Chapter 3: A plate of Death served with some mist !
The bright sun slowly trickled above the horizon .
Ling Chen was on his way already wearing his Mining Outfit.
The mines weren't located far from the dormitories and every day after some breakfast a long stream of miners could be seen walking towards the pits , their pickaxes glittering when the sunlight reflected from their shiny surfaces , some still had the last traces of rice left on their chins .
All of them regardless of the differences in their stature and form had one common thing unifying them ; the morose look on their faces which faced the ground.
While they were responsible for slowly uplifting the spirit stones that were irreplaceable treasures to the surface as a price their own souls sank instead , a fact which was neither known nor noticed by the rest of the world.
Cruel , certainly but it was their own fault was what most people would say!
In the world of Shenzu all people had a twisted relationship with their world ; the great practitioners might speak of abstruse principles of the [Great Way] and express their willingness to pursue the elusive dream of [Eternal Life] and encourage others to do the same as well but to those at the underbelly of society such insinuations were worth a fart !
When you are systematically denied the opportunity to live what [Great Way] can you pursue then ?
As the well-known saying went "The pursuit of [Eternal Life ] was for the rich ! " , to these people a pursuit of Good Food was legendary in itself .
Strangely enough such thoughts passed through Ling Chen 's mind .
He had become numb to the pain since long ago and had become no different from an automaton having no life , as of late though he had unknowingly entered a certain psychological mode and had begin to deeply ponder his place and of those like him in this world.
If he were to voice his thoughts all he would face for his troubles would be a scoff and a beating then why did he even bother ?
He didn't have the energy to consider the answer , as far as he was considered as long as he didn't end up having crazy ideas like aiming to be a [Great Dominator] and so on , he was perfectly okay.
The long line of men came to a halt .
They had reached their destination .
A gigantic chasm that had been rendered out of the earth shrouded entirely in darkness except for some tiny pinpricks of light deep inside where miners had already got to work.
Slowly one by one each was lowered down to into the abyss with the help of a long but flimsy piece of rope.
Staring at the scene Ling Chen couldn't help but think that , While he was staring at the abyss , the abyss was staring back at him as well.
How interesting .
His thoughts were bearing an increasingly poetic turn these days.
When his turn came , he too fastened the rope as best as he could and leapt over the cliff ; far above he could see a solitary pulley whirling and straining to its best , even though it was submerged with rust ; courtesy of the elements and official indifference.
The rope strained and creaked like an old man moaning and groaning to take a single step and then in a spectacular fashion gave way to the relentless maw of time that had gnawed away at it until all resistance had disappeared.
For an instant there he was above in the sky suspended by an invisible chord with its other end tied to the limitless firmament.
He lay there on an invisible mattress spreadeagled with his eyes closed , like a painting bought to life .
The chord snapped.
Time began to flow once more.
He began to fall into the depths.
Neither the bellows of his fellow miners nor the screeches of the air below could reach him .
In some strange realm he lived now , separated by a thin transparent barrier from their world ,nearby yet far , far away.
He could finally be at peace ; after his body would shatter far below in the fathoms , the managers would make sure that he wouldn't return as a ghost.
Although the prospect of being turned into mince sounded painful , the joy of extrication was there as well counterbalancing the fear.
He was at peace.
An instant later he had entered the dark world below.
A moment later he crossed the catacombs where the mined ore was received.
An eternity later he crossed the veins of the earth shining bright where a vast amount of treasure lied unearthed.
Then he didn't know.
The darkness grew absolute .
He felt as if his body had hit against something and then he felt nothing.
After a while the darkness vanished only to be replaced by a grey world in turn.
All he saw everywhere was fog and mist spiralling in every direction , neither plant nor animal , neither sea nor mountain , nothing was to be found here.
It was an empty world ; a world full of 'nothingness' , if there existed such a thing .
From far and yet near since distance seemed to have no meaning 'he' sensed a fearsome gaze penetrating through the mist and landing on his body.
The gaze was scorching ; its intensity surpassing the sun at its noonday zenith not only causing his heart to palpitate but also withered his very form.
To his horror he saw vapours of steam rising from his form like water boiling under intense heat.
If the gaze lasted any longer then something told him that he or whatever he was right now would fade away as well.
Luckily , the gaze shifted away at the very moment he felt he couldn't withstand its ferocity and vanished just as suddenly as it had appeared .
Before Ling Chen had any more time to analyse the mystical misty world he was in he felt his senses fading away once more , giving way to another darkness.
After the intruder left this mysterious world deep within , the owner of the gaze was in deep thought .
How could a mere child have entered this world ?
To all practitioners of the [Real domain] this illusory world was a space that was out of bounds for them how then could this pathetically weak lad have got inside ?
The being sank into a watchful contemplation which could last for aeons and aeons without any change !
Ling Chen felt something was wrong somewhere.
He wasn't feeling the sensations that people said would be felt on death ; there was no overwhelming pain for a brief moment followed by well , nothing instead he felt no pain followed by the weird encounter in the mist and now contrary to expectations his senses were in overdrive .
He could feel his heart pumping strongly , his nose picked up on a lingering scent that was reminiscent of a medicinal fragrance and above all his eyelids fluttered.
Wait a second . What now ?
His eyes opened with an almighty heave only to stare straight at an unfamiliar wooden roof.
What in the world had happened ?
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