“You bitch, where do you think you’re running now?!” A thunderous roar shook the tunnel as a group of savage-looking figures rushed in. At their head was a burly middle-aged man clad in battered armor, his expression furious and vicious.

“Hand over the treasure you dug up,” he growled, marching forward with heavy steps. “Or I’ll tear you apart right here!”

The others fanned out, sealing off every path. Their eyes gleamed with cruelty and ridicule. To them, the woman before them was already a trapped animal, waiting to die.

“Don’t come any closer! Take another step and I’ll smash it!” Her voice cracked as she held up a fist-sized piece of shimmering azure ore.

Whoosh!

The moment it was lifted, the ore burst with dazzling azure light, flooding the darkness with brilliance. A surge of pure, boundless dao vitality rippled through the tunnel.

The middle-aged man halted abruptly. His eyes locked onto the divine ore, greed burning hot in their depths. He stretched out a hand and said hoarsely, “Give it to me and I promise to spare your life!”

The others stared just as hungrily. They had mined here for thousands of years, yet none had ever seen a wondrous treasure like this. Its value was no doubt immeasurable.

The woman said in a trembling voice, “I dug it up. You can take it, but you must leave me a small piece.”

“Hah.” The middle-aged man let out a cold, mocking laugh. “Leave you a piece? Keep dreaming! With your pathetic cultivation, you wouldn’t be able to destroy it even if you tried!”

As he spoke, he stepped forward again.

“Then try me!” Desperation ignited a wild light in the woman’s eyes. With a furious scream, she swung the divine ore with all the strength she had left, aiming to smash it against the stone wall blocking her way.

“You dare!” The middle-aged man and the others bellowed, lashing out frantically to intercept her.

Boom!

Just then, the tunnel shuddered violently. The stone wall at the end of the rumbled, rolling open like a door as a figure stepped out from solid rock. The azure ore the woman had hurled never reached the wall. The figure that appeared out of nowhere snatched it out of the air with a single, casual motion.

The woman froze in disbelief. The middle-aged man and the others recoiled as well, shock tightening their expressions as they instinctively raised their guard. This was the depths of Star Forbidden Mountain, yet someone tore through solid stone and appeared before them! Who wouldn’t be terrified?

Meanwhile, Lin Xun raised a brow in surprise. He lowered his gaze to the ore in his palm, then glanced at the terrified woman and the group. “You were fighting over this?” he asked casually.

While traveling through the spatial passage, all he’d seen was a blur of chaos. Only when he was about to emerge did a muffled boom draw him here, right into this scene.

“I dug it up,” the woman said shakily. “They tried to take it from me, so I planned to destroy it first...”

Lin Xun turned to the middle-aged man and the others. “Is that so?”

Under that gaze, the man shuddered violently, his spirit seeming ready to flee his body. “Senior!” he stammered in terror. “All ores in Star Forbidden Mountain belong to the Eternal Divine Yang Clan! That wretch tried to keep the treasure for herself; we were merely upholding the rules!”

“You liars!” the woman snapped. “You were trying to steal it for yourselves!”

Lin Xun lowered his gaze to the azure ore resting in his palm. With just a glance, he noticed that within the stone pulsed an exceptionally rare Azure Spirit Essence, a priceless material with immeasurable benefits for cultivation at the Immortal level

Then he shifted his gaze from the ore to the woman and the group surrounding her. Their cultivation differed in strength, but each one had stepped into the Emperor Realm. No wonder they were ready to kill for such a treasure. To be fair, if he were still at the Emperor Realm...even he might have been tempted.

He idly rolled the ore between his fingers. “If I return this treasure to its rightful owner, you have no objections, do you?” he asked casually.

“We dare not object, Senior!” the middle-aged man and the others quickly blurted out in unison.

Though Lin Xun’s aura seemed calm and indistinct, impossible to fathom, the moment his gaze brushed over them, they felt suffocated and as though they were plunged into an icy abyss, like ants before a supreme sovereign!

“Good, since you all agree, you won’t trouble this girl again. Understand?” Lin Xun said.

“Understood!” The middle-aged man blurted out, not daring to refuse. Another second under that gaze and they would all collapse to their knees.

The woman stood dumbfounded, hardly believing her own eyes. A deadly crisis had been dispersed by just a few simple words?

“Here.” Lin Xun placed the azure ore into her hand.

Even through the dirt and disheveled hair, he could see she was still very young, no more than thirty. To have already reached the third realm Supreme Emperor Stage at such age, she would be hailed as a peerless genius in any other heaven domain.

She reminded Lin Xun of his disciple, Tang Jiang. Of course, Tang Jiang’s fate was far kinder. She had risen to the supreme Emperor Stage in an astonishingly short span of time.

However this woman...her fate, in contrast, was bitter and cruel beyond words

“Thank you, Senior. You saved my life, I cannot accept such a treasure. Please...accept it instead, as Qianxue’s humble token of gratitude.” The woman drew a long breath and bowed deeply.

Lin Xun chuckled softly. “This item is of no use to me. You should keep it”

As she spoke, the azure ore had already landed in the hands of the woman who called herself Qianxue.

“My name is Qing Qianxue. If I am ever able to leave this Star Forbidden Mountain alive, I will repay the kindness you have shown me today,” Qing Qianxue said in a steady voice.

“Once you become a slave, your fate is sealed,” the middle-aged man let out a bitter sigh. “Whether you die sooner or later is the only difference. No one leaves this place alive.”

Everyone else fell silent.

“What crime did you commit to end up in this hell?” Lin Xun asked.

Qing Qianxue lowered her gaze, grief tightening her voice. “My father refused to send me to the Eternal Divine Yang Clan as a servant. So they killed him...and seized everyone from the Qing Clan. We were all thrown into these mines.”

One after another, the others spoke up as well, recounting the reasons they had been taken. Every voice was heavy with bitterness and grief. Lin Xun’s brows tightened. Some had been seized simply because they offended a member of the Yang Clan. Others had been dragged here over the most trivial matters imaginable.

Lin Xun couldn’t help but feel shocked. “The Yang Clan is an Eternal Divine Clan, how can they be so brazenly tyrannical?”

“It’s because they are an Eternal Divine Clan that they act without fear,” Qing Qianxue said quietly. “In the Ninth Heaven Domain, the Yang Clan has stood for countless ages, towering like gods, forcing billions to kneel beneath them.”

She continued, “After endless years of expansion, the Yang Clan now numbers nearly a hundred thousand. With so many clansmen, there are naturally all kinds among them. The high and mighty may not bother with insignificant people like us...but it’s easier to deal with the King of Hell than his ghostly minions. There will always be those who rely on their clan’s power to do whatever they want.”

The middle-aged man and the others nodded in agreement.

“Why do you speak of the Yang Clan without much hatred?” Lin Xun asked, genuinely surprised.

“Hatred? We don’t dare to.” Qing Qianxue let out a bitter laugh and shook her head. “I can only blame my own misfortune for offending them.”

The Yang Clan had existed in the world for far too long. Their might had already been carved into the hearts of all beings. Forget hatred, most didn’t even dare dream of revenge.

Lin Xun couldn’t help but feel a wave of emotion. From small things, the greater truth was revealed. As an Eternal Divine Clan, the Yang Clan had ruled for so long that even though they enslaved the living beings of this world, no one dared resent them!

It was absurd, yet this absurdity was the reality of the world. Lin Xun was certain this was no isolated incident. Situations like this have no doubt played out countless times over the years and in every corner of the world. The people here had long since been conditioned to accept slavery as fate!

Lin Xun couldn’t help but think of those cultivators outside the Ninth Heaven Domain who dreamt of coming here to cultivate. If they knew the truth...would they still yearn to come? Would they still kneel willingly beneath the Eternal Divine Clans?

“If I were to help you leave this place, would you dare take that chance?” Lin Xun asked suddenly.

The middle-aged man and the others flinched. A glimmer of hope surfaced in their eyes, only to die just as quickly. They forced bitter smiles and shook their heads. “Senior, we are grateful for your kindness, but if we flee, we will only be captured and dragged back here. And at that time...we might not survive.”

They refused salvation! Just how deep must their fear of the Eternal Divine Clan run for them to willingly accept such a fate?

Lin Xun then turned to Qing Qianxue. “What about you?”

After a long, suffocating silence, Qing Qianxue suddenly raised her head and met Lin Xun’s gaze. “If Senior can take me away from this place, then even if the road ahead is filled with hardship and danger...I’m willing!”

Her father had already been murdered, and her clan enslaved here, doomed to die. That despair became the very courage that allowed her to take a gamble. If death was inevitable as a slave...then why not wager everything for a sliver of hope?

Lin Xun nodded. With a sweep of his sleeve...Shua!

Dao radiance cascaded over her like a wave of holy light. In the blink of an eye, every trace of grime vanished. The whip marks melted away into smooth jade-like skin, and her once-frail frame now pulsed with vibrant vitality.

Though her clothes remained torn, she now looked like a peerless maiden reborn. Her eyes were bright as stars, her teeth pearly-white, and her features exquisitely refined.

Qing Qianxue froze, unable to comprehend how her body had changed in an instant. Her heart raced uncontrollably. Only now did she understand that this mysterious senior before her was no ordinary figure!

The middle-aged man and the others remained unmoved by the sight, and even cast Qing Qianxue complex, subtle looks.

Do you really think...that just because this senior helps you, you’ll walk out of here alive? This is the Star Forbidden Mountain! A territory of the Eternal Divine Yang Clan! Throughout endless ages, all who dared defy an Eternal Divine Clan has long since died without a trace!

Just then, the sound of footsteps echoed from deep within a distant tunnel. The middle-aged man and the others blanched. “It’s the patrol guards!”

Qing Qianxue’s heart clenched, icy dread flooding her veins. If those Yang Clan patrol guards noticed anything unusual here, none of them would leave here alive!