Xing Yue felt like his life over the past two days had been a living hell.
Ever since he had been tossed into this gods-forsaken Wailing Mine, his world had narrowed down to two things: swinging a pickaxe and enduring relentless surveillance.
The mine was dark and damp, yet he was forced to repeat the same excavating motions like some mortal laborer, never allowed to stop for a moment.
While his body didn't feel physical fatigue, it was the constant, ever-present gaze that was pushing his mind toward a total breakdown.
The ones watching them weren't living people, but ghastly white paper figures.
These paper figures claimed to be disciples of the Sword Sect.
They were silently distributed throughout every corner of the mine. No matter what you were doing, if you looked up, you would always see a pair of crudely sketched eyes staring at you quietly from the darkness.
Just moments ago, as he was exerting his strength to mine a piece of hard ore, sweat had dripped down his forehead and stung his eyes.
Irritated, he wiped his face with his sleeve. A casual glance from the corner of his eye made his heart skip a beat.
A paper figure had floated to a spot less than three feet behind him at some unknown time, standing there perfectly still.
Its face was pointed directly at the back of his head, its eyes seemingly able to penetrate his skull to peer into the most secret thoughts of his heart.
Xing Yue shuddered, his hands gripping the pickaxe turning weak.
What was even more absurd was when he had to use the latrine.
Inside the mine was a crude pit they had dug out, which served as the only private space for the prisoners.
Yet, just as he squatted down to relieve himself and let his guard down, a chill suddenly rose from behind him.
His skin crawled as he whipped his head around. In the dim corner, a paper figure stood with its head tilted, watching him with those eternal, unchanging dead-fish eyes.
"I'm warning you, don't even think about slacking off. Senior brother ordered us to keep a close eye on you."
Xing Yue trembled in fright, nearly making a mess of himself.
He felt that if he stayed in that pit for even a minute longer, that damned paper figure would probably reach out and drag him out personally.
They weren't being treated like prisoners; they were being kept like livestock!
Under this day-after-day torment, his injuries had mostly healed thanks to the mining labor, but the cultivation that White Jade had drained away had not yet returned.
He could clearly feel that his realm had fallen from the third-stage Inner Demon stage to the second-stage Bone Coiling stage.
But he hadn't given up. He was waiting for a chance to escape.
Tonight, that chance finally arrived.
In the middle of the night, when everyone was exhausted, a sudden commotion broke out outside the mine.
Clusters of ghostly green netherflame floated in, illuminating the entire tunnel.
Soon after, several villagers wearing uniform-like clothing walked in, directing the prisoners to haul out carts of newly excavated ore along with some unknown materials.
It seemed something big was happening in the city.
To earn some credit in front of the stewards, everyone scrambled to help, and the scene quickly dissolved into chaos.
Xing Yue’s heart hammered against his ribs.
Now was the time!
He blended into the crowd carrying materials, keeping his head low and trying to appear as eager as the other sycophantic prisoners.
Following the flow of people, he shot a look at his colleagues and stepped out of that suffocating mine for the first time.
The cool night air outside refreshed his spirit.
He saw a faint, crystalline white glow emanating from a great distance. It seemed to be the core area of the City of the Wrongfully Dead, the place where he had seen the legendary dragon carp last time.
Ha, how ridiculous.
A legendary auspice descending upon a land of evil spirits.
But he didn't have time to dwell on it. His gaze was fixed on the darkness in the distance—the edge of the city walls, the hope of freedom.
He shoved his load onto a nearby prisoner and, while everyone was preoccupied with the disorder, dove into the nearby shadows, ready to make his break.
However, he had ultimately overestimated the level of chaos on the scene.
"Stop! You there in the black clothes, stop right there!" a sharp shriek rang out.
Xing Yue’s heart sank. He looked back to see a fat steward pointing in his direction, shouting with spit flying everywhere.
It was Zhang Fugui, one of Su Zhiyuan’s former subordinates.
He’d been spotted!
Panicked, Xing Yue no longer bothered to get his bearings and bolted.
All his artifacts and talismans had been confiscated, and it was too dark to see clearly. He could only scramble through the unfamiliar city like a headless fly.
"A prisoner is escaping!"
With Zhang Fugui’s loud shout, the entire construction site instantly erupted.
The paper figures and Su Zhiyuan’s former subordinates, who had just been eager to perform, now found a new way to earn merit.
They dropped what they were doing and started hollering, running to find whoever was in charge in the City of the Wrongfully Dead to report the news.
"The God’s prisoner has run away!"
"Quick, go inform Lady Hong Ling!"
"He ran that way! Chase him!"
Hearing the noise drawing closer, Xing Yue was frantic with worry.
In his desperation, he dashed into a field filled with a strange, delicate fragrance.
A light 'crack' sounded beneath his feet as if he had stepped on something and snapped it.
Before he could react, pairs of blood-red eyes suddenly lit up in the surrounding darkness.
"Hiss—!"
Several black snakes darted out from between the ridges and beneath the crops. They reared their heads, flicking their tongues angrily at him.
They let out a chorus of indignant voices.
"Who is it! You stepped on my brother!"
"Kill him! Brothers, protect the spirit field! Guard the spirit field!"
"His feet stink! Ptooey, ptooey!"
"Don't kill him yet! The boss said we can't just hurt people! Quick, Little Three, go call the Big Sis over!"
A small black snake that looked the most clever shot off like a black streak, disappearing at the end of the field ridge.
Xing Yue hadn't expected these snake demons farming the land to be so dutiful.
He wanted to run, but the small black snakes had already lunged at him. They didn't bite, but used their supple bodies to tightly coil around his calves, making it impossible for him to move.
Just then, rapid footsteps approached from a distance, accompanied by a woman's exasperated cursing.
"Which damn bastard dared to touch my precious babies! I'm going to skin him alive!"
Before she had even finished speaking, a farmwoman wearing pajamas with messy hair but agile movements came charging over like a whirlwind.
It was Zhang Cuigu, who had been awakened from her sleep by the small snake.
Zhang Cuigu saw Xing Yue trapped by the snakes and the spirit plant beneath his feet, which had been snapped and was now leaking glowing sap. Her temper flared instantly.
"You scumbag! You dare trample the God's spirit field?
"You look like a decent person, so why are you doing such sneaky, wicked things? Do you have any idea that this spirit field is a treasure bestowed by the Bone God?"
Xing Yue was both shocked and enraged.
He recognized this woman. She was the farmwoman he had seen working the fields when he was being transported a few days ago.
Though Xing Yue was convinced she was a puppet deluded by evil spirits, he didn't want to kill her. His only goal was to escape.
He gave a cold shout, and unable to break the restraints on his legs, he circulated his remaining spiritual qi and struck a palm toward Zhang Cuigu’s chest. "Get out of my way!"
He didn't intend to kill her, using only thirty percent of his power, aiming merely to knock this deluded mortal unconscious.
However, facing his seemingly certain strike, Zhang Cuigu didn't even bother to dodge. Her eyebrows shot up in anger as she met his palm with a punch of her own.
Her fist was enveloped in a layer of emerald-green spiritual light.
Boom!
A dull thud echoed as fist met palm.
Xing Yue felt an overwhelming, mountain-toppling force surge from her fist. His thirty-percent power was as flimsy as paper, instantly crushed.
Immediately after, a domineering force surged into his meridians, causing his blood and qi to churn violently.
"Pfft—!"
He was sent flying and crashed heavily onto the ground, coughing up a large mouthful of blood.
Xing Yue lay on the ground, his mind a complete blank, his face etched with utter disbelief.
He... had been knocked down by a farming peasant woman with a single punch?
He could clearly feel the spiritual qi fluctuations within that punch just now. It was at the peak of the second-stage!
She was only a step away from the third-stage Inner Demon stage!
A farming woman actually had a cultivation at the peak of the second-stage?!
Did that make sense?!
Did that make any goddamn sense?!
Zhang Cuigu wasn't satisfied with just one punch. She stood with her hands on her hips and continued her tirade: "With such paltry skills, you actually dared to run wild in the City of the Wrongfully Dead?
"Men! No, snakes! Tie this little thief up tight for me and hand him over to the God for judgment."
Having obtained power through the God’s grace and realized her value by working for Him, she had long since undergone a total transformation.
"You got it, Big Sis!"
"Mission accomplished, Big Sis!"
Upon receiving the order, the small black snakes hissed excitedly. In a few quick moves, they bound the despondent Xing Yue as tightly as a rice dumpling.
By now, the villagers who had heard the commotion gathered around, pointing and whispering at the disheveled Xing Yue on the ground.
Xing Yue lay in the cold mud, feeling the restraints tightening around him and the pitying, mocking, or gloating gazes of those around him. His face turned a deep shade of purple.
He, Xing Yue, a captain of the Blackwater Guard for twenty years, had never suffered such a humiliating disgrace!
Rate on N.U.
