337: Heartbroken

The mining district where Chi Yao was located is one of the nine main mines in the Immortal Realm—

Seventh Mining District · Team 3 · Group C

ID: 7th Mine Team 711

Each Red Slave is required to complete a quota of three hundred catties of blood essence ore daily. Failure to do so will result in the entire team being deprived of food. If the quota is not met for three consecutive days, they will be sent to the Soul Devouring Abyss, never to reincarnate.

However, mining is just one aspect of the Red Slaves' fate.

In fact, the Red Slave race is spread across all production Domains in the Immortal Realm, forming the flesh and blood foundation that supports the entire upper-class pleasure system. They are mainly divided into five categories by function:

1. Mine Slaves (40%)

Responsible for extracting strategic resources such as blood essence ore, thunder marrow crystal, and starfall iron, they are distributed across the nine major mining districts.

They work in the harshest environments and have the highest mortality rate.

2. Farm Slaves (25%)

Stationed at "Under-Cloud Fields," they cultivate "Spiritual Rice" and "Immortal Fruits" on barren land covered by immortal clouds, supplying the Heavenly Court nobles.

They are forbidden from eating what they grow, subsisting only on scraps, and their lifespans generally do not exceed forty years.

3. Artisan Slaves (20%)

In the "Heavenly Crafting Workshop," they forge Immortal Artifacts, talisman armor, and flying boats. Their skills are exquisite, yet they remain nameless forever.

Many legendary immortal weapons were forged by unnamed Red Slaves, with the finished products bearing the names of immortal officials, praised for generations.

4. Service Slaves (10%)

Responsible for cleaning immortal palaces, transporting goods, and serving immortal attendants, they hold the lowest status and are often arbitrarily whipped or even tortured to death.

Child Red Slaves are often assigned here; less than 30% of those who live to ten years old survive to twenty.

5. Breeding Slaves (5%)

Red Slaves who are unable to work after the age of thirty are forcibly paired for reproduction until they die.

The operational logic of the Immortal Realm: Sustaining Immortals with Slaves

Everything used, every food consumed, every cultivation method practiced, every artifact wielded by the entire upper echelon of the Immortal Realm—from Sky Patrol Envoys to Heavenly Venerates, from immortal palaces to divine temples—

Is forged from the blood, bones, and souls of Red Slaves.

They refine Immortal Qi with the lives of Red Slaves;

They open Spiritual Veins with the strength of Red Slaves;

They perpetuate hard labor with the offspring of Red Slaves.

And all of this is done under the guise of "Mandate of Heaven," brainwashing the Red Slaves for generations.

Chi Yao carried an iron pickaxe, walking through the winding mining tunnels of the Seventh Mining District.

Around her were countless numb figures.

The Red Slaves bent their backs, striking the rock walls with their pickaxes, blow after blow.

Their eyes were vacant, their movements mechanical, like Puppets from whom their souls had been extracted.

Some were only a few years old, yet their backs were already hunched;

Some had lost fingers, yet still gripped the pickaxe handle with their stumps;

Some coughed up black blood but dared not stop, fearing they wouldn't meet their quota.

Chi Yao looked at these familiar faces, her heart aching.

"Just bear with it a little longer..."

She silently vowed in her heart, "Once I master the Crimson Flame Art, once I wield power... I will definitely return, personally break your chains, and lead you out of this Hell!"

Just then—

CRACK!!!

A piercing whip crack tore through the dead silence of the mining tunnel.

A frail female Red Slave was violently lashed to the ground, her iron chains clanging. A bloody gash had opened on her back, skin and flesh torn, blood flowing down her spine, staining the Ore.

Overseer Team Leader Lei Liao strode over, his black armor gleaming coldly. Around his waist was a "Soul Devouring Whip," which, with a single lash, could not only harm the Physical Body but also corrode the soul.

He looked down, his eyes as cold and venomous as a snake's: "Can't even move such a small piece of Ore? It seems you've lost your value. Seize her and send her to the breeding room."

The female Red Slave trembled all over, suddenly looking up, her eyes filled with terror: "No! Please! I won't go! I'm only twenty-seven, not yet thirty, I can still mine!"

She knew what awaited her once she was sent to the breeding room—

No longer a miner, but a "breeding animal."

Forcibly paired daily, constantly pregnant and giving birth, until her body completely collapsed, becoming fertilizer.

She had heard of some female slaves who gave birth to ten children within three years. When the last child was born, she could no longer open her eyes and died on the birthing bed.

But here, as a miner, at least after completing her daily quota, she could have a moment to breathe, secretly glance at the person she liked, and fantasize about a future that wasn't hers.

She trembled, tears streaming down her face: "Please... give me one more chance... just one last time..."

From the corner of her eye, she glanced at male miner #367 in the distance.

He was the man she had secretly admired for two years.

He was taciturn, but he would always secretly help her dig a few extra pickaxes when she collapsed from exhaustion.

She had long made up her mind—

To give her first time to him before being sent to the breeding room, then commit suicide to escape this endless darkness.

But at this moment, #367 had his head down, not even daring to look at her.

She didn't blame him.

In this Hell, self-preservation was already a luxury. Who would dare to stand up for others?

"A lowly slave, daring to bargain with me?" Lei Liao sneered, lashing out with his whip, striking her cheek. "I said today, it is today! Seize her!"

Two Overseers immediately stepped forward, their pincer-like hands grabbing her arms, dragging her towards the depths of the mining tunnel.

The female Red Slave suddenly smiled.

The smile was tragic yet carried a sense of release.

She suddenly pulled out a stone blade from her bosom—she had painstakingly ground it from fragments of blood essence ore over three months, little by little.

The blade was crude but sharp enough.

She stabbed herself with a backhand strike—

Pffft!

The stone blade plunged fiercely into her chest, right up to the hilt!

Blood gushed out. She staggered back, leaning against the rock wall, a smile on her lips: "Finally... released..."

She closed her eyes, as if seeing a blue sky she had never witnessed, leaning on #367's shoulder.

But just then!

Buzz!!

A white beam of light descended from the sky, enveloping her body!

The wound on her chest healed at a visible speed, broken blood vessels reconnected, and her heart began to beat again!

Her breathing returned, her eyelids fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes—

She had been forcibly revived!

The one who acted was Lei Liao.

He sneered, the Soul Devouring Whip in his hand glowing faintly: "Want to die? Who allowed you to die?"

His voice boomed like thunder, echoing throughout the entire mining district:

"If all Red Slaves were like you, dying whenever they pleased, how would we manage you lowly slaves?!"

He waved his hand, sternly ordering:

"Hang her on the highest Soul-Severing Cliff in the mining district! Whip her a hundred times daily! No food, no water! Let her suffer while alive! Let all Red Slaves see—the consequence of suicide!"

Two Overseers immediately dragged her away, the iron chains clanging like a death knell.

Chi Yao stood at the edge of the crowd, trembling with rage.

Her heart felt as if it were being cut by a thousand knives.

She almost charged out!

The wisp of Crimson Flame True Fire within her roared in her Meridians, her palms burning, wanting nothing more than to unleash a palm strike and incinerate Lei Liao into ashes!

But she—

Stopped.

She bit her lip hard; she couldn't move.

She was currently only at the first stage of the Crimson Flame Art, utterly incapable of being Lei Liao's opponent.

Once exposed, it would not only extinguish the hope for the Red Slave race's revival but also harm her elder brother. She couldn't sacrifice the future for a moment of impulse.

She slowly lowered her head, avoiding everyone's gaze, silently turned, and, carrying her iron pickaxe, walked step by step towards her mining spot.

Her steps were heavy, yet resolute.

But no one saw—

A tear that slipped from the corner of her eye,

Falling onto the Ore, it actually burned a small pit into the blood essence ore.

Within her, that wisp of Crimson Flame was growing stronger.