Dark Immortal Cultivation

Chapter 116 The Mine

"Dingqi Mine is just ahead."

Hearing the voice from the side, Zhang Qing nodded subconsciously.

His gaze swept across the rolling mountains ahead, reaching towards the distant world shrouded in black mist.

This place is far from the outer city. Within a radius of dozens of miles, apart from Beishanji, there is no other human habitation.

What appeared before Zhang Qing was a vast expanse of barren and desolate land!

It is called a "poor mountain" because this mountain range is bare, with no trees in sight except for some withered yellow weeds and thorns.

But further away, the area is still covered by dense forests.

Therefore, the area where the mine is located looks as if it has been shaved with a sharp razor, appearing very abrupt and ugly.

Seemingly sensing Zhang Qing's thoughts, the cultivator who brought him here smiled and said, "The trees on these mountains have all been cut down for ore refining."

Zhang Qing suddenly realized.

The cultivator accompanying him was surnamed Pan. He had been a disciple for three years and had reached the fifth level of Qi Refining.

Among the many disciples of the Xuanming Lower Academy, Senior Brother Pan's cultivation level was not high, and his family background was also ordinary.

However, he is very good at building connections and has a lot of friends.

Deng Li is one of them.

Deng Li once reminded Zhang Qing not to underestimate this senior brother Pan.

The other party is incredibly capable!

Furthermore, if Zhang Qing wants to purchase fragments of the Ruins in the future, he can simply ask Senior Brother Pan for help.

Zhang Qing certainly wouldn't underestimate the other party, and after getting to know him, he remained neither arrogant nor humble, always treating him with utmost politeness.

Since Senior Brother Pan had only temporarily returned to the lower academy, Zhang Qing was immediately brought over after negotiating the terms with him through Deng Li's introduction.

"Let's go."

Senior Brother Pan used his movement technique to fly towards the mountain range ahead.

Zhang Qing followed closely behind.

The two of them, one in front of the other, quickly crossed a mountain and then descended into the valley.

A mine billowing black smoke appeared before Zhang Qing's eyes!

The mine encloses most of the valley, with a stockade wall at the entrance and a wooden watchtower behind the stone wall.

As soon as Senior Brother Pan led Zhang Qing to the entrance of the valley, two gray-robed cultivators immediately came out to greet them.

The two men bowed respectfully: "Master Pan!"

"Um."

Senior Brother Pan nodded confidently and then said, "This is my junior brother Zhang Qing. From now on, he will act as the manager of Dingqi Mine. You must obey Junior Brother Zhang's orders, understand?"

The two cultivators were startled and quickly bowed to Zhang Qing: "Your humble servants, Sun Lin and Peng Rui, pay their respects to Master Zhang!"

Zhang Qing replied, "There's no need for such formalities, both of you."

Senior Brother Pan chuckled: "Junior Brother Zhang, I'll leave this place to you. If you don't understand anything, just ask Steward Sun and Steward Peng. If you need anything, go to them too. I'm going back now."

1

This person clearly didn't want to stay a moment longer: "Use whatever you leave behind, goodbye!"

"Farewell, senior brother."

Zhang Qing watched his senior brother walk away, and only looked away when the other's figure completely disappeared from sight.

He smiled at the two managers and said, "I'll be relying on you from now on."

Sun Lin and Peng Rui looked alarmed and replied in unison, "You flatter us, sir."

Zhang Qing didn't waste any more time: "Then take me to see the mine first."

Dingqi is both the name of the mine and its serial number.

Of the four categories, A, B, C, and D, D is naturally the worst.

And that is indeed the case.

The mine covers an area of ​​less than ten acres and contains workshops for smelting ore, as well as some stone houses and shacks.

The entire site looked messy and dirty, with scattered ore and slag everywhere, and a burnt smell permeated the air.

On the right side of the valley, there are two mine shafts, with miners carrying wicker baskets going in and out.

There is also a cave entrance in the mountain wall on the left.

However, according to Sun Lin, this cave was an abandoned mine tunnel that has now been converted into dormitories for miners.

Two stewards also lived there.

As for Zhang Qing's residence, it was right next to this cave, but it was blocked by a stone door and could not be seen.

Peng Rui told Zhang Qing that Dingqi Mine had a total of 57 miners and 5 craftsmen, and each month they handed over about 30,000 catties of crude iron to the sect.

After these crude iron pieces are taken there, they will be smelted and forged again to become refined iron and black iron!

Xuan Tie is a material used to forge magical artifacts.

In addition to the miners, there were also two cooks in the mine, who were responsible for boiling water and cooking rice.

As for Sun Lin and Peng Rui, although they were nominally in charge, they were actually supervisors, responsible for overseeing most of the affairs in the mine.

With them around, Zhang Qingping's work is actually quite easy.

He doesn't need to worry about the specific, trivial matters; he only needs to intervene and suppress ferocious beasts or evil spirits when they appear.

However, ferocious beasts and evil spirits generally do not appear here during the day.

At night, before the Black Tide arrived, everyone went into the abandoned mine and sealed the entrance with large rocks.

That's safe.

The abandoned mine shaft was dug quite deep and had plenty of air inside.

There is even a water source.

With the food reserves, dozens of people could stay inside for ten days to half a month without any problem.

After introducing the mine, Sun Lin respectfully asked, "Manager Zhang, that's the basic situation. Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

Zhang Qing thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Not for now. Thank you both for your help."

Sun Lin and Peng Rui bowed in unison: "We are willing to serve our lord!"

Zhang Qing smiled.

He noticed that the miners here were mostly strong young men, but they were all dressed in rags and looked haggard.

Mining work is obviously very hard.

After a moment's thought, Zhang Qing asked Sun Lin to call the cook over.

Two cooks soon arrived; both were burly and had oily faces.

Upon Zhang Qing's summons, the two men trembled with fear and nearly knelt down on the spot.

Zhang Qing took out five pieces of beast meat from his storage bag and said, "These meats will be extra for everyone tonight. Make sure everyone gets some, understand?"

Both cooks were stunned.

Zhang Qing took out at least forty or fifty pounds of animal meat, and it looked to be of very high quality. He actually wanted to give the miners an extra meal.

They had never seen a cultivator like this before, and for a moment they didn't dare to accept the meat.

"What are you standing there for?"

Sun Lin frowned: "Hurry up and get it done!"

The two cooks then realized what had happened and hurriedly took the meat to the kitchen to process it.

Sun Lin bowed to Zhang Qing again: "Your Excellency is so kind. On behalf of the miners, I thank you for your generous gift!"

His words weren't just flattery; they revealed a degree of sincerity.

The mine remains, but the managers come and go. Sun Lin has worked at this mine for over a decade, serving many different managers.

Zhang Qing was the only one who took out meat to feed the miners!