Not many months after Lu Sisi departed, Li Xuanxuan emerged from seclusion, having broken through to the fifth layer of Embryonic Breathing, the Yujing Wheel. His strength ranked third within the family, followed by his two capable right-hand men, Li Qiuyang and Chen Donghe, both at the fourth layer of Embryonic Breathing.
Activity at the Qingwu ore mine grew busier day by day. Li Xuanxuan rounded up a cohort of burly, able-bodied Shanyue to work at the mine. The wages across the four towns, which had been steadily dropping due to surplus labor, immediately rose by a good margin. The adverse effects of overpopulation on the common folk of the four towns were greatly alleviated, making their lives much more comfortable.
A sprawling cluster of small huts was situated along the ore vein. Through the joint efforts of the three families over the past few months, a decent-looking small town had already been established. For the first year, it fell to the Li family to dispatch a Qi Refinement cultivator to guard the Qingwu mine.
According to their agreement, each of the three families dispatched one Embryonic Breathing cultivator to the mine to oversee one another. Li Xuanxuan had already sent out Li Qiuyang, and several months had passed in the blink of an eye.
When Li Xuanfeng rode the wind down to the mine, the three Embryonic Breathing cultivators were already waiting on the ground, surrounded by a sea of miners kneeling in subservience.
“Respectful greetings, Senior!”
The three called out in unison. Li Xuanfeng merely waved his hand, nodded toward Li Qiuyang, and addressed him:
“Clan Uncle.”
Only then did he look at the Embryonic Breathing cultivators of the Lu and An families, nodding as he said:
“Dispense with the formalities.”
With a sweep of his spiritual sense, he saw that the two before him were only at the third and fourth layers of Embryonic Breathing, their ages around forty or fifty. Waving his hand to dismiss them, Li Xuanfeng said in a low voice:
“Clan Uncle, how has the vein been these past months? Why call me over in such haste?”
Li Qiuyang cupped his hands. The boy who had swallowed the Shejiao Fruit in the mountains was now in his thirties and already had grandchildren. Dignified in appearance, holding a saber in hand, he bore the demeanor of a clan elder as he answered:
“Excavation has only just begun. In three months, we have extracted seven pieces. Output should gradually increase going forward. It is just that starting a few months ago, miners have frequently lost their ability to speak. Last month it was only one or two, but this month it has spiked to dozens. We had no choice but to send word back home.”
“Lost their speech...”
With the longbow slung across his back, Li Xuanfeng frowned in puzzlement and replied:
“Take me to see them.”
Li Qiuyang nodded repeatedly and led Li Xuanfeng forward for a while, weaving past tents large and small before arriving at a large courtyard.
There were many Shanyue at the mine, so most of the architectural style bore distinct Shanyue traits. This large courtyard was likely built by the Lu and An families. Inside, a dozen or so people crouched against the wall, most of them Shanyue miners relocated by the Li family, all wearing uneasy expressions.
Upon seeing Li Qiuyang and Li Xuanfeng arrive, the steward in the courtyard grew exceedingly nervous. He called up the crouching Shanyue miners, making them kneel tightly against the ground as they stared apprehensively at the yellow dirt beneath them.
Li Xuanfeng rested a hand on the shoulder of the foremost Shanyue miner. Circulating his true essence a few times, he found nothing out of the ordinary, though his expression shifted slightly when he discovered a qi aperture breathing spiritual qi within the middle-aged man's Qihai acupoint.
“Possessing a spirit aperture... what a pity.”
These words struck like a thunderclap. The middle-aged man let out a couple of stammering groans, his expression both agitated and sorrowful. Looking at the graying hair at the man's temples and the complicated look on his face, Li Xuanfeng turned his head and instructed:
“Take this man back. Find an agreeable Li clan daughter to marry him.”
Li Qiuyang nodded. Several clan soldiers immediately stepped forward to take hold of the laughing, weeping man and led him away. Li Xuanfeng picked out several more from among the dozen people to inspect, but found nothing from any of them. He inquired:
“Did these people show any peculiarities before losing their speech?”
“None...” Li Qiuyang shook his head and answered. “Though of these dozens of people, four had previously mined Qingwu ore...”
Li Xuanfeng nodded thoughtfully. His gaze lingered on the people before him for a moment. Taking the crude, bluish-black lump of Qingwu ore handed over by Li Qiuyang, he circulated his true essence and sensed a faint, sharp metal-and-stone qi. Thus, he said in a heavy voice:
“It is most likely due to this Qingwu ore... I must trouble Clan Uncle to summon those two over.”
Li Qiuyang nodded at the request and fetched the cultivators from the Lu and An families. The two stood uneasily before Li Qiuyang, terrified in their hearts as they suspected this Li family Qi Refinement cultivator was likely looking to find fault with them.
“People at this mine frequently suffer from loss of speech. Are you aware of this?”
Hearing Li Xuanfeng's words, both froze in surprise. They mumbled submissive acknowledgments while grumbling inwardly:
*Why would a Qi Refinement cultivator care about mortals falling sick, aging, or dying? Loss of speech isn't a crippling disability anyway; as long as they can work, who cares whether they live or die...*
Li Xuanfeng pondered for several breaths. Qingwu ore was, after all, a spiritual ore. The metal-and-stone qi would likely harm mortal bodies, and losing speech was a mild symptom. Li Xuanfeng feared that if these thousands of people worked at the mine day and night, their vitality would be exhausted within a few months, causing thousands to die in vain.
“How are the shifts at the mine currently arranged?”
“There are over four thousand miners, while the mine can accommodate roughly a thousand-odd at a time. We use two shifts rotating every three days... responsible for mining and building facilities.”
Li Xuanfeng waved his hand and commanded:
“Divide them into four shifts for mining. Do not let the miners remain at the mine for too long. Once I return to the clan, I will dispatch more people to increase the frequency of shift rotations.”
Seeing the two repeatedly agree, Li Xuanfeng shook his head and rode the wind back to report to Li Tongya. Li Qiuyang, however, watched the two maintain a respectful demeanor until Li Xuanfeng departed, only to reveal dismissive expressions in private. Frowning inwardly, he thought to himself:
*No wonder their two families only have twenty to thirty thousand people, while our Li family has grown to over sixty thousand in a few decades. These people clearly do not treat people like human beings. They likely never even supervise farming, let alone sustain any livelihood for the common folk. Those twenty to thirty thousand people exist solely to feed their clans...*
“Brother Qiuyang!”
The two approached with smiling faces. The Lu family cultivator winked and grinned. “We'll leave what your senior ordered to you. We still have important business to attend to, so we'll be taking our leave first.”
With that, without waiting for Li Qiuyang's reply, they slung their arms around each other's shoulders and walked away laughing, causing Li Qiuyang's eyelids to twitch with no small amount of anger.
*These two indulge in music and revelry every night here at the mine, with women delivered to their quarters daily. They know nothing except eating, drinking, and merrymaking—what a complete waste of their cultivation! In our Li family, even a cultivator would be seized and held accountable by the clan rector. What utterly worthless scoundrels!*
Turning to walk toward his own courtyard, Li Qiuyang felt relieved upon further thought. He smiled coldly and murmured:
“Go on and make merry. In a few more years, I'd like to see what your two families have left to stand against my Li family.”
***
After returning to his room and delegating tasks, Li Qiuyang sat cross-legged to cultivate. On the other side, in the large courtyard, decadent sounds of pipes and strings accompanied feasting and drinking as the cultivators of the Lu and An families drank wine and chatted cheerfully.
“Being stationed at this mine is truly a wonderful errand! We don't have to look at that elder back home's stern face, and everything is handled by that Li Qiuyang of the Li family. How comfortable!”
“Indeed!”
The An family cultivator laughed heartily. Taking a delicate sip of the spirit wine in his hand, he smacked his lips with relish and replied:
“The Li family is, after all, an upstart clan. They rose too quickly, and their Qi Refinement cultivators are too young. To think they actually care about mortals! In the entire Guli Road, which family doesn't treat mortals like mere tools? Mortals serve cultivators; since when do cultivators ever spare a thought for mortals?!”
The Lu family cultivator nodded, looking thoroughly at ease as he chuckled. “Look at this Li family. Strong as they may be, they're pinned down by the Shanyue in the west, acting as our shield. It's said the Shanyue have over a dozen Qi Refinement experts, plus a king at the peak of Qi Refinement—hardly easy to deal with!”
Flaunting the information he had gathered, the Lu family cultivator tilted his head slightly, only to hear the An family cultivator ask:
“Yet I've heard your Lu family has a senior cultivator practicing within the Qingchi Sect. That must be quite the formidable backer.”
The Lu family cultivator shook his head, looking somewhat dejected as he replied:
“Our families have been linked by marriage for many years and know each other inside and out. That person cultivated on Moon Lake Peak and was at the peak of Qi Refinement in his early years, but he failed and perished while attempting to break through to Foundation Establishment. That was already more than eighty years ago! Aside from the Moon Lake Peak Master sharing some past sentiment with my family, how could we count on any backer anywhere else?”
Having said that, he lowered his head and said to the An family cultivator:
“How could that compare to that genius of your An family?!”
The An family cultivator sighed softly and said with indignation:
“That elder of mine dotes on that An Jingming immensely! The entire clan's cultivation resources are his for the taking! It's said that even the rice he eats every day is spirit rice. It fills the rest of us with envy. If the clan were that invested in me, I might even have had a shot at Qi Refinement.”
“Alas.”
The Lu family cultivator let out a low sigh, his expression growing more despondent, jarringly out of place amid the music echoing through the courtyard. Hanging his head, he said:
“You and I are already in our fifties, yet we haven't even formed the Yujing Wheel. What hope do we have left in this life for Qi Refinement? We might as well enjoy ourselves to the fullest in the fifty years we have left so our time in this world won't have been in vain!”
Hearing this, the An family cultivator was struck by immense grief as well. Finishing his cup, he choked up and said:
“Eight or nine times out of ten, life does not go as one wishes... I saw through it all long ago.”
And so, amid the decadent melody of pipes and strings, the two raised their cups in tears and wept in each other's embrace.
Chapter 113