Before dawn had fully broken, the overseer came into the shack, braid in hand.
"Survey team! Get up!"
Li Tui opened his eyes and stopped cultivating. The others woke one after another and rustled into their clothes.
Wang He sat dazed on the straw bed, staring at the faint light filtering through the roof. Only after a long while did he slowly get up, his movements stiff. Zhao Laosuan tied the rope around his waist, murmuring an indistinct Buddhist prayer.
The small, thin figure in the corner was already up, carefully wrapping their feet in rags.
The nine of them were herded into the clearing while the fog was still thick, its damp chill settling over everyone. The middle-aged cultivator stood with his hands behind his back. Two overseers stood behind him, their whips neatly coiled, their gazes scraping over the nine of them.
"Today, you'll survey Tunnel Seven." The middle-aged cultivator spoke in a voice as flat as if reading from a ledger. "There was a cave-in the day before yesterday, and we don't know what it's like inside. Go in and find out the course of the tunnel and the extent of the collapse. Keep an eye out for any fresh pick marks. Come back and draw a map."
"The miasma in there is thick." He paused, his gaze sweeping over the nine of them like he was counting livestock. "Stay alert. Don't die in there without even sending word back, or someone else will have to collect your bodies."
The overseers began handing out tools: chipped pickaxes, a few lengths of rough hemp rope, and torches with wicks.
"Move." The middle-aged cultivator waved his hand.
The two overseers drove the group deeper into the mine.
The first stretch was fairly wide, and there were still signs of pickaxes having worked the rock.
But the farther in they went, the fewer traces of human handiwork remained. The tunnel grew narrower and narrower, gradually taking on the shape of a natural cavern. Water dripped constantly from overhead, striking the puddles with a steady "plink, plink."
The torchlight was insignificant in the thick darkness, barely illuminating the ground a few inches ahead. Their footsteps echoed through the cave, mingling with the overseers' shouts: "Hurry up! What are you dawdling for?"
The air grew colder and colder. It wasn't the ordinary chill of a mountain cave, but a cold that seeped right into the marrow. Li Tui silently circulated his true qi to resist it.
His true qi moved through his meridians with immense difficulty, as if trudging through a swamp. The surrounding chill crept in through every pore, thread by thread, unsettling his spiritual platform.
Li Tui devoted most of his attention to guarding his spiritual platform, while circulating the Azure Wood Art as slowly and steadily as possible.
"This damn place..." Zhao Laosuan shivered up ahead. "Why is it so cold..."
"Shut up and keep walking," the overseer snapped, his whip cracking sharply.
The tunnel continued to narrow until only two people could walk side by side. The rock walls were slick and covered in dark green moss.
The flames of the torches began to flutter uneasily, now stretching long, now shrinking to dim yellow clumps, as if suppressed by some unseen force. The smoke thickened, stinging their eyes.
The chill in the air was almost tangible. Li Tui's breath formed a cloud of white mist before him that lingered for a long time.
Just then, a strange sound came from the middle of the group.
"Hah... hah-hah..."
It sounded like someone was being strangled, struggling desperately to draw breath.
Everyone whipped around. The torchlight swung toward the sound all at once.
Old Chen was hunched over, both hands clutching his own throat so tightly his fingers had gone white. His face had turned purplish blue, and his mouth was stretched wide, but he couldn't make a coherent sound—only ragged, intermittent gasps. His eyes were wide, his pupils unfocused and lifeless, fixed on some point in the void.
"Old Chen?" The young man walking beside him tentatively reached out, trying to grab his arm.
"Don't touch him!" an overseer shouted from behind.
Too late.
The instant the young man's fingers were about to touch Old Chen's sleeve, Old Chen jerked his head up.
In the torchlight, everyone saw what he looked like.
The veins on his face and neck bulged, writhing beneath his skin like twisted earthworms. Blood slowly seeped from all seven openings. His throat gave a gurgle, as if he had swallowed something, and then he slowly grinned, baring a mouthful of yellow teeth stained with blood.
He no longer looked human.
His murky eyes were bloodshot, their pupils completely white. All that remained within them was an indescribable, bottomless malice.
"Roar!"
A howl utterly unlike a human voice burst from Old Chen's throat. His whole body went taut like a drawn bow, then he lunged at Zhao Laosuan, who was closest to him!
"Ah!"
Zhao Laosuan managed only a short, startled cry before Old Chen knocked him down. The two rolled into the puddles, water splashing everywhere. Straddling Zhao Laosuan, Old Chen clamped both hands around his throat and jerked his head wildly from side to side, growling like a beast.
"Help! He's gone mad! Pull him off!" someone screamed.
"Hold him down! Quickly!" the overseer roared.
The narrow tunnel erupted into chaos!
Screams, curses, shoving, and the thud of bodies colliding all blended together. Several people rushed to pull Old Chen away, but he threw them off.
Old Chen's strength was astonishing. He swung one burly man away with his arm, sending him crashing hard into the rock wall. The man gave a muffled groan.
The torches were knocked over in the struggle. One, then another... The light rapidly dimmed. Only a few torches remained, their flames wavering unsteadily.
The moment the upheaval began, Li Tui pressed himself against the rock wall, his back tight against the cold, damp stone.
But the instant Old Chen let out that howl, the chill in the tunnel surged!
Li Tui felt a far more intense wave of icy cold forcefully pour into his body!
This is bad!
Li Tui's heart sank. His consciousness was almost swallowed by the cold and chaos.
But just as he thought he was about to meet the same fate as Old Chen—
The frigid aura invading him so violently suddenly changed!
It was as if an invisible force drew it in, bound it, and altered its course. It no longer rampaged through his meridians, but instead flowed slowly toward the depths of his dantian.
More bizarrely, a wisp of extremely pure, frigid energy, stripped of most of its violent will, separated from the rest and naturally merged into the circulation of his true qi!
The pale green true qi cultivated by the Azure Wood Art had moved sluggishly in this place. Now, bolstered by this wisp of icy energy, it gave a faint tremor, and its flow quickened!
Li Tui's pupils contracted.
He understood.
The frigid aura in this mine was actually a kind of fiendish energy.
And in this life, he possessed Blood Fiend Affinity.
That affinity worked on this Earth Fiend as well!
The commotion in the distance continued.
Old Chen's howls grew wilder, mingling with Zhao Laosuan's gradually weakening groans. The few remaining torches wavered, casting the silhouettes of people struggling furiously against each other onto the rock walls.
"Damn it! We can't hold him!" someone screamed. "He bit me!"
"Use the rope! Tie him up!" the overseer shouted in exasperation.
Li Tui slowly straightened.
He took a deep breath.
The cold air filled his lungs. This time, Li Tui no longer resisted the frigid fiendish energy. He let it enter his body. At that moment, his dantian was like a field parched by drought, now soaked by cool rain, bursting with vigorous life.
Li Tui lowered his head and looked at his palm.
This body... was craving more Earth Fiend.
Dangerous?
The corner of Li Tui's mouth lifted in the faintest, almost imperceptible curve.
The things everyone else avoided like the plague... were tonics to me!
Before you continue