My Crazy Upgrade System

Chapter 322: Chapter 321: Reward

In the massive mine before him, countless Cultivators were digging. They toiled day and night, each bound by shackles, forced to slave away under such conditions. Their cultivation levels weren’t low, either. Most were at the Core Formation Stage, with the weakest at the Spirit Refining Stage. Using them for mining was clearly far more efficient.

At a glance, there were at least a thousand Cultivators imprisoned here to mine. ’I can’t believe they were hiding such a large group of Cultivators here!’ He had already rescued quite a few people, some from the Alchemy Room and others from the Forging Room. They had all been freed, but this place had been missed.

Who would have thought there’d be a mine here? To think that such a vast mine existed beneath the Netherworld Prison was astounding.

Yi Tianyun surveyed the area and saw that the resources here were quite abundant. After upgrading his Eye of Investigation, analyzing materials had become much easier. Even if he didn’t recognize a material, he could now identify it with ease.

Jade Spirit Stone: Most pieces weigh over fifty jin. Preliminary analysis indicates over one million jin remaining.

Profound Iron Ore: An essential material for Forging Soul Artifacts. Preliminary analysis indicates over ten million jin remaining.

Purple Crystal Ore: An essential material for forging Heaven-rank weapons. Preliminary analysis indicates over one hundred jin remaining.

Cloud Gold Soil: An enhancement material used in refining up to fifth-grade Elixir Pills. It can increase the success rate of Alchemy and improve the effects of the pills. Preliminary analysis indicates over ten thousand jin remaining.

With a single glance, he could easily determine the names of all the materials and even estimate the approximate remaining quantities. While not perfectly precise, the estimates gave him a good general idea. Among them, the Purple Crystal Ore and Cloud Gold Soil were the most precious, with the least amount remaining.

’I didn’t expect this mine to contain such a mix of resources. No wonder they captured so many Cultivators.’ In addition to mining, they could use the materials on-site to forge weapons or refine Elixir Pills. The reserves of Jade Spirit Stone were especially large. ’If I could mine all of this, I’d strike it rich!’

However, this stuff wasn’t easy to excavate. The materials were quite hard, making them difficult to dig out. That’s why the miners couldn’t be ordinary people. They had to be Cultivators with decent cultivation levels. The Netherworld Empire captured them all, forced them to mine, and didn’t even have to pay them a single cent.

"Faster, faster! Don’t slack off!"

"Sounds like something’s happening up there. Should we go check it out?"

"What could possibly happen? Just let someone else go up. Who would dare break into our Netherworld Prison?"

They all shook their heads, not bothering to pay it any mind. Instead, they cracked their whips again and again, lashing the Cultivators before them. Whether someone was slacking off or not didn’t matter; they’d whip anyone they didn’t like the look of. If someone died from the whipping, they’d just be dragged away without an ounce of sympathy.

These Cultivators came in batch after batch. The guards were never worried about running out of people.

"AAAAAHHHH... Give me the antidote! The antidote!" Just then, a Cultivator’s poison acted up. He collapsed to the ground, his face contorted in agony, and reached out toward the guards, begging them to give him an Antitoxic Pill.

However, the guards couldn’t be bothered to walk over. They just stood there watching, not even deigning to give him a second glance.

"That one’s poison is acting up. Aren’t you going to go give him a pill?"

"Too lazy. If he wants the pill, he can crawl over here himself. Take it or leave it."

The guard shrugged, completely unconcerned. It wasn’t him who was poisoned, after all.

"Is that so? Then why don’t you two have a few and see how you like it?" A ghostly voice spoke up beside them. They turned their heads in anger, ready to crack their whips, but two Ice Arrows pierced through their bodies. They lost consciousness completely before they could even get a clear look at Yi Tianyun’s face.

Yi Tianyun picked up the Antitoxic Pills from their corpses and immediately tossed them to the Cultivators so they could take them.

The fallen Cultivator struggled to his feet, his body trembling as he picked up an Antitoxic Pill and put it in his mouth. After consuming it, his condition improved dramatically, and the excruciating pain subsided.

Yi Tianyun shook his head. ’This so-called Antitoxic Pill only provides temporary relief. As time goes on, the poison will only get worse, and they will still die in the end.’

"Who the hell are you!"

The nearby guards lashed out fiercely with their whips, but Ice Arrows had already pierced their bodies, silencing them forever.

All the Cultivators witnessed this scene. They stopped their work and stared at him, stunned, at a loss for words.

"You are all free now! Search these guards for the keys to unlock your shackles, and prepare to fight your way out with me!" Yi Tianyun shouted, his voice echoing throughout the entire mine.

They snapped back to their senses and, like madmen, swarmed the dead guards to search for keys. However, many of the Cultivators had no intention of escaping; their eyes were still filled with despair.

"What are you standing around for? Aren’t you going to escape?"

"Escape to where? Do you think we can survive out there? Without a real Antitoxic Pill, we’ll just die outside anyway..."

They all froze. What was the point of unlocking their shackles if the deadly poison in their bodies wasn’t cured? The guards didn’t have the true antidote. They only carried temporary Antitoxic Pills with limited effects that wouldn’t last long.

At this, many of them stopped in their tracks, the hope in their eyes dimming once more.

"Don’t worry. I will refine a batch of Antitoxic Pills that will completely purge the poison from your bodies!" Yi Tianyun said in a heavy voice. "What you need to do now is unlock your shackles and prepare to fight your way out!"

His voice was like the most beautiful sound in the world, leaving them all dumbfounded as it reached their ears.

"He... he can refine the Antitoxic Pills!"

"Really? We’re saved! We’re saved!"

They began to shout, hastily resuming their work of unlocking their shackles. At the same time, Yi Tianyun was already analyzing the Poison Pill, which he did with ease. This Poison Pill was far, far weaker than the one given to the Spirit Race Ancestor—it was like a watered-down version. Curing it would naturally be much easier. It was basically a second-grade pill, which showed just how low the difficulty was.

’Good thing it’s only a second-grade pill. Otherwise, dealing with this quantity would have been a hassle...’

Yi Tianyun took out a large pile of Spirit Medicine from his Storage Ring. He had plundered all of it earlier when he passed through the Alchemy Room. He had snatched up everything regardless of grade, knowing that some of the Spirit Medicine could be used to refine Antitoxic Pills. He just hadn’t expected to find so many Cultivators here.

As he began his Alchemy, many of the nearby Cultivators didn’t just stand there. Instead, they picked up their pickaxes and started digging again! It seemed they were working even harder and more earnestly than before. They specifically targeted the most precious and highest-quality materials.

However, they didn’t keep what they dug for themselves. Many Cultivators began carrying the ore they had previously mined and placed it beside Yi Tianyun. The intention was obvious: it was their payment to him!

Yi Tianyun was taken aback. He hadn’t considered this, nor had he asked for any reward. He never expected them to voluntarily offer up the ore they had mined as payment. Some even used the time he was performing Alchemy to try and dig up more ore.

Clearly, they were not ungrateful people, nor were they the type to just take the pills and run. Before they left, they wanted to at least give him something as a reward.