After Li Lu finished her meal, Li Mei invited her to continue their digging. By the time they stopped, it was already evening. Despite spending the entire afternoon searching, they had only found one spiritual stone, which was the one Li Lu had discovered. That night, they skipped dinner, so Li Mei suggested they go to bed with empty stomachs. They then headed toward one of the rooms, which resembled small caves, carrying their pickaxes on their shoulders. As they walked, they noticed other prisoners still diligently digging, even in the dark, all hoping to find a spiritual stone.

When the two arrived at the cave-like room, they saw that other prisoners were already starting to set up their sleeping areas on the rocky floor. Each prisoner was shackled with chains about 12 inches long, allowing for some movement, and they all had thick cloths wrapped around their waists. When one prisoner removed the cloth, it was clear that his thin stomach was also wrapped in a thin cloth. This was a common practice among prisoners, as they believed it would slow down the digestion of their food.

The two quickly made their way to the remaining space, knowing that it was crucial to secure a sleeping spot. If they delayed, they might lose their place, especially since it became very cold outside their cave-like quarters late at night. As a result, each small cave was used as a sleeping area, leading to the prisoners being packed closely together in order to sleep comfortably.

When Li Lu and Li Mei removed the clothes from their waists, the two had thin clothes wrapped around their stomachs. After setting up their sleeping areas, Li Lu chose to sleep next to her pickaxe rather than her mother. This precaution was necessary because pickaxes and mats were frequently stolen by fellow prisoners when they were distracted. Since it was difficult to dig for spiritual stones using only their hands, keeping their tools close was essential.

Li Mei did the same as her daughter, and all the other prisoners followed suit. Despite the efforts to sleep comfortably, Li Lu struggled to fall asleep. It wasn't the snoring of the other prisoners that bothered her, but rather her intense hunger. To manage her discomfort, she tightened the cloth around her thin waist.

She took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling. As she gazed at it for a long time, she remembered the hardships she and her mother had faced since arriving at the spiritual stone mine. She had often seen prisoners stealing from one another—pickaxes, mats, and even spiritual stones were frequently taken. With the growing number of prisoners, there was a severe shortage of spiritual stones, leading those who found one to hide it quickly on their bodies.

Those who were less fortunate and didn't find any stones had to eat insects from the ground, such as worms or bugs that lived underground. In their extreme hunger, some prisoners would even resort to forcibly taking stones from those who had found them. This desperation often led to fights, with prisoners brawling, kicking, or even killing each other using their pickaxes as weapons.

In such situations the black-clad guards seemed completely indifferent. Some even laughed or placed bets on which prisoner would win the fights they watched. Eventually, one of the guards had an idea and suggested to the warden to create an arena for life-and-death battles, offering a meager, low-grade spiritual stone as a prize. Many prisoners, mostly men, took the bait and participated in this brutal scheme.

For the women, they secretly went to hidden rooms where they engaged in sexual acts with the black-clad guards or even the warden in exchange for spiritual stones. These encounters often involved threesomes (ffm/mmf), handjobs, blowjobs, or titjobs. The guards didn't care whether the women providing these services were young or old, showing a complete lack of concern for their well-being.

Others chose to continue digging, despite the slim chance of finding a spiritual stone, rather than endure the degrading activities they witnessed. For them, it was preferable to dig for hours for a piece of bread or face starvation than to participate in those acts. Li Lu and her mother, Li Mei, decided to focus on digging, with their sole concern being survival. After such a long time in captivity, Li Lu had lost track of how many days, months, or years had passed. Given all she had seen and experienced, she trusted no one but her mother.

Li Lu took a deep breath and thought to herself, "I’m not sure if I should be relieved that Mama and I ended up in this mine instead of that other cave because it feels like we're being slowly killed here." She then glanced to her left, where her mother was sleeping. "I hope someone from the outside will come to rescue us," Li Lu whispered before falling asleep.

As soon as the first rays of sunlight began to appear, many prisoners were already awake, preparing for another day of struggling to survive in their hellish environment. Li Lu and Li Mei were no different; they resumed their digging at the same spot where they had left off. When lunchtime arrived, they took a break and sat on one of the rocks they had removed.

While they were resting, Li Lu turned to her mother and said, "Mom, it seems like the spiritual stones we find while digging are just coming around in circles." Hearing this, Li Mei looked at her daughter with curiosity and asked, "How do you mean?"

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"I saw one of the men who won in the life-and-death arena holding the spiritual stone I found the other day," Li Lu said. Hearing this, Li Mei smiled and responded, "It seems you've become more aware of your surroundings. I'm proud of you." Li Lu lowered her head and smiled slightly at her mother’s praise.

Unbeknownst to Li Mei, this newfound awareness was taught to her by Madara. Noticing her daughter's reaction, Li Mei gently patted her back and said, "We will get out of here someday." Li Lu looked at her mother and replied, "I hope so, too." They shared an embrace, and after their heartfelt moment, they resumed their digging. After several hours of digging, Li Lu decided to move to a different area to search for a spiritual stone.

A few minutes later, she stopped in her tracks when she heard a scream not far away—it was her mother’s voice. Without hesitation, she ran towards the sound, her pickaxe slung over her shoulder. When she arrived, she saw three men attacking and kicking her mother. "Give me those three spiritual stones you found!" one of the men demanded, trying to take them from Li Mei's mouth. Li Lu didn’t waste a moment. Gripping her pickaxe tightly, she rushed forward and, as she got closer, she swung it at one of the men who had his back turned.

As Li Lu leaped and struck the man with her pickaxe, the pick struck the right side of his back. He cried out in pain and turned his attention to her. Despite the pickaxe lodged in his back, he charged at Li Lu with no regard for his injury.

Given their close proximity, Li Lu had no chance to run or retreat, so she braced herself to face him. As they clashed, the man leaned forward slightly because of their height difference and aimed a punch at Li Lu’s right cheek. Noticing that his lower defenses were exposed, Li Lu saw an opportunity. She responded by landing a powerful punch with her right fist.

Before the man’s punch could hit Li Lu’s face, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his groin. Looking down, he saw that Li Lu’s fist had struck him directly in the groin. As Li Lu’s punch landed, the man felt a crushing pain and immediately clutched his groin, which was bleeding. The intense pain caused him to collapse to the ground. Seeing this, Li Lu quickly ran towards her mother.

As she passed by the man lying on the ground, holding his injured groin, she was suddenly stopped when someone grabbed her ankle. Looking down, she realized it was the man she had just struck. Reacting quickly, Li Lu kicked him in the face, freeing her leg. With the man finally released, Li Lu turned back to continue towards her mother. However, as she faced forward, she was struck in the stomach and the left side of her face by a sudden punch.

The punch she received knocked her to the ground, leaving her disoriented. When she opened her eyes, she saw a man straddling her waist. At the same time, he was landing left and right punches to her face, while she desperately tried to block them with her hands.

As the man continued his assault, he growled, "Because of what you did to my brother, you little brat, I’m going to kill you." As if to prove his threat, he yanked on the chain attached to her restraints, pulling it upward. This sudden motion caused Li Lu’s defense to falter, and the man’s fist landed squarely on her right cheek.

With each blow, Li Lu felt her consciousness fading.

...

On the other side, when Li Mei was punched by the man, she vomited the three spiritual stones she had been hiding in her mouth. Observing this from a distance, the other prisoners quickly rushed over when they saw the stones fall to the ground.

He was about to punch Li Mei in the face when someone grabbed his right arm. Turning around, he was immediately struck in the face by another prisoner. The force of the punch made him drop the stones he was holding. Seizing the opportunity, the prisoners scrambled to grab the stones from the ground.

Amidst the chaos, Li Mei shook her head while lying on the ground. As she started to recover from the punch she had received, she noticed her daughter, Li Lu, being struck repeatedly in the face by one of the men who had attacked them. Determined to help, Li Mei got up despite her pain and difficulty in moving. She grabbed the pickaxe lying nearby.

She moved towards the man who was still hitting her daughter. With a swift and forceful swing, she aimed the pickaxe at the man’s head. Since all the prisoners were shackled and unable to use their qi—being in the peak stage of the Body Tempering Realm—the man was completely unaware of the impending attack from behind. As a result, he was oblivious to the fact that these were his final moments.

The pickaxe’s point drove through the man's head and into his mouth, causing blood to pour from his wounds. The violent blow stopped his assault on Li Lu, who had already lost consciousness.

After the man collapsed, Li Mei kicked him away from her daughter. Trembling, she gently touched Li Lu’s face, trying desperately to awaken her. "Li Lu, Mama’s here. Please wake up," she cried, tears streaming down her face as she pleaded with her motionless child.

The commotion abruptly ceased when a warden produced an artifact from his storage ring. The sight of the artifact caused purple lightning to erupt from the shackles worn by the prisoners. This sudden shock made most of the prisoners either foam at the mouth or lose consciousness.

With the chaos now subsided, one of the men in black approached the fallen prisoners to collect the three spiritual stones scattered on the ground. Meanwhile, the remaining man in black began picking up the two injured men, including Li Lu. As the man in black was about to leave, he felt a tug on his ankle.

Desperately, Li Mei cried out, “Please don’t take her from me! ”

Without saying a word, the man in black kicked Li Mei in the face, forcing her to let go. He then walked away, carrying the unconscious little girl. Desperate to retrieve her daughter, Li Mei mustered all her remaining strength and stood up, determined to follow him.

She saw the men in black enter a cave, though she couldn’t tell where they were going. Despite the lingering pain from the shocks, punches, and kicks she had received, she pressed on.

When she reached the cave entrance, guards stationed there blocked her path. She tried to force her way in, but one of the guards slapped her, sending her sprawling to the ground. As she lay there, she watched helplessly as the men who had taken her daughter disappeared into the cave.