The elevator carrying the miners shook for the last time and came to a stop. Its rusty gate screeched open, letting in a gust of fresh air.

Jin Sou stepped out and took a deep breath.

“I’ve made it…”

He raised his head and looked to the small sliver of blue sky visible high above him.

The opening connecting the Pit with the surface was so small that the sun alone filled it completely during its daily climb, but to the miners like Jin Sou, who could barely remember what an open sky looked like, this little window to the outside world was terribly precious.

Beyond it laid a small town of mortal craftsmen and their families whose responsibility it was to provide the miners with everything they needed for their work.

And below it was the Pit.

A great hole in the earth, thousands of meters deep, dug out over the span of several centuries.

It started out as a part of the mine proper, but as the surface layers of spiritual crystals were continuously exhausted, the mining operation kept moving lower. The old shafts and tunnels became homes for the next generations of miners, whose work in turn sent them to toil at ever greater depths.

The cycle was endless, with each generation sinking deeper into the earth, closer to the spiritual veins and farther away from the sun.

The Pit’s main well extended from the very surface all the way to the bottom, where the elevators leading to the lower shafts were set up. Beams of true sunlight shone through the many wooden bridges that connected the opposing sides of the hole.

Without the spiritual crystals seeping their corrupting energies into the environment, the air was easier to breathe and even allowed for animals. The clip clop of horses pulling carriages heavy with excavated rock was heard all throughout the day. Sometimes, one could even spot a wayward bird circling in the sky, searching for its way out.

Jin caught a stray beam of sunlight on his face and closed his eyes, allowing himself to relax for a moment.

“Lil’ Lu is dead!” one of the miners from Jin’s crew suddenly bellowed at the top of his voice. There was a wild look in his eyes as he pulled in a crowd of onlookers.

The area near the elevator was never truly empty. It served as the main gateway to the active shafts, so different crews passed through it at all hours of the day and night. It took just a moment for a curious audience to form around the speaker.

“Devoured by the fiends,” the man continued in a trembling voice. “The cursed beasts launched themselves at him, feasting like buzzards on a fresh kill. Heavens! The sounds they made as they mauled his body, I’ll never forget it for so long as I live…”

A warden from another group interjected, doubt clear in his voice, “So, you’re saying Lil’ Lu tried to…” he didn’t finish the sentence.

The reason for his suspicion was obvious. Lil’ Lu was a warden, he had already reached one of the highest rungs in the hierarchy. It would make no sense for him to risk it all just for a chance to smuggle out some crystals.

“No! He was already dead!” a younger miner spoke up in a high pitched voice. “A lady Immortal killed him. I was the closest, so I saw it all, she—“

“Shut your mouth, boy!” another miner smacked him hard on the back of his head.

The boy rubbed his head with a venomous glint in his eyes. His plight didn’t inspire sympathy in the gathered men.

“You better wipe that look off your face, if you want to keep your teeth,” the miner who struck him hissed menacingly. He looked around cautiously, before continuing in a low voice. “If Lil’ Lu had done better job educating you brats, then maybe he wouldn’t be passing on to the next life outta the tail end of a fiend’s ass.”

“One thing is for certain,” another man said grimly. “Our warden died with a bellyful of grievance. See that one?” he asked, pointing in Jin’s direction. “He caught himself a treasure and thought he was a prince in the making, instead—“

Similar conversations were springing up all around Jin. The miners remained deathly quiet on their way topside, but the anxiety they kept bottled up inside overflowed and erupted as soon as they returned to the safety of the Pit.

Now, words passed through their mouths in an endless torrent. It was as if they hoped that with enough words, they could build a wall between themselves and the terror they experienced underground.

Jin was singled out again, but he wasn’t alone. Surreptitious glances accompanied him from every direction. He was being ogled like some manner of an exotic creature.

Panic crept over him. He needed to say something, anything - or his fate would be no different than if he had let that Immortal kill him. But if he revealed the truth now, it would only serve to offend the Immortal again.

His mind blank, Jin opened his mouth to speak. He could only hope that the words that could save him would magically flow out.

“Listen!” he cried out, when a sudden spasm in his leg almost made him fall over.

His shout succeeded in attracting attention. The crowd stared at him now with open curiosity, but Jin could no longer spare them any attention.

The qi in his meridians roiled.

He had never managed to get the unruly energies completely under his control, but he thought it was just the result of his encounter with that strange treasure. He hoped that just getting away from it would make the problem go away.

He was wrong.

His qi behaved for a while, but it was merely cowed by that ocean conjured up by the Immortal. Instead of growing docile, it waited for an opportunity to flare up again.

A prickling sensation, as if he was being stabbed by tiny needles, began to spread on his arms and chest. Disturbing amounts of qi continuously poured out of his dantian, but he couldn’t do anything to control them. The energies behaved like a foreign entity and remained completely deaf to his pleadings.

He abruptly pushed through the surrounding crowd and rushed in the direction of his room.

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His only chance lied in entering a deep meditative state and wresting back the control of the rebellious energies.

No one stopped him. Some even looked at his back with pity. Where was he hoping to hide?

***

Jin crashed into his room, ramming the door open with his body, but that was as far as his strength could take him.

A second later he was lying collapsed on the ground. He wasn’t even able to close the door. The muscles in his body twitched uncontrollably, as if he was in the throes of a raging fever.

“Brother Jin!”

A young boy, no older than thirteen, and clearly just recently arrived in the mine, stood up and exclaimed.

His fingers were tightly wrapped in bandages, but one could still see some puss seeping through the layers of cloth.

New arrivals couldn’t work in the lower shafts. They had neither the resistance necessary to withstand the ambient energies nor the strength to handle the heavy mining tools. But that didn’t mean that they spent their days idly.

Their task was to sift through the already crushed rocks, separating the precious crystals from useless rubble.

Tiny cuts accumulated quickly during such work, giving a convenient entryway for the corrupting energies. Circulating one’s qi provided a measure of protection, but learning how to do both at the same time wasn’t easy. It wasn’t rare for those who couldn’t master this skill in time to lose a finger or two during their first month in the mine.

Jin couldn’t even find the strength to raise his head.

Waves of excited energies flooded his meridian channels. There was a sense of joy to it, as if his qi was in the midst of some long awaited celebration, but Jin didn’t share in the festivity. The feeling was closer to having your lips curl in a forced smile when all you want to do is scream.

The pressure bearing on his meridians was increasing with every passing second and it wouldn’t be long before this joyous flood was about to kill him.

It was already close to a miracle that he had managed to reach his room.

“Get out…” Jin finally managed to stammer, with his face lying sideways on the ground. “And close the door…” he added weakly.

The boy looked at him anxiously for a moment, before bolting to the doors and slamming them shut. But instead of leaving, he returned to Jin’s side and suggested in a quavering voice, “I—, I will call someone!”

“No!” Jin cried out. “Need to meditate… leave.”

He pushed his hands against the ground, trying to raise himself. It felt as if he was trying to lift a mountain. The muscles in his arms quivered and for a moment Jin thought he couldn’t do it. But then, with a sudden burst of strength, he managed to pull himself to a sitting position.

Just this small feat left him gasping.

He looked at the frightened boy in front of him, wracking his brain how he could get him to leave.

Hao Ying belonged to the most recent cohort of workers to have arrived in the mine. Normally, he’d be expected to spend his free time outside of work in the communal barracks located deeper inside the tunnels.

But he and Jin had an agreement.

The sect acted like a ferocious tigress looking after its cubs with regard to the spiritual crystals, but it was far more lenient when it came to mortal affairs. The miners were largely self organised and free to spend their time between shifts however they wished - so long as the work was being done on time.

Its indifference went as far as to even generously hand out silver coins during special ceremonies that were held a few times a year.

The miners were prohibited from entering the surface town, but they could still exchange their coin with the select few traders who set up their businesses within the upper levels of the Pit.

Some spent their silver on extra rations of food and medicine. Others visited brothels where they futilely tried to get drunk on wine that was too weak to affect them.

Jin, however, spent every single piece of silver he had ever received at the same place. First to buy a book, and then, once he realised his mistake, to pay for lessons on how to read.

It happened during his first month in the mine. He was already lucky to have managed to hang on to his wealth, instead of losing it to his seniors. He wandered aimlessly the upper level of the Pit, without any idea what to do with it. The brothels wouldn’t serve him and he didn’t want to buy anything that would incite greed.

He found the book in one of the smaller shops, an unassuming place squished in between a tannery and a butcher shop.

It immediately attracted his attention.

Having grown up on a farm, his only previous experience with letters came from seeing them engraved on copper coins. That changed after the Sect had taken him, but their importance only grew in his imagination.

The Sect’s sigil was proudly displayed all throughout the mine. It hang over every bridge and gate. The miners were required to bow every time they walked past one, paying obeisance to the majesty conveyed in its golden lettering.

Even more formative was the experience of learning the cultivation mantra.

It was done completely orally. The instructors had them repeat and memorise foreign sounding words, but never explained the meaning behind them. One time, however, they showed them the old manuscript from which the mantra originated.

The awe Jin felt at that moment never left him. The letters were faded and indistinct, but the power hidden within them was so great that just saying them out loud was enough to guide someone on the path of Immortality.

How amazing would it be to actually understand them?

That day, he bought the book without even attempting to haggle. He threw the silver coins towards the grinning merchant as if they were burning.

He kept the book hidden in the folds of his clothes.

Only at times when he was completely alone did he take it out, studying it carefully, trying to delve into its secrets. He was convinced that just like with the cultivation mantra, with enough meditation, he would be able to grasp a little bit of its magic.

But weeks went by and nothing changed. Instead, the book began to deteriorate. Jin could never leave it alone, so he kept it with him even when working. His sweat gradually seeped into the paper, turning the letters painted with cheap ink to become smudged and faded.

Jin realised he had been duped.

It was only after he had returned to confront the merchant that he discovered the magnitude of his mistake. What he had bought wasn’t a cultivation mantra. It wasn’t even written in the language used by the Immortals.

It was just a simple, secular novel. There was nothing magical about it.

At least the merchant offered to teach him how to read. In exchange for a small fee, of course.

It had taken Jin years to acquire a basic competency. Many times he bemoaned his past naivety and the wretchedness of the merchant who tricked him. Recently, however, he’d managed to come up with a method to recoup some of the silver he had lost over the years.

His latest acquisition was a collection of old fables. The stories recounted the deeds of brave heroes, tragic lovers, and adventures in far-off lands. It wasn't something that interested the older miners, but the younger boys adored them. Many of them still longed for their families and fantasized about lives beyond the mine. Listening to Jin read these well-known tales provided them with the solace they required to endure the restless nights.

And they were willing to pay for it.

That collection of fables and two other books were the most precious possessions in Jin’s life, but he wouldn’t repeat the mistake he had made with his first book.

His deal with Hao Ying was simple. Since they worked different shifts, the boy would stay in his room when Jin worked in the shafts. He was too weak to do anything if someone actually broke in, but it was enough of a deterrence that he would remember their faces.

In exchange, Jin promised to read to him - for free.

Jin fixed his eyes on Hao’s face. He had good opinion of the boy, but now he needed him to leave.

“Hao,” he started, slowly spitting out each word. “I need you to do something for me.”

The boy looked even a shade paler than Jin. “Anything!” he immediately replied, vigorously nodding his head.

In the time Jin was lost in thought, Hao came close to a panic. Dark spots began to break out on Jin’s face and even the air in the room started to fill with a sickening stench. It took all his willpower not to run out and call for help.

“There is something wrong with my qi,” Jin began to explain. “I need to enter a deep meditative state to fix it.” He could feel his tongue growing numb as he spoke. “You must stay outside and stop anyone from entering my room. But you cannot tell anyone what’s going on.”

“Anyone,” Jin repeated, staring at the boy with a penetrating gaze.

The boy met his eyes and - thankfully - didn’t argue. He bit his lips and nodded, before leaving the room, shutting the doors behind him.

Jin’s eyes were already closed.

The next moments would determine whether he would live or die.