But with many eyes watching, he couldn't leave too far.
Just then, seeing the overseer's eyes flutter as if about to wake, Mo Qi quickly glanced at him again: "Weren't you injured? Come, I'll bandage you."
Then he turned and left. The overseer immediately followed.
Reaching a corner, Mo Qi knocked him out with a single blow, then changed into his clothes and used the Dragon Binding Bead to turn him gray.
Then, he put on the Thousand Faces Mask, transforming into the overseer's appearance, and pretended to chase into a side path: "Don't run, stop, where are you going?"
Several overseers and soldiers immediately gave chase. Mo Qi pretended to chase for a while, then acted exhausted, hands on his hips, panting.
Others caught up from behind: "Which way did he run?"
Mo Qi casually pointed in a direction: "That way!"
Those people chased after him without hesitation.
Mo Qi then swaggered back, returned to his original spot, and glared fiercely at Yin Zhi: "Behave yourself, dig faster, what are you looking at?"
Yin Zhi also heard the overseer's shouts and knew that "Mo Qi" had run away, his heart sinking into utter despair.
He had accompanied him in, and now he had run off.
But where could he go by running further inside?
Ultimately, he would likely be caught and face death.
At that moment, his mind raced with thoughts of escape, resistance, and playing dumb.
But in the end, he chose to swallow his pride and continue digging.
"Behave yourself, I'm going to relieve myself," Mo Qi said to Yin Zhi, then turned and left.
He walked all the way out of the sinkhole.
The overseers inside had considerable freedom, and no one paid attention to their movements, so Mo Qi entered the sinkhole smoothly.
Mo Qi had observed carefully when he entered; only the top three levels were quiet, with almost no activity.
So Mo Qi went directly to the third level. The third level was the gathering place for all the spirit stones collected from below; the baskets floated there automatically.
After separation, the spirit stones were piled up, and the malevolent spirit stones were piled up separately.
Several soldiers guarded the entrance. Mo Qi cloaked himself and silently approached them, but these soldiers were not ordinary men.
One of the soldiers immediately sensed the flow of spiritual energy and alerted everyone: "Someone's here!"
As soon as he spoke, there were a series of hissing sounds. Before they could react, several people fell to the ground, dead.
Mo Qi then revealed himself and strode in confidently.
Baskets filled with spirit stones continued to float up from below. Mo Qi touched the void with his hand, sparks flew, and his hand was repelled.
There must have been a spiritual energy flow set up from the lower levels to the third level, which pushed the spirit stones from each level to converge on the third level.
However, upon reaching the third level, separating the spirit stones still required human intervention!
He saw several people with similarly vacant eyes busily selecting and separating the spirit stones.
They saw Mo Qi kill the soldiers and noticed he wore the same uniform. Assuming it was an internal conflict, they paid no attention, merely glancing a few times before returning to their work.
Mo Qi walked past them as if they weren't there and picked up the malevolent spirit stones to examine them.
These people found it strange that this person was so interested in the malevolent spirit stones, ignoring the beneficial ones.
Mo Qi examined several malevolent spirit stones, feeling his spiritual energy being drained, but found nothing, no Sparrow Feather Spirit Stones.
Mo Qi was furious. He couldn't afford to lose so much spiritual energy without recouping it.
So he ran to the pile of beneficial spirit stones and picked them up one by one. Many could be directly absorbed, and he began to absorb them without restraint.
Later, feeling it wasn't enough, he plunged his entire body into the pile of spirit stones, taking a spirit stone bath.
He felt his entire body swell, a powerful flow of spiritual energy coursing wildly within him, surging and ebbing, churning and rolling, ceaseless.
In an instant, his entire body felt like it would explode, expanding rapidly, making his bones and muscles creak.
And the powerful current within him churned like a raging sea, gradually turning into searing magma, with a burning and scorching force that constantly invaded his soul.
Tearing and burning pain tormented every inch of his skin and every organ.
At that moment, he felt life was worse than death!
He felt his end was near!
He had been reckless!
How could he have made such a mistake so carelessly?
How could he have made such a fatal error so carelessly?
Regret was useless; life was just that ironic.
You could defeat all your enemies, only to have your life taken by a careless moment, a careless action.
He felt a sense of despair!
Just then, a middle-aged man with vacant eyes sighed: "Why would you come here to court death?"
He had initially thought Mo Qi was an overseer and didn't intend to intervene, but after careful observation, he realized Mo Qi was definitely not an overseer, or at least not a proper one.
He saw him holding a spirit stone and pressed it against Mo Qi's now bulging abdomen.
Golden light flashed, sparks flew, and the spirit stone gradually turned red.
Some spiritual energy flowed into the spirit stone, which relieved Mo Qi's excruciating pain.
"Try to follow my spiritual guidance, circulate your spiritual energy in a cycle, and attempt to break through," the middle-aged man's voice echoed in Mo Qi's ears.
The middle-aged man pointed a finger at Mo Qi's brow, and a gentle stream of spiritual energy slowly flowed in.
Mo Qi hastily followed the middle-aged man's instructions, circulating his spiritual energy in a cycle. The immense spiritual energy flowed through his meridians, collided and was consumed in the sea of his soul, causing his swollen body to gradually return to normal.
Countless interactions in the sea of his soul eventually formed more refined spiritual energy, which impacted his life's vital points. After dozens of cycles, Mo Qi's cultivation advanced to the Great Perfection of Human Immortal, and then smoothly to Heavenly Immortal.
Only then did the middle-aged man slowly release the spirit stone, toss it aside, and then nonchalantly returned to his work nearby.
Mo Qi clasped his fists towards him: "Thank you, senior, for saving my life. May I know your name, senior?"
The middle-aged man looked straight ahead, his expression indifferent: "What meaning do names have? I am merely a husk."
From his tone, Mo Qi heard immense desolation!
A sense of being bullied by dogs while a tiger is on the plains!
A despair of being put to death and unable to live!
A desolation of a hero's sorrow, tears filling his robes!
"To be honest, junior came here precisely for this matter," Mo Qi said loudly.
"Don't be afraid of your tongue snapping when you boast," the middle-aged man scoffed. "I know what you're looking for, but whatever you find will be in vain. We, so many people, are controlled here, haven't we thought of a way? Of course, we have. There is no antidote for this kind of thing."
Mo Qi said forcefully: "Man proposes, but destiny disposes."