Page 8: To be done

Long Bai's first night in the mine wasn't that bad in general. Aside from successfully infiltrating the place, he was also able to have a good time with the rest. He did not expect that with just a few days in the mine, the two had already made also some friends. Ling Tian and Ah Mu naturally became interactive with the members of the boulder mountain sect. Long Bai suspected that they might have had a good rapport while working in the mine.

Time passed so fast Long Bai didn't notice that dawn has come. While the rest went back to sleep, he was busy having a lengthy conversation with elder Kong in the pocket world. The conversation became so intriguing for Long Bai that he kept on asking questions. The main topic he was engrossed was about the mysteries of the macrocosm that the elder had heard of during his lifetime. There was also the topic about his pocket world and the possibility that in the future, he would be able to bring his real physical body. The elder theorized that since he can bring others into the pocket world but not his own body suggests that the pocket world is still dependent to his cultivation to sustain the void or the other was because of his unique core system. The original garden was supposed to be an independent space in a ring but now that it has been integrated into his core system, this made some changes in it. The supposed stagnant space has now become expandable based in the treasures that would help in sustaining it. Elder Kong hypothesized that if Long Bai would be able to find enough self-replinishing treasures like the crystal vein and plant it in the pocket world, it will have a self- sustaining ecosystem on its own and won't need to rely anymore on Long Bai's essence.

Although there's a small possibility of finding a fire stone vein in the current mine, Long Bai can't just pass on that small probability. In case that there's no vein in the current mine, looting the majority of the fire stones is not a bad trade for it. As long as he has the red core, a year worth of work would just be done in a day efficiency wise. Since he can tell where most of the fire stones are, there won't be a wasted effort in digging.

Not a while later after Long Bai got up, the rest also started to wake up from a good night sleep. Even Shoushan's group started moving their bodies as warm up for the incoming work.

"Brother Bai, I'll be relying on you later. I hope to make the plan we talked about last night become successful."

"As long as we will be able to make a chance, there will be no problem at all."

That same night before Ling Tian and Ah Mu's shackles were deactivated, the leader of the boulder mountain sect was introduced as a good companion by the two. Since Ling Tian vouched for them, Long Bai welcomed them as part of the plan. In the first place, they came from the same place and they never had any quarrel to begin with. The only challenge is that deactivating the locks on then rest of the members may take more time.

"Gear up everyone! Just like the usual, take your equipments and go dig at your respective areas. Just don't forget to fulfill your quota or else you'll need to eat dirt for the day!" The loud voice prompted everyone to make haste. The orders from the guards here is absolute so no one dares to make some unwanted scenes that would get their attention.

On their way to the tunnels, Ling Tian introduced the area in which they need to work at.

"By the way, those who stayed inside the holding cell would be doing their digging towards the deeper regions while those contract workers will be responsible in digging the upper regions of the mountain. There will be a fork 10 meters ahead where we will be taking. Once we enter that, there will be no guards anymore that would be watching us. That will be our place to execute our plans."

While Ling Tian and company are completely silent and behaved, the group of contract workers were nonchalant with their actions and words. To them, the job seemed like a regular thing but the reality might be that they are just cloaking the idea that they are risking their lives in a dangerous field of work. On the other hand, the slaved criminal group that seemed to have form their own gang entered the 45 degree angled slope that goes deeper the mine.

"Alright. Now that we have separated from the other groups, we can now start the job. Let's recall again the things we need to consider. This tunnel is at most 20 meters from the entrance while from this fork going downwards is another 20 meters. We will be switching out the load carriers after the assigned diggers are done with the deactivation of the locks. According to brother Bai, deactivating it will at least need a minute so at the end of the day, all of the boulder mountain sect members will be done. The only problem now is that we need to keep anyone away from our spot. We will assign two relay spotters to inform us when a person comes near us. Brother Ah Mu and brother Tian will take it as discussed. Of course, the rest will be working with brother Bai. Any questions?" Shoushan reiterated.

The whole group initiated the work routine they have discussed. Currently, everyone is working according to their designated positions. Those who are with Long Bai are digging according to his instructions while the rest are carrying the loose earth out of the area.

"Dig 5 meters towards this direction. Brother Shoushan, let's start with you. While the others are digging, let me start deactivating your lock." Long Bai instructed

Deactivating the locks of the whole group took faster than expected since there were no interference from the other parties nor from the guards. It seemed that everyone had their own things to attend with.

After the whole day of digging and looting, their group was able to gather a net worth of 10 kg fire crystals. Although it was lesser than the expected amount, it was still unbelievably plenty considering that they need to present some of it due to the quota for food.

With the guard's whistle, everyone returned to their barracks and went on to exchange the crystals for their ration. They shouldn't have gone with the ration exchange but not doing so may raise suspicions so they went with it. When everyone was done, they returned back to sit and eat. Ling Tian asked Long Bai about any prospects of the mine.

"How's it brother Bai? Do you think we can find a vein in this mine?"

"I don't think so. We have gone at least 10 meters already but there was no reaction at all. Our only chance is to dig another 10 meters or more deeper tomorrow. If there's no good response yet, let's give it another day, maybe a week at most. We can't stay here too long since the first group had already parted for the next destination. Although it is all crystal deposits and there's no vein, the amount we can harness is still surmountable."

"Hm, if that's the case, we need to continue and increase the workload since everyone can use essence. We just need to hide the fact that we are able to dig deeper narrow tunnels. By the way, when we wilk escape from here, how will we break out? How should we do it in the end? There are still a lot of guards outside. If it's just the four of us, I think we can escape their grasp using our movement skill but the others... I don't think they can. With those huge physiques, they just stand out too much. Do you have any plans?"

"I was thinking that we can cultivate here using the fire stones and increase our cultivations. These fire stones are rich in essence even when converted into white crystals. If we stay here for a week and cultivate as planned, I'm sure everyone will be able to break through a layer of their own cultivation level. When that happens, the three of you can help me take down a lot of guards during our escape. Well, that's just for assurance since the main plan is to escape through a secret tunnel that we will be working on. Some of us will be digging a tunnel towards the opposite of the guard's base which will take at least five days at most. That is enough for a week stay here. While it is not yet done, I will be blocking it with a concealing array while some will be working inside it. The problem will be the amount of dirt we dump outside. If they notice we are moving more dirt, they might come and check on us. This is where the pocket world will come in handy. I'll transport the extra dirt we excavate and temporarily load it in a small space in there."

"How convenient. If we can only have large capacity space bags too, that would be nice. Anyway, the plan sounds doable specially that it is really dark inside that most activities are not much seen. The guards don't bother checking what's going on inside too so this might be a breeze."

"Then let us proceed with this. Now that all of the locks are deactivated, I can focus on converting the fire stones while the rest will continue to dig for more fire stones on the places I've marked. During the afternoon maybe 2 or 3 hours before the whistle blows for sleep time, we'll have some rotations on who will cultivate in the secret tunnel. By that time, Yue and I will already be able to convert enough fire crystals to white shards that would be enough for everyone to use. I'll have you talk to brother Shoushan about the plan and who will be working on the escape tunnel."

"Leave that to me."

After that short conversation, Ling Tian went off to discuss the plans with Shoushan. Long Bai on the other hand went back to his pocket world to make some space for the dirt that would be deposited in there by the morrow.

That night was more silent than the previous one. The contracted workers who were originally noisy on the background became silent as they must have felt the heavy burden of the work to their stamina. Tired from the day's work, they might have hit the sack early. No more annoying loud laughter that echoes in that cold dark place and finally, everyone can have their own peaceful rest.

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*Cinnabar Border town

"Let's us stay for the night in this town. Since there's a small inn where we can stay, let us replenish our used supply. Starting tomorrow, we will be on our own. Our only guide this time is this map we got updated from the caravan we joined to reach this place. Weimin, were you able to gather more info about the boundary from those merchants?"

"Not to disappoint elder but I was only able to get some few info. It's about the a newly found ruins in the Magvel country. They said they are enlisting cultivators to search the ruins and that the rewards are great. They haven't disclosed any specifics yet. They think that the instructions would be given only to those who will be joining. What do you think elder?"

"Hm, it sounds like a good opportunity. If by chance you can get something of value, you might be able to make good ties with the sect on that side. It's not a bad deal since this is a lesser world, the treasures here will not be as much as the ones from our original world. What you must establish here is connection. You must aim their cultivation practices. There will be some good skills and techniques that they could have developed to adapt to this poor essence world."