Unfathomable Senior

Chapter 596

Chapter 596

‘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.

“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...”