Gray took off his seeing bag and found a moonlit shadow looming above his head. Instinctively, he rolled to the side and then leaped onto his feet.

“Nothing, I fell asleep.” Gray said. “What are you doing?”

The stranger didn’t say anything but took a step towards him.

Gray took two steps back in response, eyeing the tall, well-built man warily. He could feel the fearsome strength hiding behind an impassive and stern face.

“I don’t recognize your ugly face, who are you?” The man asked again, advancing three steps in quick succession.

Gray scowled and retreated rapidly. “I’m nobody. Who the fuck are you?”

“I am Foreman Xiang Wu. This mine is the property of the Southern Seas Mining Company! I order you to halt!”

As he finished speaking, the foreman charged, all pretenses abandoned. Spiritual energy surged through his body with a fearsome intensity. It was at least the fifth level, perhaps even the sixth. The pressure he gave off was no less than that despicable bandit named Tang.

Gray had no desire to fight somebody like that and fled.

“Thief, don’t run!” Xiang Wu shouted.

“Make me!” Gray shot back.

The foreman exhaled angrily and lunged, aiming a fist at the back of Gray’s neck.

Gray ducked, dodging the attack. A gust of wind passed above his head, a testament to his opponent’s raw power. Another punch came his way which he blocked with a kick. This sent him somersaulting away, in the opposite direction of the ramp he had been aiming for.

His path of retreat cut off, Gray took off again, looking for another way out.

“Bastard!” The foreman spat and gave chase.

The pair made a mad dash towards the cliffs to the south, one fleeing, one pursuing. The silent evening was broken by their shouts and heavy footsteps. Already, the mine was stirring awake due to their noise.

 Gray reached the cliffs and stopped. It was a dead end. He turned around and calmed his body, ready for a fight.

“The little rabbit has nowhere left to run.” Xiang Wu taunted, “Do you know how the Southern Seas deals with thieves? We flay them to death with a bullwhip and then feed them to the wolves! But you… you seem like a reasonable person. If you grovel and kiss my feet ten times, I might consider just breaking your limbs and letting you live.”

“Go eat shit.” Gray spat.

“Arrogant!”

The foreman’s spiritual energy spiked. A storm of colorless spiritual energy surged to all corners of his body as he leaped, fist extended.

Gray watched the incoming punch with unflinching focus, tracking his opponent's trajectory perfectly. He raised his right fist which glowed with golden power and, instead of dodging or deflecting the attack, struck it straight at the incoming fist.

Both fists collided with a meaty thud followed by an audible crack of broken bone.

A cloud of dust billowed as both men were blown backward. The foreman was pushed back two strides while Gray was pushed back three strides. In a direct contest of strength, Gray still lost out but the difference wasn't too big. He also didn't suffer any injuries, unlike his unfortunate opponent. 

Wu Xiang let out a pained howl and clutched his broken hand to his chest. “Impossible! What shitty trick did you use?”

Gray's own fists were perfectly fine, protected by the power of the Golden Body of the Bodhi. His fists were harder than steel and could not be beaten by a fist solely clad in flesh and bone.

“I’ll kill you.” Wu Xiang shouted and charged again.

This time it was a violent storm of punches and kicks. The attacks were fast and unpredictable. The foreman sought to overwhelm Gray with multiple attacks from all directions instead of facing that Gray straight on.

Gray tried to block as best he could, shielding his face while absorbing other blows. He was pushed back steadily with few chances to retaliate. Despite his unnatural innate strength, fighting a middle-stage cultivator three levels above him was too difficult. He lacked speed, strength, as well as experience. The longer it went, the worse it got for him as the wounds piled up.

Gray was pushed back all the way to the cliffs. His body was battered all over but not broken. He glanced back and saw a section that curved inward, forming an alcove. It wasn’t very deep, only ten strides or so but it was exactly what he needed.

He retreated, the foreman followed, and they were both plunged into moonless darkness. The cliff jutted out in such a way that the bright moonlight could not reach the bottom of the alcove. The sudden change in light caused a temporarily blindless which halted the foreman's steps.

Gray instantly attacked, launching a whirling heel kick towards the foreman's undefended jaw. He saw everything as clear as day and his aim was true. He summoned everything from his spiritual sea into his leg. His golden spiritual energy turned his foot as solid as a mountain while cyan spiritual energy increased his speed to new heights.

There was a sickening squelch as the foreman was blown away, his jaw went slack and at an odd angle. He landed in a heap on the ground and rolled several times. He tried to get up but fell several times, disoriented and groaning in pain. He managed to spit out a mouthful of blood and broken teeth before collapsing weakly.

This was Gray's first time combining two spiritual energy attributes within his body and it had improved his attack to a devastating level. With it, he managed to defeat an opponent three levels above him and at a higher stage. It was a feat that few could even dream of.

Gray didn’t wait around for more people to find him and took the opportunity to escape. He turned his back to the disabled foreman and scrambled up the side of the open-pit mine, grabbing onto tiny handholds along the sheer cliff.

He grew up in the mountains so this was natural to him. He was used to scaling giant walls of rock around his mountain sanctuary that were far taller than this open-pit mine. And with each level he gained, his climbing ability only got better as his physical strength and body control improved.

Gray climbed out of the open-pit mine with barely any effort, like a mountain gorilla. Amidst the confused shouts of mining waking up all around, he dashed off into the night.

---

The completed Book 1 with 105 chapters is available for download in Ebook and pdf format on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/kigreenwriting

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