"That Siwang, they got him too," Yufan murmured.
"With his temperament,he won't handle staying here for long; he will obviously try to escape. I have to watch him."
They both watched each other for a few seconds before they had to quickly get back to work.Hours went by quickly and Omari was starting to run out of energy; he couldn't handle working for an entire day, just hitting stone with a pickaxe. He stopped to rest; before long, a whip cracked across his back, his vision blurred, and he stumbled, groaning. His legs struggled to keep him upright.
"Who said you could stop?"
The sound of the overseer's voice was distant,muffled by the haze of pain and exhaustion. He felt the rough, unforgiving stone of the mine floor beneath his hands, the only thing keeping him from collapsing. He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to push through. Every strike on stone was led by a hard grunt.
The air was thick with dust and the stench of sweat,and Omari's throat was parched, his tongue swollen with thirst. His whole body was drenched in sweat, his breath ragged with exhaustion.
"You!"
Boot called out,looking at an old man who had one normal leg and the other replaced by a wooden log and one eye; the other seemed like it was cut by a sword. The old man had waterskins all over his body. Boot looked at the old man then pointed at Omari.
The old man bowed and limped his way to Omari.He handed Omari one waterskin, a leather pouch filled with water.
Omari quickly opened the waterskin and poured the water down his throat.Hot water rushed down his throat. He paused for a second but decided to ignore the temperature of the water and focused on quenching his thirst.
The days blended together,each one a blur of toil and pain, with no end in sight. Omari was losing weight, his body becoming thin with each day that passed. Before he knew it, a week had passed.
He was sleeping on his hard bed,looking up, lost in thought.
"I've been here a week now.I need to get out of here; these guys enjoy beating us, torturing us, and making us suffer. We are their prisoners."
He sighed,shifting to his side.
"People are dying every day,either from overworking, going crazy, or suicide. I'm escaping this place no matter what, and when that happens, I'll make them suffer no matter what," he declared, falling asleep.
The end of the month came and every miner seemed frantic,pacing around waiting for the sound of logs on sheet metal. As soon as the sound rang out, they started running up, pushing each other; some even fought for a spot in line.
Omari walked forward and stood in line like everyone else.He looked up and saw how many people were in front of him.
He watched the frantic,pushing crowd. A cold certainty settled in him. This was the behaviour of broken animals. He would never escape by being one of the herd.
He walked out of the line and started walking up the stairs.There were more than a hundred people in front of him in line. He walked forward, eyes stern.
"What is wrong with these people?Why are they acting weird?" he thought.
Once he was close to the front of the line,with only five people ahead of him, he forced himself back in line.
"Hey,y-you can't cut in line," the man behind Omari spoke, his hand shaking, head twitching. His cry was ignored. His face turned ugly quick. He grabbed Omari's shoulders, about to push him out of the line.
Omari turned around,instantly grabbing the man by the robe and headbutting him. He quickly followed up with a brutal knee to the gut and finished him off with a brutal punch to the temple, knocking him out.
The yellow-robed cultivators watched before scoffing at the situation.Omari lowered his eyelids, expression stern, looking at all the miners behind him in the line. He turned and looked forward, leaving them speechless.
When he reached the front,Boot pulled out three stamina pills and three spirit stones and handed them to Omari.
"How come I get three,while others are getting five of each?" Omari asked, his gaze serious.
Boot raised an eyebrow,"With the trouble you caused with the Iron Crescent Kingdom, be thankful you're not dead. Get the hell out of my sight," Boot scoffed.
Omari took what he received and walked away,going back to his post.
As soon as he got there,he quickly threw a stamina pill into his mouth and sighed in relief.
"Finally,there is that feeling," he smiled.
Before long,he felt as if in a trance. His pickaxe lost weight and he couldn't stop smiling. He started digging, slamming his pickaxe into stone with ease, enjoying the process.
"This is so fun,I can do this all day, ha ha ha," he laughed, digging and collecting spirit stones.
The high only lasted for thirty minutes and he was back to being tired and feeling the pain of the day's work.
"If I take another one,they'll be all gone by tomorrow," he thought for a few seconds.
With a deep sigh,he took another stamina pill and started mining with joy, enjoying every moment.
A sound echoed in the mines and the miners hurried to eat the only meal of the day:the brown porridge with blue steam.
The mining for the day was finally done and all the miners were in their cave rooms about to sleep.
"That Siwang,I've been watching him for a while now; he already can't handle it, he'll start plotting something soon," Yufan thought in his cave room.
Omari stood up,his face set in a stern mask, and walked out of his room toward another. He entered the first one he came to.
"Hand over three spirit stones and one stamina pill now,or die," he threatened. After experiencing the euphoric relief of the stamina pills, he knew that if he asked for too much, the miners would rather risk their lives than give them away. But since the section he was mining in was filled with cultivators in the Awakened Realm, they wouldn't mind handing over their spirit stones as much, since they couldn't yet absorb them.
"Why would I—"Before the skinny, bony miner could finish, Omari was already in front of him. A brutal kick to the head sent the miner flying backward to slam into the rock wall. The man crumpled to the floor, unconscious. Without wasting any time, Omari strode forward, took the man's pouch, and helped himself to four spirit stones and two stamina pills.
He walked out and went to the next room, which was occupied by two miners. Without wasting time, he asked for the same thing he asked for in the last room. The two men in the room burst out laughing.
"Kid,have you lost your mind? Do you honestly think that we would-"
Before they could finish,Omari rushed forward, punching one of them in the ribs. The other one dashed forward with a punch aimed at Omari. The miner ran like his legs would collapse at any moment. His speed was slow and his breath came in scratchy rages.
"Pathetic,"Omari spoke, sidestepping the poor miner and knocking him out with a chop at the back of the neck. After beating the two miners, he took ten spirit stones and four stamina pills from both of them. He kept going into more rooms, taking what he needed; those who refused he would beat and take more than he asked for.
Up in the pavilion above the mountain,sat Ghost Step, the leader of the Celestial Gate Sect. He had released his divine sense, watching Omari with a smirk on his face.
"Not bad.Survive for two years and I'll definitely make you join my Sect, child of the warrior race."
Back in the mines,
"Only one more person left,then I'll go to sleep. I originally planned on robbing twenty people every month, but I'll go with twenty-five," Omari murmured.
He took a few steps forward,then a memory flashed in his head.
"Time to visit an old friend,"he smirked.
He released his divine sense in the mines,checking as many cave rooms as he could. Before long, a smirk appeared on the corner of his mouth.
"Found you."
He walked forward and entered a room on his right.
"Yufan!"
Omari yelled.Yufan quickly jumped out of bed, looking towards the entrance.
"Siwang,what do you want, hehehe," he spoke, and a weird laugh escaped from him.
"Hand over two stamina pills and five spirit stones,now!" Omari demanded.
"Tell him, tell him everything; he might be our only chance," Yufan spoke while looking at the walls of the rocks.
"Shut up!Let me handle this," he responded to himself.
Omari raised an eyebrow,"Maybe I should just beat him up and take what I need."
"Don't waste my time,hand them over," Omari asked one last time.
"Ha ha ha,Siwang, you don't have to do this. With your temperament, I'm sure you'll definitely try to escape at some point, so how about we help each other? Let's become partners," Yufan spoke, a creepy smile etched on his face.
"I'm pretty sure escaping would be easier if I do it alone,but since you know of my plans to escape, just close your eyes and I'll make it painless," Omari walked forward menacingly.