Chapter 2 – Calculations

            Lu Ye was suddenly grasped by a strong force and involuntarily followed along, holding back the pain in his chest. He asked, “Manager Yang, where are we going?”

　　 “Stop talking nonsense!” Manager Yang responded viciously. He took a few more steps and then looked at the basket full of ore behind Lu Ye: “Leave it.”

　　 Lu Ye didn’t dare to refuse. He untied the basket and threw it on the ground, but he didn’t drop the mining pick. Manager Yang just glanced at it but didn’t say anything.

　　 As they went deeper inside the mine, the light behind them was getting further and further away.

　　 The depths of the mine tunnels were very dim, and only torches every few dozens of feet provided a little light. Moreover, the channels in the whole vein were criss-crossed, and the terrain was extremely complicated. Not every mine tunnel had torches lighting it up. Shrouded in darkness all year round, no one knew where those mine tunnels lead to.

　　 When mining here, if you didn’t follow the traces of the torch light, you would easily lose your way.

　　 Once the mortal miners lost their way in such a place, their fates could be imagined.

　　 In the words of the mining slaves, the mine tunnels illuminated by torches are bright tunnels, while those shrouded in darkness all the year round are secret tunnels.

　　 There were often torches burning out and bright tunnels becoming secret ones. Some mining slaves would lose their positions at those times and starve to death as a result.

　　 As he followed Manager Yang, Lu Ye noticed a very strange thing. Manager Yang would look back from time to time with a nervous expression.

　　 It seemed as though there was some danger behind him.

　　 With Manager Yang looking like this, he got nervous as well.

　　 “Lu Ye, have you mastered the layout of any secret tunnels?” Manager Yang suddenly asked.

　　 “Yeah.” Lu Ye nodded since denying this was meaningless in front of Manager Yang. In fact, it was not only Lu Ye who had learned to navigate a few of the secret tunnels very well, but also many of the powerful mining slaves in the mines.

　　 Although the bright tunnels were safe, there were not many places where they could be mined. On the contrary, it was the more dangerous secret tunnels where you could often find some good places to mine.

　　 It was with the help of these resource-rich secret tunnels that Lu Ye could have a good harvest every day; otherwise he would have no extra contribution points that were needed to redeem for the Qi and Blood pills.

　　 This was also the reason Manager Yang took him with him after recognizing Lu Ye.

　　 “Manager Yang is headed for those secret tunnels?” Lu Ye asked. Manager Yang had suddenly asked about secret tunnels, which made him guess.

　　 Manager Yang said: “Take me to find the most hidden secret tunnel.”

　　 “Okay!” Lu Ye nodded in response. After walking a few steps, he suddenly muffled a groan and stretched out his hand to cover his chest.

　　 The bones in his chest were a little shifted. He walked along the road with Manager Yang and so couldn’t rest well at all. At this moment, his injury was affected. The pain caused him to halt as sweat leaked from his forehead.

　　 Manager Yang glanced at him with dissatisfaction. He hesitated for a moment but ultimately reached out into a cloth pouch around his waist. He quickly grabbed a round, soy-sized pill and handed it to Lu Ye. “Eat it!” he ordered.

　　 Lu Ye took it and couldn’t recognize what kind of pill it was. He had only been in contact with the Qi and Blood pill this past year, and the pill in his hand was obviously different from the Qi and Blood pill.

　　 But at this time, he was useful to Manager Yang, and so the pill shouldn’t harm him. This pill was most likely used for healing.

　　 He stuffed the pill into his mouth. After chewing it a few times, his intestines all turned green in regret because the medicine was terribly bitter.

　　 “What did you chew it for? Just swallow it. This is a healing pill.” Manager Yang was not in good spirits.

　　‘Sure enough, it was indeed an elixir for healing.’ Lu Ye wore a bitter melon face, but had to be grateful: “Thank-you Manager Yang.”

　　 “If you really want to thank me, then quit delaying and move at once.” Manager Yang gave him a push.

　　 Lu Ye had no choice but to once again lead the way.

　　 The pill was terribly bitter, but the effect was surprisingly good. After taking it for a while, Lu Ye felt a rush of heat in his lower abdomen, and immediately after that the chest injury was not so painful. Instead it became a bit itchy.

　　 This made him have to inwardly sigh with emotion. ‘Sure enough, good medicine tastes bitter.’

　　 Under the lead of Lu Ye, the two kept moving forward in the criss-crossing mine tunnels. Occasionally, they encountered some returning slaves, but Manager Yang simply raised his hand and killed them.

　　 Lu Ye’s eyelids jumped, and the suspicion in his heart became clearer.

　　About an hour later, the two stopped in front of an underpass. Lu Ye already had an extra torch in his hand. He took this torch from nearby and said, “Manager Yang, this is the most concealed underpass. After you go in, turn left at the first intersection, and at the second intersection…”

　　 Before he finished speaking, Manager Yang kicked him in: “Lead the way ahead!”

　　 Lu Ye’s heart sank to the bottom. He didn’t want to lead the way. Judging from the behaviour of Manager Yang along the way, if he really continued leading him, he would surely not meet a good end.

　　 But his last attempt has already failed. Manager Yang obviously didn’t intend to go deep into the dark tunnel alone. It was better to have Lu Ye, a person familiar with the terrain, lead him rather than explore it himself.

　　Helpless, Lu Ye could only move on.

　　 So deep and complicated was their route that even the cultivator, Manager Yang, couldn’t remember the way back. After more than an hour, the mine in front was blocked and there was no way forward.

　　 Lu Ye inserted the torch on a hidden stake on the rock wall.

　　Manager Yang sighed, sat on the ground, and took a breath. He turned his head and glanced at Lu Ye. He couldn’t help but smile and said, “You really have ability. You can even find this kind of place.”

　　 Lu Ye smiled: “Good luck.”

　　 Manager Yang nodded, and said no more.

　　 Lu Ye said, “Then, Manager Yang, I’ll go back first.”

　　 Manager Yang raised his gaze slightly, and said lightly: “Lu Ye, you are a smart person, and a smart person should do smart things.”

　　 As he spoke, he stood up and moved towards Lu Ye. The swaying fire light marked out his shadow like a ghostly dance.

　　 Lu Ye’s face showed panic: “What do you mean?”

　　 Manager Yang sighed: “I might as well tell you clearly. The people from the Great Heaven League are here. I am afraid that this vein may not be kept for the time being. I came to avoid the disaster. Although I am very grateful for you bringing me here, I cannot let you go back.”

　　 Lu Ye retreated step by step. His gut feeling from earlier was correct. When he saw Manager Yang killing the slaves before, he had a vague guess. Manager Yang was afraid that the news of him entering the mine tunnels would be leaked and so he naturally wanted to kill everyone who saw him.

　　 The reason why he was pleasantly surprised when he saw Lu Ye at the exit of the mine was because he knew that Lu Ye could take him to find a suitable place to hide.

　　 By hiding in such a place, even if the people of the Great Heaven League captured this mineral vein, they would not be able to find him easily and there was a high probability that he would be able to escape this conflict unscathed.

　　 It was because he realized the situation that Lu Ye had always wanted to get away. But Manager Yang would not let him go, so how could he leave?

　　 “Then I will stay with you, I won’t go.” Lu Ye’s back pressed against the rock wall, unable to retreat any further.

　　 Manager Yang paused and seemed to think about it seriously, but soon shook his head and said, “I don’t require much food, and I don’t know how long I need to hide here. Although the Great Heaven League cannot stay here for a long time, one or two months would be a reasonable estimate. In such a long time, you would starve to death, so how could you stay with me. So as a thank-you, I will send you off on your way!”

　　 The distance between the two of them was only ten metres. When the conversation ended, Manager Yang went to hit Lu Ye with a palm move.

　　 Although his cultivation base was not high, it was really easy to kill Lu Ye, a mortal man.

　　 But he would have never expected that, at the moment he started his palm move, Lu Ye would rush forward with the mining pick and slam it against his head.

　　 Lu Ye’s fierceness and decisiveness surprised Manager Yang, but that was all…

　　 However, what happened immediately afterwards caused him to die.

　　 He suddenly found that the spirit power in his spiritual aperture was operating oddly, as if there were an inexplicable force confining his spirit power, which made it so that he could only mobilize a small amount of it.

　　 The mining pick hit head-on and it was too late for Manager Yang to retreat, so he could only use his arm to block Lu Ye’s attack.

　　 With a crisp sound, the mining pick hit Manager Yang’s arm and maimed it.

　　 Manager Yang couldn’t help but scream as he continued to back away.

　　 After a successful blow, the worry in his heart that Lu Ye was holding was immediately let go. It seemed that some of the rumours he had heard before were true and there was still a way to survive.

　　 Lu Ye had the advantage and pressed it every step of the way. The mining pick in his hand unceasingly attacked Manager Yang, who had little strength to fight back.

　　 Manager Yang was a cultivator of Evil Moon Valley, but his cultivation level was not high, so he was assigned to the idle position of managing mineral veins. In this life, he rarely fought bravely with people and only dealt with mining slaves by using his cultivation base. But after his cultivation base was greatly suppressed, he was more limited than ordinary mortals and when he encountered a ruthless person like Lu Ye, he was immediately beaten.

　　 While avoiding Lu Ye’s fierce attack, he put his hand into the cloth bag on his waist. As he raised his hand back, a cold light flashed.

　　 Lu Ye was shocked and abruptly halted, setting his pick to block the flash of light.

　　 The cold light cut at the front of the pick, and the pick made of fine iron was cut in half.

　　 Lu Ye fixed his eyes at Manager Yang’s hand, and found that he had already grabbed a long sword at some point! He had taken it out of the cloth pouch at his waist.

　　 Manager Yang waved the sword in his hand fiercely and Lu Ye didn’t dare to step forward voluntarily.

　　 The situation was deadlocked. In the deepest part of the mine, the mortal and the cultivator faced each other. The face of the former was cold and determined, and the face of the latter was embarrassed, with intense pain making his expression distorted.

　　 “Magnetic essence field?” Manager Yang grit his teeth and said. After a short while, he had already figured out why his spiritual power was impaired.

　　 There was a lot of magnetic essence ore here!

　　Magnetic essence ore was a very rare mineral. In terms of its preciousness, the value of magnetic essence ore was second to none in this vein. This kind of ore is of great use to some cultivators.

　　 However, magnetic essence ore has one characteristic, and that is that it releases an invisible force field which restricts the circulation of all spiritual power within its range.

　　 Once a cultivator is in this force field, their strength will be greatly reduced.

　　 Manager Yang’s cultivation level was limited. Being shrouded by this magnetic essence field, his spiritual power was almost completely obstructed, and he was reduced from a high and mighty cultivator to an ordinary mortal.

　　 He suddenly remembered that in the past year, Lu Ye did occasionally mine some magnetic essence ore. But other people also mined some and there were not many, so he hadn’t cared too much. After all, there were various kinds of minerals in this vein.

　　 But now it seemed that Lu Ye had always known the location of a large amount of magnetic essence ore, but he did not mine it all immediately to redeem contribution points. He only occasionally mined a small amount to avoid it being coveted by others. He had a scheming mind.

　　 “You calculated all this?” Manager Yang was going crazy. By this time, he still didn’t understand that Lu Ye had brought him here on purpose.

　　 A mortal who he thought he could kill with ease was showing him his fangs. Manager Yang was so angry but one of his arms was broken and he had multiple injuries. In this environment where he could not exert his cultivation base, he was really not Lu Ye’s opponent.

　　 So he made a decisive judgment call; he turned and ran.

　　 Right away Lu Ye felt these circumstances were anything but reassuring.

　　 He only had a little knowledge about the magnetic essence field. When he found the magnetic essence field for the first time, he had recalled hearing the cultivators of Evil Moon Valley talk about the characteristics of this ore and had kept it in mind.

　　 When he saw how Manager Yang murdered all the mining slaves he encountered on the way here, he knew that it was a sign of misfortune for him. So he brought Manager Yang here. Before he broke Manager Yang’s arm, he wasn’t sure whether the magnetic essence field could limit Manager Yang’s strength.

　　 Fortunately, Heaven helps the worthy, and the magnetic essence field really made Manager Yang eat a loss.

　　 But the range covered by the magnetic essence field was also limited. Once Manager Yang escaped the scope of the field, Lu Ye would be killed.

　　 He must never let Manager Yang escape!

　　 Lu Ye was ruthless. He bent down, picked up a fist-sized stone, and threw it at Manager Yang.

　　 Manager Yang, who had fled in a panic, didn’t think Lu Ye would make another insidious manoeuvre. The result was that he was hit in the back of the head and staggered to the ground.

　　 Before he got up, he heard the sound of a whistling wind. Manager Yang hurriedly turned around and saw Lu Ye rushing forward, picking up half of the mining pick in his hand.

　　 There was no way to escape this time!

　　 Between life and death, Manager Yang shouted: “Let’s die together!”

　　 The long sword in his hand suddenly stabbed out!

　　 The next moment, his head was smashed by the mining pick. Lu Ye felt uneasy and so he smashed it a few more times. Looking at the twitching figure in front of him, he was sure that the other party could not survive.

　　 Severe pain came from his thigh. He looked down and saw a long sword stuck in his leg. It was the one that had been in Manager Yang’s hand.

　　 He didn’t know when he was stabbed! He just hadn’t felt it at all.

　　He dropped the pick in his hand and sat on the ground, panting, feeling the beauty of life.