Infinite Mining

“Hot! Hot! HOT!” Li Yanjun’s voice echoed through the steel chamber, but no one heard him—not over the roar of the furnace that had just devoured him alive. The last thing he saw was a flash of red, and then—nothing. When he woke up again, he was lying face-down in dirt. Not just dirt. It was warm. Alive. Breathing. “What the hell?” He sat up, spitting soil out of his mouth. “Am I dead or just buried?!” But as his eyes adjusted, he realized something stranger than death had happened. There was no sky. No sun. Only an endless ceiling of glowing crystals and hanging stalactites, stretching across a cavern so vast it looked like another world. Then it hit him. He’d been reincarnated. Not into a kingdom. Not into some fairyland with dragons and princesses. Nope. His second life came with pickaxes, darkness, and dirt for days. “...So you’re telling me I died as a miner and reincarnated... as a miner?” Li Yanjun groaned, rubbing his face. “What happened to rich young masters and cheat codes?” Just as he was about to curse the heavens (which didn’t even exist here), a crimson brand lit up on his chest. A warmth pulsed deep in his soul—familiar, terrifying. That furnace. The damn thing followed him. A screen flickered into existence before his eyes: [Primordial Forge Bound. Soul Link Established.] Li Yanjun blinked. Then smiled. “Okay... Maybe this life won’t be so bad.” And so began the legend of Xing Yan, the man who forged destiny with his own two hands.