‘They aren’t really defending it too well, I guess they don’t hold these metals in high regard, I think it has something to do with their cultivation…’

Zhang Dong had quickly moved towards a mining area previously owned by one of the sects in the Heavenly Crane Sect’s region. It looked like a giant gorge with a river running for hundreds of kilometers to the north. The cliffs were steep and looked like swiss cheese with all the holes that were mined out. Simple planks were infused to the sides and used as walkways but no paths led up.

‘Hm, I think they usually use slaves below the core formation level. They won’t be able to fly away and escape and those sharp rocks below are probably a death sentence…’

From what he could tell, the people working here were trapped. He could feel with his spirit sense that the tunnels were long but never led out anywhere. The only way of escaping would be on the side of the gorge where probably a core formation expert was guarding everyone.

This wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Even his own sect utilized prisoners to work for them but the conditions on his side were a lot better. Sunlight was a very important part of a human’s life and even slaves needed to see the light of day from time to time.

‘Hm… the slaves have been moved and stopped mining? They are holding them at one location.’

After taking out a few guards that were almost asleep he made his way into one of the tunnels. When traveling a bit further he came out at what looked to be an old living quarter. There were beds made of straw there that looked more like they belonged to a tomb. They were carved out in walls like bunk beds and had very little room, sitting wouldn’t be an option and they were all stacked over each other.

‘Damn, people really lived here…’

Zhang Dong wasn’t sure what he should feel about this. On one hand, these mining slaves usually consisted of killers and thieves. On the other hand, it wasn’t strange for some young master to just sentence someone to this fate for looking at them funny. It wouldn’t be strange if a large chunk of the people being forced to do this were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This reminded him of some of his earlier adventurers when he was up against the Dark Palm Sect. He had done a similar dive into a spirit stone mine and rescued the people held up there. Some of the people he rescued even made it into his sect while others scattered through the world.

“But why wouldn’t they want these, they aren’t the greatest but…”

He could see a few small pebbles made from spirit metal on the ground. These were almost everywhere and probably just minor samples that weren’t worth all that much. The one in his hand would probably at most be Mortal-grade items that a master craftsman could perfect. Further in the mine, he expected to find Earth-grade and even Heaven-grade materials. A craftsman like him would be able to boost them past what they could originally become and the same should be said for the enemy blacksmiths.

“Hm, wait a second, what if their Qi isn’t compatible with our metals?”

When thinking back to the fights that he had with these people he did notice that they were using weapons from a different kind of metal. To test out his theory he brought out one of the swords he took while fighting the invaders and compared it to one made from one of the metals from the Azure Empire side.

“It’s resonating differently to the usual Qi…”

The people from the Emerald Phoenix Empire did have their own spatial rings but he didn’t really go through them due to lack of time. Now when going over them he could feel that there was a difference, their swords could take in a lot more Qi than the ones he was used to.

“Hm… so this means that they get a boost from our Qi… but when it comes to the weapons they are harder to use because they require more Qi.”

It seemed that the metals that were in this empire didn’t go well with the variation of spirit energy from the other empire. It was as if they were operating at 50% of the usual output. Even when he counted on the boost the people from the Emerald Phoenix Empire received it was still worse. It wasn’t strange that they decided to abandon the mines as the metals were highly inefficient compared to their own resources.

“I wonder if it's similar for the pills and the herbs? But if they can absorb the spiritual energy at a rapid pace it might be detrimental to swallow too many at once…”

Consuming pills was a staple of the cultivation world. However there was always a limit of how much a body could take. If too much spiritual energy was consumed it could even mean death to the person using them. It wouldn’t be strange for the bodies of their bodies to not be able to take the concentration but they could also be able to work with less for more. Perhaps low-quality pills would work quite well which would make this a treasure trove when spiritual herbs were considered.

‘I guess more isn’t always better, at least they don’t care about the metal mines, this will be a lot easier and there is a lot of stuff here… I can start out here and create my own force while they are concentrating on other locations.’

He brought up the map of the eastern region. When he was at the Heavenly Crane Sect he had asked about locations of strategic points and ones of interest. The areas with all the mines the Sun Lily faction owned were really far away from places that cultivated spirit herbs. When taking the new information into account he realized that his plan could work before anyone realizes what he was up to.

‘I guess I should start, there aren’t that many guards here and neither at the city, they all should fit into the medallion but I might have to drop them off somewhere else later.’

After nodding to himself he vanished from the spot he was in. Luckily his senses and system allowed him to find every living being that was stuck in these tunnels. It had been created as a prison and would work against the people that had conquered it. They would not have any place to escape nor would anyone be able to hear their shouts.

Canceling out sounds wasn’t that difficult for someone like him so the guards he came across fell like flies. Within a couple of hours, almost every part of the mine had been cleared out with the exception of one area. His one had a high concentration of people in it and was heavily guarded compared to others. Yet, the strongest person here was a early stage Martial Saint.

“Hey…”

“Stop, hold your voice, did you forget what they did to the last person that spoke out?”

“I know… but did you notice?”

“Huh?”

A large group of people was sitting down in a circle. They had been forced into the middle by the invaders that for some reason just left them there. To them, it didn’t really matter who their new master was; the only thing they cared about was survival. They had been stuck in this place for weeks now and some had even died of starvation. Others that tried to go against their new captors were slain almost instantly which forced the rest to wait.

“Why is it so quiet?”

“Right? I don’t see any of the guards either. They usually leave at least one person in that corridor but I can’t see anyone…”

One of the malnourished slaves pointed towards one of the many corridors leading out of this place. They were kept here for a while with not many people guarding them but in their state, any one of the guards could have killed them all by themselves.

“It’s strange, they at least made some noise…”

The mining slaves were started to whisper to each other. Usually, they would hear some sounds, grunts, and other noises from the guards. Sometimes they would pass by this room that connected to many other corridors but now it had been half an hour and no one had come. It was as if they had disappeared but most of them were too afraid to confirm anything.

“Could someone have come to save us?”

“Why would anyone save us? We are just slaves.”

“Maybe this is a chance?”

“Chance my ass, they will kill us instantly if we move.”

“We are already as good as dead, they won’t even feed us.”

The slaves were already malnourished and the only thing keeping them alive was a shallow stream of water that allowed them to at least drink some water. Being cultivators they could last more than regular humans but in a week or two, all of them would be dead. It was a gamble, some hoped that their captors would require the mine to work and have a reason to keep them alive. Others on the other hand only saw survival if they managed to get out of this predicament and perhaps this would be the chance.

“W-wait… did you see that?”

Suddenly people saw a bright flash of light in one of the corridors. They could not hear any sounds but a strange silhouette appeared. It looked to belong to a person but no one was sure and their vision had already become affected by the darkness so they were practically blind.

“It..It’s coming here… be quiet…”

All of them started panicking, they had raised their voices and were probably heard by the person that was coming. The last time something like this happened one of them had been killed, their dead body that was missing a head was in the corner of this chamber and already decomposing.

It was dead silent but they could see the light getting closer. Usually they were used to hearing footprints but this time around it was only a bright light. Was it perhaps a master capable of flight that was coming to dispose of them in one fell swoop?

“Is this really it?”

“No, I don’t want to die…”

Some of them started sobbing and cursing about the fate that brought them here. They were sure that this strange phenomenon couldn’t be anything good. Soon a bright light that looked like a person had revealed itself. It was actually warm and filled out this damp room that they had been stuck in for almost a whole month. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad, if death felt like this then perhaps it was better to accept it. The pain was suddenly fading away, could they be dying at this moment while being struck by the master’s powerful attack?

“Hm, I don’t think I have enough room in the medallion, I’ll have to create a temporary portal to move you guys to a different location, give me a few minutes to set things up…”