Chapter 54

The situation inside the Hongshan Mine exceeded Ji You's expectations.

There were not only miners here, but also some women and children. Some were working in the mine, some were living here with their husbands, and some had surged in before the evil seeds surged out of Qiling.

The hundreds of miners in the mine saw Ji You entering the door with a sword, his killing intent like hemp, and all of them nervously curled up in the corner of the wall.

Among them, there was one who looked like a supervisor or team leader, named Luo You, a forty-year-old man who blocked in front of everyone.

Unexpectedly, he was a private cultivator, and from the perspective of spiritual energy fluctuation, he had already awakened his spirit for a few days.

And besides him, several men hiding in the dark also already had spiritual energy fluctuations.

The Hongshan Mine is one of the largest spirit mines in the entire Qingyun world, and one-third of the spirit stones consumed by cultivators come from here.

Because the spiritual energy inside is abundant, in fact, many miners can feel the innate true spirit in their bodies constantly surging.

But because private cultivation is a capital crime, many people dare not try.

And now, it seems that they have already tried every possible way to save themselves in despair.

"Immortal... Immortal Master, what do you want?"

"We are trapped, and there is... a little food."

This one is bold enough, suitable to be a hall master for me, Ji You was still pondering his mountain stronghold.

Seeing that the other party didn't speak, Luo You looked at his pregnant wife hiding in the back: "The spirit stones mined out are also still some, and they can all be given to you..."

Food is for saving lives, and spirit stones are the hope of killing their way out after cultivation is good; giving them away means there is only a dead end.

But what else can they do?

For an immortal, things like miners die if they die, and when the baleful Qi here dissipates, just get another batch.

"Do you... want to leave?"

Luo You raised his head upon hearing this and was slightly stunned.

Ji You came here to save them, but at this moment, he suddenly didn't know what to do.

If they were really just ordinary miners, it would be fine to say they were going out, but now that they have become private cultivators, they have also encountered the choice that Ji You encountered that day.

At this moment, Luo You didn't know what the immortal in front of him meant, and his heart was very terrified, not knowing how to answer.

Ji You spoke again: "Do you know that private cultivation is a capital crime punishable by death?"

Luo You knelt on the ground with a thud: "We have already held the determination to die, and only ask the Immortal Master to give us a period of time to let us send our wives and children out."

Ji You understood.

They didn't know that private cultivation was a capital crime, but they already had the awareness of death.

After they awakened their spirits, they probably wanted to protect their families and escape, thinking that even if they died in the evil seed group, it would be considered dying in their place.

But now a new problem has appeared. If it were just a batch of strong men, even if they were all ordinary people, as long as they could keep up, they could probably save most of them.

But now there are children and pregnant women, and this is a dead end.

Ji You turned his head to look at Yuan Yuanchen: "Ask your question first."

Yuan Yuanchen nodded and took out an immortal robe from his portable gourd.

Unlike the immortal robe of the Heavenly Academy, this robe was yellow all over, with red lapels, and a three-legged round furnace embroidered on the back.

"Have you seen six people appearing here wearing this kind of clothes?"

Luo You took a look: "No... never seen them."

Yuan Yuanchen shook again, a bit anxious: "Take a closer look? Maybe they just passed by here, or maybe they were being escorted."

"Indeed, I haven't seen them."

"Then on New Year's Day, were there any strange people nearby? Like evil seeds, full of baleful Qi."

Luo You looked carefully for a long while: "On New Year's Day, a large batch of evil seeds suddenly surged out of the mountains and killed the immortals guarding the mine, so we hid here and didn't see anything."

The Pill Sect refines pills and needs a closed and stable environment. In Yuan Yuanchen's view, the mine is an extremely suitable location.

But looking at a pile of people shaking their heads, he couldn't help but feel a bit desperate.

Ji You patted Yuan Yuanchen on the shoulder: "Let's go; everything that should be asked has been asked clearly, and I will send you away from Beisha Town."

Yuan Yuanchen shook his head desperately: "My sister must have been here. Since she is not mentioned here, then maybe she was brought into the mountains."

"You can't just plunge into it for a guess. I guess you stole out from home, right? Then I suggest you go back and explain it to your family, plan carefully, and it's best to find some trusted experts of the Upper Five Realms before making preparations."

"I don't even know if my sister is alive or dead, how can I go back..."

"Since they captured pill masters to reform pills, your sister will not be in any danger in the short term."

"Really?"

Ji You pointed to his brain: "This thing is actually quite useful sometimes."

After he finished saying this, he twisted the green jade gourd in his hand, and with the sudden appearance of spiritual light, a pile of food stored in it was summoned out, falling like a small mountain.

Luo You looked at this scene, a bit panicked, looking at Ji You at a loss.

"I originally wanted to save you, but now it seems I can't do it."

"Continue your cultivation; maybe you can still cultivate a glimmer of life. After going out, flee to the east. If you are lucky, you probably won't meet Immortal Sect disciples."

"The food was gotten from the Beisha Town granary before coming here; there is no one watching it there anymore, and it's enough for you to eat for a period of time."

After Ji You finished speaking, he took out two pieces of silver from his bosom, a bit reluctant to part with them: "I took money to save you, and I don't know whose mother or whose wife is still thinking of you, but I didn't save you, so I won't take the money."

Yuan Yuanchen stared at him for a long time, and finally, with a twist of his fingertips, a square box appeared on the ground in front of him.

The box contained the elixirs he brought, which were originally intended to be used as a price to ask other Immortal Sect people for help.

Now that the clues were broken, the elixirs in the box were no longer needed.

However, he didn't say how to eat them, but just pushed them to the miners in the mine and walked to the door without saying a word.

"They have been here, and then entered the mountains."

"?"

Luo You's wife looked at the food, the broken silver, and the elixir box, and suddenly spoke as they turned to leave: "People wearing those clothes entered the mountains, escorted by people wearing cloaks."

Luo You turned his head to look at his wife and fell into silence, but in the end, he didn't stop her.

Yuan Yuanchen was stunned for a long while, then suddenly turned his head to look at Ji You: "Brother Ji, a thousand taels, yellow ones!"

"I am only at the perfection of the Lower Three Realms; I can't go."

"I can give everything I can give, I just want to save my sister."

Luo You raised his head upon hearing this, hesitated for a long while, and then spoke: "If you want to enter the mountains, you can take the mine path; it can be closer. The Hongshan Mine has a mine path that leads into the mountains."

Ji You looked at the honest miner in front of him in disbelief, thinking that you were hired by Yuan Yuanchen to act with me.

I just want to be a bandit; why is it so difficult?

Yuan Yuanchen raised his head to look at Ji You: "My sister is very beautiful..."

"I don't care; I've seen the most beautiful one."

"Then being a minor one is also fine..."

Ji You looked at his disbelief: "Have you asked your sister what she means?"

Yuan Yuanchen was about to wither: "Life is the most important thing. In this world, except for life and death, everything else is a small matter..."

"Add another thousand taels; my stronghold needs initial capital."

"Deal!"

Ji You turned his head to look at Luo You: "Can you tell me everything you know about Qiling? Some things might be useful to us."

Luo You looked at his wife who was nodding silently, and finally sighed: "Over the years, people have actually often come in and out of the mountains. We only dared to watch from afar and didn't dare to follow into the mountains. The only thing we know is that they didn't just capture people wearing those clothes, but also many immortals in the Immortal Sect."

Luo You's wife added a sentence upon seeing this: "And babies."

Ji You turned his head to look at her: "What?"

"In these three years, there have been babies crying in the mountains every day. Someone in the mine followed the sound to look for them before, and never came back after that."

Hearing this sentence, Ji You was stunned.

Xiang Kuangcheng was looking for the missing babies and finally found clues from the records of the Yanxing Post Station. Ji You had asked in Beisha Town, but the people in the town all said they didn't know.

He thought the clues were broken, but didn't expect them to be reconnected here.

(End of chapter)