Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

The mine was one of the few locations that did not hold a barrier around it, keeping the Qi away. But none of the demons seemed worried at all about the humans cultivating inside, as they just wouldn't have the time.

The Qi was weak in itself, and any time spent cultivating was time spent not mining. And anyone who didn't mine had a death wish.

The next time Han Mengli walked out from the depths of the mine, his sack was fuller than last time. This time around, he had carried out nearly 60 kilograms of ore. It had been difficult, but what else could he do?

He looked at the sun, panicking when he saw that it was over halfway across the sky. The next time he came out, it would be way further below. And at that point, there was no way he could complete the quota.

Han Mengli ran down the mine shaft, ignoring all workers as he made his way to the place where he had been mining. When he reached the spot, he paused.

The pickaxe was gone.

He searched around in frantic terror. Without the pickaxe, he couldn't do much. He paced around the spot, trying to remember where he had placed it.

Just then, he heard footsteps, loud and clear. He turned around to see a young blond-haired man, a little older than him in looks, holding onto two pickaxes.

Han Mengli looked at the man, worry stemming from his depths.

The man looked at Han Mengli for a bit before speaking. "You new here?" he asked.

Han Mengli slowly nodded. "Is that my tool?" he asked.

The man looked at the pickaxe in his left hand and threw it at Han Mengli. Han Mengli caught it.

"Next time, don't leave these lying around. If it gets stolen or destroyed, your death becomes guaranteed," the man said.

Han Mengli stared blankly for a few seconds before nodding in thanks. He stared at the sack the man carried, surprised by its size. He was holding onto a sack that easily held over 100 kilograms.

He wondered how he was doing it. Was he a body cultivator?

"Continue," the man said, turning around to leave.

Han Mengli knew he could not waste any more time, so he turned around and began striking at the wall with one arm.

The man paused. "Use both hands!" he said, almost as a scolding for doing something wrong.

Han Mengli paused for a moment and rolled up his left sleeve, revealing a section of his bicep that was missing. "Can't," he said before turning back to continue.

The man stood there for a few moments longer and left.

Han Mengli forgot about the man for nearly half an hour before he saw him again, striking at the wall next to him.

"Considering you aren't dead yet, I'm going to assume you're not just new, but it is also your first day," the man said.

Han Mengli nodded.

"How much have you done?" he asked.

"Close to 110 kilograms done. I need two more trips to be done," he said.

"That's not nearly fast enough," the man said. "Alright, then I shall help you survive. But only for today."

Han Mengli didn't understand what the man meant at first, but when he saw how quickly he was mining, he was surprised. The force behind the man's strikes was so strong that there was no doubt he was a body cultivator.

This sort of thing would not be possible otherwise without Qi.

Han Mengli wished he was that strong. He probably was that strong, considering how long he had spent his time in the forge. If not for his wounded body, he likely wouldn't have had much difficulty either.

But right now, he needed all the help he could get.

The man introduced himself, but his name was no longer available in Han Mengli's memories.

The man helped him reach the quota before sunset, and when they finally left the mine, he gave some tips on what Han Mengli needed to do. One thing he taught that was important was to carve around the ores so that some rocks would come attached to the ore nuggets, making them weigh more.

Han Mengli took it to heart.

Once they were outside, they were all gathered in one spot, stripped to their bare skin before being blasted with water and sent away.

Han Mengli hadn't seen a single woman among the slaves, so he could only wonder what horrors they were facing. In a way, he was a little relieved that his mother had at least died.

The slave quarters were filled with new slaves, who talked a lot, planning to fight back and whatnot. But slaves that had been there long had long since lost their fire.

"The Dark God will return to save us!" one of the new slaves said.

"In his daggers we trust."

"Praise the lord of daggers."

The new slaves either naively trusted the Dark God or found it necessary to be naive to survive. Hope was a rare thing to come by in this place, so they held onto it as strongly as they could.

The older slaves mocked the newer ones, speaking of how their Dark God hadn't saved them from getting captured, sparking flames between the two groups.

The older ones called him a coward, but the newer ones trusted in him.

The Dark God was the greatest enemy of the Demons' gods, so he would come sooner or later. The only reason he was absent in the last battle was because he had gone to a special place to find a way to defeat his enemy for good.

Once he returned, he would win against the Undying God, and then the defeat of the Demons would be a foregone conclusion.

Han Mengli wasn't sure if he believed that or not. For now, his own survival was all he cared about. So he turned away from the commotion and went to sleep.

He needed all the strength he could conserve to mine tomorrow as well.