himself.
“Young Master Jia, what is troubling you?
Why not tell me?”