"Spare us, please spare us! This old man and my two nephews were blinded by greed. Young hero, be magnanimous and spare our lives!" The bald old man begged, tears and snot streaming down his face.

  "You tried to kill me just moments ago, and now you beg for mercy? Don't you think it's a little late for that?" Leo showed no sign of pity, tightening his grip on the sword.

  "Uncle Hann, don't bother begging. We've lived in this sunless mine for over a decade, bullied every day by other miners. For me, death would be a release." The thin young man, an early-stage Qi Refining cultivator whom Leo had kicked away, struggled to his feet, grimacing in pain.

  The other man, equally weak, smiled bitterly. "Even if he lets us go now, without enough spirit stones to hand over to Viper, we're as good as dead anyway."

  "Don't you hand over your ore to the Palace mine supervisors? Who is this Viper?" Leo clearly remembered that the supervisor seemed to be someone named Moritz, probably that striking white-browed youth.

  "The supervisors? That's topside. Viper is one of the bosses down here in the mines. After we were persecuted and forced to flee into these mines, just scraping by, our cultivation dropped to the mid-stage. Ever since, we've been bullied by a few of the mine bosses. They don't mine themselves; they just steal the spirit stones we work so hard to dig up. As the years pass, the stones in the mine keep dwindling. To find more ore, we have to dig new tunnels. What little we manage to find, they take a big cut. The food we can trade for is pitiful. We're just barely clinging to life." The bald old man, seemingly infected by the two younger men's despair, spoke with a grim expression.

  "Persecuted? By whom?" Leo asked, curious, sensing the three weren't putting on an act.

  "Telling you won't help. The man is a Foundation Establishment senior. You probably don't even know him." The weak man shrugged with a faint smile and slowly sat down, leaning against the cave wall.

  Leo frowned. The weak man's words rang true. The entire Palace had over a dozen Golden Core elders and seven or eight hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, scattered across more than ten different regions. His own Azure Lotus Peak domain, for instance, had over sixty Foundation Establishment masters. Apart from the four he had met by chance when registering for the Palace, he hadn't seen a single other in the month and a half since entering.

  "Kory, what does it matter? We fled into these mines to escape Mist's persecution. It's been ten years. We can never leave now. Keeping his secret won't help us. If we die, taking Mist's secret to our graves, aren't we letting him off easy?" The youth spat out a mouthful of blood, his voice full of hatred.

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  "Mist of Azure Lotus Peak?" Leo's eyes narrowed.

  "You know Mist?" The bald old man and the other two started, looking at Leo with wary suspicion, fearing he might have been sent by Mist to kill them.

  "Naturally. I'm from Azure Lotus Peak. I have no connection to Mist, but I'm very interested in his secrets." Leo smiled faintly. What a coincidence. He had fled into the mine because of Mist, and the first people he met were cultivators Mist had persecuted. That old fox Mist—first Leo would uncover his secrets, and once he had enough strength, he would make him pay for this!

  "Unless you promise to let us go, we won't tell you." The bald old man's eyes darted craftily.

  "Do you really think you're in a position to bargain?" Leo chuckled derisively, raising his sword towards the weak man's neck.

  "Stop! Stop! I'll talk, I'll talk!" Fear flashed across the bald old man's face. This young man, though young, was even more decisive and ruthless than he had been when he first entered the cultivation world.

  "Ha! Old Man Bald, you and your nephews haven't handed over today's spirit stones yet. Are you coming willingly, or do I have to come get you?"

  Just as the bald old man was about to speak, a ferocious-looking man with a scar across his face strode out of the deep tunnel, laughing loudly.

  "Viper!" The bald old man and his two nephews involuntarily shrank back. They had clearly suffered at this man's hands.

  Leo's pupils constricted. This Viper was a Great Perfection Qi Refining cultivator. Behind him followed two late-stage Qi Refining cultivators and five mid-stage. They were robust and energetic, a stark contrast to the withered, spiritless trio.

  Outside the mine, encountering such a group of uncertain intentions, Leo would have turned and fled without a second thought. But most of the cultivators exiled to the mines had either violated Palace rules or offended the Palace. Their crimes weren't capital, so they were stripped of all spirit artifacts and thrown into the mines. All they had were mining picks, no offensive or defensive artifacts, only spells. They had no healing pills either. He wasn't so afraid of them.

  "Oh? A mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator. Your skin's a bit dark, but you look healthy. You must be new to the mines. Are you a Palace disciple?" Viper's eyes gleamed with greed at the sight of Leo's spirit sword. But before clarifying his origins, Viper suppressed his murderous intent and asked.

  "That's right. A Palace disciple here on a chore. I'm taking these three. You're not to trouble them again."

  As he spoke, Leo quietly withdrew a stack of talismans from his boundary space and palmed them. Compared to Moonwatch Immortal City, the goods from Palace disciples were much better. Not only were talismans more reasonably priced, but there were also quite a few second and third-grade ones available. Fourth-grade talismans were still scarce, though; he hadn't been able to buy any.

  "Haha..." Viper and his gang burst into laughter. It was a long moment before they recovered.

  Viper's expression turned menacing. "Kid, I was polite because you're a Palace disciple. I don't want trouble. But a sixth-layer brat like you, you're really getting above yourself. Truth be told, the last Palace disciple, about your level, was just as arrogant. He ended up dead by my hand. Get lost while you still can, or this time next year will be your anniversary!"

  With that, Viper produced a low-grade spirit saber. The cultivators behind him gripped their mining picks and shovels, their faces full of murderous intent.

  "It seems you're choosing the hard way."

  Leo's smile was cold. He had heard about the harsh conditions in the mines, about bullies preying on the weak. He didn't care about that, but if he wanted to cultivate undisturbed, he would have to make an example of someone who crossed him. And that someone couldn't be too weak, or others wouldn't learn to fear him. This group would do nicely.

  Strike first, or be struck. Leo unleashed a handful of talismans. Great Fireball, Thunderbolt Lightning Spear, Ice Spike—fifty or sixty talismans in rapid succession. In the cramped tunnel, there was no room to dodge.