"I said ANOTHER!" Omari roared and leapt at the cultivator with a brutal punch.
The cultivator fell on his back, and before he could take control of the situation, Omari charged forward, jumping into the air.
Before Omari could land on him, the cultivator lifted his hand, qi gathering in his palm. The qi exploded, sending Omari rolling on the ground.
With a tap on his spatial pouch, the cultivator pulled out his sword, which flew into his hand.
"How dare you! A mere slave dirties me with your disgusting hands!" the cultivator spat while slowly walking towards Omari.
As the cultivator approached, Omari lay on his back, chest heaving, his heart beating like a drum.
What was I thinking? This was a bad idea. Did I honestly think I could scare this guy into giving me more food? Damn it, he's not so easy like the miners, Omari's mind raced.
I messed up big. His mind reeled as he remembered the first day they got here, when one of the students tried running away. He gritted his teeth, remembering how the cultivators enjoyed killing the student like it was all a game to them.
"There's no going back now," he murmured as the cultivator's menacing figure stood in front of him.
"Die, you disgusting vermin!" the cultivator barked, lifting his sword.
Before he could thrust it down, Omari released his killing intent.
The cultivator froze, sweat beading on his forehead, overwhelmed by fear. Omari quickly jumped forward, his right hand leading the charge, opened like a claw aiming to rip out the cultivator's throat.
A blue ball of spiritual energy slammed into Omari's stomach, sending him flying into a wall. He fell to the ground, and when he looked up, Boot was standing on his flying sword, slowly descending.
With a wave of his fingers, he sent his sword into his spatial pouch as he landed on the ground. The cultivator Omari was fighting quickly lowered his head. Boot walked forward and slapped the cultivator, pushing him back a few steps.
"Losing to a slave who's in the Awakened Realm… how embarrassing," Boot said.
"I…" the cultivator tried to reply but decided to stay quiet.
"I'll handle this little brat," Boot declared.
The other yellow-robed cultivators in the caves had already pulled out their swords, ready to have some fun killing Omari. But because they could sense Boot was close to his breakthrough, they chose to respect him instead of making fun of him.
Boot lifted his hand, wrapping qi around Omari and restraining him.
"Hurry up and finish feeding these disgusting vermin," Boot ordered, walking away with Omari.
So much authority. Can't wait for my breakthrough. Let's see if any yellow-robed cultivators dare to make fun of my huge feet and boots… now to deal with this one…
He walked into one of the cave rooms and waved his hand, slamming Omari into the wall.
"Ahh!"
Omari groaned, trying to get up from the ground.
"Listen up. No one cares about your pathetic lives. Even if I kill you right now, no one will care. But… I've decided to let you keep your pathetic life… for a price," Boot said, pausing with a smirk.
"From today onwards, your life belongs to me. Every day, you will mine fifty more flame stones that you will hand over to me before you submit your daily flame stones. Refusal means that you forfeit your life right here and now."
Boot finished, his sword flying out of his pouch. He held it, pointing it at Omari.
Phew… at least I get to keep my life. I should never make this mistake again. I can never rule the yellow-robed cultivators as a slave. I can't even intimidate them, Omari thought.
"Thank you for your mercy," Omari bowed down. "I will make sure to deliver the flame stones every day."
A wide smirk appeared on Boot's face.
This is working perfectly. After I make my breakthrough, I've made sure I won't become a broke white-robed cultivator. I will have enough to cultivate and even start my own crew. This is how I rise to the top. All the power, respect, and women will be mine. Let's see who will dare laugh at me and call me Boot. Hehe… heh heh… Now I have thirty-five slaves delivering flame stones to me. I still need a bit more.
"Good. Now get out of my sight," Boot said.
Omari walked out of the room. At the door, he stopped for a second.
"I will make you pay for this. My life is my own and no one else's," he whispered under his breath.
While mining, Yufan kept looking around, waiting for Omari to appear.
"Heh heh heh… told you he wouldn't die," he spoke to himself.
Months went by, and Omari kept bouncing between sanity and insanity. He had moments where he almost lost his mind. The only thing that kept bringing him back was the evil energy inside him.
As for Yufan, he had already gone insane but was still able to understand most things around him. He would talk to himself or curl into a corner and start eating rocks.
Back at the Rising Sky Academy, Omari's former teacher, Fang Lei, was standing in the courtyard with five students in front of him.
"You children are born to do great things in life. I've managed to arrange for you to join one of the best sects on this continent, the Celestial Gate Sect."
The students bowed down, some in tears.
"Thank you, teacher."
I can't believe I'm selling off these children to such a horrible fate. I, Fang Lei, deserve to die a horrible death… but I still yearn to live. I want to live… I will do anything to survive.
This is what I've become… how tragic, he thought, remembering how Mo Jie had visited him and told him how the Celestial Gate Sect operates, just to torture him.
A white-robed cultivator from the Celestial Gate Sect then descended from the sky on his flying sword. He had come to collect the kids. Before he left with them, he threw a bag of flame stones at Fang Lei, who sighed with great sadness as he saw the kids leave with joy, not knowing the horrible fate waiting for them.
Two years passed by.
In the mines, Omari hadn't changed his clothes that entire time. Such was the life of the miners, merely disposable trash. His clothes were now brown, dirty, and smelly, mere rags. His body had shrunk; he looked like the other miners now, a walking skeleton with skin and almost no flesh or fat. His dreads had grown long, covering most of his face. His shoes had long since faded, and he was now walking barefoot like the rest.
He was walking to his room with a bowl filled with porridge. He placed the bowl against his mouth and lifted his head, drinking all the porridge in one gulp.
When he was done, as he lowered his head, something caught the corner of his eye. Through his long dreads, he saw a room he hadn't seen before, or maybe he had just never paid attention to it.
He walked towards it. Inside, it looked like it had caved in.
Without hesitation, he walked inside and saw that the room hadn't collapsed naturally. He could see sword slashes on the walls, a fight had happened there. The bed was half destroyed, and almost half of the room was covered in rocks.
Omari saw nothing of interest and decided to leave. As he turned, a piece of clothing under the remaining half of the bed caught his eye.
He walked forward, crouched down, and pulled it out. It was covered in dust, so he patted it before stretching it out.
His eyes widened in surprise.
It was a formation, one that opened the barrier between the cultivation world and the mortal world.
"Heh heh heh… haha… back at the academy, I read in the library that for cultivators in the lower stages, it was impossible to visit the mortal realm. Only with a formation was it possible. To think I would find one here… haha ha ha… Too bad the formation needs a lot of spirit stones. Plus, I need to be able to use spiritual energy to even set it up. And even if I set it up here, I would be caught before I could activate it… ha ha ha ha…"
He sighed deeply and stood up, hiding the piece of clothing with the formation inside his pants. He couldn't risk putting it in his pouch and being found with it.
He took a few pills from his pouch and threw them into his mouth. The pills quickly started to take effect, and a wide smile appeared on his face.
"Siwang! Siwang! Siwang!"
Yufan yelled, waving at Omari.
"Yufan! Yufan! Yufan!"
Omari yelled back, waving at Yufan.
They felt like they were far from each other, but in reality, they were only a few feet apart. They ran and hugged each other in celebration.
Because of the drugs, they had actually become friends. Sometimes they would act out immortal adventure stories. Most of the yellow-robed cultivators would form a crowd, watching them until they passed out.
Before long, they were singing in Yufan's room, hugging each other.
"We are living the best life, deep in the mines!"
"We are the best of friends, deep in the mines!"
"Super workers, deep in the mines!" they sang and danced.
The yellow-robed cultivators gathered at the door, laughing.
"Hurry up, they've started!" one of them yelled.
"Ha ha ha ha, these ones are definitely dying soon!" the cultivators laughed.
After the song, Yufan and Omari began their act.
"I am the Immortal Yufan! I watch over the world with my sword, slaying demons like you!"
Omari jumped onto the bed.
"I am the demon Siwang hated and cursed to destroy this world! No one can stop my mighty sword!"
They charged at each other.
"Feel my sword!" Omari yelled as he swung his hand at Yufan, who dodged.
"Die, demon!" Yufan yelled as he poked Omari's forehead with his finger.
"Nooo! I've been vanquished!" Omari yelled as he fell to the ground.
While on the ground, he reached for his pouch and threw a few pills into his mouth. Yufan laughed, hugging another Yufan that only he could see.
The cultivators watching laughed.
"These guys have lost themselves to the pills for sure! Ha ha ha ha!"
"We'll be losing them soon… heh heh heh heh."
One cultivator rolled on the ground laughing.
After some time, Omari and Yufan passed out, and the cultivators left, still laughing and discussing them.
A few hours later, Omari's eyes snapped open. He shook Yufan.
"Let us sleep, Siwang… we'll play tomorrow."
Omari sighed and swung his hand, slapping Yufan awake.
Yufan sat up, rubbing his cheek.
Omari spoke.
"We've been here for two long years. I can't take this anymore. It's time to escape. I believe we've gathered enough flame stones to help both of us break through to the Spiritualist Realm… and leave this place."