Chapter 1159 - Divine Mythical Force
The night passed quickly. At dawn, the barracks still lay in slumber when a sudden metallic clang shattered the quiet. The heavy iron door swung open, and two guards strode in.
"You, come with us!" one of them barked. These guards radiated power, each at a high level of the Transcendent Realm. Weaklings would never survive in the Northern Foothill Mines.
Liu Wuxie rose to his feet, and He Yingwu followed close behind.
"I'm going with him," He Yingwu said, making the guards exchange puzzled glances. In the past, slaves chosen for the Northern Foothill Mines often preferred death to going there. Today, someone volunteered.
"Follow us then," one of the guards replied after a pause. The mines were short on labor, and every extra pair of hands meant more astral stones. That alone was reason enough to allow it.
The escorts led them northwest, and by afternoon, they crossed a rugged mountain range into a barren, ancient expanse. A mighty gale swept in from the astral domain, scouring the land bare and lifeless. In the distance, clusters of astral beasts roamed while winged predators circled overhead, ready to strike at any human they spotted.
The guards guided them carefully, skirting dense beast territories until, by late afternoon, the silhouette of the Northern Foothill Mines emerged on the horizon.
"We'll enter after dark," one of the guards instructed. Even high-level Transcendent experts avoided passing the entrance during daylight. Astral beasts guarded it fiercely, attacking and devouring anyone who drew near. At night, when the beasts retreated to rest, there would be a brief window to slip inside.
However, the underground held dangers of its own. Wind tunnels riddled the mines, and a single misstep could lead the raging astral gales to tear a person apart. Despite producing the highest-quality astral stones, the mines yielded the lowest output.
When darkness finally fell, the guards ushered Liu Wuxie and He Yingwu into the damp mining tunnels. Just as He Yingwu had said, there were almost no guards, slaves lacked interspatial pouches, and had to carry their stones to a collection point. Yu Wentai sent men once a month to retrieve them. Escape was unthinkable; the surface was far deadlier than the mines, making the underground the only place with a sliver of safety.