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Chen Xiaojun walked back along the cold, hard rock corridor.
The chill air peculiar to the depths of Iron Jaw Fortress carried ore dust and a faint scent of blood. The Soul Guidance Lamps on the walls cast flickering shadows, stretching and shortening his silent silhouette.
Just as he rounded a corner, a faint but shrill uproar drifted from a side courtyard ahead, shattering the corridor's quiet.
It was the same courtyard where he had heard chains rattling and harsh reprimands earlier-the place holding the adult male Soul Masters and able-bodied laborers abducted by the Bone-Digging Corps, including the "mining grunts."
Chen Xiaojun did not stop, but shifted his course slightly, walking silently toward the heavily guarded courtyard gate.
Recognizing him, the Brocade Guards at the entrance immediately bowed and silently opened the heavy iron gate.
The scene inside came into view.
On the dusty open ground, hundreds of haggard men in ragged clothes stood or sat, their complicated gazes fixed on the center of the courtyard.
There stood Chen Mu with his arms folded and his face livid, flanked by an equally displeased Gu Yuanchao and Ma Liang.
Facing them were dozens of agitated men waving their arms. Their leader shouted the loudest, spittle flying from his mouth.
"Why are you keeping us locked up? You wiped out the Bone-Digging Corps-what does that have to do with us? We were just laborers they abducted!"
"Exactly! Isn't the Chen Clan supposed to be a prestigious family? Are you going to copy the Bone-Digging Corps and work us like slaves?"
"Let us go home! We want our freedom! Surely your Chen Clan isn't going to stoop to the same filthy business!"
"That's right! Let us leave! We're not your spoils of war!"
Their leader was a