Chapter 81: Dealing with the Servant-King of the Immortal City(Baili Xi)

“This mining area has been worked for decades. Many of the tunnels are exhausted and abandoned, with dozens of low-yield shafts, but only a few truly rich ones. If we follow this tunnel inward for about three miles, then turn left and walk a bit further, we’ll reach the richest shaft here. The wall of the rich tunnel is black, different from the poorer veins; you can see the difference if you look closely.

If you want to earn more spirit stones, young brother, it’s best to go to the richest shafts. Go there, find a suitable spot and start digging!”

As Wei Nanzheng rambled on, he led Ye deeper into the mine. Ye Mo observed the tunnel walls.

This mine was located in Black Iron Mountain, a rare black rock peak, its stone a grayish-black. Black iron ore glistened with a deep iron-black sheen, and after purification and refinement, it became black iron.

Black iron was the most common material used in crafting spiritual tools. The tunnels were almost identical, crisscrossing like a spider’s web. Without an experienced mining slave to guide you, it was easy to get lost, and finding a specific location was even harder.

A few scattered luminous stones embedded in the tunnel barely lit its gloom. Ye Mo noticed many fresh fragments scattered along the ground.

“There must be mining slaves working here… Why did he bring me here?”

Ye Mo glanced at the stooped Wei Nanzheng leading the way and a strange thought flashed through his mind. He recalled that Wei Nanzheng had mentioned every shaft had its own assigned mining slaves. For a rich vein like this, only the most powerful slave bosses could dig here.

“This is it! This is the place with the highest black iron yield in the entire mine.” Wei Nanzheng pointed at the shaft ahead.

“Alright, here it is, then.” Ye Mo looked around, picked up his mining shovel, and struck hard at the rock wall. He cared little whether other slaves were working here; no matter how strong a mining slave, they were still slaves. Earning more spirit stones was what mattered most.

Clang! With a ringing sound, the hard rock split open with a crack.

“That… truly is the strength of a thousand catties! As expected of an immortal, amazing power. A regular late-stage body cultivator could only dig an inch at most with each strike.”

Wei Nanzheng was startled. The difference in force made all the difference. If a rock required five hundred pounds of force to break, and a regular cultivator only had three hundred, he would have to chip away slowly, taking a long time to dig it out. But with more than five hundred pounds of force, it could be broken in one blow.

Ye Mo struck several times, and a chunk of ore was soon detached from the wall.

“Old Wei, why did you bring this brat to my turf? Planning to be mining rats and steal my ore? Old Wei, don’t think I’ll let you off just because you’ve been here for over ten years! You know the rules of this mine!”

A rush of footsteps echoed, followed by a violent roar, and a burly man appeared at the entrance with several robust mining slaves. They held mining shovels and glared menacingly at Wei Nanzheng and Ye Mo.

“A senile beast who’s survived in the caves for over ten years, and a blind little brat—daring to steal my ore, courting death! Old Wei, last time I beat you up, today you’re here to steal ore for revenge, eh?” The burly man’s gaze was vicious as he stared at the ore in Ye Mo’s hand.

Ye Mo’s expression chilled as he looked at the mining slaves.

The leader was a man in his thirties, taller than Ye Mo, with bronzed skin and bulging muscles—robust and formidable.

“This guy cultivates external skills, his physique likely at the ninth layer of body refinement,” Ye Mo estimated at a glance.

“Ah, it was an old man’s mistake. I met a fellow countryman today, was thinking only to dig more ore, and forgot this is your territory! We’ll leave, we’ll leave right now!” Wei Nanzheng was startled, his face panic-stricken as he called Ye Mo to leave.

“Steal my ore and just walk away? Not so easy! Leave all your ore, then dig a hundred pounds more for me—or I’ll beat you to death!” The burly man laughed harshly.

Ye Mo only glanced coldly at the burly man and his followers, ignored them, tossed the mined ore into his basket, and prepared to continue digging. His action was blatant contempt, showing he did not care for the burly man at all.

The man’s eyes narrowed. “Still digging! I’ve been in this mine for over a year, and you’re the first to dare go head-to-head with me.”

“Blind fools—daring to offend the boss of our mine!” The men behind him cursed angrily.

This burly man was the strongest warrior among the mining slaves here. Even the overseers dared not confront him; he had beaten overseers more than once. Perhaps to make him dig more, the supervisors had not killed him, only flogged him once. Among the slaves in this mine, he was absolute. He only feared the two cultivators outside the cave.

“Boy, you’re asking for death!” The burly man laughed in rage, raised his mining shovel, and lunged at Ye Mo. The black iron shovel flashed with a black gleam, aiming for Ye Mo’s throat. The moment he swung, the black gleam flickered, giving off two shadowy trails, its power suddenly intensified.

The other slaves rushed at Wei Nanzheng, who dodged in terror.

Ye Mo’s eyes glittered coldly, his figure blurred, and he vanished from his spot.

Bang!

Before the slaves could see clearly, they were struck by a tremendous force and sent flying, landing heavily, groaning and unable to rise.

Clang! The burly man felt his right arm quake violently—a tremendous force surged in, and his mining shovel slipped from his grasp, flying into the rock wall and leaving a deep hole.

Ye Mo reappeared.

The burly man staggered back several steps, his right arm limp, his gaze at Ye Mo full of shock.

“No, impossible! My Black Python Technique is perfected, and my Fierce Python Triple Strike rivals a thousand pounds of force; I’ve never met a match. Even peerless fighters only draw with me. How can you have so much strength, disarming me so easily?”

“No…!” The burly man was dumbfounded. “You… you’re an immortal? Only immortals, with over a thousand pounds of force, could so easily knock my shovel aside.”

Wei Nanzheng, terrified and trying to flee, stopped in delight when he saw the slaves thrown aside.

“You tried to kill me just now?” Ye Mo walked toward the burly man, his voice cold as ice.

“You’re an immortal—why are you mining here? It was my blind arrogance, offending the immortal master! The ore is yours—mine as you please!” The burly man was terrified, sweating profusely as he retreated. Yet Ye Mo’s cold gaze filled him with despair. On Eastern Lai Spirit Island, a warrior killing an immortal was a death sentence.

“I’ll break my own arm to atone—please, immortal master, spare me!” The burly man gritted his teeth, smashed his right arm with his shovel, and with a crack of bone, rendered it useless.

Ye Mo finally stopped, frowning slightly.

“I’ll come to this mine whenever I wish. Old Wei is my countryman; if you or your men dare trouble him, see how I deal with you!” Ye Mo finished, then turned to Wei Nanzheng with a cold tone. “Old Wei, for the sake of our shared homeland, I’ll help you this time! Next time you try to use me to settle your grudges, don’t expect my help.”

With that, he strode away toward other tunnels.

Ye Mo had realized, upon entering this shaft, that Old Wei likely intended to use him. Now it was even clearer. Old Wei had survived in this mine for over ten years, surely having grudges among the slaves. Bringing Ye Mo here to dig was probably a scheme to use his strength to avenge himself on the boss who had beaten him.

No wonder he was the son of Wei the Great General of Martial Kingdom—his cunning was exceptional. If he had stayed in Martial Kingdom, he would have been a brilliant strategist, yet now he was trapped in this sunless pit.

For the sake of their homeland, Ye Mo did not begrudge him this small manipulation. Yet being used to punish the slave boss left him uneasy.

He was here to earn spirit stones, not to meddle in the feuds among mining slaves.

“Young brother…” Wei Nanzheng opened his mouth to speak, but only shook his head bitterly.

Ye Mo was already gone.

Wei Nanzheng, hunched and frail, picked up a few pieces of ore and placed them in his basket.

The heavily wounded burly slaves only looked fearfully at the old man, not daring to stop him. This unremarkable Old Wei had survived more than twenty years in the mine, through several violent upheavals, and was certainly not to be underestimated.

…

Ye Mo wandered through countless winding tunnels until he reached a deserted shaft.

By the faint glow, he walked to the side of the rock wall and studied it carefully.

The stone was pure black.

This was one of the abandoned tunnels Wei Nanzheng had mentioned.

But abandoned didn’t mean devoid of ore. Sometimes the ore was simply too high-grade and hard, requiring over a thousand pounds of force to extract. Since the mining slaves couldn’t surpass that strength, they abandoned it.

The rich veins Old Wei mentioned were only those most suitable for warriors to dig, with high yields.

But for a cultivator, the warriors’ rich veins weren’t truly rich. These abandoned shafts were the real treasure.

Ye Mo instantly understood.

“This should be second or third-grade black iron ore—mining slaves simply can’t dig it out!” Ye Mo tapped the black ore on the wall, his heart filled with delight.

“Let’s try here—the yield should be high!”

Ye Mo took a deep breath, held his mining shovel horizontally, his gaze fixed on the crescent-shaped blade at the tip.

His body leaned forward, arms tensed. He summoned his strength, three shadowy strikes of the shovel stabbed fiercely into the wall. Even with a shovel, he could execute his Wave Stacking Triple Slash.

Boom!

A divine force of three thousand pounds shattered the stone, sparks flying.

A large chunk, over ten pounds, of third-grade black iron ore fell from the wall.