Soul Emperor Awakening

Groggy, Lin Xuan finally woke. He opened his eyes to find himself in a cold cave. There was nothing around him except for a stone bowl filled with some murky water.

A few tattered cloths were draped over his body, carrying an unpleasant medicinal smell. They must have been soaked in some herbal concoction and then applied to his skin.

"Where am I...?"

Lin Xuan struggled to get up. The moment he moved, the movement pulled at his wounds, and he instantly sucked in a sharp breath. Despite the pain, he managed to sit up. The tattered cloths fell away, revealing skin underneath that was charred black, as if it had been scorched by fire.

’These injuries are really severe this time.’ He drew a sharp breath. A quick internal check revealed that his insides were in utter chaos, a tangled mess.

’As horrifying as this is, at least I’m not dead.’ This was far more severe than the three palm strikes he had taken from Qing Piaoxue. He owed his survival to his tempered physique; if he hadn’t absorbed that Bone Forging Liquid, he would already be dead.

He patted himself down, only to find that all his belongings were missing. He glanced to the side and saw nothing there either. Everything must have been lost during his fall from the sky or shattered to pieces by the Celestial Thunder.

’It’s not that those things were so important. The Weapon, the statue... it doesn’t matter. If they’re gone, I can just get new ones. But the Elixir Pills can’t be gone!’ His injuries were far too severe; he had to take Elixir Pills to recover.

But now, with nothing left, what could he possibly use to recover? He could only rely on his own Elemental Power to heal himself.

He didn’t immediately sit down to meditate and heal. Instead, he stood up and, bracing himself against the wall, slowly shuffled toward the cave entrance. He had to know where he was before he could recuperate in peace. If enemies were lying in wait outside, staying put meant he would just be waiting to die.

He slowly felt his way along the wall until he reached the mouth of the cave. Even before stepping outside, he could hear a constant clanging sound. When he peeked out to see, the sight before him left him stunned.

Before him lay an enormous quarry where countless people were toiling away, mining. More accurately, they were mining for Primordial Stones. Throngs of half-naked people relentlessly chipped away at the hard rock, managing to extract only small pieces of Primordial Stone. They would toss the stones into baskets behind them before continuing their strenuous work.

’Slaves?’ Lin Xuan saw the shackles on their ankles. He couldn’t tell how long they had been bound, but the metal seemed to have nearly fused with their flesh, rubbing raw, bloody marks into their skin.

CRACK!

A guard at the edge of the pit lifted his whip and brought it down hard on a slave who was trying to rest from exhaustion. The sound of the lash striking the man’s back was ear-piercing, followed by a bloodcurdling scream.

"Who told you to rest, you piece of trash!" the burly guard roared, cracking his whip furiously. He clearly didn’t see the slave as a person, continuing to lash him viciously until the man finally struggled to his feet and resumed working. The guard wouldn’t have stopped otherwise.

It was impossible to tell the man’s age; his body was so caked in filth that his features were unrecognizable. He was likely too exhausted to get up. Each time he managed to struggle to his knees, the whip would send him crashing down again, until he was finally beaten unconscious.

"Damn it, another useless one! You two, haul him up and dump him by the sea!" Two men nearby immediately stopped their work and began to carry the half-dead slave away. The whole scene was brutally cruel.

’These guards don’t see them as human at all.’ To them, these slaves weren’t even people!

Lin Xuan’s eyes burned with rage as he watched. These miners were clearly ordinary people, and there were thousands of them by his rough estimate. They had no Cultivation to speak of, looking physically strong at best. The very few who had any power were only at the Body Refining Stage Level; there was practically no one at the Spirit Refining Stage.

The guards, on the other hand, had much higher Cultivation, all of them around the Seventh and Eighth Layers of the Spirit Refining Stage. That was more than enough to handle these slaves. Even if thousands of them rebelled, the guards wouldn’t be afraid. They would just kill as many as rose up. The most the slaves could do was swallow their anger and remain silent.

Lin Xuan’s cave was tucked away in a remote, inconspicuous corner of the mining camp.

’Could they be the ones who saved me?’ Lin Xuan vaguely recalled hearing voices discussing him when he had briefly awoken earlier. Someone had apparently taken a huge risk to bring him inside.

’The most likely candidates are the ones tasked with carrying out the bodies. They’re the only ones who would have had an opportunity to bring me in.’ He had been observing for a while and saw that no one else was allowed to leave their designated spot; they could only mine continuously.

’I never thought a place like this existed in the Demon Cloud Sea...’ Lin Xuan looked up at the sky, still blanketed by dark clouds. This confirmed he hadn’t left the Demon Cloud Sea and was still somewhere within its borders.

After watching for a moment longer, he quickly retreated into the cave and sat down in a corner to meditate and recover from his injuries. ’In my current condition, forget someone at the Sixth or Seventh Layer of the Spirit Refining Stage. Even a Body Refining Stage Cultivator could probably take me down with one punch!’

’My body is in an abysmal state. I have to focus on healing.’ If this went on and the guards found him, he would undoubtedly be forced to become one of the slaves.

He immediately began to circulate the Phoenix Essence Blood in his system to activate its healing properties. The Phoenix Essence Blood did possess restorative abilities, and activating it would speed up his recovery, but the process was still incredibly slow.

As for using Soul Possession, that was out of the question. His Elemental Power was in complete disarray; there was none to spare for such a technique.

He lost track of how long he had been meditating when a surprised and happy voice suddenly reached him. "You’re awake!"

Lin Xuan’s eyes snapped open. The first thing he saw was a frail figure walking toward him. The person seemed exhausted, their steps slow and deliberate.

As the figure drew closer, Lin Xuan could finally see his face clearly. His savior was just a young boy, about twelve or thirteen years old. He had already guessed from the voice that the person was young, but seeing him up close made his heart clench. ’To think someone this young is already a slave here...’

Shackles were clasped around the boy’s thin ankles. Over the long years, the constant rubbing had worn the skin into thick, hardened calluses. Lin Xuan couldn’t imagine how many times the wounds must have reopened and scarred over to create such a layer.

"You’re the one who saved me?" Lin Xuan asked, sizing him up. The boy sat down next to him, his face beaming with excitement.

"Yeah! That day, I was carrying a man out. On my way back, I saw you sitting in a ball of beautiful red Flame. It was so pretty, so very pretty! Just like the sun that people describe..." the little boy said excitedly.

Lin Xuan froze for a second before he understood. The "ball of beautiful red Flame" he had been sitting in must have been the Phoenix.

"You’ve never seen the sun?" Lin Xuan asked, confused. ’The sun should be a common sight, something you see every day.’

"Never! I’ve been here my whole life. I’ve never seen the sun!" The little boy grinned, revealing a row of white teeth.

But to Lin Xuan, the sight was heartbreaking. ’Of course,’ he thought, ’how could I ask such a stupid question? The Demon Cloud Sea is perpetually shrouded in dark clouds. Trapped here, it’s even more impossible for them to have ever seen the sun!’