Clank! Clank! Clank!
The sound of pick axe striking against ores echoed all over the place, as light make it way into the underground tunnel, leading to the depth of the astral gold mine.
"brother Hai" a tired voice called out from somewhere in the depth of the mine.
"what is it, Cao yen" another voiced asked
"i think today is the best time we put our plan to motion before its two late"
"huh, Cao don't you think, it is two early and we might get caught" the person called shi asked in surprised, at cao yin sudden interest in the plan.
"i think today is the best" cao yen said briefly after a pause.
"that one eyed bastard, has been picking on us lately, I think he must have noticed something"
"well, if you say so" sai shi
"but do you think, the kid is ready for that?" Hai asked after some moment of silence.
"well he has to be" cao yen said.
"ughh…that's bad" Hai grumbled as they both fall silent.
Clank! Clank! Clank!!
Suddenly the sound of stone mining resumed as the two old men resumed their mining work, Mr cao and Mr Shi are miner slaves, who had been caught and sent here to mine since they were in their early twenties.
The astral flame sect, was one of the dominant sect located in the eastern region of the haushen province, the haushen province was established by the then haushen emperor who conquered the land from the hand of the barbarians, after centuries of ruling and civilization the province have developed to become the 4 province of the eastern cloud continent.
The Haushen province house five first class sects, 10 second class sects, 25 third class sect and numerous fourth class sect, being the lowest ranking sects in the haushen province. The astral flame sect is one of the ten second class sect, the sect gate is located in the eastern region sharing this region white the white flame eagle sect a member of the first class sect.
Rumors had it that the astral flame sect is a subordinate sect to the white flame eagle sect, but no one no how true that is. The sect have been engaged in shady business and the slave miners being one of their numerous exploit, catching orphans, burning of village to secure miners were never short of there action.
Mr cao and Mr shin have lived almost their entire life in the astral gold mining area, the area situated in the mountains bordering the eastern cloud continent and another, separated by a forbidden region, the misty cloud forest.
A place said to be occupied by an overlord class monster, forbidden for all human cultivators, the forest is home to myriads of beast, teaming with all sorts of monsters, the forest is separated from the mainland by and endless stretch of river named the misty cloud river, which has misty cloud cover it's atmosphere all year round.
But all these have nothing to do with the two old guys, who have difficulties moving their pick axes to dig for the astral gold, being one of the old timers in the mining region, Mr cao and shin know all most all the route in the mine and outside like the back of their hand.
"hey you two old bags" suddenly a voice interrupted their work causing them to jump in fright from the unexpected entrance.
"here comes the witch"
"you and your family are the old bags" Mr shin and Cao said in tandem.
"what did you just said" asked the voiced shining his fire torch at them.
"nothing elder guard" the too shake their head in denial
"what the hell is elder guard, call me elder Hai" the middle age man yelled at them, standing in a black tunic made of cotton, and a sword hanging at his waist, the mine guard called elder he pointed his finger at the two old men in frustration.
"yes, elder guard" the two replied like a puppet, synchronized to make a single sentence.
"damn it, if you two old bastard don't know how to talk, can you shut the fuck up"
"get the fuck out of here, someone would come and take over" without waiting for them to answer, he turned and left the way him come from.
Clank! Clank!!
The two drop their axe instantly, as the guard said the word stop, turning towards each other. The two men bumped their hands on each other's as a sly grin appears on their face. Instantly the duo shouted in unison.
"thank you guard witch"
"we are grateful elder guard"
"fuck you two…." the furious cursing of the retreating mine guard echoed from across the tunnel and he hurried to leave.
Here the curse word, the two old guys burst into laughter, at the pissed elder Hai. Being someone of a short and irritating temper, the two have come to relish in getting him pissed off when ever they have the chance to do so.
"let's go" elder shin said patting the back of his old classmate in the mining area.
The two suddenly turned left as they follow the light glowing from the fire on the wall, going deeper into the mine. After walking over few meters long across the tunnel passing through several turns and fork along the way, the duo come to a large cave at the other end of the tunnel, the cave was well hind as the tunnel has many sharp bends and fork and also only the two of them have made it here so far, the few who had known of these cave have become a living being in the nether world if there is ever any.
Stepping into the cave, the area instantly brighten at the sight of nothing except for the scene of a youth in torn garbs fiddle with something, with his head down at the end of the tunnel.
"Tai sen, have you gotten the item ready" elder cao asked in hurry as he closed in to the guy.
"yes elder cao" the guy said with slight frustration as he handle the item in his hand to elder cao.
"but elder, are you sure this thing is going to work" he suddenly asked in doubt.
"well it will have to work,even if it doesn't want to" elder cao said after contemplating.
"right brother shi" turning around to seek support from his friend, as he look at the youth face which has a look of disbelief on it.
"yes… it will definitely work…. as you can see this is an invention we made after spending a thousand years of our lifetime doing trails and errors" elder shin nodded in agreement, and went of listing gibberish, but it only add more confusion and disbelief to Tai Sen's face.
"well Tai, as you can see it will work" elder cao interrupted Mr shin, as he reassured Tai sin with a broad smile showing his gaping mouth missing all the front teeth from both the up and down rows.
"cause this is our only hope of leaving this cursed region…. or don't you want to escape kid?" elder cao asked with a knowing grin, as no senile person would like to remain in the mine and suffer all they long, even if the chance of escaping is slim.
"yes I do elder cao" nodding his head, tai sen looked at the item, made by attaching different items together into a can from GOD knows where they picked it from.
"then get ready boy" Mr Cao patted Tai Sen's shoulder in assurance
"we are bursting out of here today" bursting into fit of laughter Mr. Cao moved with daft speed and attention attaching piece of strings to the can, squaring it squarely.
"so here is the deal" Mr Cao suddenly said, I will go and create a distraction, while you guys set of the fuse and blast this damn mine apart.
"do be-careful where you stand though, as there might be a cliff outside on the other side of the wall"
"no!" two voice suddenly echoed, as soon as he finished talking.
"huh!!" looking confused at the two of them. Mr Cao raised his hand touching their head as if checking if they have running temperature.
"what is wrong with you guys?"
"Elder Cao, you don't have to do that" Tai Sen said moving quickly towards the entrance of the cave.
"you two should be the one blasting the cave, while I attract their attention"
"you Tai, is something wrong with you" Mr Cao and Hai asked in unison.
"what do these bag of old bones of ours have to today in the outside world, that we will be doing that?" mr hai asked disapprovingly. While Mr Cao nodded in agreement.
"yes, we just wanted to see the sky once more and breath in the fresh air, once more" Mr cao said, beaming a smile while taking in a deep breath before frowning his face.
"yup!, and not these them breath of ores, soil and torches and fucking sweats"
"elder hai.. elder cao…" Tai sen shake his head as he refused moving further and further away from them.
"you two don't have a say in this!" as Tai sens voiced drop so did his silhouette disappeared from their view, into the dark bending of the tunnel.
"sigh… this brat"