Slay the Master

'Your mining experience has improved. Your Mining Proficiency has increased.'

'A flash of insight struck you. You slightly adjusted the angle of your swing and immediately found the hoe easier to handle. Your Mining Proficiency has increased.'

'...'

As he continued mining, notifications of increased proficiency kept popping up in his field of vision, filling him with motivation.

After reaching the beginner level in mining, he needed five hundred proficiency points for another improvement. At this pace, he would achieve minor mastery in ten days to half a month.

Half an hour later, after mining his quota of ore, Xu Yunfan began slowly carrying it from this tunnel to the main mine tunnel. By the time he finished, he was utterly exhausted.

Then he handed the ore over at the overseers' station below the main passage.

The exceptionally burly overseer held a wine cup in his hand and indifferently swept his gaze over the ore Xu Yunfan had brought.

"A little too many impurities."

The overseer drawled lazily, then casually took two flatbreads from the table and tossed them onto the ground.

Xu Yunfan's expression did not change. He glanced at the overseer's indifferent face, picked up the flatbreads—hardly different from stones in hardness—and silently filled his waterskin.

Yesterday, someone had complained a few times about the overseer casually throwing flatbreads on the ground. He had been whipped once, then died of severe injuries that very night.

Only after exchanging his work for flatbreads and clean water did Xu Yunfan let out a breath. Keeping his head lowered and avoiding the overseer's eyes, he quickly left.

If he kept going hungry, he would not even have the strength to swing the Iron Pickaxe. Then he could only wait for death.

In the mine, one could slack off—but then there would be no food, and one could only starve to death.

As he ate, Xu Yunfan swept his gaze across the entire main mine tunnel. The ore here was scattered and sparse. Below the main passage, branch tunnels stretched in every direction, above and below.

It was hard to believe this was actually a place for mining ore.

After greedily breathing in the fresh air flowing down from the Wind Passage above in the main passage, he was about to leave when a figure stopped before him.

"Do you know who I am?"

A man's voice rang out.

Xu Yunfan looked up at the pitch-black face before him, caked in mine dust. By the nearby firelight, he could barely make out two eyeballs.

"Who are you?"

The man froze. Then he reached out and wiped his face, revealing a broad face full of flesh as he looked at Xu Yunfan with hostile eyes.

Jiang Yu—the descendant of a disgraced minister, and also the previous Xu Yunfan's master. His former master.

At the sight of Jiang Yu, memories rose unbidden from the depths of Xu Yunfan's mind.

Jiang Yu had beaten, cursed, and humiliated him at every turn. He had even dragged the previous Xu Yunfan's dead parents into his insults, mocking and defiling them to the utmost.

Influenced by those memories, anger rose in Xu Yunfan's heart for no reason.

Xu Yunfan drew a quiet breath and glanced back at the overseers' room not far away. Faint shouts from drinking still drifted out from within.

"I haven't eaten my fill."

"You can keep mining and exchange it for food and water..."

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

Jiang Yu snorted and abruptly shoved the unprepared Xu Yunfan to the ground. He snatched away the food in Xu Yunfan's hand and gave him a cold glance.

"All of this goes to me. You are nothing but a servant.

Remember this: it was my Jiang Family that bought you. Even here, you are my servant in life, and in death, you must die fetching food for me."

He leaned forward slightly, looking at the silent Xu Yunfan.

"Tomorrow, you must bring me at least one portion of food and water."

Jiang Yu straightened and looked at the Iron Pickaxe hanging at his waist. "If not for the Mining Supervision Office dividing us up, I would have made you mine for me long ago. Why would things have come to this?"

He raised his head and looked at Xu Yunfan, speaking coldly.

"Did you hear me?"

Xu Yunfan fell silent for a moment, then nodded faintly.

"I understand."

Hearing Xu Yunfan's words, Jiang Yu showed a trace of satisfaction and nodded slightly. "If Zhang Li had been as obedient as you, I would not have beaten him to death."

Zhang Li had been beaten to death by this dog!

Xu Yunfan's chest tightened slightly, and the resolve he had secretly made grew even firmer.

He watched Jiang Yu quickly disappear into a branch tunnel, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.

Xu Yunfan slowly staggered to his feet and stared fixedly at Jiang Yu's retreating figure as it vanished into the darkness.

Without the flatbreads and water he had exchanged for, forget surviving a month—he would starve unconscious tonight.

Clearly, clearly, they had all fallen to such a state. Why were there still people who lived by trampling others beneath their feet?

After a brief silence, he looked back at the overseers' room guarding the mine entrance. The faint scent of braised meat and wine drifting from within made his stomach rumble like thunder.

Xu Yunfan pressed his lips tightly together. He could not draw the overseer's attention.

He tightened his grip on the Iron Pickaxe and followed Jiang Yu into the mine tunnel.

Jiang Yu and several others stood or sat about, looking at Xu Yunfan, who stood at the tunnel entrance.

"Well, if it isn't Brother Jiang's slave. I remember when Brother Jiang disciplined his slave back then—it truly left a deep impression on me."

The speaker turned toward Jiang Yu with a teasing look on his face.

"What is it? A sudden whim today? You could not even bother eating before bringing him here? With that delicate skin and tender flesh of yours, could it be Brother Jiang has no taste for meat or vegetables? Why not stick up your ass and give it a try? I heard from Huo Ziren that playing with that red-lipped, white-toothed little book boy felt quite good too."

The five of them immediately burst into laughter. In this foul-smelling, sunless mine, it counted as rare entertainment.

The speaker was Cui Ye. Xu Yunfan still remembered that back in Jade Capital, Cui Ye had been vicious toward his own servants—especially pretty maidservants. So long as one caught his eye, within three days, a corpse covered in wounds would be carried out of his room.

Inside the tunnel, only a single torch had been stuck into the wall, casting light. Its faint glow seemed as if darkness might swallow it at any moment.

Xu Yunfan stood quietly at the side of the passage. Under the firelight, his face flickered between brightness and shadow, the darkness on his cheeks like ghosts.

His lips were pressed tight and his brows furrowed. Ignoring the others' words, he lowered his gaze slightly and stood before Jiang Yu.

"Give me back my food."

Jiang Yu raised his brows. Being addressed so impolitely by his former servant sent waves of fury through his heart.

He leaned forward slightly, a smile on his face and frost in his eyes.

"The food? There isn't any. If you want it..."

He pointed toward the corner.

"There's our filth over there. You..."

Before he could finish, Jiang Yu's eyes suddenly widened. Xu Yunfan, who had been looking down, lifted his eyes and stared straight at him.

Then Xu Yunfan's body surged like a rolling wave. The Iron Pickaxe in his hand rose and fell with blinding speed, its sharp tip plunging into Jiang Yu's neck—far beyond what his frail body should have been capable of swinging.

Just like mining, Xu Yunfan's entire motion flowed like drifting clouds and running water, without the slightest pause—one strike, one wrench, one pull!

Xu Yunfan tore away a large chunk of flesh from Jiang Yu's neck with the Iron Pickaxe, and scorching blood instantly sprayed everywhere.

Clutching his spurting neck, Jiang Yu stared without blinking at Xu Yunfan, a trace of bewilderment in his eyes. Then he crashed to the ground, his breath gone.

New author begging for recommendations, bookmarks, and investment! Rolling all over the ground begging for everything!