Qin Huaian

"Big Brother, this kid isn't dead, is he? If he dies, the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect definitely won't let us off."

"Don't talk nonsense. What does his life or death have to do with us? If he dies, then the mine tunnel collapsed and crushed him to death!" The burly man shot his underling a vicious glare and barked harshly.

When Qin Huaian groggily came to, he happened to hear the two men's conversation.

At that moment, scenes of memories that did not belong to him flooded into his mind. Qin Huaian felt as though his head were splitting apart and instinctively rubbed his temples.

"He's still alive!"

"This kid's got a lucky life. Let's go!" The burly man gave Qin Huaian a fierce but hollow glare. With practiced ease, he dumped the ore from Qin Huaian's mining basket into his own, then hurried off with his lackeys.

Only after a long while did Qin Huaian's gaze gradually clear. He had transmigrated—from a 996 corporate slave into a miner digging ore.

This was one of the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect's mineral veins, and they had all been hired to mine here.

The Yellow Mountain Sword Sect was the greatest cultivation sect within a radius of hundreds of thousands of li. Those mine tyrants did not dare cause a death here, or they would never escape punishment.

The original owner of this body was also named Qin Huaian. He had been a Rogue Cultivator struggling to survive in Cloudfield Market, on the southern frontier of the Qi Kingdom. He earned a few cultivation resources by occasionally entering the mountains to gather herbs, or by doing odd jobs processing medicinal ingredients for shops in the market.

Cloudfield Market was a market established by the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect in the Qi Kingdom, and also the kingdom's only gathering place for cultivators. South of the market lay the boundless Million Mountains.

Recently, the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect's red copper mine had recruited miners in the market, offering generous pay, so Qin Huaian had signed up and come here. He had not expected to run into mine tyrants only two days after arriving.

The tunnels twisted and turned, with countless branching paths. These people specifically targeted lone cultivators and robbed them of the ore they had mined. As long as no one died and they did not make too much of a scene, the mine administrators generally could not be bothered to interfere.

The original Qin Huaian had a fierce temperament and refused to hand over the ore he had dug up. The burly man punched him flying, and his head struck the tunnel wall, killing him on the spot. Only then had Qin Huaian taken over this body.

"On my way to work, I jumped into the Taiping River to save a little girl who'd fallen into the water, and ended up throwing my own life away. The Taiping River really isn't peaceful at all. They'll probably give me a medal for righteous bravery." Qin Huaian smiled bitterly to himself.

"Grrr..." His stomach gave a low, rumbling protest. Only then did Qin Huaian realize he had not eaten for an entire day. He pulled out a fasting pill from his robes and popped it into his mouth. Mm... not bad. Strawberry flavor.

Those mine tyrants had been in such a hurry to leave that they had not even searched him. Were they really that kind? Had they feared he would fight them to the death and die right in front of them? Or had they seen how poor and shabby he looked and assumed he had nothing worth taking? Qin Huaian gave an embarrassed smile and did not dwell on it.

He then rummaged through his robes and pulled out a few more items: three low-grade spirit stones, two fasting pills, one qi-restoring pill, one Divine Movement Talisman, one Vajra Talisman, and a small booklet recording the Azure Splendor Art. This was everything Qin Huaian owned. The original owner had rented a cave dwelling in Cloudfield Market, with two months left on the lease. If he could not earn more spirit stones, he would be cast out into the wilderness.

"A fasting pill only lasts one day. I need to mine ore and earn spirit stones. These damned mine tyrants—I never even experienced workplace bullying in my previous life, yet the moment I transmigrated, I got a make-up lesson." Mocking himself, Qin Huaian slung the mining basket onto his back, picked up his pickaxe, and headed deeper into the mine. First, he had to stay alive.

Red copper ore was incomparably hard. Ordinary mortals could not mine it at all, and even cultivators needed specially made mining pickaxes.

Two days later, crimson ore filled more than half his mining basket. His luck seemed to have improved these past two days; he had mined more ore than he had in all the preceding days combined. Could this be some kind of beginner's bonus?

The ore was heavy and extremely dense. Fortunately, Qin Huaian was now a cultivator. Though his cultivation was ordinary, he was still far stronger than a mortal. He wiped the sweat from his brow and swallowed his last fasting pill.

It was time to return to the market and rest up. He could not keep mining endlessly.

"A total of 813 jin. I'll count it as eight spirit stones for you." The Yellow Mountain Sword Sect mine administrator at the tunnel entrance spoke without expression and casually handed the spirit stones to Qin Huaian.

For every hundred jin of ordinary red copper ore mined, one could receive one spirit stone. If one mined red copper essence, then each jin of red copper essence was worth one spirit stone.

"Thank you, Senior."

Qin Huaian accepted the spirit stones and thanked the administrator. Just as he was about to leave, a familiar voice drifted over.

"Big Brother, we've had a pretty good haul these past two days. The ore they mine is more than usual, too. If this keeps up, we'll work a few more days, save up a sum, then head back and enjoy ourselves properly at Wind Moon Pavilion. The song Fairy Meng Die sings—tsk, tsk..."

"I'd say you're after more than just her singing, kid. Hahaha..."

Qin Huaian looked up to see four cultivators chatting and laughing as they headed toward the mine entrance, their mining baskets filled to the brim. They were precisely the mine tyrants who had robbed the original owner's ore.

One of them, a man with a face full of beard, seemed to sense his gaze and glanced at Qin Huaian as well, but paid him no mind. He strode quickly toward the administrator, his face breaking into a flattering smile.

"Steward Chen, you've worked hard. We're here to turn in our ore."

Qin Huaian did not linger. After giving those men a deep look, he turned and walked out of the mining area.

Every day, the red copper mine sent a flying boat loaded with ore to Cloudfield Market. The cultivators who mined here could also take the boat back and forth, at a cost of one spirit stone per trip.

Taking the flying boat was expensive, but well worth it. The red copper mine was in the outer region of the Million Mountains, over a thousand li from the market. Walking back alone was extremely dangerous.

By the time he reached the market's gates, it was already evening. Cloudfield Market was less a market than a city. It was divided into an inner city and an outer city, each protected by walls and formations.

Qin Huaian entered through the outer city gate, and the guards did not question him. The market generally placed no restrictions on who entered or exited, but after dark, the gates were closed and no one was allowed through.

Following the route from the original owner's memories, he wound this way and that until he reached a row of low houses beneath the outer city wall. He stopped before one of them and formed a hand seal to lift the restriction.

This was the "cave dwelling" Qin Huaian rented in the market. In truth, it was merely a small, single-story house without even a courtyard.

Beyond the door was a small sitting room containing a few simple tables, chairs, and pieces of furniture. The inner room was the bedroom, with a single bed and a meditation cushion roughly three chi in diameter before it. The cushion was used for sitting in meditation and cultivation.

The room was rather plain overall, but it was reasonably tidy and clean.

Sitting cross-legged on the meditation cushion, Qin Huaian circulated his cultivation technique. Strands of special energy were drawn into his body, flowing through his meridians and washing over the channels and acupoints throughout his body before finally converging in his dantian. This special energy was the spiritual qi between heaven and earth.

The cultivation technique had been obtained by the original owner by chance when he was fifteen. It was called the Azure Splendor Art and could be cultivated up to the ninth level of Qi Refinement. Only after completing the ninth level of Qi Refinement could one reach Foundation Establishment, but the technique he possessed contained no subsequent Foundation Establishment portion.

The original owner had spent two years breaking through to the first level of Qi Refinement, then another four years reaching the second. He was now twenty-two, yet the third level of Qi Refinement remained far beyond his reach.

"This is far too slow. At this rate, there's no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment even if I cultivate until I die. Could the original owner's cultivation talent have been that terrible?" After circulating several cycles, Qin Huaian felt that the spiritual power in his dantian had barely increased.

After stopping, Qin Huaian still felt as though none of this were real.

"I wonder how heartbroken my parents will be when they learn I died saving someone. My girlfriend will probably be heartbroken too."

"Could I still make it back? This is a world of cultivation—if I cultivate to a powerful enough realm, could I find the way home?"

"Getting stronger in the cultivation world won't be easy either."

Qin Huaian's feelings were tangled. He missed his family on Blue Star, yet he also yearned for this world of cultivation. He imagined one day riding the wind on a flying sword, roaming carefree between heaven and earth.

But after digesting the original owner's memories, he realized he had been thinking too much.

The original owner had been nothing more than a Rogue Cultivator, with mediocre aptitude and ordinary cultivation techniques. He could neither refine pills or artifacts, nor draw talismans or set formations.

Relying on a primer on medicinal herbs acquired alongside his cultivation technique, he had learned to recognize some medicinal ingredients and barely sustained his cultivation in Yuntian Market.

Through sheer diligence, he had only just managed to reach the second level of Qi Refinement.

Qin Huaian understood that while hard work could not be called utterly worthless before talent and resources, only those who had truly worked hard could understand how important talent and resources were.

Qi Refinement cultivators generally lived around one hundred and twenty years. With the original owner's aptitude, let alone becoming an immortal and living forever, even reaching Foundation Establishment in this lifetime would likely be difficult.

"Seed Number Seven has been activated. Binding host..."

As Qin Huaian's thoughts ran wild, a voice suddenly rang out in his mind, and his vision blurred. A moment later, his consciousness entered an unfamiliar space.