I only reached the Foundation Establishment stage at eighty years old, and then the system appeared.

During this period, due to the increase in the number of people involved in mining, Yang Hongbo had to temporarily join the busy work of handling mining affairs.

Currently, within a radius of several hundred miles surrounding Qingmang City, seven or eight metal mines have been discovered, including Tier 2 refined iron, Tier 3 red copper, Tier 3 litmus silver, and Tier 3 magic gold.

These metal mines are located tens to hundreds of meters underground, and the geology is hard. These mines are only suitable for cultivators to excavate. If it were an ordinary person, they would probably die of exhaustion in the mine after a few days.

Fortunately, they captured the entire Chaotian Sect; otherwise, they wouldn't know where to find so many mining slaves.

That day, having finished all his work and with nothing to do, Yang Hongbo decided to go and inspect the mining area.

All the disciples of the Chaotian Sect were assigned to a mining area, a stimulus silver mine hundreds of meters underground, more than a hundred miles away from Qingmang City. Yang Hongbo's main task was to inspect this mining area.

According to the information in the dossier, this litmus silver mine has very rich reserves. Even if ten thousand miners at the Qi Refining stage were dispatched to excavate it, it would still take nearly two hundred years to excavate it all.

Moreover, litmus silver is one of the main materials for refining high-level magic weapons. Its market price is 1.5 million low-grade spirit stones. Currently, after deducting all expenses, the monthly output yields a surplus of 200,000 low-grade spirit stones.

Yang Hongbo quickly arrived at the Shiru silver mine area, but as soon as he arrived, he discovered several female corpses in a canyon behind a mountain in his divine sense. Judging from their condition, they had obviously died from having their vital essence drained.

Yang Hongbo immediately summoned the four deacons from the mining area: "What happened to those female corpses behind the mountain?"

Immediately, the eyes of the person with the highest cultivation level among the four, a Foundation Establishment Stage 7 cultivator, began to dart around.

Yang Hongbo stretched out his hand, and the cultivator flew over and was grabbed by the neck: "Which demonic sect are you a disciple of?"

"Spare me, sir! I'm not from the Demonic Sect, I'm just a rogue cultivator!"

"Heh, even if you're a rogue cultivator, you're a rogue cultivator who has practiced demonic arts."

"My lord, instead of letting these women mine, it's better to use them as cultivation furnaces. It's just making use of waste, what's wrong with that!"

"You took the spirit stones from our Yang family, and now you want to kill the people who create value for our family? You deserve to die!"

"Sir, please spare me! I can make amends!"

"Fine, since you're willing to pay compensation, then I'll settle this score with you!"

"The people from the Chaotian Sect have only been here for a month, and you've already killed seven people. That's eighty-four people a year. Each person can generate five or six hundred spirit stones worth of value per year, so eighty-four people would be around fifty thousand a year."

"They can mine here for at least a hundred years, which would create five million spirit stones. I'll take the odd amount, and just round it up!"

"Oh, sir, how can you calculate it like that? I only killed seven people!"

"Oh, so you're planning to renege on your promise?"

"No, sir, it's just that I don't have that many spirit stones right now!" The cultivator was on the verge of tears!

"You dare to kill someone without spirit stones to compensate?"

Yang Hongbo snatched his storage bag, cracked it open, glanced at it, and tossed it to the other three deacons. The guy who had broken the rules of the mining area had already suffered severe damage to his divine sense because his storage bag had been broken, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Yang Hongbo struck him in the dantian with a palm strike, and he immediately slumped down as his dantian shattered: "Take him into the mine and let him mine too!" After saying that, he ordered people to bury the female corpses.

A deacon dragged the man down into the mine. The female disciples of the Chaotian Sect were initially frightened when they saw the two enter, but one of the deacons said to them, "This guy killed several of you female disciples because he practiced demonic arts. Now Lord Yang Hongbo has discovered this and shattered his dantian. From now on, he'll be mining here just like you!"

After saying that, the deacon ran away quickly, already knowing what was going to happen to this guy.

The cultivator who had been dragged in collapsed to the ground, his eyes filled with fear and despair. The female disciples of the Chaotian Sect were initially stunned, but after a moment, one of the more assertive ones reacted first. Her eyes widened in fury, and she rushed to the cultivator, shouting, "You villain! Why did you take our sisters' lives?"

The cultivator gave a weak groan, then stubbornly retorted, "Hmph, cultivation techniques naturally require a furnace or vessel. It's your good fortune that you can be used by me!"

"Good fortune?" The fiery female disciple laughed angrily. "You villain, it's only right that a murderer pays with his life. Today, I will make you pay the price!" With that, she raised her foot and kicked the cultivator hard.

Seeing this, the other female disciples also gathered around, criticizing each other.

"You shameless scoundrel! We've already fallen to this state, mining for you against our will, and yet you still dare to be so heartless!" A pretty female disciple said, her eyes filled with tears and her voice trembling.

"That's right, aren't you afraid of divine retribution for practicing those heretical and unorthodox techniques?" another female disciple chimed in.

Surrounded by the crowd, the cultivator stubbornly retorted, "Divine retribution? This world is a dog-eat-dog world. I merely did what I was supposed to do. What can you do to me?"

At this moment, a seemingly composed female disciple stepped forward. She coldly looked at the cultivator and said, "Don't think that Lord Yang Hongbo threw you into this mine simply to make you mine. You harmed our sisters; we will settle this score with you!"

The cultivator chuckled disdainfully: "What can you weak women do to me?"

The composed female disciple sneered and said, "Now that your dantian is shattered and you've lost all your cultivation, how are you any different from us? You're nothing but a cripple. Besides, do you think there are only a few of us female disciples in this mine?"

The cultivator was taken aback and asked, "What do you mean?"

The composed female disciple did not answer him, but instead shouted into the depths of the mine, "Sisters, come out! Today we will avenge our fallen sisters!"

As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of female disciples emerged one after another from the depths of the mine. They all looked angry and held mining tools in their hands, surrounding the cultivator.

Upon seeing this, the cultivator's expression finally changed, and he said in terror, "You... what do you want to do?"

The feisty female disciple brandished her iron pickaxe and said viciously, "What are you doing? Of course, I'm going to let you taste the pain that we sisters have suffered!" With that, she smashed the iron pickaxe into the cultivator's leg.

The cultivator screamed in agony, writhing on the ground clutching his leg. Seeing this, the other female disciples grabbed their tools and began attacking him. For a moment, screams echoed throughout the mine.

"You dared to suck our sisters' vital essence, you dared to take our lives!" the shrewish female disciple shouted as she hit her.

The cultivator was beaten black and blue, and repeatedly begged for mercy: "Ladies, please spare my life! I know I was wrong, I will never dare to do it again!"

The composed female disciple stopped what she was doing and said coldly, "Now you know you're wrong? Too late! When you harmed us sisters, did you ever imagine this day would come?"

The cultivator, with a mournful face, said, "I was bewitched at the time, my mind was clouded by that technique. Please, have mercy on me this time!"

The feisty female disciple sneered and said, "Spare you? Can those dead sisters come back to life? You must pay the price for your actions today!"

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the mine. It turned out that Yang Hongbo was worried the guy might be killed, so he came in to check. Seeing the scene inside the mine, he frowned and feigned displeasure, saying, "What are you doing?"

Upon seeing Yang Hongbo, the female disciples all stopped what they were doing. The feisty female disciple stepped forward and said, "Lord Yang Hongbo, this villain killed our sisters. We just want him to pay the price he deserves!"

Yang Hongbo nodded and said, "I understand your feelings, but don't let it escalate to the point of killing. Besides, punishing someone means making them live in pain. I don't care if you beat him, but you can't kill him. Let him atone for his sins in this mine."

Hearing this, the female disciples, though still resentful, had no choice but to give up. The cultivator, seeing Yang Hongbo arrive, seemed to see a savior. He quickly crawled to Yang Hongbo's feet, hugged his leg, and cried, "My lord, save me! I know I was wrong, I'll never dare to do it again!"

Yang Hongbo kicked him away and said coldly, "When you were so arrogant and domineering back then, did you ever think this day would come? In this mine, no one will tolerate your bad habits. If you want to live, you'd better mine properly. If you dare to try anything funny again, hmph!"

The cultivator nodded repeatedly, saying, "Yes, yes, sir, I will definitely mine properly and will never dare to do it again!"

Yang Hongbo looked at his female disciples and said, "Don't worry, I will strengthen the management of the mine in the future and prevent such things from happening again. You should also focus on mining and create value for the Yang family."

The female disciples replied in unison, "Yes, sir!"

From then on, the cultivator indeed became much more obedient, mining diligently every day and no longer daring to have any improper thoughts. The female disciples of the Chaotian Sect, under the management of the stewards, also mined peacefully. Although life was still hard, at least their lives were no longer in danger.

Through this incident, Yang Hongbo gained a deeper understanding that strict rules must be established in the mining area to prevent unscrupulous individuals from taking advantage of the situation. He also needed to assign members of his clan to constantly monitor the mining area and ensure the safety of every miner. After all, the stability of the mining area was crucial to the interests of the entire Yang family.

As time went by, the mining of the Shili silver mine proceeded in an orderly manner. Yang Hongbo would occasionally come to inspect the mining area, and each time he came, he would see the female disciples of the Chaotian Sect diligently mining. And the once arrogant and domineering cultivator, in the daily life of mining, gradually shed his fierceness and became honest and obedient.

In managing the mining area, Yang Hongbo also deeply appreciated the difficulties faced by the stewards. They not only had to handle various emergencies, but also coordinate relationships with all parties to ensure the normal operation of the mining area.

Because not all miners are slaves; most are recruited. If they were slaves, they could be subjected to extreme measures if they disobeyed, and if they were accidentally killed, they would simply die.

But those who are hired through normal channels are all here to work as miners in order to earn spirit stones. If you treat them badly, they might go on strike!

Days passed by, and mining operations continued to advance in various mining areas. The Yang family, through managing these mines, gradually matured into a more mature and responsible clan.

Everything is moving in a better direction.