"What were you two doing here?"
The mine supervisor's furious voice rang out. Though old, his tall body blocked the entrance as he glared at the two before him.
He had never expected that, despite keeping a close watch on the immortal slaves entering and leaving the mine, two people would still slip through the cracks, achieve Qi Refining, and gain the qualifications to enter the immortal sect.
"There must be some kind of sensing formation here. He found out about our breakthrough."
Bi Qiong looked at Xu Yuan, her voice trembling slightly. Compared with the living quarters, she had thought breaking through inside the mine would be more discreet. Who could have expected that there was actually a formation here that could sense spiritual qi?
No wonder that person had not come in person.
"You're called Xu Yuan, and you're Bi Qiong, right?" The supervisor looked at them mockingly. "Not bad. You had some ideas, even knew to avoid me. What a pity—this entire mining area is under my control."
The supervisor stepped forward. The black wind before him suddenly transformed into a giant hand and grabbed straight at the two of them.
"If I can't capture you alive, I'll sell you for the price of corpses!"
A wild gale howled toward them. The supervisor's spiritual qi far surpassed theirs, surging like stormy waves. Bi Qiong gritted her teeth and could only form a hand seal, producing a streak of pink light in her palm. At that moment, Xu Yuan behind her suddenly neither dodged nor avoided, but charged forward.
His body was equally tall, yet compared to the supervisor, the spiritual qi fluctuations around him were undoubtedly far too weak. After all, he had only just broken through to the first level of Qi Refining.
But at that moment, as Xu Yuan clenched his fist, a powerful aura rose from his body as well.
"This fist is called Great Fortune!"
He slowly uttered those words, planted his right foot, then threw a fierce punch.
Several days ago, he had already begun studying the combat methods within the Little Blue Mountain Essence-to-Qi Art. Among them, the eight words, "When intent breaks all things, the fist breaks all things," had left Xu Yuan pondering for a long time.
At first, he had even wildly imagined the Big Bang, the creation of heaven and earth, or the rising sun in the east. But those celestial phenomena were either far too weighty for him to visualize, or too lacking in detail, leaving the images he formed utterly without presence.
After several days of bitter contemplation, he had only grasped a trace of the mystery that morning.
On the national highway, the Hundred-Ton King—gods blocked, gods slain; Buddhas blocked, Buddhas slain!
We were all fighting to live. I fought so hard—why were you still alive!
Wretch, go explain it to my insurance company!
The aura around him surged layer upon layer. Gradually, Xu Yuan's blood and qi began to roar. Working together with his spiritual qi, they drove this punch to its peak.
For an instant, within this cramped mine tunnel, it seemed as though the blare of the Great Fortune's horn truly sounded.
With a thunderous boom, his fist collided with the black wind hand. Under the supervisor's utterly shocked gaze, his grasping technique was smashed to pieces. Yet that kid, who had only just entered Qi Refining, had merely had the surface of his skin torn apart—not even suffering serious injuries.
"Spirit-Martial Unity." The supervisor stared at Xu Yuan with a savage expression. He suddenly recalled that Xu Yuan's awakened mortal body must be extraordinary. He had actually unified his blood and qi with spiritual qi immediately after entering the Qi Refining realm, and even thrown such a punch.
At that thought, his heart twisted again. Why? You had clearly fallen into this mining area and become an immortal slave, so why couldn't you obediently offer up everything you had? Why did you still have to climb upward?!
The black wind around him surged once more. This time, the supervisor no longer held back his mid-stage Qi Refining cultivation. With his next strike, he would crush the two of them completely.
"Die!"
The black wind transformed into several enormous palms, attacking the two from every direction. Every one of them was vastly stronger than the previous move.
At that moment, Bi Qiong suddenly pointed forward. The pink light in her hand shot out, passed through all the black wind, and entered the supervisor's eyes.
His mind had already been in turmoil. Now, struck by this kind of spiritual attack, his vision instantly swam in confusion. For a time, more than half the black wind palms scattered.
"It's up to you."
Bi Qiong cried out weakly. Xu Yuan nodded, drew a breath, and threw another fierce punch.
Continuously visualizing the Hundred-Ton King speeding down the highway, Xu Yuan kept punching. His spiritual qi and blood qi were rapidly draining away, while both hands became a mangled mess of blood and flesh. Deep white bones could faintly be seen.
Yet Xu Yuan seemed not to notice at all. He continued punching until, with another boom, the final black wind palm was smashed apart as well.
Only then did the supervisor come back to his senses. His eyes fixed on the two who had survived again, and he was about to attack when a clear bell suddenly rang outside.
Once every half month, a Hidden Moon Sect deacon came to collect the minerals.
"Why was it so much later?" Bi Qiong caught her breath, then looked at the supervisor's ugly expression.
"The immortal sect's immortal elder has arrived. Are you going to fight us to the death, miss the appointed hour and be skinned and dismembered, or rush over now and leave yourself a way to live?"
Bi Qiong did not need to say it. The moment the bell rang, the supervisor had already left the mine with a dark face. From the look of it, he probably hated his parents for not giving him two extra legs.
"Every time they collect the ore, it's at the third quarter of the Hour of the Rat. That person told me so, but why was it half a quarter-hour late today?" Seeing Xu Yuan's confusion, Bi Qiong explained. Then she took a pill from her clothes and tossed it to him. "Eat this. It's for healing."
Xu Yuan nodded his thanks, but merely tucked the pill into his clothes. Bi Qiong pursed her lips but said nothing, only urging, "Let's hurry after him. While the Hidden Moon Sect deacon is here, we should tell her that we've already broken through to Qi Refining."
"Alright."
Xu Yuan answered. Feeling some of the blood qi and spiritual qi in his body recover, he hurriedly followed Bi Qiong.
Just as they were about to reach the outside, footsteps suddenly sounded at the entrance. The two looked up and saw the supervisor's old face poke back in.
Their expressions immediately tightened. Only when they saw the figure of a woman behind him, dressed in a black deacon's robe and wearing a white veil over her face, did they finally relax.
"Xu Yuan, Bi Qiong, why haven't you hurried to greet Immortal Elder Rong Ling?"
"Xu Yuan."
"Bi Qiong."
"Greetings, Immortal Elder Rong Ling."
The two bowed together, while also casting strange looks at the supervisor. This man changed his face faster than turning the pages of a book.
"Immortal Elder, this subordinate sensed something unusual in the mine just now and discovered that two immortal slaves had broken through to the Qi Refining realm. I specifically entered to inspect the matter, which delayed me somewhat."
The supervisor smiled ingratiatingly at the deacon. Only then did the two understand that, since he had failed to kill them, he was simply using them as shields.
"Mhm." The deacon swept a glance over Xu Yuan and Bi Qiong, as though she had not noticed in the slightest that they were half-dead. She merely gave a cold order. "Handle matters according to procedure."
"As Immortal Elder commands."
The supervisor nodded repeatedly, then stepped forward and patted both of them on the shoulders. "Junior brothers, having broken out of your cocoons to become butterflies, you will now enter the Hidden Moon Immortal Sect and ascend to the heavens. I truly can't bear to part with you."
Xu Yuan and Bi Qiong looked at his face and nodded repeatedly as well. "Yes, we truly can't bear to part with you."
The three exchanged smiles, and for a moment the atmosphere was harmonious beyond measure. There was not the slightest trace of their earlier confrontation at sword's point.
But inwardly, one feared being exposed and could only lower his head to immortal slaves, while the other feared further trouble and simply went along with it.
From beginning to end, the deacon merely watched coldly. She only urged the supervisor to deliver the ore quickly, then nodded at Xu Yuan and Bi Qiong.
"Come with me."
Before you continue