Xing Yue saw that the prisoners moved with incredible agility. Their strength seemed far beyond that of ordinary men; they struck the rock walls and hauled ore with ease, showing none of the exhaustion or despair expected from those condemned to long-term hard labor.
What chilled him even more was the presence of dozens of paper men mingled within the crowd, their movements slightly stiff.
These paper men worked in silence, using their paper hands to carry loads or their bodies to brace the rock walls. Their efficiency was surprisingly high.
Several individuals who appeared to be low-level overseers spotted Jian Huaishuang. They immediately dropped what they were doing and jogged over with fawning smiles, their posture humbled to the extreme.
"Lord Jian! To what do we owe the honor of your personal visit?"
"Lord Jian Huaishuang handles ten thousand matters a day yet still finds time to check on the mine's affairs. Such dedication is truly exhausting!"
"Rest assured, everything is fine here. Everyone is full of drive; none would dare slack off!"
The paper men also halted their movements and turned toward Jian Huaishuang. In voices that carried the rustle of rubbing parchment, they shouted respectfully in unison, "Senior Brother!"
One paper man stepped forward, reporting in a tone that bordered on subservience.
"Senior Brother, reporting to you: today I led the Jia Squad. We have worked twelve hours without pause and have already mined one hundred and thirty cubic units of low-grade spirit stones and black iron ore..."
"Yes, yes, exactly!"
A man nearby, who looked like a former official, scrambled to supplement the report, his face squeezed into his most sincere smile.
"Lord Jian, we are deeply aware of our crimes. We labor day and night without a moment's rest, seeking only to turn over a new leaf and repay the God for his mercy in sparing our lives!
"You see... regarding the daily labor quota... could you perhaps... find it in your heart to be a little flexible? Even a slight reduction in our sentence would be wonderful!"
They spoke all at once, vying for credit while gazing at Jian Huaishuang with fervent eyes, as if he held the sole key to their destiny.
Jian Huaishuang merely swept a cold, expressionless gaze over them. That icy stare caused their sycophantic smiles to freeze on their faces, instantly silencing them.
He pointed toward the bound Xing Yue and his men, his voice devoid of any emotion. "Keep a close eye on these newcomers. They are Blackwater Guards from Lantao City. Do not let them die, and do not let them escape."
Having said that, he ignored the crowd, turned, and departed the way he came. His figure quickly vanished into the dim tunnels.
The moment Jian Huaishuang left, the invisible pressure vanished. The paper men immediately straightened their paper backs and shouted promises in the direction Jian Huaishuang had disappeared, their voices echoing through the mine.
"Rest assured, Senior Brother! Leaving them to your junior brother is no problem at all!"
"I'll make sure they have a way in but no way... ah, I mean, I will make sure they reflect deeply and become new men!"
"I guarantee they will be watched like hawks! If anyone doesn't work honestly, your junior brother will be the first to paste him onto the wall!"
Xing Yue felt a tightness in his chest as he witnessed this absurd and eerie scene.
Is this the horror of an evil spirit?
As a Blackwater Guard, he primarily dealt with demons and monsters. His knowledge of evil spirits was minimal, and few had ever seen a true one.
They were not like White Jade, who had conducted in-depth research on evil spirits and understood their powers. Xing Yue could only sense that evil spirits were perhaps even more terrifying than the secret scrolls recorded.
So this was the ability of an evil spirit.
Distorting perception, eroding and assimilating—the records in the secret scrolls were not wrong at all.
An evil spirit could even construct a domain of rules that appeared normal or even pleasant, making one live the way it desired without even realizing it, even feeling grateful for the chance.
Enduring the pain racking his body, Xing Yue took a deep breath of the turbid air and forced himself to remain calm.
'I must survive...' he swore silently. 'I must live to deliver this news. Lantao City needs to know everything that is happening here!'
He glanced at the prisoners with their ruddy complexions and proactive gazes, then at his colleagues and subordinates who were equally startled but feigning composure. He silently lowered his head, temporarily hiding all his sharp edges and doubts.
Bide his time, wait, and search for an opportunity—this was the only choice Xing Yue could make right now.
No matter how humiliating it was...
Someone stepped forward and silently used a bone knife to cut the ropes binding Xing Yue and the others.
As soon as the ropes were severed, several Blackwater Guards instinctively flexed their stiff wrists, their eyes warily scanning their surroundings.
Xing Yue was about to whisper instructions to his colleagues to act as the situation dictated when he suddenly felt a wave of coldness.
He looked up and saw dozens of paper men who were still laboring. Their bodies remained in positions of mining or hauling, but their heads had all swiveled one hundred and eighty degrees.
Their faces, sketched with crude strokes of ink, were now facing the newcomers directly.
They had no eyes, no expressions—only hollow sockets and stiff lines—yet they seemed to carry a thousand pounds of weight, locking onto their every move.
That silent stare was more unsettling than any ferocious glare.
The paper men were fulfilling their promise to 'keep a close eye on the prisoners.'
Xing Yue had no doubt that if they made any suspicious move, these seemingly fragile slips of paper would immediately explode with unimaginable power.
He silently bent down, picked up a bone pickaxe from near his feet, walked to a rock wall, and channeled what little spiritual power remained in his body to strike.
Clang!
The tip of the pickaxe collided with the stone. A faint but exceptionally pure energy quietly surged through the bone pickaxe into his arm, then spread through his entire body.
Wherever the energy passed, the agonizing pain caused by his internal injuries was slightly suppressed. Even the splitting headache eased significantly!
Xing Yue was shaken to his core, almost thinking he was hallucinating. He swung the bone pickaxe again in disbelief.
Clang!
Clang!
Two more strikes.
It wasn't an illusion!
The strange energy truly existed, and with his labor, it slowly nourished and continuously repaired his damaged body!
He looked sharply at the other Blackwater Guards. From their equally shocked yet subtly excited expressions, he received confirmation—they had discovered it too.
The men, who had been resistant and bewildered, now silently gripped their tools. The speed at which they swung their pickaxes and axes noticeably quickened, bordering on a sense of urgency.
They had been drained of too much flesh and blood essence by White Jade, causing their cultivation to plummet. Xing Yue had even fallen directly from the third-stage Bone Coiling stage; he now possessed less than second-stage strength and was at his weakest.
Just then, the idle chatter of several resting prisoners drifted into Xing Yue's ears.
They were all former subordinates of Su Zhiyuan.
"Sigh, working twelve-hour shifts... who knows when this will end?" a chubby former manager sighed, wiping sweat from his forehead that didn't actually exist.
"Be grateful!" a tall, thin man nearby nudged him with an elbow, lowering his voice.
"Our death sentences were commuted to mere labor. Working in this mine doesn't just heal hidden injuries; the cultivation speed here is even faster than outside. If we weren't criminals, a treasure land like this would never have fallen to the likes of us."
"You know as well as I do—the Lord only provides ten thousand positions. The competition outside is incredibly fierce."
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