The shovel scraped against the iron floor. A rhythmic, grinding screech that cut through the roar of the blast furnaces.
Yang Yi lifted the load of black rock. His muscles screamed, lactic acid building up with every repetition. He threw the coal into the gaping maw of Furnace Number 4.
The fire roared back. A blast of heat singed his eyebrows and dried the sweat instantly on his skin.
Next to him, Lin staggered. She gripped her shovel like a crutch. The soot coating her face couldn't hide the dangerous flush of her skin. Her ice qi was fighting a losing war against the ambient temperature of the boiler room. If she passed out, the Overseer would toss her in with the coal.
"Pace yourself." Yang Yi didn't look at her. He slammed his shovel back into the pile. "Rhythm beats strength."
Lin panted, her breath coming in shallow wheezes. "I'm cooking... from the inside."
"Then stop fighting the heat. Let it flow through. You're a conduit, not a dam."
The Overseer marched down the catwalk above them. A massive slab of muscle with a branded face, wielding a whip made of braided wire. He scanned the floor, looking for slackers.
Crack.
The whip lashed out, striking a worker three stations down. The man fell, screaming, clutching a lacerated shoulder.
"Less noise! More fuel! The inner disciples need hot water for their baths!"
Yang Yi lowered his head. He matched the tempo of the workers around him. Scrape. Lift. Throw.
Against his ribs, the Myriad Beast Assimilation Record felt heavy. It wasn't just a book; it was a parasite. It wanted to be read.
He waited for the Overseer to turn his back.
Yang Yi reached into his sash. He pulled out one of the small Needle-Rat cores he had harvested in the sewer. It was gritty, glowing with a dirty yellow light.
He popped it into his mouth.
He didn't chew. He swallowed it whole.
Lin saw him. Her eyes widened behind the mask of coal dust.
"Suicide," she mouthed.
Yang Yi ignored her. The core hit his stomach.
It didn't dissolve. It exploded.
A shockwave of toxic, feral qi slammed into his meridians. The rat's instinct—fear, hunger, the urge to gnaw—flooded his mind. His veins bulged, turning black as the impurity ravaged his system.
Normally, this would kill a cultivator. Their blood vessels would burst.
But Yang Yi had the manual pressed against his heart, and he was standing in a room filled with Yang fire.
He recalled the first diagram from the glimpse he'd stolen in the library. The Furnace of Flesh.
He didn't suppress the pain. He ignited it.
He channeled the external heat of the boiler room into his pores. He pulled the fire in, wrapping it around the beast core in his stomach.
Burn it clean.
The fire met the toxins. Steam vented from his nose. His skin turned a deep, angry red.
Inside his dantian, the chaotic rat energy was smelted down. The impurities burned away, leaving a drop of pure, gray essence.
Agility. Reflexes. Survival instinct.
The drop merged with his blood.
Yang Yi gasped. The agony vanished, replaced by a jittery, high-frequency energy. The world seemed to slow down. He could hear the Overseer's heartbeat from the catwalk. He could smell the structural weakness in the iron handle of his shovel.
"Tier 2. Middle Stage."
He gripped the shovel. He didn't feel tired anymore. He felt wired.
"Hey! You!"
The Overseer yelled. He pointed the whip handle at Yang Yi. "You stopped working."
Yang Yi looked up. The coal dust hid his expression, but it couldn't hide the vertical slit pupils of his eyes before they rounded back out.
"Just admiring the fire, boss."
The Overseer frowned. He didn't like the tone. He jumped from the catwalk, landing with a heavy thud that shook the coal pile. He towered over Yang Yi, smelling of burnt hair and cruelty.
"You got a mouth on you, miner. Let's see if you can work without teeth."
He raised the wire whip.
Lin tensed, shifting her grip on her shovel to strike.
Yang Yi signaled her to wait with a subtle twitch of his finger.
The whip came down.
Yang Yi didn't block. He stepped into the arc.
The rat essence triggered. His perception accelerated. The whip moved in slow motion. He saw the individual wires braiding the leather.
He sidestepped. The tip of the whip cracked against the iron floor, sparking.
The Overseer blinked. He hadn't missed a stationary target in ten years.
"Slippery."
He drew a short iron truncheon from his belt. "Let's try this."
He swung a backhand blow at Yang Yi's temple.
Yang Yi ducked. He didn't just dodge; he moved with the erratic, jerky speed of a cornered rodent. He was behind the Overseer before the man finished his follow-through.
He saw the opening. The Overseer's knee, exposed between the greaves of his armor.
Yang Yi kicked.
He didn't use a martial technique. He used a dirty, street-fighting stomp amplified by the explosive power of the beast blood.
Crunch.
The Overseer howled. His leg buckled sideways.
He fell to one knee, dropping the truncheon.
The entire boiler room stopped. Fifty slaves froze, staring at the unimaginable sight of the Overseer on the ground.
Yang Yi grabbed the fallen truncheon. He weighed it. Heavy. Iron. Good.
The Overseer looked up, eyes red with pain and rage. "I'll skin you alive! I'll—"
Yang Yi swung the truncheon.
He didn't aim for the head. He aimed for the throat.
The iron bar connected. The Overseer's threat ended in a wet, crushed choke. He collapsed face-first into the coal dust, twitching.
Yang Yi stood over him. He felt the Dragon Token hum with approval.
"Shift change," Yang Yi announced.
He looked at the stunned workers.
"You can stay here and wait for the guards to find him. Or you can run."
He tossed the truncheon into the furnace.
"I suggest running."
Chaos erupted. The slaves dropped their shovels and scrambled for the exits, a stampede of soot and desperation.
Yang Yi grabbed Lin's arm.
"Not that way."
He pointed to the coal chute the Overseer had jumped from. The catwalk led to the upper levels. To the ventilation array.
"We go up. The smoke will cover us."
Lin looked at the fallen Overseer, then at Yang Yi. She saw the change. He wasn't just stronger; he was sharper. More dangerous.
"You ate the core," she whispered.
"And I'm still hungry."
Yang Yi climbed the ladder, the Myriad Beast Assimilation Record burning against his chest like a second heart. The Outer Sect was a cage, and he had just found the key to breaking the bars.