Yu Mi asked, “Little Martial Aunt, are we just going to leave these three here and not care about them?” Zi Yunshu glanced at the three Taiyin Sect disciples lying on the ground, stripped of their shoes and sect uniforms, and snorted lightly, “Of all the sects to join, why did they have to join the Taiyin Sect!”
Bao Gu’s heart trembled, thinking, “They wouldn’t kill them to silence them, would they?” She hurriedly said, “Little Martial Aunt, these are three human lives!”
Zi Yunshu glared at Bao Gu and said, “Do you think your Little Martial Aunt, a noble Nascent Soul realm cultivator, would stoop to harming three minor Qi Refining stage cultivators?”
In her heart, Bao Gu corrected, “You’re clearly a demon cultivator, a Transformation Stage demon cultivator.” Even if her Little Martial Aunt was a demon cultivator, she still possessed a human soul. If she dared to voice this thought, her Little Martial Aunt would surely kill her. She suggested, “I have an idea. Let’s use a teleportation array to send them far away!”
Zi Yunshu and Yu Mi both looked at Bao Gu.
Yu Mi said, “Do you know how much a teleportation array costs? Even the cheapest one is worth five hundred medium-grade spirit stones! Do you think it’s so convenient because we’ve been transporting you around easily? It’s all for your safety, using this extravagant teleportation array every time we travel.”
Bao Gu thought for a moment and asked, “How did you deal with them before?”
Yu Mi smiled and said, “We always dealt with them quickly and have never done such a big deal before.” She then glared, indicating she really intended to leave the three to fend for themselves.
Zi Yunshu said, “I was negligent. This place is not far from the Taiyin Sect. If we leave them here and they wake up and return to the Taiyin Sect, it could expose our whereabouts. If they were inner disciples or direct disciples, we would seal them here directly. As for nominal outer disciples, let them live.” After saying this, she threw out a teleportation array, set the coordinates, and kicked them onto the array to send them away.
The three captives were all in the Qi Refining stage. To match their cultivation levels, the three of them had to rely on their legs and light body techniques to run through the mountains and forests. Zi Yunshu secretly used a bit of skill to increase their speed, covering over three hundred miles in less than half an hour.
They slowed down as they approached a bustling small town and entered the city.
Bao Gu noticed that most people in the town wore outer disciple uniforms, whether they were running shops, setting up stalls, or just walking around in a hurry, or checking various information on the long notice board at the town entrance. Curious, Bao Gu went to take a look at the notice board and found it covered with various sizes of paper, mostly selling information, purchase requests, or recruitment information.
Yu Mi said to Bao Gu, who was carefully reading the notices, “Let’s go, what’s there to see?”
Bao Gu quickly read the information and said, “Look for ways to make money! Brother… Senior Brother, look, some of the herbs requested on these papers are repeated, indicating they are scarce here. We can pay attention to these herbs when we go shopping in Yun City and sell them here at a higher price. People buying herbs, to save the trouble of traveling back and forth and searching for herbs, usually accept a price 20% higher. There are also many herbs that are sold by many people, which can be bought at a lower price…” As she spoke, she quickly noted down the information on these papers.
Zi Yunshu watched Bao Gu from a distance, thinking, “It’s a waste of talent not to go into business!” Then she remembered Bao Gu was currently dealing in Monkey Wine. She said, “We’re in a hurry, are you coming or not?” thinking, “Do you still need to earn this little money?”
Bao Gu came back to her senses, smiled apologetically at Zi Yunshu, and left the notice board to follow her.
Soon, “they” arrived in front of the town’s central teleportation formation.
The teleportation formation was guarded by a Golden Core stage disciple and four Foundation Building stage disciples.
The Golden Core stage disciple sat nearby, meditating without moving.
Zi Yunshu approached a Foundation Building stage disciple, handed over a token, and said, “The manager sent me to mine.” She took out twelve low-grade spirit stones and handed them over, saying, “These two brothers also happen to be going to the mining area. We can travel together. We’ve just joined the sect and only have this many spirit stones on us. Please make an exception.”
The Foundation Building stage disciple glanced at Zi Yunshu, accepted the spirit stones, carefully checked “their” identity tokens, confirmed they were correct, and said, “Let’s go!” He discreetly put seven low-grade spirit stones into his storage bag and threw out five low-grade spirit stones to activate the teleportation array and send “them” to the mining area.
Bao Gu stepped onto the teleportation formation and traveled through the void. She couldn’t believe it and asked, “We’re already in the Taiyin Sect?”
Yu Mi calmly said, “This is just the outskirts of the Taiyin Sect.”
Zi Yunshu told Bao Gu that the mining area they were going to was only within the Taiyin Sect’s sphere of influence, far from the Taiyin Sect’s main peak. Outer disciples had no right to step into the sect’s main peak area.
Bao Gu said, “I thought we were going to rob the Taiyin Sect’s main peak!”
Zi Yunshu said, “You’re thinking too much! The Taiyin Sect’s main peak is heavily guarded by three Nascent Soul stage cultivators. Even if we had ten times more people, it would only be a suicide mission. The success or failure of this mission depends on the Duobao Spirit Monkey. The main goal is to send the Duobao Spirit Monkey in, and we’ll wait outside.” She then realized they were already traveling through the void and hadn’t seen the Duobao Spirit Monkey appear. She quickly asked, “Where’s the Duobao Spirit Monkey?”
Bao Gu said, “It disappeared while we were on the way.”
A spatial fluctuation came, followed by a flash of white light, and the three emerged from the teleportation formation.
Yu Mi and Zi Yunshu both glared at Bao Gu, but in the presence of so many eyes, they dared not mention the whereabouts of the Duobao Spirit Monkey or the trouble it might bring them.
Is this the mining area?
Bao Gu curiously looked around and found no trace of a mine. If there had to be one, it was a row of wooden houses not far ahead, with about seven or eight rooms, all doors closed, and no one in sight. Near the teleportation formation, about two or three zhang away, there was a wooden shed with a table and two chairs inside, where two middle-aged men wearing Taiyin Sect outer disciple uniforms sat.
Zi Yunshu handed over the token and said, “Senior brothers, the manager sent us to mine.”
Yu Mi and Bao Gu followed closely, finding similar tokens marked with “mine” in their storage bags and handed them over.
The two men checked the tokens and the sect tokens of the three, confirmed their identities, and pointed to a not-too-distant place, saying, “The mine is there. Go down from there and register with the manager.”
Zi Yunshu thanked the two men and led Bao Gu and Yu Mi forward for less than ten zhang before they saw a straight, large hole about two zhang in diameter.
There was no one guarding the entrance, only a rope ladder hanging by the well’s edge.
The three climbed down the rope about ten zhang before reaching the bottom of the well. The bottom was a very spacious cave hall, with densely packed, irregularly sized caves on all four sides, resembling a beehive.
In the center of the hall was a platform with a chair on it, where a Foundation Building mid-stage man was staring at the three of them. Around him were about a dozen Foundation Building stage outer disciples, all wearing badges, like a guard team.
The three approached the platform and found the man sitting at the table, who looked like the manager. They handed over the tokens marked with “mine” and their identity tokens.
The manager checked the three’s tokens, registered them in the book, returned the tokens to “them,” and said, “Hand over all your storage bags. It’s forbidden to bring any storage items into the mine.”
The three’s belongings were already stored in Bao Gu’s extra-large storage bag during their disguise, leaving only the storage bags of the three disciples they were disguised as. Even so, “they” pretended to be pained as they handed over the storage bags.
The manager looked through the three’s pitifully poor storage bags, looked up at them dissatisfiedly, marked the storage bags, and threw them into a bamboo basket filled with various low-quality storage bags, saying, “Come back for your storage bags when you leave the mine. Go get mining picks and baskets, and you can go down to the mine. You know the rules, so I won’t say more.”
Bao Gu’s eyes widened and she asked, “Manager, it’s my first time mining. Could you please explain the rules to us?”
Yu Mi pulled Bao Gu and said, “Manager, I… I understand, no need to bother you.” She said to Bao Gu, “The manager is very busy, why are you bothering him?”
The manager glanced at Bao Gu and said, “There aren’t many rules. Just mine spirit stones properly after going down to the mine, and don’t cause trouble! It’s forbidden to secretly keep spirit stones for yourself when leaving the mine. Of course, I don’t think you can take any spirit stones out. It’s also forbidden to secretly use spirit stones for cultivation. If the overseer finds out, you’ll be killed on the spot. You get one spirit stone for every two hundred mined. If you find a top-grade spirit stone, you’ll be rewarded with a hundred low-grade spirit stones. If you dare to keep it for yourself… watch out for your lives. Now go.”
Bao Gu asked again, “Manager, when do we get paid?”
The manager said impatiently, “You can’t use it even if you settle it in the mine. Of course, it’s settled when you leave the mine!”
Bao Gu was pulled by Yu Mi and Zi Yunshu to get mining baskets and picks. After getting them, she shouted from afar, “Manager, where do we go to mine?”
The manager shouted, “Go wherever you want, just go!”
Bao Gu carried the mining basket and held the mining pick, following Yu Mi and Zi Yunshu into the mine.
They chose a medium-sized mine tunnel and found it lined with large and small holes, with many people squatting inside mining. Many places had collapsed, and some main tunnels on the verge of collapse were simply supported with wooden sticks.
Some smaller mine tunnels had only one person squatting inside mining, while larger tunnels had many people gathered together mining.
Along the way, they occasionally encountered Foundation Building stage cultivators patrolling with weapons, who didn’t give the three new miners a second glance.
The miners were very respectful to these patrollers, even if the patrollers took the mined spirit stones and sat nearby to cultivate, the miners didn’t dare to say a word.
Bao Gu asked, “Where do we mine?”
Zi Yunshu said, “Let’s go further inside.”
The three walked further inside and just turned into a mine tunnel when they encountered more than a dozen miners. A Qi Refining ninth-stage cultivator blocked “their” way, looked “them” up and down, and asked, “New here?”
Bao Gu felt the man’s gaze seemed a bit unfriendly. She noticed two people behind him watching the scene with interest. The other fourteen or fifteen people were scattered in the spacious mine tunnel, mining with their heads down but occasionally looking back at “them.”
Zi Yunshu glanced at the mine tunnel and said, “There are people here. Let’s go somewhere else.” She turned to leave.
The man said, “You’re welcome to join us.”
Zi Yunshu didn’t look back and said, “Try to keep us if you dare!”
“Yo, only at the Qi Refining seventh stage, quite arrogant!” The man’s voice fell, and he instantly rushed out, throwing a punch at Zi Yunshu.
Yu Mi raised her leg and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying to the deepest part of the mine tunnel. The man spat out blood with bubbles, blood bubbling out of his mouth. Yu Mi, disguised as a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy, looked at the man with a swagger and said, “When I was walking sideways, you didn’t even know where you were mixing. You dare to keep me as a laborer, you’re tired of living!” She pointed at the people present and shouted, “These are all leftovers from me!”
The two people watching the scene immediately changed their expressions and rushed to Yu Mi.
The man who was kicked struggled a bit, kicked his legs, and died. His head tilted, his eyes wide open, seemingly unwilling to die.
The two people who approached sensed the movement behind them, involuntarily stepped back two steps, and looked at Yu Mi with a strange expression.
Zi Yunshu frowned and said, “You’ve already killed someone just after entering.”
Yu Mi shrugged helplessly and said, “How was I supposed to know he couldn’t take a kick!”
The two people exchanged a wary look.
One of them shouted, “Only at the Qi Refining sixth or seventh stage, what’s there to be afraid of!” He attacked Yu Mi with lightning speed, while the other attacked Zi Yunshu, who was at the Qi Refining seventh stage.
Bao Gu was completely confused: What’s going on?
Zi Yunshu and Yu Mi suppressed their strength to match the levels they had shown, relying on their far superior combat skills to fight the two.
After a few exchanges, Zi Yunshu grabbed the opponent’s throat and crushed his windpipe with one claw.
Yu Mi kicked the other person in the face, sending him flying. Unfortunately, he hit his head on a rock in the mine tunnel and died instantly.
Zi Yunshu clapped her hands and said to the remaining miners, “What are you waiting for? Dig a deep hole and bury these three!”
The miners snapped out of it and hurriedly came over to dig a hole and bury the bodies.
Bao Gu asked, “What… what happened?”
Yu Mi looked at Bao Gu and said, “These three relied on their higher cultivation levels to try to keep us as laborers.”
Bao Gu asked, “Aren’t we laborers now?”
Yu Mi said, “Do you see these people? They were all kept by them, and all the spirit stones they mined were taken by them to exchange for spirit stones. They got nothing.”
