Chapter 61
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 61
“As you can see, this is how it goes. The laborers have their own hierarchy and their own world, so it’s best not to interfere unnecessarily.”
Even as Goe Tong explained, the violence among the laborers showed no signs of stopping.
Ise infused his voice with spiritual energy.
“Stop.”
The hands prying open a laborer's mouth froze instantly.
The other laborers, who had been rushing in from all directions, shrank back in unison, as if by prior agreement.
“You dare snatch something given by a formal disciple right in front of my eyes? You’ve grown remarkably bold.”
At those words, the laborers' knees buckled as one.
They slammed their foreheads into the dirt, trembling in such perfect synchronization it looked orchestrated.
Ise looked down at them for a moment. Then, he pulled the remaining jerky from his storage pouch and tossed it to them.
“Share it. Peacefully.”
The laborers didn't dare pick up the jerky right away.
They read each other's expressions and stole glances at Ise, remaining frozen for a long while. Finally, the man prostrating at the very front cautiously picked up a piece.
He passed a piece to the person next to him. Then to the next, and the next.
Everyone kept their eyes glued to Ise's expression, chewing carefully lest they offend the cultivator's mood.
Goe Tong smiled in satisfaction at the sight.
“Watching the mercy of newly arrived cultivators is quite entertaining in its own way.”
He clapped his hands, dismissing the laborers back to their quarters, and led Ise in a different direction.
Ise walked alongside him and voiced his doubts.
“They could just eat it the moment they receive it. Trying to run away only to get everything taken seems a bit foolish.”
“Haha. Do you think you're the first cultivator to take pity on the laborers? That fellow simply didn't want his body hacked to pieces or both hands severed for daring to open his filthy mouth in front of a formal disciple.”
“……”
Ise's gaze shifted to the half-naked, scar-covered bodies of the retreating laborers.
It was a moment that made him question the character of the Great Martial Dao disciples. Setting aside the quarters that were no better than livestock pens, the casual violence, and the excessive forced labor, one unresolved question remained.
“Why don't they provide sufficient food? They need to eat properly to work.”
“…Senior, you are quite unusual.”
Goe Tong tilted his head.
“Usually, newcomers see their wounds first and ask why the violence is so severe. Of course, once they learn what sins those laborers committed, they lose interest.”
“Ah. That's just a personal curiosity of mine.”
Goe Tong wore an ambiguous expression.
“Food is the most efficient means of keeping them under control. If they want to survive, they have to meet their quota. It's a simple rule.”
Ise found it difficult to accept, but he didn't bother arguing the point.
The mine entrance looked as though the flank of a small hill had been hollowed out.
On the surface, it seemed like an ordinary cavern, but with every step inside, it grew wider and deeper, plunging far into the underground depths.
Torches lined the damp, musty cavern walls. Under their flickering light, the laborers swung their pickaxes.
Clang. Clang. Clang. The sound of metal striking stone echoed relentlessly.
The hands gripping the pickaxes were rough and withered. Rather than human hands, they looked hardened and cracked like tortoise shells.
Here and there, Qi Refining cultivators who had been dozing against the walls beside the torches sensed Goe Tong's presence and scrambled to their feet.
“Senior!”
“Hey. How many times have I told you not to sleep on duty?”
“…I was cultivating.”
“Cultivating, my ass. Say hello. This is the new supervisor.”
As Goe Tong gave the brief introduction, the cultivator bowed to Ise. Then he looked back at Goe Tong.
“Senior, are you returning?”
“No, I still have three months left.”
“Oh! Our return schedules match. Once we're back, how about a glass of Spirit Wine? It'll be my treat.”
“Sounds good. You promised, alright?”
Goe Tong pointed at the cultivator and casually added to Ise, “This guy here is the Spirit Wine Cultivator. Get on his good side, and you'll get to drink Spirit Wine pretty often.”
“I am Jangsaeng, Senior!”
Jangsaeng cheerfully introduced himself.
That name sounds like someone who'd be good at cultivation.
Ise kept the idle thought to himself and followed Goe Tong deeper inside.
After making a circuit through the deepest parts of the mine, the two turned their steps toward the mountain peak.
Upon reaching the summit, an open view unfolded in all directions. Below them, the full outline of the entire mine was visible at a glance.
Goe Tong pointed toward the opposite slope.
“The other side is the female laborers' zone. So there are two mines in total.”
Ise faintly spotted the defensive barrier formation wrapping around the entire mountain.
“Ah, that's a defensive formation preventing outsiders—anyone other than Great Martial Dao disciples—from entering,” Goe Tong explained. “Naturally, entering is impossible, and leaving is out of the question too.”
“What level of cultivation stage can it block?”
“I heard it can even block the Foundation Establishment Stage.”
The barrier was centered around the Master Stonemason's Office. The mechanism maintaining the formation was likely located there.
“You just need to conduct patrols like this and monitor whether the laborers and task-assigned cultivators are slacking off. Conduct unannounced searches now and then, and if anyone's smuggling out Spirit Stones, root them out completely.”
Goe Tong added that such things rarely happened before continuing his explanation.
“If anyone crosses over into the female laborers' zone, you have permission to execute them on the spot. Check the output periodically, and if it seems too low, crack down on them. Senior Master Stonemason checks in occasionally.”
Goe Tong pulled out a sheet of Pine Branch paper from his robes and handed it over.
“This is the patrol roster. You'll need to draw up the next duty schedule, Senior. Your main duty will be to watch from the summit to see if anyone invades the barrier or tries to escape. Sometimes cultivators will try to bribe you to get pulled off watch duty, but that's what Senior Master Stonemason hates most. Never accept them.”
Goe Tong chuckled, adding a bit of personal gossip.
“Getting flogged on the buttocks in front of all the other cultivators... pain aside, you won't be able to hold your head up for a long time.”
It was vivid advice, sounding almost like firsthand experience.
“…I'll keep that in mind.”
Ise took the Pine Branch paper and tucked it away in his storage pouch.
Only then did Goe Tong tilt his head, as if just remembering something.
“Ah, by the way. Pardon my asking, but how old are you?”
Ise hesitated briefly before answering. It was the first time he had been asked his age since becoming a formal disciple.
“I turned seventeen this year.”
“Pardon? ...Ahaha. Then you must have entered the Main Mountain just this year.”
Goe Tong let out an incredulous laugh.
“7-Star at seventeen... Leaving aside your absurd cultivation speed, you really must know nothing besides cultivation. Since you're at a vigorous, energetic age, be especially careful around the female laborers.”
“What exactly should I be careful about?”
“Hmm……”
Goe Tong seemed to ponder his words for a moment before replying with a serious face.
“You must be particularly wary of beautiful laborers who whisper insincere love just to escape this hell, trying to entice you to run away with them.”
“……”
Ise concluded that there were far more things to be careful about than he had anticipated.
As he fell silent in acknowledgment, an aged shadow slowly ascended the slope near the summit.
It was a 4-Star Qi Refining cultivator.
His hair was half-grayed, and his back was slightly bent. His face bore deep traces of age, giving him a starkly different air from other cultivators of the same realm.
“Gae-ddong.”
“…Elder Shin. I told you not to call me that.”
“Understood, Gae-ddong. Got any spare Longevity Pills?”
“Would I? Why don't you stop clinging to old desires and just pass away peacefully?”
“Unless you're going to pay for my funeral, don't throw curses at me, you brat Gae-ddong.”
Goe Tong palmed his forehead.
“Agh, seriously. I can't even beat you up for fear you'll die right here. If you were any other junior, you wouldn't even have bones left to gather. Do you realize that?”
“Debone me or boil me down, do whatever the hell you want.”
Elder Shin let out a dry chuckle and passed right by the two without giving Ise so much as a glance.
His attitude showed a total disregard for the hierarchy between senior and junior cultivators.
Ise watched his retreating back for a moment.
“His cultivation realm is too low for his age, making a breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Stage virtually impossible,” Goe Tong explained, waving a hand dismissively. “He's going to pass away soon anyway, so he fears nothing. Just pay him no mind.”
Ise didn't refute him, but he felt something was slightly off.
For someone about to die, the glint in his eyes harbored an unusually fierce attachment to life.
* * *
Life at the Silver Dragon Mine wasn't too bad.
In truth, it felt less like a work assignment and more like a simple change of training location. Rarely did anything unusual happen, allowing him to devote most of his time to cultivation.
The occasional incident was usually limited to brawls among the mine laborers, and Ise handed out reasonable punishments each time.
At first, he tried to judge who was right and who was wrong. After a few days, however, he reached the conclusion that flogging both parties and moving on was the most efficient approach.
After Ise arrived as supervisor, Jangsaeng brought him Spirit Wine roughly once every three days.
At first, Ise assumed it was just a friendly drink shared between fellow cultivators, but at a certain point, the visits ceased completely.
Around that time, he happened to discover the truth.
The Spirit Wine had not been a token of friendship, but a bribe to be excused from guard duty.
...What a shame.
Though the Spirit Wine didn't match the effectiveness of the Spirit Food Ise prepared himself, drinking it still yielded a slight boost to his cultivation speed.
Resolving to brew his own Spirit Wine alongside his Spirit Food once he returned to the Main Mountain, he refocused on his cultivation.
Perhaps because Spirit Stones were buried throughout the area, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy at the Silver Dragon Mine was naturally abundant.
While it couldn't rival the Cultivation District at the Great Martial Dao's Main Mountain, it was denser than his quarters at Cheongyu Pavilion.
Even while conducting patrols or taking short breaks to sit cross-legged, Ise steadily gathered spiritual energy and carried out the process of Cleansing Turbidity and Purifying the Spirit.
Bit by bit, he took another step forward toward 8-Star.
Just like that, exactly thirty days passed since he first set foot in the Silver Dragon Mine.
In the midst of his early morning cultivation, an incident occurred.
“Senior!” an urgent voice called out.
A Qi Refining cultivator on night duty was sprinting up the slope, holding a torch.
“I think you need to come out and take a look at this.”