Entry

"Fellow immortals, compatriots, future disciples of the Hidden Moon Sect, I know everyone has been exhausted lately. I also know that you all long to achieve success on the immortal path and roam free and unbound. But whatever we do, we must keep our feet on solid ground, mustn't we?"

"The elders of the Hidden Moon Sect are compassionate and merciful, giving you such a wonderful opportunity. As long as you are willing to mine diligently, you can exchange your work for all kinds of cultivation resources. What an immense blessing that is! Countless people outside want to come in, yet they do not have this chance. Being able to mine here is not only thanks to the virtue accumulated by your ancestors—it is also a blessing you cultivated over several lifetimes."

"I just don't understand it. The Hidden Moon Sect feeds us, clothes us, and even gives us the chance to cultivate. We ought to be grateful to the immortal masters at all times, so why are there always people thinking about resting?"

"Let me tell you: every ore we mine today lays another brick for our future immortal path. That towering ten-thousand-zhang building of becoming immortal and founding an ancestral legacy—it lies right within our pickaxes..."

In the southwestern region of the Yue Kingdom, within a mining district under the Hidden Moon Sect's jurisdiction, Xu Yuan sat atop a rock, listening to the speech of the mining district's overseer above.

His gaze was unfocused, however. Clearly, he had not absorbed a single word of that pie in the sky, which had probably been painted countless times before. Only when the gathering ended did he pick up his iron pickaxe and stagger back to his ramshackle hut.

After tossing aside his mining tools, he lay in bed for a long while before finally getting up to heat several unleavened flatbreads on the stove. Washing them down with cold water, he laboriously took a bite.

The cold flatbreads provided free by the mining district naturally were not good food. With a single bite, he could feel the tough crust tugging at his teeth, while wood splinters and pebbles inside knocked against his gums.

Yet Xu Yuan seemed not to feel a thing. He mechanically repeated the motion of chewing until he had thoroughly crushed and swallowed the flatbread before him, then dragged himself back to bed.

"Almost a year now, isn't it? Where is my future? And the immortal path... where is it?"

Muttering to himself, Xu Yuan's eyes were full of sorrow. A year ago, he had inexplicably arrived in this world. The moment he woke, he found himself already inside a mining district of the Hidden Moon Sect.

The original owner of this body had been one of the masses searching for immortality. After immense hardship, he had finally found an immortal sect, but his aptitude was insufficient. Left with no choice, he had settled for less, then less again, becoming free labor in the Hidden Moon Sect's mining district.

The overseer had just called them future disciples of an immortal sect, but that was merely a comforting line. Whether in the eyes of the immortal sect's disciples or in their own eyes, they were nothing more than a band of immortal slaves.

Still, mining could indeed be exchanged for cultivation resources. So when he had first arrived, Xu Yuan had also carried hopes for the future and dreamed of ascending to immortality and attaining the Dao.

But a few months later, he realized something was wrong.

For people like them who had made it into the mining district, the meager resources earned through mining alone were not enough even to enter the path. Coupled with the time mining consumed every day, the time they had left for cultivation was vanishingly small. Unless someone was truly blessed by heaven, the most likely outcome was that they would waste their entire lives in this mining district and become immortal slaves in the truest sense!

What was even more despairing was that the Hidden Moon Sect seemed to have foreseen this long ago. When they chose to enter the mining district, each of them had made an agreement with the Hidden Moon Sect: without permission, they were absolutely forbidden to leave!

In other words, barring an accident, he would likely remain in this mining district for the rest of his life—until he grew older, could no longer keep up with the minimum mining quota, and was naturally "optimized."

In the year Xu Yuan had been here, he had already watched quite a few familiar faces disappear. In this place where leaving was forbidden, he did not even dare imagine where those who vanished had gone.

As his thoughts surged and fell, the sorrow in Xu Yuan's eyes deepened further.

Though his previous self on Earth had not been especially rich or powerful, he had at least owned a car and a home. Damn that old heaven, how had it ended up like this...

"Hm? What's this?"

Just as Xu Yuan cursed inwardly, something flashed before his eyes. Then, several lines of small text seemed to suddenly appear in front of him.

[Item: Ramshackle Wooden Bed]

[Status: On the Verge of Collapse]

[Current Trait: None]

[Traits That Can Be Added (0/1)]

[Selectable Trait: Sturdy (Gray): Slightly increases structural stability and makes it less prone to shaking. Cost: One tael of silver.]

"Did exhaustion make me hallucinate?"

He rubbed his eyes hard, but the lines of small text before him not only did not vanish—they became even clearer. His heart gave a violent jolt as he looked to the side.

[Item: Drafty Window]

[Status: Window Paper Damaged]

[Current Trait: None]

[Traits That Can Be Added (0/1)]

[Selectable Trait: Windproof (Gray): Slightly reduces the cold wind blowing in. Cost: One tael of silver.]

His heartbeat grew faster and faster as Xu Yuan's gaze swept over everything in his home. Sure enough, information on one item after another leaped into view.

[Ramshackle Firewood Chopper], [Wobbly Stool], [Chipped Porcelain Bowl]—and every item had an option: the traits he could currently add. As for the cost, it ranged from one to two taels of silver.

As for those traits, they did nothing more than make the bed sturdier or the window more windproof. They did not seem particularly mean—

His gaze halted. Xu Yuan saw the refined iron pickaxe placed in the corner.

[Item: Refined Iron Mining Pickaxe]

[Status: Slightly Worn]

[Current Trait: None]

[Traits That Can Be Added: 0/1]

[Selectable Trait: Sharp (Gray): Increases the sharpness of the refined iron mining pickaxe to a certain extent. Cost: Three taels of silver.

Mineral Perception (Weak) (White): Each time you swing the pickaxe, you can sense minerals within one zhang of earth. Cost: Three taels of gold.]

"Holy shit..." Staring fixedly at the lines of small text before him, Xu Yuan's exhaustion seemed to have been swept away in an instant. He sprang to his feet, then rummaged through some obscure nook until he found a small pouch and pinched out a tiny gold nugget.

When the original owner had searched for immortality, he had somehow carried some gold and silver with him. Unfortunately, after entering the immortal sect, those things had become about as valuable as cow dung. Who would have thought they could still be useful now?

Grasping the refined iron mining pickaxe in one hand and the tiny gold nugget in the other, Xu Yuan faintly sensed something and closed his eyes slightly. The next moment, the gold nugget in his other hand vanished without a trace, and the refined iron mining pickaxe suddenly flashed brightly.

Knowing the trait had probably been successfully added, Xu Yuan picked up the mining pickaxe for a look, then tried digging into the soil beneath his feet. In an instant, he felt as though his thoughts were spreading along the iron pickaxe, piercing into the earth one zhang ahead.

Within this range, everything of gold and stone fell into his mind.

"Perfect!"

With the corners of his mouth lifting, Xu Yuan held the refined iron mining pick and examined it again and again. With this, why would he worry about failing to dig up ore? Why would he fear being cast aside by the mining area when he grew old?

No, that was wrong! Cursing himself inwardly for lacking ambition, Xu Yuan thought that with such ability, he was actually still thinking about muddling through in the mining area. He needed to gather enough resources, enter the Dao as soon as possible, and truly step into the Hidden Moon Sect—that was what mattered!

"Achieve immortality, attain the Dao, and roam free and unbound..."

Muttering under his breath, Xu Yuan blankly stared at his own hand again. Just then, several new lines of small text emerged.

[Creator: Xu Yuan]