Gray’s peaceful days as foreman came to an end a few days later. He was still nowhere near the 7th level of Spiritual Strengthening when the Lake Mine was thrown into chaos at the break of dawn.
“Everyone out of the caves!”
“Everyone out!”
The shouts of bandit guards woke the entire mine. Scores of them even charged into the tunnels, whipping and kicking those still sleeping.
“Not good, something is happening. Bury everything!” Huzhi said urgently.
Gray agreed and buried his pickaxe and excess spiritual stone into a small hole. He didn't even have time for a proper goodbye with his expensive tool before they were all herded outside.
“Line up!”
“Straight lines!”
Instead of the normal amount of bandit guards, the entire contingent of two hundred had come down. They ringed the bottom of the lake and surrounded the roughly one thousand prisoners. They left no room to escape, even for Gray.
The bandits took a headcount of all the prisoners. Gray remained in the crowd and wasn't discovered. The bandits counted the number of living and number that had died against the total captured. The council had foreseen this and had chosen to bury one of their people who died of illness inside the mine in secret so that there was an extra spot for Gray.
“Alright, first give them breakfast!”
An authoritative voice echoed across the mine which Gray recognized. He scanned the faces of the bandits with his eagle eyes and found the familiar one in the crowd. It was Tang Duanmu!
Gray didn't expect to see his nemesis again so soon. The man seemed even more arrogant and self-important than usual, wearing a fancy green robe and surrounded by a bunch of fawning underlings.
Gray looked back down as Tang's eyes scanned in his direction. His own clothes were ripped and filthy like the other prisoners. His hair was wild and unkempt like the others too. He was big but there were some miners close to his height and some that were wider than him. The bandits were arrogant and saw the prisoners as nothing more than defeated foes and slaves, nothing more than dirt. They didn't pay attention to a sea of dirty faces so he was able to blend in.
As the bandits distributed breakfast in the form of hard bread, something happened and the bandit leader next to Tang fell to the ground, clutching his face. They were far away but Gray still heard them, his physical senses greatly improved by the recent advancements in the Spiritual Strengthening Realm.
“I thought I told you to give them more food.” Tang hissed.
“Twelfth Elder! It’s not my fault!” The bandit leader cried out, “The Tenth Elder came around after you left that day and revoked your order!”
"That idiot. Always getting in my way..." Tang said, "You, if you disobey me again, I will tie you up like these prisoners and leave you to rot. I am responsible for the prisoners, me! My orders can only be overruled by the first elder. No one else! Is that understood?”
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“Yes, elder!” The guards shouted.
Gray was surprised by the situation more than anything. He didn’t know why Tang would care about their wellbeing. It was also a surprise that the man managed to become an elder of the bandits. Their standards had to be quite low for something like this to happen.
He ate the small piece of bread in silence and waited for something to happen. Soon enough, once everyone finished eating, more guards arrived with carts filled with an endless amount of rope.
“Tie them all up!”
“Don’t move!”
The bandits went through the prisoners, tying their hands together and to others in lines of ten each. Gray didn't struggle and let himself be tied up. The bandit who did so didn't even look at him.
Although their skin touched, the weaker bandit could not sense his superior cultivation. This was one of the laws of spiritual energy that was innate to the world. The bandit could only tell that Gray was the same strength as him, nothing more. Since the bandit himself was only at the second level, this raised no suspicions.
Only bandit leaders could have discovered Gray but they were too far away. Someone like Tang would have to be as close as a few paces to sense Gray's spiritual energy. Gray made sure to be right in the middle of the horde of prisoners so there was little chance of that happening.
After all the prisoners were tied up, the bandits herded them out of the mine. They were then marched to Abundance Town where they were absorbed into a massive crowd outside of the eastern gate.
Almost the whole town was here. It was an extraordinary sight, a huge gathering of people, animals, and materials. It was a barely organized chaos. There were thousands and thousands of people.
The air was filled with shouts as bandits bid goodbye to their families; spouses, children, and parents. They were hugging and crying and everyone seemed rather emotional. There were also hundreds of wooden carts, fully laden and covered with cloth. These were pulled by hundreds of horses and oxen. These required even more men to drive the carts and care for the animals.
The prisoners were herded to the rear of the formation with the supplies and animals. They stood around and waited until the family members gradually retreated inside the town. The remaining bandits that numbered around three thousand were all fighters. It was probably the entire population of able-bodied adults in Abundance Town who were able to lift a weapon and fight.
They were outfitted with a rag-tag assortment of gear and weapons. There were swords, axes, clubs, spears, and bows. It was all made of iron or wood. For defense, most could not afford any armor and wore normal clothes while carrying simple wood or leather shields.
Some could afford rudimentary armor around their torso or their waist made of heavy fabric or leather. Their weapons were also a bit more robust and made completely of metal.
The most heavily armed ones were the horsemen, leaders, and elders. They were arrayed in a distinctive group in front of the army to the east. Their power and prestige were clear in the way their armor and weapons shined under the sun.
Once the army was finally assembled, a hush came over everyone. Flags of the Duanmu Clan fluttered in the gusting wind, mixing with the nervous energy of thousands of cultivators.
“Abundance Town! Duanmu Clan!” A voice boomed across the open field, slicing through the silence, “I, Xing Duanmu, First Elder of the Duanmu Clan, call upon you this day to start a brilliant new era for our clan and the Broken Wood Plateau!"
"Yeahhhh!!" A roar of approval from the clan erupted in unison.
The ground shook from their combined strength. The bandits were filled with vigor while the prisoners shivered uncontrollably, fearful and bewildered.
"Each step we take towards the east will take us one step closer to our goal!" Xing Duanmu shouted.
"Yes!" The army roared again
“We will not bow down to Jade Hill Town any longer. We will take back the wealth in the earth that is rightfully ours! We will take Jade Hill Town and lay claim to the entire Broken Wood Plateau! We will be rulers of these vast plains once more. We will defeat the Patel Family!”
“Defeat the Patel Family!”
“Defeat the Patel Family!”
The first elder drew his sword and slashed it towards the east. “Duanmu Clan, forward. To war!”
“War!”
“War!”
“War!”
The entire army advanced as commanded, Gray and the prisoners included. Their destination was Jade Hill Town!