Several miners worked together to dig a hole and soon created a large pit, into which they threw three people and buried them.
Zi Yunshu searched the memories of these miners and confirmed that they were oppressed by the three individuals and were not their accomplices.
“Have you seen us?” she asked.
Someone immediately responded, “No, we haven’t seen you.”
Zi Yunshu then asked, “How did those three die?”
“The mine collapsed, and they were crushed to death,” was the reply.
Zi Yunshu said, “Alright, you’re free to go. If you had seen us, or if those three weren’t killed by the mine collapse…”
She glanced menacingly at the crowd, frightening them into swearing oaths of assurance.
Yu Mi and Zi Yunshu, satisfied, led Bao Gu away.
They encountered many mining teams of various sizes as they walked further in.
Whenever they passed these teams, some miners would watch them warily until they left.
Some teams even “forcefully” invited them, but Yu Mi and Zi Yunshu refused with fists and kicks.
Bao Gu noticed that the miners were divided into two types: one consisted of miners banding together to protect themselves from slightly more powerful cultivators, and the other was like the team they had encountered before, where more powerful cultivators oppressed those weaker than themselves.
The patrolling Foundation Building cultivators ignored fights and killings among the miners.
A death was simply resolved by burying the body on the spot.
If there were many deaths, the patrolling cultivators would take the deceased’s spirit stones and let the survivors bury the bodies, considering the matter resolved.
Yu Mi explained to Bao Gu, “Miners are the lowest class in the cultivation world, usually those who can’t find cultivation resources or lack the talent end up in this high-risk profession. Of course, if one can survive and leave, a year’s work as a miner is worth ten years outside.”
Bao Gu asked in shock, “Don’t the people above care?
Letting so many miners kill each other over mines and die underground?” Zi Yunshu replied, “Cultivation sects never lack outer disciples. They can recruit as many miners as they want.
Maintaining order among miners would require a large number of Foundation Building disciples, which is not worth it for any sect.
Miners choose to take this risk, and whether they can survive depends on their fate and abilities. Moreover, spirit stones are encased in stone skins, which keep them well-preserved in the mines and prevent them from dissipating into spiritual energy over time.
These stone skins not only preserve the spirit stones but also block divine sense detection. With such a vast mine and layers of stone skins, not even Nascent Soul cultivators, let alone Deity Transformation cultivators, can detect anything.
With tens of thousands of miners spread out in a complex underground network, a few deaths in inconspicuous tunnels are hard to detect even for Deity Transformation experts.
These miners dig year-round, expanding the tunnels without knowing their own location, let alone others. Killing someone and burying them in the mine, then wandering around, you wouldn’t be able to find the burial site again.”
Yu Mi reminded, “It’s been almost two hours.”
The disguise pill was about to wear off.
Zi Yunshu said, “Let’s go further in!” She led Bao Gu and Yu Mi deeper, turning into an apparently abandoned tunnel.
Once inside, Zi Yunshu had Bao Gu hand over her storage treasure, from which she took out materials to seal the tunnel, disguising it as an ordinary non-spirit stone ore rock.
Soon, the disguise pill wore off, and the three reverted to their original appearances.
Bao Gu asked, “Are we going to mine now?” handing Yu Mi’s belongings back to her.
Zi Yunshu replied, “Your senior sister and I will mine. You just focus on practicing and breaking through.”
Saying this, she tossed aside the mining basket and pick, taking out two picks she had forged herself and started digging towards the spirit stone vein.
The solid spirit stone vein crumbled like tofu under Zi Yunshu’s picks.
Some spirit stones were exposed, and Zi Yunshu had Bao Gu collect them for cultivation.
Zi Yunshu was responsible for mining, rapidly digging with a pick in each hand.
The picks in her hands worked like rock crushers, breaking the solid rock into various sized chunks that rolled down, mixing with exposed spirit stones and uncut raw spirit stone ores.
Yu Mi followed behind Zi Yunshu, collecting the mined spirit stones.
Bao Gu, who had intended to sit and cultivate with the freshly mined spirit stones, found the two’s mining speed too fast.
Just as she sat down with a pile of spirit stones, ready to cultivate, she found they had already moved more than ten feet ahead, continuously piling up mined rocks behind them, nearly burying her.
She hurriedly climbed over the rocks to catch up with Zi Yunshu and Yu Mi, exclaiming, “You two are mining so fast, aren’t you afraid of burying me behind?” She knew that once she sat down to cultivate for a whole day, they would have moved far ahead, leaving her behind.
Zi Yunshu looked back at Bao Gu and continued mining, saying, “Can’t you follow the trail we’ve dug?
Bury you behind?
Can’t you use a storage bag to move these rocks?
You have a mining basket behind you for the debris.”
Bao Gu went back to pick up the three mining baskets they had left behind and discovered that the inconspicuous baskets were actually storage treasures with two compartments: a smaller one for spirit stones and a larger one for debris.
She then understood why there were no piles of debris outside the mine and no one seen transporting debris or ore out.
Yu Mi said, “Give me the mining basket.”
Taking it from Bao Gu, she collected the debris.
She explained, “To prevent mountain collapse from emptying the mountain, the debris must be backfilled after mining the vein.
Otherwise, mining a vein would waste a mountain range, turning beautiful mountains and rivers into barren lands, depleting the spiritual energy in the mountains.
Over time, there would be no place left for cultivation or even survival in this world.”
As they spoke, Zi Yunshu had already dug another ten or twenty feet ahead.
Yu Mi looked at Zi Yunshu’s mining speed, then at Bao Gu, and said, “Come help me pick spirit stones.”
Bao Gu happily joined Yu Mi, rummaging through the debris for spirit stones.
Indeed, the ground was littered with spirit stones, mostly low-grade but plentiful, with occasional mid-grade and high-grade stones.
These spirit stones were different from those Bao Gu had seen before, which were cut and used as currency.
These were freshly mined, varying in size, and Bao Gu even saw a watermelon-sized spirit stone, though it was a low-grade one with many impurities.
It was the first time in her life she had seen such a large spirit stone.
Yu Mi collected the spirit stones with a storage jade bracelet, laughing, “Little Martial Aunt, a cultivator of your realm mining in the cultivation world must be unique, right?”
Zi Yunshu hummed in agreement, saying, “The daughter of a sect leader, a Transformation Stage expert leading a Golden Core Stage peak master and a billionaire to mine, is not just unique in the cultivation world but unprecedented. But what can we do when we’re so poor despite such prestigious titles?
Bao Gu is rich, but it’s all in the Duobao Spirit Monkey’s belly, and that stingy monkey is a pain.”
Zi Yunshu was meticulous in mining.
If the tunnel was too large, it could easily collapse, so she dug in a winding path.
Occasionally, if she dug through to the outside, she immediately filled it with waste rock, making it obvious from the outside that it was an abandoned mine.
After a while, Zi Yunshu saw Bao Gu following Yu Mi, watching her pick spirit stones.
Bao Gu stayed close to Yu Mi, who mined and backfilled, filling the excavated tunnel with waste rock.
Picking spirit stones was enough work for Yu Mi alone; having Bao Gu there made no difference.
They couldn’t leave Bao Gu behind to cultivate, nor was it efficient for her to just stand there.
Zi Yunshu had an idea to let Bao Gu cultivate, but it would require extra effort from Yu Mi.
Yu Mi knew it wouldn’t be good news.
Frowning, she said, “Little Martial Aunt, are you trying to trick me again?” Zi Yunshu mentioned the ancient ruins to motivate her.
Yu Mi rolled her eyes, resignedly asking, “What do you want me to do?” Zi Yunshu smiled, quickly taking out some materials and crafting a small cart.
The cart was made from a few beast bones supporting a piece of beast hide, with four wheels attached below and a rope tied to it.
Zi Yunshu looped the cart’s rope around Yu Mi, saying, “Bao Gu can sit in the cart and cultivate while you pull her along.
Hey, don’t frown.
If you think pulling a cart looks bad, I can make a large basket for you to carry Bao Gu.”
Yu Mi was speechless.
Bao Gu, looking at the cart and then at Yu Mi, suddenly thought of an ox pulling a cart.
Zi Yunshu asked, “For the sake of the ancient ruins, Yu Mi, choose between the cart and the basket.”
Yu Mi gritted her teeth, exclaiming, “I want to strangle Bao Gu.”
She glared at Bao Gu, demanding, “Aren’t you going to sit down?” If it weren’t for knowing she’d have to switch tasks with her Little Martial Aunt, her Little Martial Aunt would innocently ask, “Is your mining speed faster than mine?” With lower cultivation and strength, she had no choice but to accept.
But why did she have to pull a cart for Bao Gu, with such a low cultivation level?
Pulling a cart!
She, the acting peak master of Lingyun Peak and Bao Gu’s senior sister, was reduced to pulling a cart for Bao Gu…
Yu Mi was on the verge of tears.
She realized that despite her title, her status at Lingyun Peak was the lowest, so low that she had to pull a cart for Bao Gu—a cart!
Bao Gu, holding spirit stones, sat in the cart, whispering, “Senior sister, I’ll treat you to a meal later.”
Yu Mi snorted, “Is your cooking better than mine?” She had seen Bao Gu’s cooking!
Boiling meat in water, adding some salt and a spiritual herb, or simply grilling meat over fire with a bit of salt and a spiritual herb…
Bao Gu had stayed in her courtyard for so long, and she had seen Bao Gu cook many times, but never anything beyond boiled or grilled meat.
Bao Gu kept quiet, sitting properly in the cart, absorbing spiritual energy from the spirit stones.
Yu Mi, frustrated, pulled the cart while picking spirit stones, passing them back to Bao Gu for cultivation.
She suddenly realized Bao Gu was even more exploitative than a black-hearted mine boss, who at least didn’t make the miners pull him around in a cart after taking all the spirit stones.
