The air inside the "Rusty Anchor" inn was a thick, suffocating soup of cheap spirit-ale, unwashed leather, and the low, guttural murmurs of men who sold their lives for a handful of stones. Located in the permanent shadow of the Fourth Plateau's massive support chains, the inn was a sanctuary for those who lived on the bleeding edge of the law, mercenaries, information brokers, and fallen cultivators.
Qin Feng and Ye Chen sat in the darkest, dampest corner of the common room. Their hoods were pulled low, and they occupied a table that smelled of rot and ancient spills. Despite their stunning victory in the arena earlier that day, the atmosphere was far from celebratory. Qin Feng's Eclipse Vision was active, his eyes scanning the room in pulses of violet light invisible to the naked eye. What he saw made his jaw tighten until the muscles in his face ached.
Almost every third person in the room was glancing at a small, glowing jade slip, a Death Bounty. The green light of the jades cast sickly shadows on the faces of the hungry men surrounding them.
[SYSTEM ALERT: Hidden Plot Triggered — 'The Sun's Shadow'.] [Bounty Status: Active and Escalating.] [Reward: 500,000 High-Grade Spirit Stones & a 'Sun-Sect' Outer Disciple Recommendation.] [Target: The 'Miner' of the Eclipse Duo (Dead or Alive).]
"Solari is moving with a desperate speed," Ye Chen whispered, her voice a thread of ice that seemed to freeze the steam rising from her tea. Her hand rested on the table, and a thin layer of frost was already beginning to spread across the wood. "The bounty isn't just a contract for our lives; it's a public challenge. By putting a Sun-Sect recommendation on your head, he has turned every rogue on this plateau into a starving wolf. We are no longer just participants in a tournament; we are prey in a high-altitude hunt."
"No," Qin Feng replied, his voice a low, dangerous rumble that vibrated the table. "We are the bait. If they want to hunt a miner, I'll show them how deep the pits really go. I spent ten years learning how to collapse tunnels on top of things that bite."
As he spoke, the heavy oak doors of the inn were kicked open with such force that the iron hinges groaned. A group of six men, dressed in mismatched but high-quality armor, stepped into the room. They all wore the same blood-red emblem on their shoulders: the mark of the 'Shadow-Stalkers' Guild'. Their leader was a scarred veteran at the 9th Layer of Foundation Establishment, a man whose aura felt like rusted needles.
"Alright, listen up, you bottom-feeders!" the leader roared, his eyes scanning the dim room until they landed squarely on Qin Feng's corner. "The Golden Sun Sect wants the miner's head before sunrise. Anyone who isn't a Shadow-Stalker, get out now. If you stay, you're choosing to be buried in the same hole as him!"
The common room cleared in a panicked blur. The regular mercenaries knew the reputation of the Shadow-Stalkers; they were professional cleaners who didn't leave witnesses. Within moments, the only people left were Qin Feng, Ye Chen, and the six assassins circling their table.
"You're worth a lot of stones, boy," the leader said, drawing a jagged scimitar that pulsed with a toxic, emerald-green light. "Too bad you won't live to spend a single one. Take them! Break the girl's legs, but bring me the miner's tongue first."
[QUEST STARTED: Survival in the Shadows.] [Objective: Neutralize the assassins without leaving the inn.] [Bonus: Do not damage the inn's structural pillars (Avoid attracting the City Guard).]
The first two assassins lunged, their movements blurred by high-tier speed-enhancing talismans. They moved in a low crouch, aiming for Qin Feng's hamstrings, intending to cripple his mobility before the "Tongue-Cutter" finished the job.
Qin Feng didn't draw his pickaxe. He grabbed the heavy, iron-bound wooden bench he had been sitting on and swung it in a wide, punishing arc.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: Kinetic Redistribution.]
He didn't just hit them with the wood; he funneled a pulse of Eclipse Qi into the bench's molecular structure. When it connected with the assassins' blades, the force didn't break the wood, it traveled through the steel and shattered the assassins' wrists and forearms instantly. They were thrown back into the bar, howling in agony as their shattered bones pierced their skin.
Ye Chen moved like a flicker of moonlight across a dark pond. She didn't draw her sword; that would be too loud, too identifiable. Instead, she used a handful of silver needles she had hidden in her wide sleeves. With a flick of her wrist, the needles flew, each one coated in a microscopic layer of her Moon-Ice.
Thwip. Thwip. Thwip.
The needles struck the other three mid-level assassins in their primary Qi-gates. They didn't die, but their internal circulation was instantly flash-frozen. They remained standing in their tracks, paralyzed like statues made of flesh and ice, their eyes wide with terror.
The leader's eyes widened as he realized his elite squad had been dismantled in less than five seconds. "What... what kind of rogue are you? No miner moves like that!"
"The kind that spent ten years in the dark, watching for the moment the ceiling falls," Qin Feng said, finally standing up. He reached back and slowly began to unwrap the Eclipse Sunderer. As the scorched, dirty cloth fell away, the black crystal head of the pickaxe began to glow with a faint, violet lightning that hummed with a hungry energy.
"You... that's not a tool. That's a Spirit-Grade soul-bound weapon!" the leader gasped, his bravado vanishing as he backed toward the door.
"It's both," Qin Feng said.
He didn't strike the leader directly. He struck the floorboards at the man's feet.
[SKILL: Seismic Anchor.]
The vibration didn't destroy the inn, but it created a localized gravitational well. The leader's boots felt like they were suddenly made of lead, pinning him to the spot. Qin Feng walked up to him, the sharp, crystalline point of the Sunderer resting against the man's Adam's apple.
"Go back to Solari," Qin Feng commanded, his eyes glowing with a terrifying, ancient intensity. "Tell him that every stone he puts on my head is another nail I'll drive into his own coffin. If he wants my head, tell him to stop sending dogs and come to the arena himself. If he sends more 'cleaners,' I'll stop being merciful and start being a miner again."
He released the pressure. The leader didn't wait for a second invitation; he scrambled out of the inn, leaving his paralyzed subordinates behind in his haste to escape the "Monster of the Pits."
[DING! Quest Completed!] [EXP Gained: 90,000! Level 7 Foundation: 85% to Level 8.] [Reputation Gained: 'The Unshakable' — Rogues of the Fourth Plateau will now think twice before accepting your bounty.]
Ye Chen stood beside him, her aura returning to its suppressed, chilly state. "That was a necessary warning, Qin Feng. But Solari is a man born of pride; he won't listen. He will see this as an ultimate insult. The 'Assassination Match' in the Round of 16 will no longer be a competition, it will be a slaughterhouse."
"I'm counting on it," Qin Feng said, carefully re-wrapping his Sunderer in its humble cloth. "The more people watch him fail, the faster the Sun Sect's prestige crumbles. We need their political influence to reach the Fifth Plateau's restricted library. This is just the leverage we need."
As they climbed the creaking stairs back to their room, the System chimed with a new, deeper notification that made the air feel heavy.
[WARNING: A 'Golden Core' presence has been detected within a 1-mile radius.] [Target: Unknown. Signature matches the 'Moon Sect' Inquisitor High-Command.]
Qin Feng looked out the small, barred window at the shimmering temples of the elite. The "penniless miner" was no longer just a participant in a tournament; he was the eye of a hurricane that was about to swallow the Central Continent whole.