Tristan was lying on the ground with a tired expression on his face, his chest rising and falling slowly as he tried to inhale as much air as he could.
His body was drenched in sweat, and he tasted something bitter and acidic in his mouth.
He wiped his lips with the sleeve of his clothes as he tried to stand up.
'What the hell! I've never felt this tired; it felt like I would die if I lost consciousness.' His teeth still ached from how hard he clenched them while trying to stay awake.
He began checking his body, opening and closing his hands and moving his limbs.
'My muscles are a bit numb; is this the effect of pushing my core to the limit?'
Though uncomfortable with the situation, he sighed in relief, grateful to still be alive.
'I never want to go through that again.'
His face turned towards his unconscious sectmate lying on the ground.
'Well, there's no choice.'
He looked at the tunnel exit.
"Let's hope you're lucky."
Tristan moved away from Jaeng and began walking slowly through the tunnel. Without vital essence, it was impossible to carry Jaeng with his weak body; all he could do was find the miners quickly and ask for their help.
'Hopefully, they haven't gone far. It's very likely they're lost somewhere in the tunnels.'
This wasn't a usual mining area; it was just a place they fled to hide from the monsters. Tristan thought they would have trouble finding their way out under the circumstances.
He lowered his head and immediately found their footprints.
'At least my eyes still work.'
The changes cultivation techniques caused in the body didn't require much essence. As long as a cultivator was alive and breathing, they could supply enough energy to maintain those changes.
Tristan plunged into the darkness, following the miners' tracks while using the tunnel wall to help keep himself upright.
***
After some time searching, Tristan saw a faint light and a few figures moving around it. He didn't have to search for long. As he had predicted, the miners seemed unsure where to go.
It took the miners a while to notice him, but when they realized something was approaching, their bodies visibly trembled. They tried to stay as quiet as possible.
Their stiff shoulders relaxed after they saw it was a child who had found them and not a pack of hungry beasts.
Tristan's eyes moved toward Yue, and he approached her to check on her condition.
"What happened? Where are the monsters?" one of them asked in a low tone.
Tristan saw the anxiety in everyone's gaze, and as he examined Yue, he replied:
"Those that attacked us are dead now, but I don't know if there are more of them."
He sighed in relief when he noticed nothing unusual with Yue. She was as he remembered, but the lack of improvement in her condition also left him worried.
The miners looked at one another, and then one of them decided to speak:
"That boy who was with you, did something happen to him?"
Tristan turned to them and said, "Jaeng passed out. I need you to help me carry him out of here."
He led them to the spot where he had left Jaeng. This time, there were no unexpected situations. The young disciple was exactly where Tristan had left him.
Now that Jaeng had been recovered, Tristan guided the miners out of the tunnel. When they emerged from the cave, the sunrise was just appearing on the horizon.
He felt his skin warming as it was bathed in the rays of sunlight.
Before he realized it, his body was collapsing, everything around him began to grow dark, and his thoughts slowed.
In contrast to the cave's interior, he felt comfort in this environment, lying on the earth, warmed by the sun, before slipping into a deep sleep.
***
Tristan regained consciousness a few hours later. Since the miners traveled at a much slower pace than cultivators, they hadn't yet reached the city.
The miners had carried Tristan after he collapsed, and he was sincerely relieved by that, though relying on others' kindness once again left a bitter taste in his mouth.
During the journey back, he wondered when he would become strong enough to walk the path of ascension. He had so many goals, but in his current state, they all seemed like mere childish dreams.
'Getting more melancholic is another side effect of exhausting a core?' He thought of that as a justification for his current emotions.
When they finally reached the city's slums, they saw a crowd of people waiting for them.
A large commotion began. At first, joyful and hopeful expressions appeared on most people's faces. The surviving miners ran and embraced their loved ones as soon as they saw them. There was a contagious sense of celebration in the air, but Tristan knew it wouldn't last long.
Very quickly, a large part of the crowd turned pale, with vacant expressions on their faces. In seconds, hope was lost, and tears filled many eyes.
Tristan remembered all the clothes he had found on the ground; at least a few hundred miners had died, and those who survived were only a tiny fraction compared to the many who perished that day.
Despair, longing, and sorrow—those feelings filled the air as if a thick, dark cloud hovered over everyone's heads.
He turned his face to the few surviving miners now hugging their loved ones.
Observing the contrast between some people's happiness and the grief felt by most of the crowd, he wondered how successful this "mission" had been.
'Yue worked so hard to save them. I wonder if these few people will make any difference in this world.'
He could only think that all of this had been a futile effort.
His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a group of people approaching Jaeng, led by an older man and woman. Tristan recognized the others—it was Haun and his family.
'Those two must be Jaeng's parents' He thought.
The man and woman's desperation grew as they tried and failed to wake Jaeng.
When Haun saw Tristan, he approached him and asked, "Kid, why won't Jaeng wake up? Do you know what happened to him?"
Tristan looked at him and answered, "He fought against a group of beasts. He might be suffering from essence exhaustion or from some serious injury. I'm not sure."
Hearing his words, the man and woman holding Jaeng turned deathly pale.
'Maybe I should've been more subtle.' Tristan reflected on that.
A bit awkwardly, he looked at Jaeng's possible parents and said, "I'll take him to the sect. He should receive proper treatment there."