"Sir! Please, let me through. I've been here since last night mining..."

"Haha, this does seem to be enough to satisfy us. I'll need to check up on some people before compensating for your time here."

Because of the sudden shout of some middle-aged man, Wu Ming was kicked out of his unstable state of mind and noticed the presence of a few black robed individuals standing around the cave entrance.

Just as he started wondering who these figures were, a nearby servant who noticed their odd behavior came up to them. He was small and had a petite face but the blisters on his hands were enough to tell anybody that he was not to be taken at face value.

"Hey, you two must be new here. Don't be scared, this is just an ordinary cave with ordinary rocks that don't bite back. As for those guys, they're the kids from the Disciplinary Committee. Every single one of those enforcers are arrogant, unreasonable dogs who take delight in our misery."

The servant paused for a moment to send rude gestures to the enforcers of the Disciplinary Committee behind their back.

"Anyways, watch out and don't offend them too much. Come with me, I'll get you started on your work. And by the way, I'm Du Heng."

After sparing a moment to think, Wu Ming chose to follow Du Heng deeper into the cavern with his pickaxe resting in his arms and Wang Qi walking alongside him. Although this sudden warm-hearted welcome seemed very suspicious, Wu Ming didn't reject it. After all, one of the sect rules were that fighting amongst sect members was prohibited and was punishable by imprisonment!

They passed by numerous branches from the main cavern both natural and seemingly man-made. At the center of the main cavern was a cart system with servants pushing their carts along a designated track. A few minutes after moving deeper in, they eventually moved into a branch of the cavern. Even though it was substantially smaller than the main cavern, there was still enough space to fit a hundred men in it. Currently, there was nobody inside but them.

Du Heng brought them to a rather isolated corner before urging Wu Ming and Wang Qi to start chipping away at the rough walls of rock as he explained some important details.

"As you may know, the Servants' Quarters houses those that are at the 3rd level of Qi Condensation and below. So, every kind of work here has 4 different sectors for the differently ranked Cultivators with one being for mortals like us."

"You saw how big and endless the main cavern was. I heard that thing goes down to the roots of the mountain where they searched for all kinds of mystical materials..."

As Wu Ming's muscles trembled whenever his pickaxe made loud thuds against the rocky walls, his understanding of the Servants' Quarters and the miner district itself grew with each passing word that slid off Du Heng's tongue.

Beside him, Wang Qi seemed to already know this as he kept nodding to himself. Instead of listening, he was more focused on mining.

After a few hours passed by slowly and each of the trio had mined enough to fill a cart. They then started to lift the mined materials into the carts situated at the sides of the main cavern.

Throughout the time spent mining here, Wu Ming gradually got a better impression of Du Heng. He had held nothing back and wholeheartedly informed Wu Ming on all the places in the Servants' Quarters.

At the cavern's entrance, the trio pushed their carts towards the enforcers stationed at the side. There, they silently let the enforcers inspect their findings. With a nod of satisfaction, the enforcers led a middle aged man to the carts where he suddenly waved his hand and seemingly absorbed all the materials into his hand.

Wu Ming raised his eyebrows in surprise at the sight and immediately started to make deductions about the middle aged man's action.

"Get moving! Could it be that you want more work?" An enforcer shouted, seeing that a lowly servant rudely paused in place at the front of a queue of other miners.

"Wu Ming, let's go!"

Wu Ming pushed his thoughts to the back of his head and hurriedly followed Du Heng out. Meanwhile, a young enforcer at the other side of the entrance rushed over, his eyes flashing with ill intent. He approached the middle aged man before he spoke out.

"Reporting to Elder Shu, that miner from before is Wu Ming. He and I came here to the sect together and I can confidently say that he is rebellious and needs discipline!"

The middle aged man raised an eyebrow at the words of this young man. It seems that he has some grudge against that miner...

"Oh? Then I'll leave you to educate him. What's your name?"

"Sir, my name is Jun Yi!"

~~

The sun had already glided behind the mountain and the sky was slowly being dyed orange. Right now, Wu Ming was sitting down cross-legged in his house alone while trying to sense the spiritual energy around him. However, all he felt was the cold breeze that brushed against his arms occasionally.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

This went on endlessly into the night but when he thought that he was done for now, he faintly felt that the pressure around him had increased ever so slightly. After all the time spent by himself both in the village and the sect, his senses had become extremely acute for someone of his age.

However, that only lasted for an instant before it disappeared. Wu Ming opened his eyes and tried to recall that feeling like being a fish surrounded by water. The next step after sensing the spiritual energy was to try and absorb it into one's meridians.

"I just need to focus on sensing the spiritual energy around me but how do I absorb it? Let's try!"

Thus, encouraged by his recent success, Wu Ming spent the entire night meditating. Throughout this session, his biggest success was maintaining the state of sensing spiritual energy for a full minute. However, the method of absorbing it into his meridians remained a mystery to him.

*Knock* *Knock*

Wu Ming opened his eyes slowly at the sounds of knocking on his front door. He noticed that it was still relatively dark outside so everybody should still be in their homes. If anybody were to approach him at this time, he felt that whatever it was would have to be important.

After a brief stretch, he got up to open it. A frown quickly emerged on his face when he found Jun Yi and a few other enforcers on the other side.

"Wu Ming, with the authority of the Disciplinary Committee, we require you to honorably serve the sect more by mining more in the caverns."

Jun Yi stepped up and with a slight smirk, shamelessly ordered Wu Ming to waste away his time in the caverns. Just as Wu Ming was about to close the door, one of the enforcers beside Jun Yi stepped in and stopped the door from closing. From his muscular build, one could easily tell he was not to be meddled with. But the most fearsome part was that his presence brought a near suffocating pressure to Wu Ming.

"Tsk tsk, why are you like this Wu Ming? Men, I think it's time to make him remember his place. Good job choosing a house with nobody else."

Following that, the enforcer at the door threw Wu Ming to the back of the house effortlessly before the entire gang strutted into the house. On the faces of all of them were their malicious intents fully exposed in the form of smiles. One of them even licked his lips as if this occurrence was a rare delicacy.

"The Disciplinary Committee is a bunch of bullies after all. I didn't do anything wrong and I'm getting picked on? Thanks, I'll be sure to tell everybody else of your lesson."

Wu Ming staggered up to his feet with a trickle of blood escaping his lips. He looked up at the gang as they closed the door behind them. When they heard his words, they glared daggers at him but paid it no mind afterwards.

"If you speak of this outside, prepare for another lesson. Shi Xing, guard the door."

The gang surrounded Wu Ming swiftly with the strongest one blockading the door as if it was practiced routinely. Moments later, seeing that Wu Ming refused to show signs of despair, the first enforcer started to beat him up.

"Argh!"

The next few minutes were spent with Wu Ming curled up on the floor. Every kick was accompanied with the pains of the unfairness of the sect. Each one fueled a small flame of anger in his heart and caused blue veins to emerge all over his body.

Ever since young, he had beared with the constant insults to the point where he considered it a normal part of his life. However, nobody had gone too far to the point of physically abusing him; until now that is.

"Why is this happening to me? I never did anything my entire life so why? I've started anew here and I thought that under the sect rules, I would be safe. What utter bullying!

...

Maybe that's the reason. Maybe I should be doing the same to them!

Suddenly, Wu Ming's blood boiled, causing steam to rise up around him. Veins bulged out his arms and forehead, pulsating sporadically. To top it off, his face contorted in a rage never seen on his face before. His face occasionally trembled, as if it was incapable of displaying his rage.

Just as this change happened, Wu Ming threw his arms out, pushing away all the enforcers around him.

"What's this? I've never seen anything like this..."

One of the enforcers mumbled as all of them stared at Wu Ming. Then, without a moment's notice, Wu Ming dashed towards the gang with his right fist high up in the air.

"Shi Xing, come!"

Right before Wu Ming's fist reached Jun Yi, the enforcer at the door appeared between them, stopping the attack barely before Jun Yi's stomach. The muscular enforcer's face twitched with pain before he shoved Wu Ming back to the wall.

"Sorry but you've upsetted one of our own. You'll have to pay a price."

Then, the pressure surrounding that muscular enforcer increased before he pounced toward Wu Ming.

~~

"Ugh..."

Wu Ming woke up in the morning to stinging pains on his chest and right arm. He was leaning his back against the wall beside his bed and noticed that black scabs had formed on various parts of his body. He tried to move but a wave of fatigue pushed him back down.

"What happened last night?"

He tried remembering what happened the night before but only saw flashes of what Jun Yi did. As for his retaliation, he knew nothing of it...

"Ah!"

Suddenly, with a loud thud, somebody fell through the window. That person was revealed after he got up to be Wang Qi!

"Wha- what happened to you Wu Ming?!"

Wang Qi rushed to Wu Ming's side and carefully touched Wu Ming's injuries. Clearly, he didn't know what he was doing.

"What's wrong with him? Is his nose inverted from the snoring?" Someone chortled as he forced his way through the window as well.

"Du Heng, shut up and help him!"

Hearing the urgency of Wang Qi's call, Du Heng turned his head towards Wang Qi and was immediately startled. Not wanting to waste anymore time, he tended to Wu Ming's injuries after carefully carrying him onto the bed.

Minutes passed by slowly as Du Heng and Wang Qi tried to mend Wu Ming's injuries while he told them of what happened during the night before.

"That's..." Du Heng and Wang Qi both gave an odd stare towards Wu Ming. Then Du Heng began to explain the predicament he was in.

"I heard that Shi Xing is a talented enforcer that has just advanced to the first stage of cultivation! No wonder you got beat up. But the weirdest part is that he kind of, appeared beat up this morning..."

"If you're wondering if I was the one who beat him up, I don't think that's possible. As you said, he's advanced to Qi Condensation already."

Then, Wu Ming's eyes flashed with understanding at those words. He knew the world was unfair since young but it seems that it seems that it can get worse.

"They plan to use their authority and pin some crimes to my name huh. With Jun Yi's unreasonable attitude towards me and that brute's status, the Elders of the sect will probably ignore worthless miners like me..."

Wu Ming's train of thoughts led him to the most probable explanation and his mouth slowly murmured.

"This place is awful."