Jin’s team, some twenty people, made its way down to the elevator platforms in what seemed a perfectly normal atmosphere. Some of the older miners joked about the staff at the public house. A new member had joined their mining team today, a bright eyed teen who’d just reached the second layer and got promoted from the rubble duty. Rou Mi, little Lu’s former lackey, patiently explained the ropes to him, fulfilling his duty as the new warden.

It was almost as if the events of the past few weeks had never happened.

Almost.

Jin sighed as he caught the newbie glancing at him from the corner of his eye again. The teen was the only person in the group who in any way acknowledged his existence, and even that small breach was in the process of being snubbed out. Everyone else treated him like air.

He thought he had grown used to this treatment, welcomed it even, but this new arrival served as a painful reminder of just how bizarre this whole situation was.

He obviously wasn’t a waft of air. Everyone was able to see him. And if it seemed otherwise, it was through a deliberate, conscious effort of everyone around him. And such an unnatural arrangement couldn’t go on forever.

Ignore it. It can’t be helped for now. And you’ve got more important things to worry about.

He rubbed his hands to excise some of the cold. The temperature dropped rapidly as one descended down the well of the Pit to the elevator platforms. The air turned clammy and the sparse beams of sunlight penetrating through the eye of the Pit became even sparser.

The other miners reacted to the changing temperature in a similar manner. Few of them wore anything more substantial than a tattered loincloth, since the environment in the lower shafts they were about to enter was diametrically different. The rock housing the spiritual crystals never grew cold, and with twenty people working in a tight space, the air was hot and harsh like in a furnace.

One by one, the miners loaded into the elevator car. When Jin stepped in after them, they shuffled subtly, but in such a way that it wasn’t certain whether they were making space for him or trying to maintain their distance.

Rou Mi was the last to enter. He pulled the rusty gate shut and flashed the talisman that operated the elevator. Soon, to the accompaniment of harsh creaks and whining of chains, the platform began its laborious descent.

In just a few breaths the sunlight was snuffed out, leaving everything pitch black. Hazy blue light appeared as Rou Mi produced a luminous crystal, but it did little more than shroud everything in its glow and produce dancing shadows. Most of the miners had their eyes closed regardless, their lips quivered slightly as they mouthed the words of their cultivation mantra.

Jin was no exception.

The only difference was that he didn’t close his eyes. The white of his eyes cut a contrast against the blue of everyone’s faces. But as the elevator platform sunk deeper into the earth, and the air grew hot and stale, a prickly feeling began to creep over his back, and he too turned inwards, rousing the qi in his dantian.

The words of the cultivation mantra rang out in his mind.

This was the only way of protecting yourself from the chaotic energies in the lower parts of the mine. Miners had to to circulate their qi throughout the whole length of their shift, even as they struggled to lift their heavy hammers. Otherwise, even a small pause allowed the unstable energies seeping from the spiritual crystals to slip in, and when that happened, corruption followed.

I shouldn’t have used the black stone so close to the next shift…

It was difficult to focus. Even as the prickly feeling intensified, and his face grew flushed - telltale signs of qi invasion - Jin couldn’t easily enter the proper meditative state.

The headache that assaulted him after using the black stone had only grown worse since. Only now it was compounded with losing what felt roughly like a tenth of his qi to the greedy monk.

Come on…

Fighting against nausea, he managed to nudge and coax some of his qi from his dantian. The spiritual energies moved sluggishly, clearly unconvinced by his attempts, and took a painfully long time to complete a single circuit that ran through the major meridians in his hand and stomach.

Still, once the circuit was complete, the effect was immediate. The prickly feeling disappeared, as if washed off. And his qi turned more vigorous as well - it completed the second loop in half the time, and another one in half that still.

After six cycles, it was already coursing like a rapid river. Jin didn’t even need to put much thought to keep it humming along. The energies attuned themselves to his cultivation mantra and seamlessly navigated the twists and turns of his meridian pathways.

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I really am much stronger than before.

In fact, he was fairly certain he had already broken through to the third layer during the discipline. Unfortunately, with the way things were, he had no way of asking any of the senior miners for guidance or confirmation.

He looked around, letting his gaze rest on the gaunt, concentrated faces of his fellow miners.

That would probably make me… the strongest person here?

Although Rou Mi was promoted to warden after Lil’ Lu’s death, he did not actually have the corresponding strength. It was rare for miners to progress to the third layer - after all, if they had talent to begin with, they wouldn’t have ended up in the mine.

Still, it was hard to think of himself that way.

If things were normal, he would’ve informed Big Lu of his advancement and received a fitting promotion. And in the future, when Big Lu's life reached the typical, short lifespan of miners, he might have even succeeded him as one of the head wardens.

Not that it matters. If I revealed my advancement now, I’d only get dumped into one of the black teams that break open new shafts.

“Shift begins! Get to work!”

Rou Mi's whistle pierced the air as they reached the shaft where they would be working today. The ground was strewn with large boulders and chunks of rock.

Miners groaned as they spilled out of the elevator. The air in the shaft was hot, stale, and spent. The previous team that had extracted these rocks from the face of the mine must have only just left, not leaving enough time for fresh air to filter in.

Jin didn’t join in the chorus. He simply grabbed one of the mining hammers that lied sprawled on the floor and moved to the side, distancing himself from the rest of group.

Happy to be on his own, he began his work, and soon settled into a comfortable rhythm.

His hammer rose and fell, striking the boulder in front of him in a relentless flow. White sparks flew off with every hit. Before he could even get properly tired, the rock broke open, revealing a bounty of shiny spiritual crystals.

He didn’t spare them a look before moving on to the next rock. The hammer felt good in his hands today. The cultivation mantra rushed through his thoughts, a lengthy string of syllables he didn’t understand, interspersed with individual words whose meanings he’d only just grasped.

Strike!

Another boulder broke apart.

He breathed heavily. The air was hot and harsh in his throat, thick with swirling dust that filled the shaft. His back throbbed painfully, but in spite of it all, he felt good. It felt gratifying to hear nothing but the steady drumbeat of your heart and the rush of sucked air while looking at the result of your work.

Unbeknownst to Jin, nearly every other miner also paused their work at the same time. They hunched over their hammers, inhaling deeply, taking advantage of the short break.

It was only when Jin lifted his hammer again that they, too, resumed their work.

Since everyone used the same mantra to channel their qi, it wasn’t unusual for their movements to converge. As everyone tried to harmonise their motions with the mysterious words they recited in their minds, the rhythm of their swings would naturally align, giving rise to a single steady beat.

The cacophony would momentarily subside when that happened, replaced by a powerful crack that shook the walls. But soon enough, one person would slow down, while another would hasten, and the steady rhythm would disintegrate, reverting to chaotic noise.

The reason why it happened was simple.

Even as they followed a broken path, labouring under a severed dao that would never allow them to ignite their Immortal Sigils, the miners still walked a path.

Their efforts might have been futile, but they were uniquely their own. Although everyone started from the same mantra, the understandings they developed quickly diverged.

Even their intuitions about the tempo and flow of the words they recited were different. The swings of their hammers occasionally aligned, but it was closer to an illusion than reality, much like passing carriages might seem to meet for an instant, only to separate moments later.

It was this way even when Lil’ Lu was around. Things only started to change in recent weeks.

It would be impossible to determine how it all began, since no one would even admit that it was happening at all, but the work went better when everyone matched their pace with Jin’s. It wasn’t easier, since the pace he imposed was more strenuous than what anyone would choose on their own, but it was better.

It started with one or two miners inadvertently matching Jin's tempo. Then others followed suit. This pattern repeated during the next shift and the one after that.

And now, even as no one would look at him on the surface, in the oppressive darkness of the lower shafts, their heavy hammers moved in unison with his, and they paused to rest when he did.

Pressure.

Walk.

Strike!

The three meanings he was able to decipher pushed him and propelled him forward. And yet, though he was fully focused on his work, he wasn’t lost in a trance. As such, he was able to sense the change even a moment earlier than the rest of the miners.

THUD!

Something came down the vertical ventilation shaft. Billows of dark dust swelled and expanded on the ground beneath the exit. Shrouded within, one could recognise a ghostly figure of a person.

One by one, the miners dropped to their knees and pressed their foreheads to the ground. Many had even shut their eyes, unwilling to accidentally show disrespect to the newcomer.

A woman stepped out of the dark cloud. Miraculously, her white robes, adorned with the golden insignia of the Sect, remained pristine, as if even dust dared not offend her.

“We greet the Immortal!”

The miners bellowed into the ground with all the strength they could muster. The woman walked unhurriedly. Her black hair was tied in a neat knot that fell down her shoulders. Her stern face was impassive and didn’t spare a glance for the masses kowtowing at her feet.

Only Jin remained standing. Not out of some misguided defiance or due to a trance.

Terror froze his limbs. And reason told him that even if he fell to the ground and closed his eyes, it wouldn’t help him. Because he recognised the Revered One who was making her way to him.

She was the Immortal who had appeared when he unearthed the treasure, the one who had executed Lil' Lu, the sister Xiao about whom he had been interrogated by Hang Min.

Xiao stopped in front of Jin Sou.

She looked at him plainly, making no effort to conceal that they weren’t strangers, that there was a secret between them, binding them in some unacceptable way.

Her eyes were brown. And as he stared into them, unable to move with fear, Jin Sou recognised his own death reflected within.