Hang Min looked at Jin with bright eyes. The smile hanging on his lips was just as amiable as before, but something odd was going on with his voice. It seemed to double, as if his words echoed and resonated with each other.

“Tell me what you saw when you unearthed the treasure,” a chorus of voices asked. “Just don’t withhold a single truth and don’t tell a slightest falsehood.”

A wave of relief washed over Jin. When his senior brother abruptly stopped and turned on his way out, his heart jerked as if it was about to leap out of his chest. Thankfully, it was such a minor thing.

“Of course, senior brother,” Jin replied in a serene voice.

He began recounting the story from the beginning. The words flowed easily from his lips. He didn’t feel any anxiousness. All he had to do was repeat what he had already said, so there was no need to think too deeply about he was saying.

He began by describing the odd trance that he had fallen into. How the words of the cultivation mantra rang out unbidden in his mind, and how he felt like he could even understand the meaning behind the sounds.

This time, Hang Min didn’t retire to Jin’s cot. He listened attentively, his playful gaze carefully watching every twitch and change in Jin’s face.

“The moment the boulder cracked open,” Jin continued to narrate in a calm voice, “it erupted with blinding light. A golden radiance covered everything I could see. The trance I was under abruptly cut out and I fell to the ground as if I’ve been struck. My head was pounding, and it was difficult to get up, but I had to see what was inside. I limped over, using my hammer as a support. A warm glow emanated from within. I leaned in to take a closer look and I saw—”

Two crystals.

The words clung to the tip of his tongue like a stubborn monkey. Jin couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t come out. He wanted to say them. He needed to say them. He had already said them once before, why was it so difficult now?

With all of his attention focused on the problem at hand, Jin missed the fact that his previously inert qi began to show signs of activity. Two small strands of qi secretly slipped out of his dantian. One of them travelled to the major meridian in his heart, while the other made its way to the one in his head.

The ripple caused by a single strand of qi was simply too small to perceive. Even under Hang Min’s vigilant gaze, their activity didn’t reveal anything suspicious. Jin’s dantian appeared completely dormant.

Besides, the changes on Jin’s face were far more remarkable.

“I saw… I saw…”

Jin’s nose bled, the blood forming a steady stream coming from his nostrils. The flow split into two rivulets at his upper lip, circled around his mouth in crimson half-moons, and reconnected again at his chin. From there, his blood dripped to the ground in plump droplets, forming a small pool around his feet.

Hang Min didn’t seem alarmed by what was happening. He observed Jin’ struggle with an understanding look in his eyes. He seemed like an indulgent master waiting for their pet to learn a difficult trick, confident that they would eventually succeed.

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“I saw…” Pressure built in Jin's mind like a growing tumor, expanding until it threatened to burst him from within. He didn’t even have the luxury of losing consciousness. Hang Min’s expectant face was perfectly clear in his eyes. It occupied his whole field of vision, as if nothing else existed in the world.

“I saw greed on the Immortal’s face!” Jin suddenly bellowed, scarlet droplets spraying from his mouth in all directions. “She was completely covered in dust, ugly and vulgar like a beggar from the streets! She, she… she looked mortal!”

Now that the terrifying pressure mounting in his mind found a suitable opening, the words surged out of his mouth in an unstoppable torrent. It was impossible to stop. Jin screamed in despair, like a devout believer stumbling across his deities corpse.

“Greed filled her eyes!” Jin continued to roar. “I knew she wanted to steal it! Take it all for herself! And she’d kill me to do it! I spoke out not to gain her favour, but to save my life!”

He fell to his knees, gasping for air. Even now, the words wouldn’t stop. They continued to worm their way out of his mouth like a swam of rats escaping a burning house.

“So that’s what happened,” Hang Min said with a sigh. He looked down at Jin, who was still babbling on the ground, repeating his impressions of the female Immortal in agonizing detail.

Hang Min waved his hand, releasing the compulsion. “Enough, enough, save my junior sister some face, will you?”, he said jokingly.

He stared at Jin. The little miner didn’t paint an inspiring picture. Gone was the aura of heroism Hang had witnessed back in the hall. All that was left was a trembling creature, writhing and sobbing helplessly on the ground.

He produced a handkerchief from one of the folds of his robe and began to wipe the blood and snot from Jin’s face.

“There, there,” he said soothingly. “You have done very well protecting the dignity of the Sect. A true credit to the teachings. If old Wu from the disciplinary committee could see you now, I guarantee he would take you in as his disciple in a heartbeat.”

He cleaned Jin's face until not a speck of dirt remained. Next, he kneeled and started mopping up the small pool of blood that formed on the ground. “You will have to forgive little Xiao for her unseemly appearance. It’s really not her fault. Reaching the end of one’s path… It’s something that even the Sages find difficult to bear with dignity.”

Hang Min rose to his feet again. The melancholic mood was gone, replaced by a familiar look of playfulness.

“Still, it’s our first meeting, and custom dictates that we should exchange suitable gifts to mark the occasion.” He fumbled around in the folds of his robe, until he fished out a small pouch. He placed it on the ground with two hands.

“As for your gift for me,” he looked around awkwardly. Jin’s room was the very definition of austerity. Other than the filthy cot, the only things there were a few books Jin had bought from a merchant. But Hang Min wasn't interested in them.

Finally, he pointed to the handkerchief, now soaked with Jin's blood. "I'll just have to take that, I guess.”

Hang Min giggled, as if he'd made a particularly funny joke. Jin didn’t show any reaction. He had already managed to get a hold of himself, but he wanted nothing more to do with the blue robed Immortal.

He lay on the ground with his eyes closed, twitching as if he was still suffering from the effects of the interrogation. He continued to do so even after he had heard the blue robed teen finally leave his room.

It was only after a very long time had passed and he could hear the familiar noises of the other miners returning to their quarters, that he nervously got up from the ground.

He climbed onto his cot and buried himself under many layers of dirty blankets.

This has been the longest day of his life.

Exhaustion overwhelmed him. He was all too aware of the dangers that still awaited him - Big Lu’s wrath, the female Immortal’s secret, even the state of his own qi - but he lacked the strength to contemplate them for now.

Alone in his room, Jin curled up into a ball, hugging his legs to his chest, and drifted off into a restless sleep.