In the depths of the mine.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The heavy pickaxe struck the wall in showers of sparks, breaking chunks of rock off.
"At the Body Tempering Realm First Level, one has racing and surging Qi and Blood and a three-hundred-jin strength. My current mining rate indeed far surpasses what I could manage in the past." Lu Lin was high-spirited, muscles bulging out of his arms, his every swing of the pickaxe splitting the air and burying its edge deep into the wall. Now, mining was much easier for him.
Before long, a weighty piece of Xuan-iron ore fell in Lu Lin's hand. He weighed it and determined it was over one jin.
He tossed it into the bamboo basket behind him, wiped sweat away, then carried on swinging the pickaxe.
With the sun easing down in the west, the cave was getting increasingly dimmer. Lu Lin humped the hefty basket and wound his way outside.
Eh?
After a short distance, Lu Lin's footsteps paused.
Up ahead, there was someone with a bamboo basket on his back, staggering against the crowd toward the depths of the mine.
It was time to get off work and go back. Who would head deep into the mine now?
Not until the figure came near, by the weak lamplight from the wall, did Lu Lin make out that it was Lu Shi.
He and Lu Lin were fellow villagers; they had been snatched over here together and slept in the same bunkhouse. At the moment, with dark and purple bruises on his face and dried blood on his lips, he was limping along. Apparently, he was suffering from terrible injuries.
"Lu Lin? What happened? Who did that?" Lu Lin asked in a deep voice.
"Lu Lin...." Seeing a familiar face, Lu Shi's eyes went red, and his bottled-up grievances and outrage erupted as he fumed, gritting his teeth, "Who else could it be? Those Blood Wolves Gang scum! They said that this mining area is their territory and everyone has to 'grease the skids' by giving one jin of Xuan-iron ore to them every day, or else one can't mine here. I refused to give it... and was beaten up...all my haul today...was stolen!"
In a choked voice, he said, "In the first place, I was far from meeting the task requirement this month, and now I have been robbed of today's haul... if I don't dig up more to make up for it...everything will be over! I have to...stake everything on tonight..."
"Blood Wolves Gang..." Lu Lin's eyes flickered as relevant memories came to him.
At this Xuan-iron mine, there were thousands of warriors and, naturally, many gangs.
One was the Blood Wolves Gang, based in a high-grade mining area to rake in resources while sinking their claws into low-grade mining areas, blackmailing people by pretending to 'protect'.
They needed not work for their task and lived off people's labor. Naturally, they had more time to practice martial arts, thereby stronger.
"Lu Shi, the cave during the night is thick with Yin-Qi(a kind of negative energy, often freezing-cold and undermining one's health). Your body...can't handle it!" Lu Lin reminded with a frown.
The mine at night was full of bone-piercing Yin-Qi that would bite one's body and was difficult for a warrior to withstand. At best, exposure to Yin Qi made one's body frail and took a toll on the potential; at worst, it resulted in a severe illness, if not an early death.
So, nobody would dare stay after the evening arrived.
"I know... but if I can't finish the task... I will die right away! My death is sealed, whatever choice I make, so why don't I stake everything in this one last stand!" Lu Shi's face was filled with bleak sadness, and his eyes revealed his desperation and helplessness.
Lu Lin sighed secretly.
Their fates had converged at this Demonic Sect, where their likes, with no exception, were not unlike ants struggling for life. He silently set down his basket, took out two pieces of Xuan-iron ores from within, and handed them to Lu Shi. "Take it. I have dug up more than I need today. Make do with these two jins first."
"Thanks...thank you very much!" Lu Shi held the ores in his hands, his voice quivering from being overly excited.
"Take care and go back as early as possible." Lu Lin patted him on his shoulder, then lifted the bamboo backpack basket back on his back and marched out in big strides.
This was all he could do.
"Lu Lin!" Lu Shi called after him in an urgent voice, "You've just broken through into the Tempering Body First Level. The Blood Wolves Gang must have set their eyes on you as well. They demand not only the ores but also Qi-Blood Pills. When you get one...take it straight away! Don't keep it, they will rob you of it!"
Lu Lin stopped in his tracks and shouted 'Thanks' without a turn of his head, as his figure quickly disappeared into the ill-lit tunnel.
On his way back, Lu Lin was on his toes and intentionally picked deserted pathways to avoid those places where he might get waylaid. Along the way, he was prepared for anything, but nothing happened. However, as he drew near the bunkhouse's entry, he caught sight of a trio in shadow.
"Li Zitong!" Lu Lin's gaze was locked.
This was the very fellow who had headed his group and injured Lu Shi. Lu Lin took an immediate turn and diverted to a side door, sneaking back into the bunkhouse.
He washed the mine dust off him, changed into clean clothes, then set out for the mess hall open only to warriors at the Body Tempering Realm.
Barely through the doorway, a rich aroma of meat wafted his way and made him salivate and swallow hard.
Stepping into the Body Tempering Realm indeed improved one's treatment; besides Qi-Blood Pills, meat was another perk, nurturing their Qi and Blood.
A plate of steamy, savory-smelling beef was soon served on the table. Lu Lin wolfed it down, his lips dripping with oil. This filling meal gave him the most exhilarating moment ever since his transmigration.
...
The next day, done with his routine morning training, Lu Lin, carrying the bamboo basket, set off for the mining area.
No sooner had he stepped around an area of jagged rock mass than three human forms flashed out like ghosts, blocking his way.
Lu Lin's pupils shrank at once.
Li Zitong's trio! Sure enough, he had been targeted; now he was in a tight corner.
"Lu Lin, huh?" The leading Li Zitong, folding his arms over his chest, sized up Lu Lin with a calm gaze and said with a feigned smile, "I'm introducing myself, Li Zitong, from the Blood Wolves Gang. There are our rules to follow, got it?"
"What rules?" Lu Lin pretended not to know.
"This mining area is under our Gang's protection!" Li Zitong's tone sounded self-righteous. "That all of you have been able to work here safely, away from fights and robberies, is because of our brothers' backbreaking maintenance behind the scenes. So, pay us protection money, grease the skids, not much, one jin of Xuan-iron ore a day." He waved a finger in the air.
"One jin a day?" Lu Lin sneered inwardly. The Sect's requirement of six jins a day was difficult enough, yet this bunch of leeches should want a one-sixth cut!
"And..." Li Zitong changed the subject, a glint of greed in his eyes. "It's said that you'd broken through into the Body Tempering First Level and got a Qi-Blood Pill? Give it to us. It's included in... the protection money."
"Qi-Blood Pill?" Lu Lin spread his hands, his face written with honesty. "I ate it last night."
"You ate it?" Li Zitong's eyes frosted instantly and, like a serpent's, searched Lu Lin all over; his gaze seemed about to cut through Lu Lin.
Lu Lin's expression was unchanged, his heartbeat as steady as ever.
He had not consumed that Qi-Blood Pill, actually, and planned to complement it with a shoddy spiritual stone. It had long since been placed in his one-foot Inner Space of the Martial Dao Furnace. Even if he was searched all over or even stripped naked, there was no way to find it!
"Humph, that's nothing." Li Zitong showed a forbiddingly cold smile, as if he had expected this all along."Upon entering the Body Tempering Realm, one would be given a Qi-Blood Pill every ten days. I am not that greedy. You only need to turn over one pill every month! Along with one jin of Xuan-iron ore each day. I promise that nothing will bother you in that mining area. Or else...." He took a step closer, his hushed voice chilling. "The Sect has indeed banned infights, but in the depths of the mine... it is not uncommon that a cave gives in and buries one or two beneath... "
A blatant threat!
Today, they had not come for a Qi-Blood Pill that could have been consumed, but for a long-run harvest.
They knew where to draw the line. If they pressed people hard for all three Pills each month, they did nothing but wiped out their hope for future advances and would only draw desperate, life-and-death resistances. But if they demanded only one Pill and left people with two, people would still have a shred of hope and dared not fight them.
What a merciless, venomous approach!
"Kid, don't push your luck..." At Lu Lin's silence, the two nearby gangsters shot him a cold gaze and rubbed their palm against their fist.
"Guys, you must have misunderstood..." Lu Lin suddenly spoke, his tone somewhat earnest. "I am thinking... whether we can change the conditions?"
"Change the conditions?"
"Xuan-iron ore...is very difficult to mine." Lu Lin showed a 'troubled' expression. "I want to pay one Qi-Blood Pill in place of the protection money, thirty jins of Xuan-iron ore. How about this? I will turn over two Qi-Blood Pills at the end of every month. Is that okay?"
Xuan iron ore in place of Qi-Blood Pills? Li Zitong's eyes sparkled at once as he answered without a second thought, "Of course! You must keep your word! Qi-Blood Pill was worth far more than Xuan-iron ore! This bargain was immensely profitable!
"Absolutely." Lu Lin nodded seriously.
"Alright! It's a deal! Thirty days later, we will come to you and take our due. If you dare to trick us..." Li Zitong gave a vicious grin, making a cut-throat gesture. "You know the result!"
He was not very suspicious.
In his view, Lu Lin had made a very normal request. If one could not complete the Sect's task of mining, they would die immediately. But the deadline of reaching the Third Level in the Body Tempering Realm was still one and a half years away; even if one's progress would be slow from losing some Qi-Blood Pills, they still had some days to live.
By nature, humans seek benefits and avoid harm, and they would always choose to live as long as possible.
"And, don't even think of making a report to a superintendent. They won't concern themselves with this."
Li Zitong said coldly.
Lu Lin fell silent.
He was clear that the other party's words were true.
If those superintendents had ever interfered in things like this, the mine would not have been infested with a dozen or more gangs.
Behind the scenes, there must be a network of interests.
Those superintendents were, in all likelihood, living off the gangs.
For example, it was part of the Sect's regulations that Qi-Blood Pills should be parcelled out among warriors; any superintendent dared not break it.
But, if Qi-Blood Pills first flowed into a gang and from there into a superintendent's hand, none of the regulations was broken at all.
Watching Li Zitong's trio swagger off, Lu Lin's eyes revealed a cold glint deep in them. "Li Zitong is at the Body Tempering Third Level...the other two are at the Second Level... one month..."
How could he really turn over two Qi-Blood Pills in a month? Nothing but a delaying tactic.
He had to fight against time to grow stronger! Within a month, he must break through into the Body Tempering Third Level!
Lu Lin marched into the depths of the cave.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The crashing of a pickaxe against the rock wall resounded in the dim space.
Unfortunately, till sundown, all he had dug up was six jins of Xuan-iron ores, yet the precious milky-white gleam had never showed up again.
"I'm mining purely on luck and with low efficiency...I need to work on my mining skill..." Lu Lin wiped sweat from his forehead and, staring at the hard rock wall, was lost in thought.