Bam! Bam!... Noises of hammering rocks could be heard everywhere. 

Trees reaching unfathomable heights with thickness of 10-50 meters in diameter can be seen wherever the eyes go. It's a vast evergreen forest with no ends in sight. Surprisingly sunlight can reach the floor even with massive tree-crowns covering the sky.

This very wonder of nature is located in the realm called Aries Realm.

Hidden in the depth of the forest is a Spirit Crystal mining cave, tens of miles wide and thousands of feet deep. Rich Spiritual Qi can be felt coming out of the cave mouth. The hammering noises are also escaping from here.

This Spirit Crystal mine belongs to the Ye(leaf) clan. The patriarch of this clan is obviously one of the strongest Cultivators in the Aries Realm, else it wouldn't be easy to hold such wealth mine under one's reign.

Spirit Crystals are crystallized essence of Spiritual Qi floating in the air, condensed into chunks of crystalline rocks over the span of thousands or millions of years. Unlike the Spiritual Qi present in the air mixed with impurities, the Spirit Crystals are purified over the course of time. The longer a Spirit Crystal stays untouched the purer it gets.

The purity of a Spirit Crystal can be determined by its colour. In order of black, purple, pink and white. White being the best, called superior grade.

Spirit Crystals are highly sought after by the Cultivators. It's way easier and faster to absorb Spiritual Qi present inside a Spirit Crystal as it has less to no impurities. 

... 

Back to the Spirit Crystal mine...

Inside the Spirit Crystal mine, round Luminous Pearls shining with bright white colour, about the size of the fist are embedded in a few places around the cave walls as the source of lighting. As the name implies, these pearls are only good for lighting purposes. One pearl can last a thousand years before turning to dust.

Hundreds of men and women can be observed mining Spirit Crystals inside the cave, all covered in ragged clothes and dirt, exhausted to the extreme but still each one swinging a 50kg heavy sledge hammer. These people are all Cultivators with decent Cultivation, but even when surrounded by Spirit Crystals they all still look unhealthy.

These people all have rough skin, bleak eyes and are out of breath, huffing and puffing. Surprisingly no sweat can be found on their bodies, all of it converts to vapour as soon as it leaks out of skin-pores due to excessive bodily heat from overwork.

These men and women all work day and night with only rest during meals. If not for being Cultivators, they would have died long ago. They are not allowed to Cultivate inside the mine, so as not to harm the Spirit Crystals and keep their quality in check.

These untalented batch of people are all seeded out from the talented group of the clan. They can only stay in the clan by helping the talented ones this way. In return they gain protection from the clan and living expenses. 

They all follow this routine for a year, mining non-stop and then are replaced by another batch while their next job is to perform clan tasks for the next year.

... 

...Except for this one person!

"Ye Furong(hibiscus)! You may be one of the Young Masters of the clan but it doesn't mean you can skip your work. Pick up the hammer and get back to mining. Don't forget you are still under punishment." A short middle aged man with short black hair, wearing purple hanfu, held a rough looking whip giving a playful smile to the young man laying on the floor taking deep breaths.

This middle aged short man is named Zhao Sheng(to be successful), but looking at the post he is working at, it doesn't look like he is standing up to his name.

The young man laying on the floor is tall, about 6 feet in height, wearing a soiled hanfu which has almost gone black from accumulated dirt, losing its original colour, same for his fair skin. It seems he hasn't taken a bath nor washed his clothes for ages. His long black hair is also matted with dirt. This young man is the third Young Master of the Ye clan, but still working in the Spirit Crystal mine.

"Bullshit! Sir Zhao, you should know I was falsely accused. I didn't steal the All-Cure treasure, it was stolen by someone else and I was framed. I have already been proven innocent thanks to Elder Brother a month ago haven't I? Someone from the Jurisdiction Department brought the news, you were here that time too." Ye Furong said.

"Hehe... Third Young Master, you really think you are innocent? Then where is the real culprit? As far as I heard the Jurisdiction Department didn't provide any specific names. The first Young Master just showed you mercy as he is about to be promoted to be the next clan head... Showing mercy to the likes of you." Zhao Sheng scoffed.

"Lies! If I am not proven innocent how would my sentence of ten years be forgiven just like that? I am free to get out of here at the end of this month. What's more, the clan even promised me a massive amount of Cultivation resources as an apology for the time I have wasted mining here" Ye Furong sharply answered while standing up.

Pfft... Zhao Sheng laughed." You really are an optimist aren't you? There were a lot of people who witnessed you lurking near the Treasure House before the All-Cure treasure was stolen. Coincidentally your little maid was also suffering from some severe illness at that time wasn't she? And miraculously she got well just a few days after the All-Cure treasure went missing? How intriguing." Zhao Sheng squinted at Ye Furong.

"Sir Zhao, everyone knows my maid suffers from a hidden injury that relapses from time to time, it's obvious someone used it as an excuse." Ye Furong retorted.

"As for me lurking near the Treasure House, I was sent there by Elder Duan of Medicine Hall to fetch some materials to concoct pills. I spent all the Credit Points I had saved to get the pills which were supposed to work well on my maid's hidden injuries. Why would I go on stealing some treasure after I have done all this hard work?" Ye Furong reasoned.

"Huh! Who are you fooling with? Elder Duan said he never asked anyone to go to the treasury, after all Medicine Hall has its own Medicine Garden and storage to grow and store medicines." Zhao Sheng snorted.

"Everyone knows how much you love that little maid of yours, you are even thinking of taking her as your wife aren't you? Who knows if you really didn't use the treasure on her? At least I don't believe you didn't." Zhao Sheng disdained.

Ye Furong stared at him angrily but Zhao Sheng just ignored and continued...

"What were you saying again? Ten years of punishment is forgiven?" Zhao Sheng gave a surprised look." You don't think it's only been two or three years since you have been here right?"

With a sinister smile he said. "Let me enlighten you, someone who hasn't stepped out of the mine even once since he got in eight years ago... Yes, you heard that right, eight years have passed." Pfft he broke into laughter again. "Eight years have passed you ignorant fool, hahaha."

Ye Furong's eyes widened in disbelief. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. "It can't be...It can't be true..." He started muttering.

Zhao Sheng sneered." Of course you don't believe me, but think for yourself. You are mining deep inside the Spirit Crystal mine, surrounded by Luminous Pearls where you can't tell day from night, on top of that the only person you are allowed to meet is the supervisor, that would be me. So how can you tell what day, what year it is if I don't tell you? I am surprised you didn't go insane from all the accumulated exhaustion from continuously mining in this solitary confinement."

"Young men are tough indeed!" Zhao Sheng sighed, shaking his head. Showing he isn't happy for not being young anymore. Which provoked Ye Furong even further.

"Now get back to work, don't think since the clan has 'forgiven you', you are free to do whatever you want here. Till the day you are inside this mine, you have to follow my rules. Don't make me use my whip again." Zhao Sheng ordered, taking his leave.

As Ye Furong is standing right now, his back torso could be seen ridden with whip marks and completely naked. The back part of the hanfu has long been tattered from all the whip lashes Ye Furong has suffered for years. 

Mucus is oozing from the wounds as they are in the process of healing, there are countless scars left on the skin which will never fade in his life. His little bit of Cultivation is all that's supporting him and preventing any infection and hidden injuries.

He stood there in disappointment staring at the mine walls. He really thought he is being freed from punishment just after two or three years, but eight years have passed by.

Ye Furong is one of the sons of the current patriarch of the Ye Clan. Ye Wang(king), the current patriarch of Ye Clan is well renowned in the Aries Realm as a martial arts genius, only seen once in a million years.

Ye Wang is a ruthless individual. To achieve greater strength in Cultivation he could go to any length. He fights anyone he has to and even doesn't deter from committing evil. The number of people he has slaughtered can't be counted, be they innocent or not. But there sure are few who were once the ruling figures in the Aries Realm.

Being the son of such a tyrant Ye Furong should be living a haughty life, but here he is mining Spirit Crystals like a slave.

Maybe Ye Furong isn't a genius like his father but he isn't ineffectual either. He is always diligent in what he does and never gives up. Perhaps the reason why he didn't notice the eight passing years when he was immersed in Spirit Crystals mining.

His mother whom he loved so much also seemed to never care for him. She always talked and cheered for his brothers but never talked much to him. He always felt left out in his own family.

He strived hard to achieve greatness, so he could prove himself to his father and mother, to show everyone in the clan that he is a capable man. But it is as if the whole Heavens is against him.

He always ended up performing average in whichever clan task he took. He never won any clan competitions either, even losing to his younger brothers when it came to martial arts. But he still never gave up, just worked harder.

But now it seems he lived his whole life in vain. Struggling to hold back his tears, he picked up the sledge hammer and started hammering the cave walls like a mad man. He just wanted to get all the negative thoughts out of his mind. He poured all his grievances into the sledge hammer.

He reminisced about his life, from past to present, noticing nothing has ever gone well for him. All of his life has been filled with struggle and suffering. He has no friends. His brothers all look down on him. He has never talked to his father and his mother seems not to be his mother. She has never been there to support him in any of his difficulties. She wasn't even there to take care of him when he fell ill.

In the whole Ye Clan, if there is someone who cared for him then it should be his maid Jiu Weici(preserving love). A petite little girl he found injured during one of his explorations in some random mountains looking for Red Spirit Ginseng for clan task. He was 14 years old back then.

There he met the little girl heavily injured by some wild beasts. He brought the girl home and took care of her till she recovered. Maybe it was due to lack of proper medication or lack of his skills, Jiu Weici was left with some hidden injuries which relapsed from time to time but it didn't hinder her daily life. 

After this incident Ye Furong spent most of his time completing clan tasks so he could get some good medicines to treat her completely.

The girl had nowhere to go since she didn't have any family to begin with. She was an orphan. She usually gathered herbs and sold them for a living. It was during one of these expeditions when she got attacked by a wild beast and was left with heavy injuries. If not for Ye Furong's timely help she would have died.

She was thankful to Ye Furong and decided to serve him as his personal maid to pay back his kindness. Ye Furong didn't deny knowing the girl had nowhere to go.

The members of Ye Clan didn't care about some little girl serving as a personal maid to the not so popular third Young Master, so no one objected.

With time, Ye Furong fell in love with the little girl and promised to marry her after they grew up. Jiu Weici was happy to know this. She also liked Ye Furong. 

It was all going well till the day Ye Furong got punished for the crime he didn't commit. 

He has spent eight years mining Spirit Crystals. He always thought his clan won't let him suffer injustice and free him soon, after all one of the Young Masters of the clan suffering punishment doesn't look good for the clan either.

He was 17 years old when he was framed and sent to the Spirit Crystal mine. Now he is 25 years old. He has spent a good amount of his teenage years in confinement.

He wondered what the little girl was doing right now. She is only three years younger than him. Now she should have grown up to become a beautiful lady.

He felt sad and heart wrenching pain when thinking how he had ruined the little girl's life. He promised to marry her and make her happy but ended up wasting her youth.

'The girl must have suffered because of me.' Ye Furong thought to himself and let out a heavy sigh. He hammered the walls even harder, tearing his palms to bleed. 

Tears escaped his eyes marking his dirty cheeks.

The man cried at last, not for himself but for others.