A new mission

"Is that really true? From now on, the lineage will supply twice as many cultivation resources?"

A Body Forging Realm cultivator of the Li Family spoke with a look of disbelief.

"It should be true. My elder brother works under the Third Elder, and the Third Elder told him to spread the word."

"If it came from the Third Elder, then it's almost certainly true. Wonderful! If the lineage gives me more cultivation resources, I'll have a shot at reaching great accomplishment in the Body Forging Realm this month."

The Li Family cultivator looked thrilled.

"Then let me congratulate you in advance, Brother. Please look out for me in the future."

His companion looked at him enviously.

Great accomplishment in the Body Forging Realm was enough to earn someone a place in the Li Family.

"Husband, have you heard? The family head plans to introduce incentives for having children. For every child we bear for the lineage, we'll receive a sizable reward."

In the home of an ordinary Li Family member, a woman sewed clothes with her head lowered as she spoke to her husband.

"I know. The lineage's influence has expanded a lot lately, and we don't have enough people. Everywhere needs more hands. The steward's practically splitting me in two to get everything done. It's about time the Li Family added more people."

Her husband's voice was muffled.

The woman rolled her eyes at him and chided coyly, "Then what are you waiting for?"

Her husband's breathing suddenly quickened.

(Ten thousand words omitted here.)

Time flew, and half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

That day, Li Xinge was cultivating in his seclusion chamber.

No matter how busy he became, Li Xinge never dared neglect his cultivation.

He knew full well that formidable strength was the foundation of everything.

After completing a full circulation, Li Xinge let out a long breath of turbid air.

"Seventh-grade talent truly is extraordinary. At this rate, I'll have a chance to break through to the lesser Qi and Blood accomplishment realm within six months."

Li Xinge murmured to himself.

That might seem slow, but many Qi and Blood Realm cultivators spent their entire lives trapped at the entry-level bottleneck, unable to advance even an inch.

His grandfather was one example, as was the Su Family ancestor he had killed with his own hands.

[Ding! Destabilizing factors detected within the host's lineage. System mission triggered!]

The voice he had not heard in some time rang out in Li Xinge's mind.

A screen of light appeared before his eyes.

[Current mission: Suppress the uprising at Silver Ridge Mine.]

[Mission progress: 0%.]

[Mission introduction: To increase ore production at Silver Ridge Mine, the lineage has subjected its mining slaves to inhuman exploitation, resulting in immense casualties. Unable to endure any longer, the mining slaves have decided to stake their lives on resisting the lineage.]

[Complete the mission to receive the following rewards:]

[Reward 1: A lineage member with seventh-grade talent will be born.]

[Reward 2: 3 mu of spiritual fields. (Crops grown in spiritual fields will absorb their spiritual energy and evolve into spiritual plants. Eating spiritual crops will greatly increase cultivation speed.)]

[Reward 3: Entry-level Spiritual Plant Technique. (Fully mastering the entry-level Spiritual Plant Technique allows advancement to a tier-one Spiritual Plant Master.)]

A new mission had arrived.

Li Xinge stood with his hands behind his back, a trace of coldness in his eyes.

Since when did a bunch of tools have the nerve to resist the Li Family?

He knew about the exploitation of the mining slaves and had tacitly permitted it.

After all, the lineage was on the rise, and every aspect of its development needed money.

Silver Ridge Mine was the Li Family's lifeblood, so those mining slaves would simply have to suffer a little.

But he had never expected them to dare rebel.

The Li Family had poured a fortune into keeping Silver Ridge Mine stable.

The Li Family's own Fifth Elder, a cultivator at Body Realm great accomplishment, was stationed there year-round.

Thirty Body Forging Realm cultivators and three hundred heavily armored mine guards also patrolled day and night. Security could hardly have been tighter.

Mining might kill them, but that was only a possibility.

Resistance, on the other hand, meant ten deaths and not a single chance of survival.

As the saying went, a miserable life was better than a good death.

Then who gave them the courage to resist?

Li Xinge pondered.

Silver Ridge Mountain.

At a huge open-pit mine, more than a thousand shirtless miners wearing only shorts swung their tools with all their strength beneath the scorching sun, extracting ore.

Sweat had soaked their entire bodies.

One scrawny mining slave could no longer endure the blazing heat. His vision suddenly went black, and he collapsed heavily onto the ground, never getting back up.

Two patrolling guards saw him and hurried over.

A whip lashed viciously across the scrawny miner's body.

"Do you want to die? Stop slacking and get back to work."

The guard barked angrily.

The mining slave remained motionless.

The other guard crouched, checked beneath the slave's nose for breath, and shook his head at his companion.

"He's dead."

"Then he must not be completely dead yet. My old man said dying like this hurts the most. I'll do a good deed and help him out. Chop his head off and give him a quick end."

The guard holding the whip grinned savagely.

With that, he drew the saber at his waist.

The grating sound of the blade leaving its sheath sent a shudder through the mining slave. He hurriedly scrambled up and fell to his knees.

Tears and snot streamed down his face as he kowtowed like a pestle pounding garlic. "Spare me, Grandfather! Spare me, Grandfather! I won't dare do it again! I'll get right back to work!"

"Trying those little tricks on us? You've already paved your own road to death."

The slave's pleading did not move the guard in the slightest.

He swung his steel saber and sliced off the mining slave's head in a single stroke.

Before the head could hit the ground, the guard caught it.

He raised the hideous head high, blood still dripping from it.

The guard shouted, "Take a good look, all of you! This is what happens when you try to play tricks on us! Don't even think about slacking off, or don't blame us when our blades show no mercy!"

The surrounding mining slaves fell as silent as cicadas in winter. Trembling all over, they worked even harder.

"Why kill him? Whatever else he was, he was still our masters' property."

"A shirking cheat like him would only waste our masters' food. Better to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys and squeeze one last bit of value out of him. Didn't you see those wretched slaves start working harder?"

The guard who had killed him sneered.

His companion shook his head.

"They're all just pitiful people."

"What the hell do you know? These mining slaves are savages from the Eastern Ridge Barbarians. When Eastern Continent Prefecture fell, more than ten million people of Eastern Prefecture were slaughtered. These animals did it."

"Then I take back what I said. A death like that was far too easy for him."

Not far away, several mining slaves witnessed the scene and glanced around.

Seeing no mine guards patrolling nearby, they quietly gathered together.

As they worked...

They leaned close and whispered, "I counted. Just among the ones I've seen, that was the seventeenth death today. These Li Family running dogs and hunting hawks don't treat us as human beings at all."

"Endure a few more days. Once the general has fully recovered, we'll tear these bastards into ten thousand pieces."

One mining slave spoke through gritted teeth.

"Weren't we supposed to do it today? Why the sudden change of plans?"

"The general said the situation has changed. That Li Family elder came back and brought a squad of elite cultivators with him. He isn't confident we can succeed if we act now."

"Why should we care whether these lowborn wretches live or die? Why not just fight our way out? Can that Li Family elder really stop us?"

One mining slave sounded thoroughly puzzled.

"And that's why they say you have no brains. That elder isn't the Li Family's only expert."

"I heard this lineage even has a Qi and Blood Realm cultivator."

"If someone like that intervened, how far could we get?"

"But if we incite these thousands of lowborn wretches to rise up and attack the mine, the Li Family will be scrambling with their heads scorched and brows singed. How would they have any attention left for us?"

"Then we can fish in muddied waters and escape amid the chaos."

Understanding dawned on the others.

Late that night.

The moon was bright, the stars sparse.

At the mass grave behind the mine.

Weeds grew thick in the pitch-black darkness.

An owl hooted now and then. Coupled with the bones scattered everywhere, it made the place utterly sinister and terrifying.

A dark figure slowly emerged from the night. His eyes swept his surroundings, seemingly searching for something.

When he spotted the fresh corpse on the ground, an intensely excited smile appeared on his face.

He walked over to the corpse and sat cross-legged before it.

Drawing a deep breath, he closed his eyes and said with an intoxicated expression, "The scent of fresh blood vitality."

He slowly extended his hand and placed it over the corpse's chest.

Strange, mysterious markings suddenly appeared on the back of his hand, glowing an eerie red.

Wisps of crimson blood energy steamed out of the corpse and drifted through the air, giving off a powerful stench of blood.

The crimson blood energy gradually condensed into a smooth blood bead the size of a ring finger.

Meanwhile, the corpse on the ground had completely shriveled, leaving only skin stretched over bone. It looked particularly horrifying.

Looking at the blood bead, the dark figure licked his slightly dry lips. Unable to contain his excitement any longer, he swallowed it in one gulp.

Without pausing for even a moment...

The dark figure found the next corpse and repeated the process.

Half an hour later, dozens of shriveled, skin-and-bone corpses lay on the ground.

"After devouring so much blood energy, I've finally recovered to body cultivation grand completion."

The dark figure sighed.

Then he recalled the humiliation he had suffered during this time.

Intense hatred welled up in his eyes.

"Damn the Li Family. A tiger brought down to the plains gets bullied by dogs. Once I recover my full strength, I'll repay the humiliation you've inflicted on me a hundredfold."

The dark figure spoke through gritted teeth.

His figure vanished into the darkness once more.