As he saw these chains, he also saw a boundary, a way out of the shadows. As long as one avoided the chains on the mountain, one could leave this prison. Excited, Huxian tried to break one of the chains binding a shadow to a monk up above. It was Ao’s shadow. He bit down on it, but to his surprise, the chain didn’t break.
“The karma sown here is too thick,” the monk said. “You require greater power than these two characters. To find the third one, you must journey to the land of the setting sun. The remaining piece is there. I was too weak to recover it.”
What character was it? Huxian asked out of curiosity.
The corpse’s shadow shook its head. “I can’t remember. My memory is fading. With the jade piece gone, I will become like the others, forever chained by karma to this mountain, reliving my life like the rest of them.”
When he finished these words, the man’s shadow drifted out of the corpse and joined the writhing black mass. A thick black chain latched on to it, and the corpse, which had been immune to the shadow’s power, disappeared. Huxian had little doubt that it would join the rest of the monks in that repeating reality.
Well, Huxian thought, it’s a start. He trotted through the shadows, carefully avoiding the chains that lunged at him and approached the membrane that separated light and darkness. Then, his eyes glowing golden, he jumped through the membrane. It tore open and let him through. To his surprise, he wasn’t on the west side of the mountain, but the east side. The same place he’d entered it.
What a strange place, he thought, tracing his steps back toward the east. Somehow his steps were quicker as he journeyed toward the half sun on the horizon. His shadow, shivering from its long imprisonment, trotted behind him, safe and sound.
Chapter 22: Shattered Lands
The platform Cha Ming stood on jolted as it started its slow descent down Bastion Wall. He could hear the creaks and groans of powerful cables as they moved through a gearbox at the top. It wasn’t a piece of runic equipment; it was a more mundane contraption crafted from enchanted materials. Clever gear arrangements slowed his descent toward a plain building below.
Alongside him stood a few other strong men. Mining was a common occupation in Bastion. They were bone-forging cultivators; using their powerful bodies, they would be able to carry heavy stones mere mortals could only leave behind. Their picks and shovels would be put to good use, and they wouldn’t tire like other men did.
Broken cliffs and precariously placed boulders loomed over the canyon they saw from the moving platform. Despite the height of the wall—hundreds of feet tall at the very least—it was tiny compared to the jagged cliffs that loomed above them. Their broken edges weaved in unpredictable patterns, making it so only the nearest four miles were visible to the naked eye. As for soul force, that was just as useless. The dense ores contained in the rock formations blocked out any probing Cha Ming tried. Even a transcendent soul wasn’t strong enough to break through this barrier.
“We’re almost there,” a man with a booming voice said. “Get off in a neat and orderly fashion. I’ll beat whoever shoves his way through.”
He was a city guardsman, and his job was to operate the lift. Cha Ming was almost certain the man didn’t know his identity or cultivation, for if he did, would he dare utter those words? Still, he nodded in acceptance, and the moment the lift clunked onto the rocks below, he walked out just like the others.
On their way from the platform to the building at the base of the wall, they were greeted by a second guard, who escorted them to their destination. The first guard hooked the elevator to a large bin of ore. The platform heaved as a group of men and demons pushed a large wheel. The men were slaves, body cultivators as well. The black markings on their foreheads caused a spark of rage to ignite in Cha Ming’s heart, but he smothered it mercilessly. As much as he cared about their plight, acting on it would likely blow his cover.
The building turned out to be a multi-purpose facility that combined guardhouse, storehouse, and tavern. There were guards aplenty resting at long tables drinking wine or ale, though compared to the ones he’d seen inside the city, they were lax and undisciplined. Their guide ignored those men and took Cha Ming’s group past the mess tables to a counter at the back.
“New recruits, I see,” a surly, gray-haired woman with half-moon spectacles said in a nasal voice. “Are they aware of the rules?”
“They’ve each brought one storage treasure,” the guard said.
“Very good,” the woman said. “Have them place the item on the scale.”
He was as confused as the others, but he stepped forward to go first. He placed his storage ring—a much finer device than the bags of holding the others had brought, and the number 500 went up on the device.
“Contents?” the woman asked.
Cha Ming looked at her name tag before replying. “I have a hammer focus and some spirit stones in there, Miss Ge,” he said. His other treasures, he’d kept inside the Clear Sky World.
“Please pour them onto the scale and retrieve your ring,” Miss Ge said, just as expressionless as before.
Cha Ming did as he was told. He dropped a small crystal weighing three hundred jin onto the table—hammer focuses didn’t weigh nearly as much as the spiritually infused hammers—and another two hundred jin of top-grade spirit stones. That rose eyebrows. “And why, sir, are you here if you possess such a fortune?”
“Punishment,” Cha Ming said nonchalantly.
“Ah,” Miss Ge said. “One of those. Very well, take your things, and take these.” She placed four storage rings onto the table, then thought for a moment before placing a golden storage ring there. It was much more ornate than the others. “Keep the tools inside the ring, but don’t lose them. If you do, you’ll have to pay a fine or work until you pay off your debt. I expect to get the gold ring back, but the small ones only have to last three ore deliveries.”
Cha Ming nodded. He took the five storage rings and was surprised to see that the golden one, though only possessing a small storage space, was exceptionally stable. Inside, he found an initial-core-grade pickaxe. The other rings, on the other hand, contained vast spaces. Unlike the golden ring, however, he could see fissures at the edges of these spaces. These were clearly poor-quality storage rings, meant for only a few trips at maximum weight and volume before breaking.
Having received his equipment, Cha Ming walked out of the guardhouse. He briefly looked over an instruction jade, which contained the rules for mining in the Shattered Lands. The first part listed financial obligations, such as the need to return equipment as well as renumeration rates for ore. They were not permitted to take ore out, and their storage treasures would be weighed and reconciled when they left.
The second part, however, was a warning.
Interesting, Cha Ming thought. He swept his body with his transcendent force and discovered that, as the jade explained, there was a constant drain on his vitality. Apparently, that applied to all the Shattered Lands, and the deeper one went, the greater the drain. Initial-bone-forging cultivators could only maintain one week of activity in the so-called starting zone before replenishing themselves. Qi cultivators wouldn’t last even a few hours, as they didn’t have the vitality stores or regeneration to fight off the invasive drain. The guardhouse conveniently supplied nourishing meals to replenish the miners. At a cost, of course. It was important to harvest enough ore to recover before the next trip.
Well, at least I won’t be bored while I’m out here, Cha Ming thought. While I’m looking for the Gold Source Marrow, I can find expensive ores to earn some coin. He wouldn’t sell it all, of course. He’d sell just enough to ease suspicion as he stowed away the rest in his Clear Sky World. Rare ores didn’t have to be sold like the others but could instead be claimed by the miners after paying a tax, either a portion of the material or an equivalent value in spirit stones.
After familiarizing himself with the rudimentary maps—apparently the landscape changed constantly in the Shattered Lands�
��he flew down into the canyon. He entered the first zone, causing bone-forging miners to gawk as he flew past.
A few miles later, he entered the second zone, and two miles after that, the third. There was no fixed distance in the zones. As he traveled, the drain on his vitality increased, though he barely noticed it given his current body cultivation. Miners became less and less surprised by his passage, preoccupying themselves either with hammering away at rocky surfaces to expose ores that had worked their way to the surface or fighting demon beasts that occasionally appeared from cracks in the walls or from outcroppings on the cliffs. The highest-level cultivators he saw were peak-bone-forging cultivators. Though strong, their power was barely sufficient to last within the thin miasma that leached away at their vitality.
“No wonder the South is so bitter about their so-called blessed land,” Cha Ming muttered. The ore here was rich and easy to pick up, assuming one had the strength to dig just a short distance. But the vitality leaching, combined with the fierce demons that roamed the territory, made that ore unattainable to most. It was like staring at a mountain of gold you couldn’t touch or admiring a peerless beauty beyond your reach.
Cha Ming pushed forward. He soon passed the fourth zone and entered the fifth, where he only occasionally saw groups of miners. These early to mid-core-formation cultivators looked up at him warily, despite him being a fellow human. They only relaxed once he plunged even deeper, past a boundary marked off in white and red chalk. It was the entrance to the uncharted zone. Just beyond it, five men were resting. Two were playing cards, and two were sleeping. Another sat in meditation.
“Well, look at what we have here,” one of the sleeping men said, opening an eye. “Fresh meat.”
The two men playing cards stopped their game and looked up curiously.
“We don’t often see new folks around here,” one of the men who’d been playing cards said. “Who are you? Where are you from? Which company are you with?”
“Call me Pai Xiao,” Cha Ming said. “With the Blackthorn Conglomerate.”
“Blackthorn, huh?” the man said. “They don’t usually send men out here. They’re buyers, not workers.” He was a short man, slight of build, and unlike most cultivators, he wore ragged clothing and wore his hair short. He looked weak, if only judging by appearances, but given that he was sitting in such a relaxed manner in this draining area, he was anything but.
Cha Ming shrugged. “Now I’m here. I introduced myself. What’s your name?”
The man gave him a considering look, then glanced at the others before answering. “Call me Bear Three.” Cha Ming raised an eyebrow. “This big bloke’s Bear Five,” he continued, gesturing to the large, mountainous man playing cards with him. “We don’t share our names out here. Since you’re new, you let on more than you should have.”
“I’m Bear Four,” the lazy man who’d woken up earlier said. His clothes were worn, and he wore a scraggly beard that looked to be in dire need of trimming. “Our napping buddy here is Bear Two. He might not look it, but he’s quite strong.”
“Especially around the midsection,” Bear Three joked. The sleeping Bear Two was a rather fat man, with forearms larger than Cha Ming’s legs.
The last member, a bare-chested man with a lean build, bald head, and well-maintained beard, opened his eyes. Unlike most on the continent, his eyes were clear blue. Cha Ming could sense that the man was strong on three fronts. Not only was he a late-body-refining cultivator, but he was also a late-core-formation qi cultivator. His soul force had already reached the peak of the resplendent soul realm.
“I am Bear One,” the man said in a strange accent. He clearly wasn’t from around Bastion, or the Ji Kingdom for that matter. “Tell me friend, are you looking for some mining companions?”
“What?” Bear Three said. “You’re inviting him? But he’s from a company, and not too strong at that.”
“Not strong?” Bear One said, a bemused expression on his face. “If he is not strong, you’re nothing more than a weak babe. I can tell it from the look in his eyes. He is not only strong; he’s useful.”
Cha Ming hesitated. He hadn’t considered joining a group. Then again, he was new to the Shattered Lands. Looking for the Gold Source Marrow would be difficult since he was unfamiliar with the area. “I think I’m better off on my own,” he said finally. “I mean no disrespect, but I’d just be a hindrance to your group.”
“See, boss?” Bear Three said. “He said it himself. He’s useless.”
“Oh?” Bear One said, smiling as he looked at Bear Three. “Is a smith useless when digging for metal? Is someone with earth affinity useless when digging through stone? He must have at least three affinities, if my guess is correct. And I sense other useful things about him. Something bestial almost.” He looked back to Cha Ming. “Perhaps you don’t see the benefit of going about with a group.”
“Perhaps,” Cha Ming said, a little concerned about how much the man could read about him. He’d spent much effort concealing his other elements, yet the man had already exposed his earth affinity. He’d done so without intruding on his soul, of that he was certain. Perhaps it was the man’s strange eyes, which seemed to look at something distant even when looking straight at him. “If men wander together, they’re more likely to fight over limited ore deposits.”
Bear One laughed lightly. “You say this because you are new. You don’t know the nature of these lands.”
“The nature of these lands?” Cha Ming asked. “Aren’t these lands where the Ji Kingdom hunts for ore and has done so for centuries? I find it hard to believe that there’s much undiscovered ore.”
“This ignorance is why you refuse me,” Bear One said. “The ores we seek aren’t here yet, but they will come. We wait here not because we are tired or lazy.” He looked back toward the wall. “Those behind us will get the dregs, leftovers from each shift. They will fight lesser demons, whose affinities drive them to harvest and consume fresh ore or unwary cultivators.”
He put a hand to his chest. “As for us, we will be fighting greater demons, doing our best to gather quickly and efficiently. Each of us has skills that make this easier. Our experience allows us to find better ore deposits faster. Now tell me, is it good to join us? Every member gets an equal share of the total harvest, including myself.”
Cha Ming considered for a while. He had no idea how ore appeared, but perhaps by accompanying them, he’d get a better idea. “All right. I’ll give it a try. I can’t make any promises, but I’ll work as hard as I can.” If he was going to spend a month out here, he might as well take risks and get rich while he was at it. This, he suspected, was the nature of the punishment. He could either waste his time near the wall with no privacy, no workshop, and no quiet, or he could put his life in danger doing hard labor. His time here could easily kill Pai Xiao if he wasn’t careful.
Cha Ming walked over and sat down beside the napping Bear Two and Bear Four. He summoned several flags and began to cultivate, purifying his already mostly clear core. He’d barely started circulating his qi when the land beneath him began to shake, and the men scrambled to their feet. Cha Ming stood up, stowing his flags as he looked around warily at falling boulders the size of buildings that crashed down on the land below, letting out deep, muffled booms as they did.
“Your presence brings us good luck, friend,” Bear One said, grinning. “Let us go.”
“But the earthquake,” Cha Ming protested.
“Now is the best time, or we will be late,” Bear One said. “Come, mysterious acquaintance. Let us see what you are capable off.”
Bear One ran off, pushing off the land that jutted up beneath his steps to propel himself forward. The others followed in their own way, executing whatever technique they were most familiar with to catch up. Sighing, Cha Ming shot forward into the nightmare of broken earth and falling stone.
Chapter 23: Fissures
Cha Ming dashed forward, propelling himself from a rocky outcropping and into the rain
of crashing boulders. He didn’t know what he’d find by following the five bear brothers, but he knew one thing for certain: Wherever they went, he could follow. He flew between the rocks with inhuman speed, leaving a trail of rushing wind and rocks behind him. Sun Wukong’s training came in handy; the tumbling boulders were easy to sense, and he used his earth qi to repel some and push himself off others.
Bear One, who was closest to him, gave him an approving grin when he saw this. Then, to Cha Ming’s surprise, he did the same. No boulders dared strike wherever he passed. At first, Cha Ming thought it might be due to the sphere of earthen influence around the man, but he soon discovered that the way he dodged wasn’t simple. Judging by the perfect path the man took through the falling stones, it seemed like he’d mapped out a large area of falling debris and predicted its pathway. He moved not to avoid, but in anticipation of what would come.
Beside them, the other bear brothers used their own respective skills to dodge. Bear Three, like Cha Ming, was a smith. He used fiery movements to jump from stone to stone, summoning a massive blacksmith’s hammer to destroy incoming projectiles he couldn’t avoid. His wiry frame was disproportionately strong, and the grace in his movements told Cha Ming he used the hammer for fighting more than he did smithing.
The large Bear Five didn’t use metal nor fire. Instead, he used his massive, mountainous body to good effect. His raw fists slammed against incoming boulders, crushing them on impact. They didn’t leave a single dent on his skin; whether that was due to its toughness or the man’s regenerative abilities, Cha Ming was uncertain. A green glow covered Bear Five’s skin, and beneath him, the ground was soaked red with blood.
They all have their special abilities, Cha Ming thought. I should probably show them something to make them trust me. He thought for a moment before summoning his Clear Sky Hammer, purposefully showing the hammer form before having it morph into a staff. He intentionally suppressed the power of the staff—at least, as much as he could—and used it to crush rocks into tiny pebbles, which he had orbit around him as a loose shield. Whenever he saw larger ones, he had his staff glow white hot and literally melt through the large boulders.
Shattered Lands: Book 8 of Painting the Mists Page 27