Li Huowang raised the pestle in his hand and, bored out of his mind, brought it down into the mortar again and again, slowly grinding the Glowing Stone mixed with silt into powder.
Though the Karst Cave was damp and freezing, he wore only a coarse cloth garment. Yet his face was utterly unconcerned, as though none of it was worth his notice.
He was not alone in the cave. There were other men and women as well, all with their hair bound up, all dressed in the same coarse cloth and hemp rope.
The only difference between them and Li Huowang was that their bodies bore obvious external defects—some had Albinism, others infantile paralysis.
Every sort of congenital or acquired deformity could be found here. The not-so-large Material Room Karst Cave resembled a museum of deformities.
Their work was the same as Li Huowang's: pounding things. Only what they pounded differed—some worked metal and stone, others medicine. Yet clearly, some people had no mind for work.
"Ah!" A woman's terrified scream drew everyone's attention.
At one side of the Karst Cave, a fat young man with a cleft lip wore a lewd grin as he tried to drag an albino girl into his arms.
"I'll just do it once, I swear, just once. Hehehe~"
Ignoring the noise, Li Huowang closed his eyes and continued working, pounding away at his own task.
As the woman's sobs grew ever more miserable beside him, the irritated Li Huowang cursed under his breath, picked up the stone mortar with one hand, and stood.
With a crisp crack, the fat man's forehead spurted blood. A dazed look filled his eyes as he slowly toppled backward. "Let the games begin!"
Seeing the shock and terror in the eyes of those crippled Medicinal Guides all around