Storm of the Immortal River

The vast sky blazed with the scorching sun, draping a layer of fiery heat over the remote and desolate “Yangmu Village.”

Clang, clang, clang...

In the mines owned by the Da Xu family, dozens of robust miners labored with all their might, swinging pickaxes with practiced strength.

Along the pathway, a dozen tall, swarthy men trudged back and forth, sweat streaming down their faces as they struggled to carry “yellow rock,” a stone highly prized for its many uses in the cultivation world.

Suddenly, amidst the crowd, a slender young boy stumbled and crashed to his knees on a slab still radiating the day’s residual heat.

The boy’s features were delicate, his eyes bright—about fifteen or sixteen years old. Unlike the other miners, his skin had not been darkened by long years under the sun.

At this moment, a massive rock, nearly the size of a millstone and weighing two or three hundred pounds, bore down on his back, crushing the breath from him. His thin torso trembled and bent like a bow, as if on the verge of collapse.

Witnessing this, the nearby laborers—brawny practitioners of body refinement—glanced over, their eyes filled with either sympathy or ridicule.

“He can’t even reach the second level of Body Refinement. Only someone who can wield two hundred pounds with one hand should attempt work in these mines, even if it’s just simple hauling.”

A fellow porter, also bearing a heavy stone, sneered.

“This boy looks unfamiliar. Whose child is he? At his age, he ought to be at the village school.”

Hearing the whisp