The road to Qingzhou Prefecture was a ribbon of packed yellow earth that wound through the landscape like a scar.
Li Wei walked alone, his sturdy straw sandals scuffing against the dust. He carried a lightweight bamboo backpack containing a change of clothes, a few hard buns, a water gourd, and his life savings—five hundred copper coins wrapped tightly in oilcloth and hidden inside his belt.
He had left the village before the rooster crowed, slipping out of the gate while the mist still hugged the ground. The goodbye had been brief. His mother had pressed a hard-boiled egg into his hand, her eyes red. Father had simply grunted, "Come back with a bull, or don't come back at all," though he had handed Li Wei a worn wooden staff for protection.
By midday, the rural scenery began to shift. The small, scattered hamlets gave way to larger, walled settlements. The traffic on the road increased—merchants leading mule trains, scholars on donkeys, and groups of travelers seeking safety in numbers.
Li Wei kept his head down and his pace steady. He was dressed in his cleanest, most nondescript tunic. He didn't want to look like a peasant, but he certainly couldn't afford to look like a mark for thieves. He adopted the posture of a runner—someone employed by a shop to run errands. It was a role that rendered him invisible.
***
**The Gates of Qingzhou**
By late afternoon, the walls of Qingzhou Prefecture loomed on the horizon.
They were magnificent, towering thirty feet high, built of grey stone and black brick. The city was a beast that swallowed the road whole. Soldiers in leather armor stood guard at the massive iron-bound gates, their spears gleaming in the sun.
Li Wei joined the line of people entering. When he reached the front, a guard blocked his path with a halberd.
"Name and business?"
"Li Wei. From Willow Village. Here to buy livestock at the West Market," Li Wei answered, bowing slightly.
"Entry tax: two coins."
Li Wei silently fished out the copper coins. It was a heavy price just to enter, but it was the cost of doing business.
He stepped through the gate and was immediately assaulted by the sensory overload of the city.
The noise was a physical wall of sound. Vendors shouted, wheels creaked, people argued, and the clang of blacksmiths echoed from side streets. The smell was a complex stew of frying oil, horse manure, incense, and unwashed bodies.
The streets were paved with stone slabs, worn smooth by centuries of feet. Li Wei saw buildings two and three stories high, their eaves decorated with intricate carvings. He saw silk robes fluttering in the breeze, a stark contrast to the coarse hemp of the villages.
*"So this is where the money is,"* Li Wei thought, his eyes scanning the crowds, analyzing the flow of commerce. *"This is where the high-end restaurants are. This is where I need to sell my beef one day."*
But first, he had to make it.
***
**The West Market**
The livestock market was located in the west district, near the slaughterhouses and tanneries to keep the smell away from the wealthy residential areas. It was a chaotic, sprawling enclosure filled with pens of animals and the lowing of cattle.
Li Wei walked through the rows, ignoring the smaller stock. He passed pens of fat pigs and bleating sheep. He was looking for the cattle section.
The prices here were shocking. A decent draft ox cost three taels of silver (3,000 copper coins). A good milk cow was two taels. Li Wei's five hundred coins felt like a drop of water in a bucket.
He reached a section where the animals were larger, housed in sturdier wooden pens. These were the breeding bulls and quality stock.
A wealthy-looking merchant in a purple silk robe was standing by a pen, feeding a sleek, golden-brown bull a bundle of fresh alfalfa.
"Look at this specimen!" the merchant boasted to a potential buyer. "Purebred Yellow Cattle from the south. Strong puller. Gentle temperament. Three taels of silver, and he's yours."
Li Wei stopped to watch. The bull was beautiful. Well-fed, glossy coat. But Li Wei's System highlighted something different.
**[Target: Southern Yellow Bull.]**
**[Age: 4 Years.]**
**[Genetics: Average. Muscle mass: High maintenance.]**
**[Verdict: Good for show. Expensive to keep.]**
Li Wei shook his head internally. That bull required high-quality feed just to maintain its looks. He needed something hardier. Something that could survive on grass and scrub, just like An.
He moved deeper into the market. The crowds thinned out here. The smell turned from manure to something sharper—fear and dried blood.
This was the "reject" section. Animals that were too old, too sick, or too dangerous. The butcher's row.
And there, in a reinforced pen at the very end, he saw it.
***
**The Black Devil**
It was a massive beast, darker than the others. Its coat was the color of dried blood mixed with black ink—a deep, dusty black. It stood taller than any cow Li Wei had seen, with a prominent hump over its shoulders that spoke of immense muscle power.
But it was raging.
The bull was thrashing against the wooden rails of the pen, lowering its horns and striking the wood with terrifying force. *Bam! Bam!*
Two handlers stood outside the pen, wielding long bamboo poles with nails on the ends, trying to keep the beast back.
"Damn it! Just shoot it!" a butcher shouted, holding a cleaver. "It's gone mad! We can't even get close enough to slaughter it!"
"Wait!" the owner of the pen, a scarred man with a bushy beard, yelled. "Don't waste the meat! I'll sell it cheap! Five hundred coins to anyone who can kill it!"
Li Wei froze. Five hundred coins.
He stepped closer, ignoring the danger. He focused his gaze on the bull.
**[System Scanning...]**
**[Target: Local Black Bull (Feral Variant).]**
**[Breed: Mixed Draft/Wild lineage.]**
**[Health: 85% (Minor cuts).]**
**[Temperament: Extremely Aggressive.]**
**[Special Trait: High Muscle Density (Natural genetic mutation). Adaptability: Extreme.]**
**[Potential: Excellent. Dominant genes detected.]**
The bull suddenly stopped thrashing. It swung its massive head around, fixing its dark, bloodshot eyes on Li Wei.
The air seemed to freeze.
The bull snorted, a cloud of white steam puffing from its nostrils. It pawed the ground, lowering its head.
"Back away, boy!" the scarred owner shouted. "That thing is a killer! It's killed two handlers already!"
Li Wei didn't back away. He stood still, his heart pounding in his chest. He understood. He saw it.
The bull wasn't sick. It wasn't rabid.
It was terrified. And it was proud.
It had been captured from the wild, dragged into this noisy, smelly hell, and poked with sticks. It was fighting for its life.
"He's not mad," Li Wei said loudly, his voice cutting through the noise. "He's scared."
The owner sneered. "Scared? Look at those horns! You want to be a hero? Fine. Five hundred coins. You buy him, he's your problem. If he kills you, I'll buy your clothes."
It was a reckless gamble. A death sentence.
But Li Wei saw the stats. He saw the muscle density. This bull was a natural bodybuilder. If he could cross this wild genetics with An's local stock, the calves would be monsters.
"I'll buy him," Li Wei said.
He reached into his belt and pulled out the heavy pouch of copper coins.
The crowd of butchers and merchants gasped.
"Is he insane?"
"He's a villager. He doesn't know what that beast can do."
The owner blinked, surprised anyone actually took the offer. "You… you sure? No refunds. And I'm not helping you get him out of the pen."
"Open the gate," Li Wei said, tossing the pouch to the man.
The owner weighed the pouch, grinning greedily. "Done! Open the gate! Let the fool die!"
The lock was clicked open. The gate swung wide.
The bull stood in the opening, chest heaving. It saw freedom. It saw the boy in front of it.
Li Wei didn't run. He didn't have a weapon. He didn't have a rope.
He walked forward.
"Stop, kid!" someone screamed from the crowd.
Li Wei raised a hand, signaling silence. He locked eyes with the beast.
He remembered the System's note: *Dominant genes.*
"I am not going to hurt you," Li Wei whispered, just loud enough for the bull to hear. He dropped his wooden staff on the ground. "I am not going to poke you. I am not going to yell."
The bull snorted, preparing to charge.
Li Wei stood his ground. In his mind, he was the rancher. The Alpha.
"System," Li Wei thought. "Is there a skill for taming?"
**[Skill: Basic Animal Empathy (Passive). Host's calm demeanor influences animal behavior.]**
Li Wei took another step. Now he was only two meters away from the horns.
"You are strong," Li Wei murmured, his voice low and rhythmic, ignoring the sweat trickling down his spine. "I saw you fighting. You are the king. You shouldn't be in a cage."
The bull's ears twitched. It lowered its head slightly, confusion replacing the blind rage.
"I have a hill," Li Wei said. "I have grass. Green grass. As high as your knees. And cows. Female cows. Waiting for a king."
He slowly extended his hand, palm open, showing no threat.
"Come with me."
The bull stared at the hand. It stamped its hoof once. It let out a low, rumbling sound—not a roar, but a grunt of inquiry.
Li Wei didn't flinch.
The bull moved. It took a step forward.
The crowd held its breath.
The bull walked past the gate. It walked right up to Li Wei. It stopped, its massive head inches from Li Wei's chest. It sniffed his tunic, smelling the scent of chickens, grain, and An.
It smelled *ranch*.
Li Wei slowly reached out and grabbed the ring in the bull's nose—the ring the handlers had been too afraid to touch.
The bull tensed.
"Good boy," Li Wei whispered. "Let's go home."
He tugged gently.
The massive Black Bull, the terror of the West Market, turned and followed the boy.
A path opened through the crowd. No one spoke. They stared in disbelief as the dusty village boy walked down the street, leading a monster like it was a puppy.
The owner of the pen stood there, mouth agape. "I'll be damned…"
***
**The Return**
Leaving the city was easier than entering. The guards saw the bull and stepped back, waving Li Wei through quickly, not wanting to deal with the beast.
Once outside the city walls, Li Wei let out a breath that shook his whole body.
He looked at the bull walking beside him.
"You cost me everything I had," Li Wei muttered. "I can't afford a cart. I can't afford an inn. We have to walk all night to get home."
The bull grunted, nudging him from behind, almost knocking him over.
"And you're heavy," Li Wei sighed, patting the bull's thick neck. "But you're going to make us rich, my friend. I'm naming you 'Hei Feng' (Black Wind)."
As the sun set, turning the road to gold, a boy and his bull walked into the distance.
He had completed the quest. He had spent his fortune. He was broke, exhausted, and miles from home.
But he had a herd now.
**[Quest Complete: Acquire Bull.]**
**[Bonus Objective Failed: No trade contact established.]**
**[Reward Unlocked: Basic Veterinary Kit Blueprint.]**
*"I missed the contact,"* Li Wei thought, trudging forward. *"But I got the bull. That's enough for today."*