The Azure-Cloud Mines were a labyrinth of misery. The air was thick with rock dust and the metallic tang of raw Qi. Here, life was measured in "Baskets"—the amount of Spirit-Ore a slave could extract before their strength failed.
Shen Yuan sat in a damp corner of Tunnel 404, the lowest and most dangerous sector. The Spirit-Locking handcuffs on his wrists pulsed with a blue light, trying to suppress his power. To the guards, he looked like a broken man.
Inside his mind, he was laughing.
"The fools," Shen Yuan thought. "They think these cuffs are a cage. To me, they are a filter."
He was using the cuffs to strain out the impurities of the Upper Realm's dense Qi. Every pulse of the "Locking" energy was being repurposed to forge his [Star-Forged Flesh]. His skin was subtly beginning to take on a matte, metallic sheen under the grime.
"You... you haven't moved in hours," the girl from before, whose name was Xiao Chi, whispered. She dropped her pickaxe, her hands bleeding. "If the Overseer sees your basket is empty, he'll use the 'Soul-Whip'. You won't survive it."
Shen Yuan opened one eye. "The Overseer is a man who thinks he owns the mountain because he sits on its surface. He knows nothing of what lies beneath his feet."
"What are you talking about?" Xiao Chi asked, fear flickering in her eyes. "It's just rock and death."
"Is it?"
Shen Yuan stood up. He walked to the back wall of the tunnel, where the rock was a strange, bruised purple. He didn't use a pickaxe. He simply touched the stone with a finger.
"[First Gate: Whispers of the Abyss]"
A thin vibration traveled through the mountain. Somewhere deep, deep below, a resonance answered. The "Graveyard of the Silver Dragons" was recognizing its Master.
Crack.
A small fissure opened in the rock. A drop of silver liquid, glowing with a soft, lunar light, seeped out. The air in the tunnel suddenly became so cold that Xiao Chi's breath turned to ice.
"Dragon Marrow..." she gasped, her eyes widening. "That's... that's a legendary treasure! Even the Sect Leader of Azure-Cloud hasn't seen a drop of this!"
"And he never will," Shen Yuan said.
He touched the drop. It didn't sit on his skin; it was absorbed instantly. His body jerked. His bones groaned as they were forcibly broken and reconstructed by the draconic essence.
[Body Refinement: Star-Forged Flesh - 10% Completion]
The Spirit-Locking cuffs on his wrists suddenly shattered into a thousand pieces, unable to contain the sudden surge of power.
"Who's making that noise?!" a voice boomed.
Overseer Scar-Face marched into the tunnel, his lightning-whip sparking. He saw the broken cuffs on the floor and Shen Yuan standing tall, his eyes glowing with a faint, predatory violet light.
"You! How did you break the cuffs?!" Scar-Face roared, lunging forward with his whip. "I'll skin you alive!"
The whip lashed out, crackling with enough voltage to stop a Foundation-level heart. Shen Yuan didn't move. He caught the whip with his bare hand.
The lightning surged into him, but instead of screaming, Shen Yuan smiled. He used his Black Hole Core to swallow the electricity as if it were a light snack.
"My turn," Shen Yuan whispered.
He pulled the whip. Scar-Face was dragged forward, his face hitting Shen Yuan's outstretched hand.
"[Second Gate: The Reaper's Harvest]"
The Overseer didn't even have time to scream. His body withered in seconds, his cultivation, his blood, and his very memories being sucked into Shen Yuan's palm.
A moment later, a pile of grey ash hit the floor. Shen Yuan stood there, holding the lightning-whip, which was now turning black under his influence.
Xiao Chi backed away, trembling. "You... what are you?"
Shen Yuan looked at her, his face a mask of cold indifference. "I am the one who is going to turn this grave into an Empire. Now, take this."
He handed her a small fragment of the purple rock, now infused with a tiny spark of his Qi. "Eat it. If you want to survive the next hour, you'll need to be more than a slave."
"The next hour?" she stammered.
Shen Yuan looked toward the tunnel entrance. "The Overseer has a 'Life-Tablet' in the main hall. It just shattered. The guards are coming. And I'm tired of digging."