Li Qiang felt his shoulder and found nothing there. Puzzled, he thought, Huh, did it run off? It shouldn't have. How strange.
Li Qiang began recalling what had happened. The little thing seemed to have still been perched on his shoulder when he entered Rejuvenation Valley's Alchemy Chamber, but he had no idea where it had gone during his fight with Situ Yong. Things had been chaotic then, and he had paid it no attention.
Li Qiang sank his consciousness into his body one last time, clinging to a thread of hope that he might find the Fire Essence inside. He searched for a long while, and just as he was about to despair, he suddenly found it.
The Fire Essence had turned into something like a red thread and was vigorously burrowing into and gnawing at the curtain of light.
With Li Qiang's Nascent Soul sealed, the little thing was actually the most anxious of all. Like a child whose most beloved toy had been snatched away, it desperately wanted its beloved possession back. Its attacks had already come close to breaking a hole through the curtain of light.
Li Qiang was overjoyed and grew immensely fond of the little thing. If he could escape his predicament this way, the Fire Essence would deserve the greatest credit.
Li Qiang knew his cultivation power would not recover anytime soon, but with the Fire Essence working away inside, breaking the seal was only a matter of time.
Li Qiang stood and stretched, his heart once again filled with fighting spirit.
"Brother Muzi, what are you doing? Why are you sitting on the floor?" Qiao Yuhong had woken up. Looking thoroughly puzzled, she asked, "Brother Muzi, why can't I leave the room? When I reach the doorway, something seems to block me."
Li Qiang looked at her tenderly and said gently, "Did you sleep well, little brother Hong? I sealed the doorway. Getting through is easy; I'll teach you. You can have this room from now on! No one else can get in."
Qiao Yuhong felt her face burn like a furnace. She was exceptionally clever and knew Li Qiang had already seen through her disguise as a boy. Since he did not expose her, she was happy to play dumb, feeling grateful to him in her heart.
After teaching Qiao Yuhong how to enter and leave the formation, Li Qiang quietly left a few pieces of clothing on the bed. They were rather oversized, but far better than nothing. He also handed her a package of food and said, "Little brother Hong, have something to eat first. You must be hungry?"
When they left the room, they saw two prisoners sitting on the floor, guarding the things scattered all over it. Seeing Li Qiang and Qiao Yuhong emerge, they immediately stood and bowed. "Greetings, great master, and, um... master." Neither knew how to address Qiao Yuhong, so they could only make something up, making her laugh aloud.
Li Qiang asked, "Where's Nashan?"
The prisoner he addressed froze at once. Who was Nashan? He did not dare ask, and his face turned white with fright. The other prisoner grew frightened too. Here, a single word from the boss could decide life or death at his whim.
These prisoners knew only the one-eyed boss. They usually called him great master and had no idea his name was Nashan.
Seeing how nervous they were, Li Qiang smiled and softened his tone. "Nashan is One-Eye. Where is he? Don't rush. Take your time."
The two prisoners had not expected this great master to be so easy to talk to. One answered respectfully, "He said he was going to the mining face. Great master, would you like this lowly one to fetch him?"
Li Qiang said, "Perfect. I wanted to see what things are like at the mining face too. Sorry for the trouble, but please lead the way!"
Beside him, Qiao Yuhong said, "Brother Muzi, take me along! Being alone in the room is... too boring." She had nearly blurted out, "I'm scared."
"All right, let's go together! Oh! What's your name? Where are you from?"
The prisoner leading the way trembled slightly at the question and sighed. "This lowly one is a merchant from the Western Continent. I was taking goods to the Bangqining Kingdom on the Tanbang Continent, but the Tante Kingdom's Heavenly Strike Soldiers discovered me. My goods were confiscated, and I was sent to the Black Prison. Ah! This lowly one's name is Paben."
"The Western Continent? Where is that? How is it related to the Tanbang Continent?" Li Qiang was surprised. So there were people of his own race here too. It seemed necessary to clear up some basic facts.
"The Western Continent and the Tanbang Continent are separated by the Sea of Wronged Souls. The Western Continent consists of many small countries and native peoples. Living conditions are harsh, but it produces many unusual goods. If you can transport them to the Tanbang Continent, the profits are so high they're hard to resist. On the return trip, you can bring back plenty of goods from the Tanbang Continent and make another fortune."
Paben continued, "After each Wind of Fear passes, merchants prepare ships at Life-Forgetfulness Cape to cross the sea. That's the strait where the two continents are closest. If you're lucky and don't encounter the sea monsters of the Sea of Wronged Souls, you have a chance of getting rich."
"Oh! What good things do you produce there?"
Paben had never met such an easygoing, approachable young boss, without the slightest airs. Rather overwhelmed by the favor, he said, "There are plenty of good things: golden bodhi wood, bulb stone, heavenly illusion water, great thunder feather, yinyin fruit, sea agate, ice crystal..."
Sea agate? Li Qiang was delighted to hear it. He grabbed Paben and shouted, "Did you say sea agate? Yes, you said sea agate!"
Sea agate was something Li Qiang had never forgotten. Earlier, when he heard the name Sea of Wronged Souls, he had only felt he had heard it somewhere before. The mention of sea agate finally brought realization. Hadn't Mo Huaiyuan said that the Sea of Wronged Souls produced sea agate?
Poor Paben was scared half to death by Li Qiang and stammered incoherently, "Great... great... ah, low... low... ah." He meant to say, "Great master, it has nothing to do with this lowly one!" But the words came out as nothing but greats and lows, without a single clear sentence.
Qiao Yuhong interjected, "Brother Muzi, you're scaring him."
Li Qiang hurriedly let go. Paben landed on his backside, his legs weak with fright.
Feeling guilty, Li Qiang helped him up and said with a beaming smile, "Sorry. I'm not blaming you for anything. You've misunderstood. I'm asking whether sea agate is a specialty of your Western Continent. Have you ever seen it?"
Seeing Li Qiang's delighted expression, Paben relaxed. He smiled wryly. "You frightened this lowly one to death. Sea agate isn't a specialty of the Western Continent. It's a specialty of the Sea of Wronged Souls, but it's extremely rare, and this lowly one has never seen it either. The things I mentioned are all famous goods of the Western Continent. A small merchant like me never gets to see them."
"Paben, can you speak all the languages here?"
"Yes, this lowly one can speak the languages of the Tanbang Continent and the Western Continent, as well as the language you speak, great master."
Li Qiang said, "Excellent. Follow me from now on. Don't call me great master. Just call me Brother Muzi, all right?"
Li Qiang's words left Paben dizzy. He stammered, "Yes, great... Brother... Muzi." Collecting himself, he added, "The mining face is just ahead."
They could hear the distant clinking and clanging of hammering.
After several turns, a broad mining face appeared before them. The so-called mining face was actually a slope, where multicolored crystals of varying sizes glittered in black rock.
Large chunks of black rock were knocked loose, then the crystals were slowly separated out by hand. This was the first stage of ore processing. Sorting and polishing followed. Crystals that had undergone this preliminary processing were called raw stones, and these could be exchanged for food.
Nashan spotted Li Qiang emerging from the passage and hurried over. "Boss! Ah, a huge chunk collapsed here just now and crushed several people. Damn it! Those bastards really don't watch where they're going. Just when we're short of hands, we've got a few more bastards who eat without working. I'd like nothing better than to toss them into the fire pool and burn them up to save us the trouble."
Li Qiang said nothing and ignored Nashan, simply walking along the mining face and looking around.
Nashan followed uneasily behind him. After making a circuit, Li Qiang asked, "Where are the injured men? Take me to see them."
"Over there." Nashan pointed at a small, dark cave not far away. At its entrance, a foul stench and the reek of blood assaulted their noses. Li Qiang frowned. "Carry them out. Let me take a look."
Several prisoners went inside and carried out three people, one after another.
Two were members of the Green Tribe. The other belonged to a race Li Qiang had never seen. Short red hair covered his entire body, and he was powerfully built, fully two meters tall. Brown armor-like growths covered his chest and back, while his face and right arm were a bloody mess.
Paben said quietly, "His name is Ben. He's a native of the Western Continent."
Li Qiang knew nothing of medicine, but information was readily available back home, and he did know basic first aid. "Nashan, have someone bring a basin of hot water. Hurry!"
Hearing the displeasure in his boss's voice, Nashan felt rather baffled. This was the terrifying Black Prison, with neither medicine nor doctors. Death was commonplace. Did this new boss actually intend to save people? He shook his bald head and could only send someone to heat water, then watched curiously to see what Li Qiang would do. The surrounding prisoners gathered around as well.
Qiao Yuhong was both surprised and curious. This Brother Muzi, whom she had met by chance like floating duckweed on water, had already shown her so many unbelievable things. Could he really treat injuries too?
When the hot water arrived, Li Qiang took out a towel and first washed Ben's wounds clean. There were four long wounds on Ben's arm, with the flesh turned outward and already darkening.
Li Qiang knew that treating the wounds required cutting away the blackened flesh first, so he called, "A few of you, hold him down. Paben, if the pain wakes him, tell him not to move. All right, let's begin!"
In truth, Li Qiang was pretending to know what he did not. He had learned all these methods from films and television he had watched before. To save a life, he could only grit his teeth and blunder ahead.
Taking out the four-inch silver flying sword Mo Huaiyuan had given him, Li Qiang prepared to begin.
Seeing the flying sword in his hand, Qiao Yuhong thought, Brother Muzi's little knife is so strange! It looks like a little silver fish, moving constantly in his hand as though it's alive.
Had a cultivator seen this, they might have screamed themselves hoarse. Li Qiang was surely the only person to use such a supreme-grade flying sword to cut flesh and treat wounds.
"Awooo-!" The roar shook heaven and earth.
Paben was so nervous that sweat poured off him like rain. He shouted loudly in an attempt to calm Ben. But Ben had only just awakened and had not caught what Paben was saying at all. With a slight shake of his arms, he sent the prisoners holding him flying backward. Yet the hand Li Qiang held could not budge. He wondered why he could not move it.
Ben opened his eyes and saw a young man with a long scar across his face cutting his flesh with a strange little knife that flashed in his hand. Without hesitation, he swung his other hand and punched, the force of his fist raising a rush of wind.
Almost everyone cried out in alarm. Ben was renowned here for his strength, but because he could not communicate and had no companions, he had suffered terribly. Only a few Green Tribe members took some care of him. Usually, his great strength let him mine more ore and scrape together a little extra food, and the other prisoners did not dare provoke him much. If Li Qiang had not been there when he was injured this time, no one would have bothered with him.
Li Qiang did not move. He merely gave a soft grunt, channeled his strength into his shoulder, and let the punch strike it.
Ben suffered badly for that. It was not like punching a human body, but an iron anvil or a steel wall. His hand bones nearly shattered, and he howled in pain.
Holding back a laugh, Li Qiang said, "Paben, tell him not to move. I'm treating his injuries."
Paben looked at Li Qiang as though he were a monster. He knew Ben's strength all too well. On the Western Continent, no one dared provoke natives like Ben. They were born fighters, mighty warriors; provoking them was tantamount to seeking death. Seeing Li Qiang take the punch as though nothing had happened nearly burst Paben's gallbladder with fright. He said repeatedly, "Yes, yes, yes, I'll tell him, I'll tell him." But it was already too late.
Unconvinced, Ben threw another punch, this time at Li Qiang's face.
Li Qiang sighed and did something that left everyone dumbstruck. He lowered his head and met the blow, his head colliding with the fist.
Thud!
This time, Ben could not even cry out. His whole body trembled. Paben seized the opportunity to rattle off an explanation.
When Paben finished, the savage gleam in Ben's eyes slowly faded. He had never imagined anyone would care about him. An emotion he had never experienced surged within him, strange and unfamiliar, and he himself did not know what it was.
Li Qiang smiled faintly at Ben. He had already cleaned out the wound, sprinkled wound powder over it, and bandaged it. After tending the wounds on Ben's face as well, he clapped his hands and said, "Bring the next one over."
With that experience behind him, the two Green Tribe members were easier to handle.
Li Qiang soon finished bandaging them and instructed Nashan, "Make sure they get plenty of rest. Also, once Ben's wounds heal, have him join the training. He should make a good warrior."
The way the prisoners looked at Li Qiang changed completely, from awe and fear to hope and admiration.
Several prisoners helped the injured men up. Li Qiang said, "Remember, we've all come from every corner of the world, and fate has bound us together. If everyone is indifferent to their companions, who can you count on to help when something happens to you? From now on, everyone must help and care for one another. Do you understand?"
The prisoners cheered excitedly. Nashan muttered, "That's what a boss should be like. Ah... I can't compare."
Qiao Yuhong said admiringly, "Brother Muzi, you're amazing."
"Little brother Hong, there's nothing amazing about it. We need confidence in ourselves to survive." Li Qiang felt he had already changed a great deal. Since leaving Earth, he had gone through all manner of upheavals, and his mind had begun maturing rapidly.
Ben approached Li Qiang and began speaking. Paben translated, "He says he wants to follow you, because you're a warrior."
Thinking that he would be going to the Western Continent in the future and that Ben was a local native, Li Qiang smiled. "All right, follow me from now on! Just focus on protecting little brother Hong and Paben."
Paben froze and only translated for Ben after a long pause. Ben looked at Qiao Yuhong and Paben and nodded repeatedly. Pleased, Li Qiang patted his shoulder in encouragement.
A prisoner rushed out of the passage and ran up to Li Qiang and Nashan, gasping for breath. "Great... great... master, there's an... announcement..."
True to his old habits, Nashan swung a slap at him, but Li Qiang caught his hand and glared at him. Nashan smiled sheepishly. "Ah, I forgot again. Heh! I won't hit anyone next time. I won't..."
Li Qiang smiled. "Don't rush. What announcement? Take your time."
The prisoner drew a deep breath, gratitude welling within him. "Great master, the people above sent down an announcement. They're looking for someone who was sent in recently. If anyone finds him and reports it, the Tante Kingdom will release the person who reports him."
Nashan asked in surprise, "Who's worth all this trouble from those white devils? What's his name?"
The prisoner said, "It seems to be something Qiang. Oh no, I... I... I've forgotten."
"Is it Li Qiang?" Li Qiang asked without betraying anything.
"Yes, yes, yes, that's it, Li Qiang! Oh, the bosses of every district have gone mad. They say they'll dig three feet into the ground if that's what it takes to find him." As he spoke, he wondered how the boss knew the man's name was Li Qiang.
"Did they say why they're looking for him?"
"No. They just seemed very urgent about it."
Nashan said excitedly, "Boss, we've taken in quite a few people recently too. Let's check. He might be in our district."
Li Qiang thought, What is there to look for? I'm standing right in front of you. Strange, why is the Tante Kingdom looking for me? Could it be... They couldn't have tracked me here so quickly! He waved his hand. "He won't be in our district. No need to look."
In fact, after Li Qiang was captured, the Cultivation Realm had been thrown into turmoil.
Word spread quickly. Hou Pijing, Fu Shan, and Mei Youbing issued a joint warning: if Old Man Baihuang did not hand Li Qiang over, the experts of their three sects would gather their friends and disciples and go to Qianjie Star to demand justice.
Although Old Man Baihuang was not afraid, so many cultivation experts coming to his door, especially supreme experts like Fu Shan and Hou Pijing looking for trouble, would spell terrible disaster for his subordinates.
Moreover, news concerning the Wrath of the Heavenly God had recently leaked, drawing cultivation experts to Heavenly Court Star in great numbers. If his enemies attacked Qianjie Star at such a time, while his own experts were all on Heavenly Court Star, there truly would be few people left at home to resist them. Furious, Old Man Baihuang ordered them to find this Li Qiang first.
When the order came down, Situ Yong and An Lang were dumbfounded. They had not known Li Qiang was Fu Shan's brother, assuming he was merely a disciple of the Mei Household in Rejuvenation Valley, and had thought nothing of it. People were sent to the Tante Kingdom's Black Camp every day. How were they supposed to investigate?
An Lang even made a special trip to the Tante Kingdom to search, only to learn that everyone sent over recently had been dispatched to the Black Prison.
Furthermore, the Tante Kingdom was reluctant to help, because the Black Prison was a secret, and they did not want to release anyone from it.
Only after Situ Yong went to negotiate in person did they agree to try searching. Because so many people died in the Black Prison, no one dared guarantee they would find him. That was why the announcement had been issued.
This incident did, however, make Li Qiang's name resound throughout the Cultivation Realm.
Li Qiang had no idea the outside world had been turned upside down because of him. All he was thinking about was how to escape his predicament.
He sent for Lin Fenghe and Nanadun to ask how the organization of their force was coming along.
Nanadun had already learned that Li Qiang had helped two injured members of his tribe and had developed a favorable impression of him. His manner was much more sincere as he said, "So far, we've formed five squads, each with eighty to ninety people. Training has already begun, but weapons and equipment..."
Lin Fenghe also said, "The people here are too weak. They need plenty of food and rest, or they'll hardly have any fighting strength."
Li Qiang paced back and forth, pondering how to restore the prisoners' physical strength.
There was no way to provide sufficient food. Only cultivation methods offered a chance of restoring them. He would have to check the Jade Pupil Slip later to see whether there was a simple method that produced quick results.
Stopping in his tracks, Li Qiang thought of another problem.