Chapter 9:

“It seems that some of you have chosen to spit upon our generosity.” The Black Hammer said as he loomed over the three men at his feet. When one of them tried to get up he put a booted foot on their back and slammed them into the ground. He did it as if he didn’t notice, but the ground beneath the man cratered and the slave let out a scream of pain. “After all, we spared your pathetic lives and gave you a chance to live another day!”

I gritted my teeth as I watched this. My fists were clenched at my side. But there was nothing I could do about this even if my legs weren’t chained. The guy moved like a blur and his attacks were apparently so powerful they sounded like explosions. I was just too weak to do anything.

I really hated being weak here.

“And not only did these fools spit on our generosity. They did it in such a stupid way?” The Black Hammer continued, ignoring the desperate scrabbling of the man he was crushing underneath his foot. Instead, he laughed and shook his head.“These idiots thought they could dig their way out of the mines! Can you believe that? Idiots, right!”

The bearded big-nosed man laughed again and so did most of the other Marauders.

“Or maybe they think we're idiots,” the Black Hammer said, his expression going cold. He reached down and picked up one of the other men by the neck. The one with the collar. They struggled uselessly against the arm holding them up. The bandit was already a big guy with bulging muscles. But the slave was also in a rough state so he looked like a twig in comparison. He had no chance to escape. “Well, is that what you thought? Is that why you were dumb enough to think we wouldn't find your little escape tunnel.”

I fought down any reactions to those words. But my heart still thumped loudly in my chest. So they checked the mines for extra tunnels? Shit. Should have thought about that.

The man being held up tried to speak and continued to struggle. But the hand around his neck kept any words from forming and each second his movements were weakening.

I felt pain in my hands, and it took me a second to realize I was clenching my fist so tightly that I was almost breaking skin. I forced myself to relax my hands. Yet that didn’t stop the fear and anger growing in my stomach.

“Idiots,” the Black Hammer finally said before dropping the man like a sack of potatoes.

The man gasped desperately for air while clutching his throat. But the bandit ignored that and turned his gaze to the rest of us. He scanned through the crowd and I could see the cold menacing indifference in them even from the crowds.

“Though I suppose I shouldn’t expect weak trash like all of you to be any better,” the bandit said as if he was disappointed in himself. It made my blood boil. “I suppose if you are all that stupid, I need to be clearer. So none of you get any more foolish ideas that try to waste our time. Or possibly cause a collapse in the mines from trying to dig your own tunnels.”

“Men!” he called out, a cruel-looking grin on his face. “Who wants to help me make an example out of these morons? So the rest of the trash know their place. And that there is no escape. Not until we're done here.”

The bandits surrounding us cheered and many of them volunteered. The most eager of them all though, was a familiar younger big-nosed man.

“Sir! Let me handle it,” the man—Yan something, and possibly related to the Black Hammer—said, a manic grin on his face. “I know just the fucking thing to send a message through their thick skulls.”

“And just what would that be, Yan Song?” the Black Hammer asked, a grin on his face as he focused on the younger man.

“Well for those two,” Yan Song said, pointing to the man buried in the ground now and the one who’d been spared so far. “Something entertaining each. So maybe some rat torture and a good old-fashioned quartering.”

The bandit leader's grin faded a bit and he sighed. “That’s it?”

“Of course not, sir,” Yan Song said with a laugh. “That’s just the beginning. Vicious enough to send a message. But for the last one.“ Yan Song pointed at the man who’d been choked. “He will be the best message. I remember the bastard. Killed a couple of our men before you showed him his place. But one of the women we captured I think is his. Or was.” He let out a disgusting vile laugh at that and my stomach twisted.

Right… I hadn’t even really noticed it but all the slaves were men. But it seemed they’d taken women hostages too and… Well, they did what fucking scumbags like this did to women under their control. As if I couldn’t hate these fuckers enough already.

“How about we give her to the men to get a taste of the Rite of Devouring Essence,” Yan Song continued. “Then fucking tie a rope around his neck and make him watch. See how long it takes before he kills himself trying to save her as she withers away.”

The Black Hammer burst out into laughter at that. Meanwhile, the man who had been choked looked up and glared pure hate at Yan Song.

I just gritted my teeth and did my best not to make a scene. I had to fight to not clench my fist or anything more noticeable. I had no idea what the rite was, but given the implications and what I knew about the more messed up side of cultivation in stories, I just knew it would be horrible.

“Now, that is a suggestion,” the Black Hammer said. “Give the men a taste of what they can get if they work hard. And a good lesson for what trying to escape will do. That’s more like what I was expecting. I’ll let you do the quartering, then you can take another one of the women and use the rite as well.”

“Thank you, sir!” Yang Song said, ecstatic. It made me want to punch his big stupid nose even more than when he beat and stomped me.

“Now come on,” the Black Hammer said. “Get to it. Let's see if these trash will learn anything from this. Oh, and one more thing.” He turned his gaze to us again. “This time. Only the ones causing problems are being punished. But the Black Wind isn’t any happier than I am about this. If this happens again, then he will take a hand in this personally.”

He paused for a second and no one spoke. Tension seemed to fall over everyone at that declaration. It left me kinda confused and I looked around as discreetly as I could. But all I saw around me were terrified faces. Even Shui Jianfeng and Ming Lin looked pale. Shui Jianfeng had said he had a ruthless reputation but was it really that bad?

Apparently, given the expression everyone had.

“So if you don’t want that happening I suggest you all keep an eye out. Because the Black Wind won’t nearly be as kind as me. He might just punish you all. At the very least, since we know how many of the whores used to belong to some of you, we might just put the brunt of the punishment on them. So… If you don’t want to join these fools, you’ll report anyone doing something unwise.”

I did my best not to grimace at that. Fuck… So another thing we had to worry about. Not just the bandits but the other slaves finding any tunnel we dug. How were we going to deal with that?

The Black Hammer gave us one last glare before he grinned and waved his bandits forward. After that, we were forced to watch with everyone else some of the most horrifying things I’d ever seen. The death and the screams would haunt me until… Probably the day I died.

I vomited at some point, along with dozens of other slaves being forced to watch. And when it was finally over, I felt exhausted and ill as we were forced to line up for our evening meal and water. I had a really hard time keeping any of it down. Then we were marched back to our tents to rest for tomorrow.

—Line break—

It took me a long time to fall asleep that night. The screaming, begging, blood, and the woman’s desiccated corpse haunted me constantly. Yet, the more my mind turned over the event, the less fearful and sick I became.

Instead, I got mad. Mad that the bandits were such sick twisted monsters. Mad that I was even in this crazy sick world. And in that anger, I found determination.

Fuck the bastards and their attempt to deter and intimidate us. I was still going to escape. They might be ready for normal people trying to tunnel out using picks and only above-average strength. But I would bet they weren’t ready for me. And once I was free, I would work to make them pay.

It was only after I came to that resolution was I finally able to sleep. But even then I didn’t sleep well.

The next morning I felt dead on my feet and just went through the motions as we were woken up. Yang Song was there again and part of me wanted to jump him. Bash his head into the ground and end the monster. Drive my Rock Claws into his eyes and tear his skull off.

But I kept my head down, even when he decided to shove me to the ground and harass the rest of us.

I ate and drank in silence, mechanically meeting my needs. Then we were ushered back down into the mines.

Once again we were herded towards the same starting tunnel as the day before. For some reason, Shui Jianfeng was looking toward the other groups of slaves. It took my still drowsy mind to realize he was probably looking for the other members of the Stomping Bulls. Though I couldn’t tell if he recognized anyone from his expression.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Ming Lin, on the other hand, kept his head down. Seemed that he was just as badly affected by what we saw last night. He didn’t look up even once as we were unchained, given tools again, and sent down into the tunnels.

I stayed close to the two of them as we moved. Yet none of us spoke. There was a lot to discuss, but not when there were other slaves nearby. I could already see everyone eyeing each other suspiciously. There was no need to say something that would tip one of them off and have them report us.

“We should speed up our plans,” Shui Jianfeng said a while after we managed to split enough to be just the three of us. We were stopped at another branching path in the extensive tunnel network. Even then, he spoke quietly in case we were followed. “I don’t think I can stand being here and letting those monsters get away with all this any longer than necessary.”

Ming Lin finally looked up at Shui Jianfeng’s words, though his expression wasn’t what I thought it would be. I thought he’d look sick or tired. Instead, he looked up with a cold intensity.

“We leave as soon as we can,” Ming Lin agreed with a sharp nod. “Then we make those sick bastards pay. If we tell Miss Sun Xia about what we saw, then she can gather forces to destroy them. That rite was a demonic technique.”

I frowned. While that sounded good, we still had to actually get out of here first. “I’d like to get out of here faster, too. But… given what happened, and the fact that they must check the caves when we aren’t down here—or maybe even do surprise visits or something—don’t we need to be even more careful? Even if they don’t find us, the others down here might see something and give us up instead of risking… What happened last night happening to them.”

“I will not be cowed by those bastards,” Ming Lin said through gritted teeth and turned his cold gaze to me. I flinched at the pure hatred in his eyes and stepped back. Thankfully, Shui Jianfeng stepped between us.

“I have a plan to deal with the risks,” Shui Jianfeng said, holding his hands up placatingly. “I spent this morning asking questions and doing my best to listen in on the slaves that have been here longer. Everyone’s wary about what happened, but they don’t mind talking about unrelated things. Like the kinds of spirit beasts that roam down here. Even in the mossy layers. Many slaves have gone down there when they are really desperate. And from the sounds of it, you should be able to get something from there that could help hide any of our attempts. Like the ability to shape earth and stone. As long as you can get the right tools, we shouldn’t have anything to fear.”

My frown deepened at that, and I looked the two of them over. They both still had their bandages on, and Ming Lin’s left arm was still in a sling. Sure, they had fought okay yesterday. But from what I understood, the dangers of the lower levels were much worse.

“So you want us to risk going deep enough that we reach the mossy levels and go faster?” I asked. “Aren’t Rank 1 spirit beasts a lot stronger than Rank 0s? Isn’t this too big of a risk?”

“Not as big as you fear,” Shui Jianfeng said with a shake of his head. “Because I also learned of a spirit beast down here that should make things a lot easier for us if you can get its ability. It’s called a Spirit Leech. It mainly lives on spirit stone clusters and drains the Qi out of them slowly to feed itself. More importantly, if you get one on you and don’t notice, it can drain you dry and leave you for dead. Which means it can forcefully drain Qi. I think if we get you that, you might be able to help with these.“ He tapped at the collar on his neck.

“Normally, they’d be too dangerous to handle,” he continued. “But if you can obtain that ability, then that won’t be an issue. And once the collar is disrupted, even if only for a couple of moments…” He turned to Ming Lin with a smirk. “Then Ming Lin should be able to use enough strength to rip them off.”

Ming Lin’s eyes widened before nodding firmly at that. Then he turned to look at me expectantly. Demandingly really. Shui Jianfeng did the same, though with just a confident smirk.

I was a bit taken aback by all this. I’d resolve that we’d get revenge on the bandits, but I’d thought that it would be a slow thing. Carefully getting stronger and stronger. But now was it really possible for us to actually end this nightmare faster?

Was Ming Lin really that strong with his Qi? I eyed the collars around their neck again. They were pure metal and there were no latches. They also looked incredibly thick, at least two finger widths. Yet if they thought we could do it…

“Okay,” I said after a moment of consideration. “I can see how that could work. But, I’m assuming you won’t be able to put the collars back on once you take them off? So we won’t be able to go back up. And they could still come down and catch you two without collars? Also what about food?”

Shui Jianfeng shook his head at that. “Food won’t be a problem. And the issue with the collars is why we need to work fast and go to the lower levels. I’m fairly certain the escape tunnel those men dug was in the upper levels. Without your ability, they would’ve had no hope of escaping by tunneling from as deep as we are now.

“And given how many branches the tunnels break up into, and how few of the bandits there are compared to the slaves, it’s unlikely that we will run into any of them down in the depths any time soon. Especially when most of the bandits are mediocre fighters at best. I doubt many of them dare go too deep, too afraid of the spirit beasts down here. And that will only be a risk until you get a power that can seal up the tunnels behind us.“

“Alright,” I finally said, nodding slowly and processing all that.

If Shui Jianfeng was right, then maybe this could really work. We were making some assumptions, and there were still a lot of risks. But… if it meant escaping faster and stopping those bastard bandits, then maybe it was worth the risk. And if we weren’t going back up, then maybe I could finally start cultivating and actually start getting stronger.

“I guess I’m convinced,” I said with a sigh. “So we just have to keep searching for spirit stones until we find one of those leeches? Then we head down to the lower levels?”

“Well…” Shui Jianfeng said while rubbing the back of his head. “Not exactly…”

—Linebreak—

“Are you sure about this,” I said for what felt like the tenth time as I followed closely behind Shui Jianfeng. Ming Lin brought up the rear so that the squishiest and weakest person—me—was protected on both sides.

But despite the protection, I still felt extremely nervous. I’d been hoping that we would be coming down here after we got rid of their collars.

Not before.

I held my pick in one hand in a death grip, while my other held a spirit stone. At the first sign of trouble, I would shove it in my mouth and… Hopefully not die. I regretted not pushing to find another mole now to upgrade the Skill. But there hadn’t been any along the way and I had been eager to get a Skill from the leeches. There were moles down here, but killing one would make way too much noise. And it wasn’t like it would help that much anyway. If a Rank 1 appeared we’d be screwed.

Shui Jianfeng had our torch tied up in his waist sash so no one had to waste an extra hand. Though the torch itself wasn’t even that necessary down here. Not with all the glowing blue moss lighting up our surroundings.

The same moss that meant that we were deep enough to encounter Rank 1 spirit beasts.

“80%,” Shui Jianfeng said in a low voice as he approached another spirit stone cluster growing out of the walls. He tsked when he didn’t find what he was looking for. “I overheard some of the guys talking last night after… That. And I talked to those three guys from yesterday again—the ones that gave us the advice about the moles. The moss layer of the mine is dangerous, but people do come down here from time to time. Sometimes when they are desperate for stones, or sometimes when they are desperate for food and water. Apparently, the moss is a decent source of both.”

I grimaced at the thought as I looked at the wet-looking moss around us. That sounded disgusting. Though I guess if I was desperate…

“Usually it's the latter since mining is loud and will attract attention,” Shui Jianfeng said. “But people have managed to grab some stones and get out of here alive in the past. As long as we don’t go too deep, and don’t mine here, we should be fine. And that’s perfect for us since we only need to find some leeches.“

“Alright, but the moment I kill one, we start heading back up,” I said, warily looking at my surroundings.

The tunnels were larger here. Before the tunnels were cramped enough that we could touch the ceiling by raising our hands, and three people shoulder to shoulder might get stuck. Here though, just a few dozen yards after passing the first patch of moss, it was like the size of a subway tunnel.

It gave us more room to fight and breathe but also gave more room for things to hide. There were stalagmites and other kinds of rock formations. Even puddles of water that were deeper than they looked. There were no wooden mining supports, but the rock here seemed denser to my Earth Sense. Tremors and vibrations traveled just a bit differently here.

All of it made me nervous. Especially since there were other creatures here as well. Nothing strong thankfully. Just more of the moles of course, and those stone hermit crab things. There were also smaller bug things that seemed to feed on the moss and scattered if we got close.

Thankfully, they seemed content to leave us alone as long as we did the same. But the occasional noise they made was rather nerve-racking. Along with a low rumbling that seemed to echo through the tunnel. Part of me couldn’t help but wonder if the sound was actually coming from the tunnel walls themselves. But my Earth Sense was far too limited to detect if there was anything burrowing around so I could only hope not.

“I don’t want to be here any more than you do,” Shui Jianfeng said before he started heading deeper down the tunnel again. Then he stopped at the next cluster of spirit stones to inspect it. “This is our best chance though. So don’t panic and just be careful and keep an eye out—hey, I found one.”

He froze and started to back off.

I moved forward to get a better look with Ming Lin right behind me. It took me a second to see it as it was the same color as the spirit stones. It glowed softly. But after staring at it a bit, I could see a strange blob resting on the stone. The spirit stone under it was actually dimmer, I thought, but its own glow covered it up.

“Take your time and try not to make too much noise,” Shui Jianfeng said, glancing around. “They should be harmless as long as they don’t touch your skin. Their main thing is going unnoticed.”

Trusting the two with me to watch my back, I put away the spirit stone in my hand and readied my pick. I slowly approached, waiting for any reaction from the thing.

When nothing happened, I closed in more and slowly brought up my pick. Not too high as the thing seemed rather weak. A good solid stab should be all that was needed.

Which was exactly what I gave it. The tip of my pick dug into the creature, pinning it to the stone it was leeching from. The thing twisted and writhed in pain but thankfully made no noise. Then after a long moment, its movements died off.

“Yes,” I whispered once I saw a familiar blue halo of light. It somehow still stood out despite all the blue light down here. I quickly focused on it and soon found the Skill we were hoping for.

Skill: Qi Leech (E Rank). Forcefully drain Qi from a target you are touching at a rate of 0.5 Qi per second. Excess Qi will be expelled from your body and the drain rate will be reduced by half.

* Cost: 1 Qi

I turned to Shui Jianfeng with a grin. “Alright, I’m done. Let's leave and test it out first befo—”

I was cut off by a rumble. It sounded like the rumbling I’d been hearing since coming down here but louder. And closer. Like it was coming from the wall opposite of us.

“Shit—” was all I had time to say.

Then the rock of the wall crumbled as something burrowed out.