“Don’t!”

Chen Dashan and Lin Shi screamed almost in unison, their voices thin with terror.

Chen Ping froze mid-step. He turned back, stunned.

“Ping’er… you can’t kill him!”

Lin Shi gasped, her voice weak but desperate.

“He… he’s the reason your father and I are still breathing!”

Chen Ping’s pupils contracted to pinpoints.

“Saved your lives?”

Chen Dashan struggled to speak, his words coming in ragged bursts.

“That year… I wanted to get some cloth for your mother… to make a new dress. The winter… it was too cold…”

Regret flooded his sunken eyes.

“I… I hid a bit of the crushed ore from the slag… wanted to exchange it for some money… but the Foreman caught me…”

“The Immortal Master… the one surnamed Ma…”

Lin Shi took over, her eyes wide with the memory of that day’s terror.

“Without a word… he wanted to kill us on the spot. Said the mine’s Rule… stealing ore means death…”

“It was… Manager Bear. Scarred Bear…”

Chen Dashan panted heavily.

“He… he was there… He spoke a few words for us…”

He recalled the moment with difficulty.

“He said… two useless cripples… killing them would only dirty the Immortal Master’s hands… better to throw them into the Abandoned Pit to rot… could still squeeze a bit of labor out of them…”

“Later… he sent us here…”

Lin Shi’s voice held a trace of bewildered relief.

“No more beatings… every day, we got a bowl of thick Gruel… the work was half of what it was outside…”

Chen Dashan nodded vigorously.

“Yes… without him… we would have been slapped to death by that Immortal Master years ago… our bones would have rotted to dust…”

His eyes held a humble, pathetic gratitude.

“He… he is our benefactor…”

Chen Ping stood rooted to the spot, listening to his parents’ broken account. The overwhelming killing intent in his heart felt as if it had been doused with a bucket of ice water.

Benefactor?

The blood and Qi in his chest churned violently. He almost laughed out loud.

How could they know?

The spiritual metal dust permeating the depths of this Abandoned Pit was nothing less than bone-eroding poison to Mortals!

Even a low-level cultivator would eventually rot in this environment. For Mortals, it was a slow, agonizing death sentence.

That strange, dull luster within their bodies, the bluish-black veins beneath their skin—that was the spiritual metal poison destroying them from the inside out!

Since when did Scarred Bear have a kind heart?

He clearly saw their bodies as tools to be squeezed for every last drop of value in this toxic hellhole!

He spared them like a farmer spares an old ox, trading a bowl of slop and reduced beatings for them to burn out the last sparks of their lives digging up illicit ore for him!

And yet… looking at the humble gratitude in his parents’ eyes…

Chen Ping forcibly swallowed the truth.

Enough.

They had suffered too much. The cruel reality would only crush their spirits.

He forced the killing intent deep down, locking it away behind a wall of ice.

Scarred Bear… if your “destined opportunity” isn’t worth it, you will die screaming.

Chen Ping swore it on his soul.

For now, the priority was purging the poison from his parents’ bodies.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the turbulence in his heart, and crouched down beside them.

“Father, Mother. I understand now.”

His voice was calm, laced with a soothing Qi fluctuation.

“You are weak. Don’t worry about anything else. I have some Pills that will help.”

From his chest—in reality, from the Jade Pendant space—he produced a crude ceramic vial. He poured out two Marrow Cleansing Pills, Low-grade ones he had refined long ago.

A warm, moist luster circulated on their surface.

For a cultivator, they were trivial. But for Mortals, they were miraculous panaceas capable of expelling deep-seated impurities.

“Here. Swallow these.”

He brought the Pills to their lips.

Chen Dashan and Lin Shi looked at the fragrant medicine, their eyes filled with unreserved trust. They opened their mouths and swallowed without hesitation.

As the Pills dissolved, a gentle warmth spread through their bodies like the first sun of spring.

Chen Dashan shuddered violently. An indescribable comfort washed over him, easing the bone-deep cold. The heavy stone that had pressed on his chest for years seemed to lift.

Lin Shi let out a faint moan. A trace of color miraculously returned to her sallow face, and her perpetually furrowed brow relaxed.

Chen Ping watched with Divine Sense.

The dull, metallic luster on their skin rippled. Extremely fine, almost imperceptible wisps of gray energy began to seep from their pores, carried out by sweat.

Too slow.

The poison had penetrated the marrow. A single Low-grade Pill wasn’t enough to cure them, only stabilize them.

Chen Ping’s heart sank, but his face remained a mask of calm.

“How do you feel?”

“Warm… so warm…”

Chen Dashan gasped, his breathing smoother than before.

“My body… feels lighter…”

“Comfortable…” Lin Shi whispered, her withered hand clutching Chen Ping’s sleeve.

“Good.”

Chen Ping nodded, carefully helping them lie back.

“The medicine needs time to work. Rest now. I’m taking you out of here.”

A flash of cold light passed through his eyes.

Staying in this pit a moment longer was torture.

He bent down, Qi surging gently to lift his parents. They felt as light as dried leaves in his arms.

Holding them close, Chen Ping turned and stepped over the pools of filth, walking steadily toward the light.

When he was small, they had carried him. Now, he carried them.

The weight in his arms was the heaviest thing he had ever held.

I have grown up.

The light at the pit entrance grew brighter.

Scarred Bear stood guard there, a mountain of restless flesh.

Seeing Chen Ping emerge with the couple, his beady eyes lit up with relief.

He let out a long sigh, the centipede scar on his face bunching up as he plastered on an obsequious smile.

He scurried forward, bowing and scraping, his posture almost horizontal.

“Esteemed Master! You’re out! Safe and sound! That is good!”

He rubbed his hands together, his voice dripping with forced servitude.

His gaze flicked over Chen Dashan and Lin Shi. Seeing they were alive and breathing steadily, he relaxed completely.

“Master, please…”

He fumbled inside his leather jacket, pulling out a neatly folded, yellowed paper scroll. He held it with both hands, presenting it to Chen Ping like a holy relic.

“This is… the contract your honored parents signed back then. This humble one has always kept it safe… now, I return it to its rightful owner!”

He forced a smile, looking for credit, looking for mercy.

Chen Ping didn’t stop walking. His gaze swept over the yellowed indenture contract, then landed on Scarred Bear’s desperate face.

Cruel. Cunning. But smart.

Handing over the indenture now cut off any legal claim the mine had on his parents. It prevented them from being hunted as “fleeing slaves.”

The killing intent in Chen Ping’s heart dimmed by a fraction.

He gave a slight nod but didn’t take the paper.

Scarred Bear understood immediately. He hurriedly tucked the contract into Chen Dashan’s tattered lapel, his movements gentle, almost reverent.

Done.

He retreated two steps, head bowed, hands at his sides. Only his trembling fingers betrayed his terror.

“After I settle my parents,” Chen Ping said flatly, “we will go see your heaven-defying opportunity.”

Scarred Bear’s eyes lit up.

He let out the breath he had been holding.

His life… was finally safe.