You...are very much like him.

The campfire crackled, sending sparks flying and drawing fleeting arcs in the pitch-black night.

The surrounding clamor—the urging of drinks, the boasting—all these sounds seemed to fade away from Su Ji in this moment.

In his ears, only Zhang Kui's dry, suppressed, and resentful laughter remained.

Su Ji held his wine bowl, the liquid inside reflecting the dancing flames. He did not drink; he just watched and waited quietly.

After a long time, Zhang Kui's laughter finally ceased.

As if drained of all his strength, he slumped back against the stone bench. His crimson eyes stared fixedly at Su Ji, as if trying to see right through him.

Su Ji felt a bit creeped out by the stare, but his face maintained its honest, slightly bewildered expression.

He set down the wine bowl and spoke cautiously, breaking the suffocating silence.

"So..."

Su Ji's voice was very soft, yet it was like a sharp knife, piercing precisely into the core of that dust-covered history.

"That betrayer is the current 'Immortal Emperor'?"

Zhang Kui's body jolted violently.

His pupils, which had been somewhat unfocused, suddenly contracted, locking dead onto Su Ji's face.

This kid...

What the hell was this kid's brain made of?

He had merely told a story, not even mentioning the names of the key figures, yet he... he had actually deduced this most appalling, unspeakable truth from just a few fragmented words?!

Looking at Su Ji's harmless, even somewhat naive face, a chill shot up from Zhang Kui's tailbone straight to the crown of his head without any warning.

He suddenly wondered if inviting this kid to drink today had been a mistake.

This was no mining prodigy.

He was clearly a monster who hid his true depths, with a mind as terrifyingly meticulous as Immortal Venerable Fallen Dragon!

The others by the campfire continued to be noisy, completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere between the two.

Zhang Kui did not answer.

He simply picked up the wine jug and poured it frantically into his mouth once again.

The strong liquor made him choke and cough violently.

Su Ji didn't rush him. He just picked up a roasted, dripping beast leg, methodically tore off a piece of meat, popped it into his mouth, and chewed it carefully.

After a long while, Zhang Kui's coughing stopped.

He wiped his face with a greasy hand, his voice hoarse.

"Yes."

"The Immortal Emperor was heavily wounded, beyond any hope of recovery. Of his hundred-thousand-year lifespan, he only lived for sixty thousand."

"The Immortal Venerable died, his body completely destroyed, but you could say he succeeded... The sword strike before his death actually severed half of the Immortal Emperor's providence..."

"What a dashing stroke that was in the history of the immortals..."

"In the eyes of all immortal cultivators, the Immortal Emperor's deeply ingrained aura of invincibility had vanished..."

"And his close friend, the brother who fought his way up from the lower realms alongside him..."

At this point, Zhang Kui's smile was full of mockery.

"He himself was an unparalleled genius who suppressed an entire era, his strength only a fraction less than the Immortal Venerable's."

"He didn't have to do anything."

"He only needed... to wait quietly."

"Wait for that old 'Emperor' to breathe his last."

"And then, he would be the new 'Emperor'."

"No one could defy him!"

Listening, Su Ji silently tore off another piece of meat and stuffed it into his mouth.

He suddenly felt that this roasted meat wasn't quite as savory anymore.

Damn it.

And here he thought Great Xia had some epic, tear-jerking history of rebellion...

After all that, it turned out to be a startup partnership where, right before the company was about to ring the bell for its IPO, the second-in-command stabbed the boss in the back and made himself the chairman?

It was the same old story. Nine times out of ten, the ones who screwed over the people of Great Xia the most were the people of Great Xia themselves...

"With such actions..." Zhang Kui's crimson eyes stared fixedly at Su Ji. His gaze seemed to be questioning, yet also seeking an answer. "If you were one of those immortal sects and ancient families, one of those lofty True Immortals..."

"Would you still dare... to invest in an Ascender?!"

Su Ji fell silent.

He finally understood completely.

He understood why all Ascenders, no matter how glorious or talented they were in the lower realms, only had one fate upon arriving here—becoming mining slaves.

Because of fear.

Because a hundred thousand years ago, an Ascender had left far too deep a shadow over this world.

They had proven one thing.

Ascenders were uncontrollable.

They were the greatest variable in this already rigid, heavily stratified world.

No one could guarantee that the next batch of Ascenders wouldn't produce another Immortal Venerable Fallen Dragon.

No one could guarantee whether their investment today was a close friend or relative of Immortal Venerable Fallen Dragon, or whether it would become a knife stabbed into their back someday in the future.

Therefore, the best method was to extinguish all possibilities at the source.

To turn all Ascenders into slaves with no thoughts, no dignity, and no future.

To lock away their cultivation with Spirit-Locking Rings.

To grind away their willpower with heavy, backbreaking labor.

To sustain their lowly lives with the lowest grade of food.

This was the answer provided by the Upper Realm.

Simple, brutal, and unreasonable, yet... incredibly effective.

Su Ji let out a long sigh.

He suddenly felt that Qin Feng, whose pride had been shattered by a single slap from Old Ghost Li, was actually quite pitiful.

It wasn't that he wasn't smart enough.

It was that he had lost from the very beginning.

He had lost to the entire world.

Su Ji didn't answer; he just downed the last gulp of wine in his bowl.

Then, he raised his head, looked at Zhang Kui, and put that honest smile back on his face.

"Big Brother Zhang, then... where does all this Immortal-Slaying Iron we mine end up going?"

He asked cautiously.

He wanted to indirectly probe for information about the faction behind this mine.

Ideally, he could fish out some background on that golden-robed man.

Zhang Kui also seemed to pull himself out of that heavy past. He glanced at Su Ji and spoke in an annoyed tone.

"You kid, why do you have so many questions?"

"I'm just curious," Su Ji scratched his head and chuckled.

Watching his seemingly carefree demeanor, Zhang Kui finally sighed and lowered his voice.

"Where else could it go?"

"Naturally, it goes into the hands of that 'Emperor'."

He paused, his voice laced with a chilling coldness.

"That Emperor has been on the throne for over eighty thousand years. He is old now... By nature, he is paranoid, and he fears death more than anyone else."

"He is afraid... afraid that the scene from a hundred thousand years ago will repeat itself, that an Immortal Venerable will rise up and slay the reigning Great Emperor..."

"So, he wants to forge an 'Immortal-Breaker Army' capable of shooting down all enemies in the world."

"And we are just the slaves... providing him with the arrows."

Su Ji couldn't help but exclaim in shock, "The faction behind this mine is actually the 'Emperor'?"

How was he supposed to break out of this?

This was a complete and utter dead end!

Zhang Kui seemed to have truly drunk too much and couldn't be bothered with pleasantries. He shot Su Ji a glance. "Are we even worthy?"

"It's just the power of a small family, that's all..."

"If I were given a hundred years... they would be nothing more than pigs and dogs in my eyes..." After saying this, Zhang Kui spoke no more. He simply grabbed the wine jar, lowered his head, and began to chug heavily.

Su Ji did not ask any further questions.

He knew that prying this many hidden secrets out of Zhang Kui today was already his absolute limit.

To ask any more would only draw unnecessary suspicion.

The drinking gathering gradually drew to a close in an eerie silence.

The overseers were all dead drunk, stumbling and unconscious, and were eventually dragged back to their quarters by their subordinates.

At this moment.

In this place.

Only Su Ji still remained sober.

Su Ji stood up and cupped his fists respectfully toward Zhang Kui. "Brother Zhang, thank you for the hospitality today."

He wore a slightly intoxicated expression on his face, his footsteps seemingly unsteady.

"It is getting late. Your little brother will head back to rest first."

Zhang Kui lifted his heavy eyelids and glanced at him, merely giving a vague, mumbled grunt of acknowledgment.

Su Ji turned around and staggered toward the direction of the shacks, his steps deep and uneven.

However, just as he was about to step out of the campfire's illuminating reach.

Zhang Kui's deep, muffled voice rang out from behind him without any warning.

"Boy."

Su Ji's footsteps halted.

He looked back to see that Zhang Kui had already stood up. In the dancing firelight, the man's iron tower-like figure cast a long, twisted shadow.

"You... are very much like him."