The heavy, iron-reinforced oak doors of the lower annex groaned loudly on their rusted hinges as Railin pushed them open with a slow, measured effort.
The cold, damp air of the subterranean corridors immediately rushed into his lungs, serving as a harsh, stark contrast to the stifling, metallic heat and thick sulfurous smoke of the furnace room. It was long past midnight. The flicker of oil torches lining the damp stone passageway burned exceptionally low, casting long, wavering, monster-like shadows across the wet granite walls.
Railin paused in the doorway, taking a quiet moment to wipe a thick layer of fine, white alchemy dust from his bruised forearms. Behind him, the cavernous annex sat enveloped in absolute, pitch-black silence. Every single cauldron under his care had been completely cleared—their blackened, toxic scales stripped away down to the raw, polished silver-grey iron. The vast mounds of poisonous, flesh-corroding slag had been systematically broken down, neutralized, and reduced to harmless piles of bone-white ash resting neatly inside wooden crates. Most importantly, the small, invaluable collection of failed pill cores he had salvaged from the waste was now safely concealed within the crude inner lining of his ragged tunic, resting against his ribs like hidden treasure.
His physical frame felt profoundly different from when he had first stepped into that oppressive furnace room seven hours prior. The crude Blood-Refine Bead he had synthesized and consumed earlier was still quietly circulating through his flesh, steadily knitting together microscopic tears within his muscles, hardening his skeletal structure, and purging lingering physical exhaustion. Yet, as he stepped out into the hallway, Railin expertly suppressed every trace of that newfound strength. He drew his power deep into the absolute darkness of his dantian, masking his breath and presenting to the outside world the exact same fragile, stooped, and pitiful silhouette of a broken servant.
He reached down, picked up two heavy wooden buckets brim-full of inert white ash, and began dragging his feet toward the central waste shaft down the corridor.
"Well, well, well. Look who finally managed to crawl out of the fiery pit."
A mocking, grating voice shattered the quiet hum of the underground passage.
Railin stopped in his tracks, slowly lowering the heavy wooden buckets to the damp flags. Three figures stepped out from the deep gloom near the far turn of the hallway, effectively blocking his path.
Leading the group was a tall young man clad in the dark grey robes of a senior labor disciple. A heavy wooden identity token swung ostentatiously from his thick leather belt, rattling with every arrogant step he took. His name was Gu Kang—a long-time bully within the lower labor quarters, infamous for his cruelty, and known to everyone as Overseer Lin's most loyal, vicious lackey. Behind Gu Kang stood two muscular, broad-shouldered servants, their arms crossed over their chests, sneering grins plastered across their heavy faces.
"I heard Overseer Lin gave you a real mountain to move tonight, Railin," Gu Kang sneered, stepping closer until his dusty boots were inches from Railin's buckets. He tapped the iron tip of his bamboo cane rhythmically against the side of the wooden vessel, producing a dull, hollow sound. "Cleaning thirty giant cauldrons and hauling all that toxic slag before midnight? A useless cripple like you with shattered meridians should have fainted from lung rot after the very first hour. Yet here you are, walking around on your own two feet like nothing happened."
Railin kept his eyes trained submissively on the damp stone floor, lowering his head. When he spoke, his voice was raspy, thin, and choked with feigned exhaustion. "Brother Gu... The work is nearly finished. I am simply carrying the remaining ash to the central waste pit as Overseer Lin ordered."
"Finished?" Gu Kang threw his head back and let out a harsh, barking laugh that echoed ominously off the corridor walls. He turned to his two muscular cronies, pointing a finger at Railin. "Did you two hear that? The trash says he finished Overseer Lin's impossible task! He actually expects us to believe a broken dog like him cleaned the entire lower annex in one night!"
The mocking smile on Gu Kang's face vanished in an instant, replaced by a dark, malicious scowl. He stepped directly into Railin's personal space, leaning down until his ugly, acne-scarred face was mere inches from Railin's cheek.
"Overseer Lin was very clear when he gave me my instructions earlier tonight," Gu Kang whispered, his voice dripping with venomous spite. "He didn't send you down into that furnace room to actually finish the job, you fool. He sent you down there so you would fail, get dragged off to the water dungeon, and have your monthly food rations cut in half. But if you somehow magically finish it... how the hell am I supposed to claim your stolen ration allowance for myself this month?"
Railin's eyes remained fixed on the ground, but beneath the frayed fabric of his long sleeves, his fingers twitched ever so slightly.
So that was Lin's game, Railin thought, his mind cold and serene amidst the provocation. Use Gu Kang and his thugs to ensure I fail regardless of how hard I labor, creating an excuse to slowly break my body and starve me to death.
"I only followed Overseer Lin's direct commands," Railin said softly, keeping his voice trembling and weak. "If Brother Gu has an issue with the assignment being completed... you may speak directly to the Overseer when he arrives to inspect the annex at dawn."
Gu Kang's face flushed bright red with sudden rage. "Are you trying to use Overseer Lin's name to pressure me, you broken piece of shit?!"
Without a single word of further warning, Gu Kang's right leg snapped out in a swift, heavy kick aimed directly at the center of Railin's chest.
In the eyes of any normal, uncultivated mortal, Gu Kang's kick was blindingly fast and potentially lethal. He was, after all, a senior servant who had managed to cultivate a tiny, primitive trace of physical Qi over years of brute effort. But to Railin—whose soul perception had been vastly heightened by his dark cultivation and the recent absorption of herb essence—the incoming boot moved through the air with agonizing slowness. He could clearly see the awkward shift in Gu Kang's weight, the poor balance on his plant foot, and the complete lack of a defensive guard protecting his upper body.
In that fraction of a second, Railin possessed the power to shatter Gu Kang's leg into a dozen pieces. Yet, his calculating mind weighed the immediate consequences.
Railin had two distinct choices: he could take the blow directly, vomit blood, play the helpless victim, and risk damaging the unrefined blood energy still settling in his internal organs—or he could strike back and risk exposing his hidden strength. Exposing his dark Ashen Devouring Qi or displaying supernatural physical martial arts would immediately draw the dangerous attention of the sect elders and Overseer Lin.
He needed a third option—a strike that looked entirely like a stroke of pathetic, clumsy luck.
The instant before Gu Kang's heavy boot could make contact with his sternum, Railin did not retreat. Instead, he made a subtle, virtually imperceptible twitch of his torso, shifting his center of gravity a mere two inches to the left while feigning a sudden slip on the wet stone floor.
SWISH!
Gu Kang's boot missed Railin's chest by a microscopic hair's breadth, cutting violently through empty air. The sheer force of Gu Kang's unchecked momentum pulled him wildly off balance, dragging his heavy body lunging forward into the empty space.
At that exact, razor-thin millisecond, Railin did not throw a punch, nor did he execute a defensive palm strike. He simply locked his shoulder joint and raised his right elbow by a fraction of an inch, keeping his arm rigid, heavy, and dense like a block of solid cold iron.
He did not hit Gu Kang. He simply allowed Gu Kang's rushing, unbalanced shoulder to slam at full speed into his stationary elbow.
BANG!
A sickening, dull crunch echoed loudly down the stone corridor.
Gu Kang let out a strangled, high-pitched scream as his shoulder violently collided with Railin's iron-like elbow joint. The sensation Gu Kang felt was not that of hitting a frail, malnourished servant's bone; it felt as though he had sprinted full-force into an immovable, solid mountain of solid granite.
The brutal kinetic recoil sent Gu Kang flying backward, his boots sliding wildly across the wet flags. He slammed heavily against the hard granite wall of the corridor, his breath bursting from his lungs in a ragged gasp. He sank to his knees, his right arm dangling at a grotesque, unnatural angle from his shoulder socket.
"ARRRGH! MY SHOULDER! MY BONE!" Gu Kang shrieked, clutching his dislocated joint with his left hand, his face instantly turning deathly pale as big drops of cold sweat erupted across his forehead. He stared at Railin through tears of shock, agony, and sheer disbelief. "You... you bastard! What did you just do to me?!"
Behind him, the two muscular lackeys stood completely frozen, their mouths agape in utter stupefaction.
Neither of them had seen Railin swing his arm or execute a technique. From their perspective, Gu Kang had simply launched a heavy kick, lost his footing on the damp floor, stumbled forward like a fool, and violently wrecked his own shoulder by crashing into Railin's awkwardly raised arm as Railin tried to shield himself.
Before anyone could process the chaos, Railin immediately collapsed onto his knees on the cold stone floor. He clutched his own ribs, coughing violently, his voice filled with hysterical panic, weakness, and trembling horror.
"B-Brother Gu! Forgive me! I'm so sorry!" Railin gasped out, rolling on the ground in feigned agony, looking up at the groaning bully with wide, tear-filled, terrified eyes. "I lost my balance when you lunged at me... I slipped on the water! I didn't mean to stand in your way! Please... please don't report this to Overseer Lin! I didn't mean to hit your arm!"
Gu Kang panted heavily, his chest heaving up and down as he leaned his head against the cold stone wall to keep from fainting from the excruciating pain. He glared at Railin with pure, unadulterated venom. His mind was in a state of chaotic turmoil. For a split second, when his shoulder had impacted Railin's arm, he had felt an unnatural, bone-shattering density that belonged to an elite body-refining master.
But as he looked at Railin now—cowering, weeping, trembling like a beaten dog, and begging for mercy on the filthy ground—Gu Kang's overwhelming pride immediately rationalized the horror away.
I slipped... Gu Kang thought frantically, his teeth grinding together so hard they cracked. The floor was wet, and my own momentum tore my joint out of its socket when I hit his elbow angle! There's no way this broken trash did that intentionally... He's just a lucky, pathetic insect!
"Shut your damn mouth, you worthless piece of garbage!" Gu Kang roared through gritted teeth, blood oozing from his bitten lip as he forced himself up against the wall. He turned his bloodshot eyes toward his two frozen lackeys, barking like a mad dog. "What the hell are you two staring at?! Grab those buckets! Toss the ash down the waste shaft and help me get to the infirmary! Move!"
"Y-Yes, Brother Gu! Right away!"
The two lackeys scrambled frantically, knocking over one of the wooden buckets in their panic before grabbing them both and rushing down the corridor. They were eager to escape the eerie, blood-chilling tension hanging over the dark hallway.
Gu Kang lingered for a single moment, casting one last, murderous glance down at Railin. "You got ridiculously lucky tonight, trash," Gu Kang spat, his voice trembling with agonizing pain and humiliation. "But don't think this is over. Overseer Lin will hear about this. Tomorrow morning, your life in this sect is officially forfeit!"
With those parting words, Gu Kang turned and limped away as fast as his trembling legs could carry him, clutching his ruined shoulder and whimpering into the dark.
Railin remained quietly on his knees, his head pressed close to the stone floor, until the hollow, echoing sound of their retreating footsteps completely died away into the far distance of the lower levels.
Slowly, terrifyingly, the pathetic trembling stopped.
Railin stood up in a single, fluid motion, brushing the dirt and grey ash from his torn trousers. The look of hysterical terror and sniveling fear vanished from his countenance instantly, replaced by a cold, deadly, and utterly calculating stillness.
He reached inside his tunic, adjusting the hidden, refined pill cores resting against his chest, feeling the steady, powerful, and rhythmic pulse of his refined heart.
He had controlled his output flawlessly. He had delivered a brutal, crippling physical lesson to Overseer Lin's primary hound without revealing a single wispy thread of spirit energy, leaving the bully entirely convinced that his own arrogance and clumsiness had shattered his shoulder.
"Overseer Lin will hear about this?" Railin whispered softly into the quiet, dark space of the torch-lit corridor, his eyes flashing with a cold, pitch-black fire that seemed to consume the surrounding light.
He turned his gaze away from the waste pit and began walking slowly back toward the cramped sleeping quarters of the labor disciples.
"Good," Railin murmured, his footsteps completely soundless against the cold stone floor. "Because I was worried he might try to hide.
See you in next chapter....