Chapter 667: Mine
Yu Nianzhen also narrowed his eyes and frowned.
At a glance, the slaves were emaciated and had no light in their eyes.
’They have given up.’ He realised and subconsciously sighed.
"Stand up for me." A gruff voice ordered, and the two couldn’t help but be annoyed.
A breath later, Jiang Yue waved his hand, and the person’s eyes immediately lost focus.
[This mine is two hundred metres below ground.] Yu Nianzhen observed, and Jiang Yue nodded.
[Azhen, this place is strange.] He said and quickly continued.
[The mine is almost the size of Yunlan city, from what I can tell. Such a large mine should have a rich aura, and the surroundings should have many medicinal herbs and treasures. However, the area above ground is a wasteland with a thin aura and few herbs, let alone treasures.]
[Mmh.] The swordsman nodded.
He had also noticed this peculiarity but could not think of a reasonable explanation for it.
[Let’s question this person.] He said and turned to the other person in the room.
[I will control him.] Jiang Yue said.
A moment later, the person turned to the two and bowed respectfully.
"Who are you and what’s your role here?" Jiang Yue asked.
"My name is Wang Dahe. I am a teleportation hall’s guard." The man answered, and Jiang Yue nodded before continuing.
"Tell us about the teleportation hall." He ordered.
"The teleportation hall has six guards. Our task is to receive new slaves and send them to the tunnels."
Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen exchanged a glance when they heard this.
However, they didn’t lose their composure and continued questioning the guard.
"Tell us about the mine." Jiang Yue instructed.
"The mine is a mid-grade immortal stones vein, but we occasionally mine some high-grade immortal stones and low-grade immortal crystals." Wang Dahe revealed, and the two couldn’t help but be shocked.
"Immortal crystals?" Jiang Yue asked in a surprised voice, and Wang Dahe nodded.
Immortal crystals were a higher level than immortal stones.
As a result, one low-grade immortal crystal was equivalent to one hundred thousand peak-grade immortal stones.
Considering this, how could a mid-grade immortal stones vein that didn’t even produce peak-grade immortal stones produce immortal crystals?
"Something is very wrong." Jiang Yue muttered, and Yu Nianzhen couldn’t argue.
As far as he knew, the conditions for producing immortal crystals were very harsh, and the Cangxing world was not at a level where it could produce peak-grade immortal stones, let alone immortal crystal crystals.
"How many immortal crystals have been mined?" Jiang Yue asked, and Wang Dahe frowned with a thoughtful expression.
"I am not sure, but they should not be more than ten." He said.
"How many slaves and guards are there in the mine?" Jiang Yue asked.
After an hour of questioning, the two learned that there were one thousand guards and more than one hundred thousand slaves in the mine. Additionally, they learned that there were one hundred mining shafts, and each tunnel had at least one thousand slaves and ten guards.
Hearing the disparity between the number of slaves and guards, Jiang Yue asked why the prisoners didn’t rise up.
As a result, their suspicions were confirmed, and they learned that each prisoner was poisoned with the qi sealing poison as soon as they entered the mine. Most importantly, there were nascent soul realm guards that could control any prisoners who tried to escape or cause trouble.
"This place is not easy to leave, so the slaves have no choice but to work hard. Otherwise, they will starve and die without leaving a complete corpse." Wang Dahe said, and Jiang Yue frowned.
"The prisoners are given bigu pills?" He asked, and Wang Dahe nodded.
"One hundred mid-grade immortal stones can be exchanged for a seven-day bigu pill. Similarly, a high-grade immortal stone can be exchanged for a one-month bigu pill while an immortal crystal can be exchanged for a one-year bigu pill." He said.
Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen were perplexed when they heard this.
After all, mining one hundred stones wasn’t too difficult, and since the prisoners were cultivators, they should have been able to afford enough bigu pills to preserve their health.
However, after thinking about it, the two realised their mistake and nodded in understanding.
’All the prisoners are mortal, and mining immortal stones isn’t easy.’ Jiang Yue thought and sighed.
"Who owns the mine?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
"I heard that it belongs to Yunlan’s city lord, but I am not sure." Wang Dahe said, and the two exchanged a glance.
[Azhen, do you have a plan?] Jiang Yue asked, and the swordsman nodded.
[We can’t rescue the prisoners until we control the guards. We will have to take it one step at a time.] He said, and Jiang Yue agreed.
[I can use illusions to control the guards, and when the time is right, I will order them to gather away from the prisoners.] He said, and Yu Nianzhen agreed before speaking.
[We also have to investigate the peculiarity in this place.] He said.
[I have checked, but I don’t sense a formation or any such thing. We may have to walk through the tunnels to see if there is anything strange that can explain the immortal crystals.] Jiang Yue said.
[Let’s deal with the guards and prisoners first.] The swordsman suggested.
After that, Jiang Yue controlled Wang Dahe and asked him to summon the other teleportation hall’s guards. When that was done, he used illusions to control them and then instructed them to act normal while awaiting his orders.
After doing this, Jiang Yue asked Wang Dahe to take him and Yu Nianzhen to the closest tunnel, but before they could leave, they heard a loud thump and turned to see a large sack.
’Another unlucky group.’ He thought and signalled Wang Dahe to release the people from the sack.
After receiving the signal, Wang Dahe opened the sack and released fourteen people: ten male and four female cultivators.
However, after seeing the people, Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen narrowed their eyes and a trace of murderous intent leaked from their bodies.
"Audacious bastards!" Jiang Yue cursed through gritted teeth.
