Wild Dogs

They dug for nearly five or six hours straight, while the other mortals were already panting heavily from exhaustion.

Although Yang Fan felt nothing, he pretended to be too tired to move.

And so, as soon as he delivered the last batch of ore, a gong sounded from above.

"Come out and eat, everyone."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately picked up their chisels and other mining tools and headed upwards.

Seeing this, Yang Fan looked around and then mingled into the crowd and walked outside.

Because of the fear of damaging the raw stones and spirit stones here, they don't use digs or similar tools when digging, but rather chisels.

Once the ore is found, it is carefully chiseled open.

It can be said that the excavation progress is not fast, but fortunately most ordinary people are already skilled and can basically complete the task.

Most of these newcomers didn't yet have the skills, and not only did they get blisters on their hands, but they also didn't finish digging.

Therefore, once they arrived on the ground and the inventory was taken, the vast majority of the new mortals had not completed the task, and only Yang Fan and a few hundred others were considered to have completed it.

"Those who fail to complete the task are not allowed to eat anything today; we'll talk about it tomorrow."

"Go and stay over there."

Immediately afterwards, all the mortals who had failed to complete their tasks were herded into a huge shed.

There were no bedding in the shed, clearly indicating that everyone was to sleep on the floor.

Then, Yang Fan and the others who had completed their tasks handed over their wooden plaques. After the plaques were counted and found to be in good condition, they were taken to the dining area.

Although it was supposed to be a meal, all they were given were stale steamed buns and soup with only rotten vegetable leaves.

After glancing at these items, Yang Fan felt a sense of helplessness.

These things were almost indistinguishable from swill, and were clearly leftovers from the mortals in charge here.

Yang Fan didn't care. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, he waved his hand and cleaned everything up.

For a cultivator like him, not eating is naturally not a problem.

After cleaning it up, he returned the items, pretending nothing had happened.

When night fell, everyone was herded into nearby sheds, which were all huge tents with no bedding inside. Everyone slept on the ground.

Fortunately, because there were enough people, the tent was quite warm.

As night deepened, Yang Fan initially lay inside pretending to sleep. Once the sounds of the people around him faded away, he had an idea.

He then quietly rose from the crowd and took out some sleeping pills.

In this place, it's best to avoid taking action if possible.

Soon, he reached the edge of the tent, glanced at the few mortals guarding outside, and with a wave of his hand, the sleeping potions flew out. Immediately afterward, all the mortals at the door fell down without anyone noticing.

These sleeping pills were specially made by Yang Fan. Even if they wake up, they will think they have overslept and will not notice anything else.

Then Yang Fan carefully slipped out of the tent.

However, he did not rush to leave. Instead, he first used his divine sense to scan the surroundings to see if there was anything going on.

As his divine sense swept across the area, Yang Fan was surprised to find that there were far fewer Foundation Establishment cultivators patrolling near the mine, but there were still several.

Seeing this, Yang Fan used his divine sense to probe the area while carefully going around it from the side.

These cultivators knew that the people imprisoned inside were all mortals, so they weren't particularly concerned about the situation inside.

This actually made things easier for Yang Fan.

After carefully bypassing the surrounding sentries, Yang Fan immediately began exploring the area near the heart of the mine.

Since it's a mineral vein, there must be a place where spirit stones are transferred.

If I could find those transit spirit stones, I might have a chance.

At the same time, Yang Fan also threw out a few talismans and hurriedly contacted Zhou Peng.

Before long, the sound transmission talisman flew over.

Yang Fan took the communication talisman and listened carefully to Zhou Peng's words.

"Master, I really want to come in, but the situation is a bit complicated right now."

"Several large arrays have been set up around this mine to isolate detection. It would be extremely difficult for anyone from the outside to break in. It would be easier for the master to operate from inside."

Upon hearing this, Yang Fan could only sigh.

It seems Zhou Peng can no longer play a significant role; we'll just have to leave him waiting outside.

After all, if Zhou Peng forced his way through the formation, he would definitely be discovered, which would put him in danger.

To be on the safe side, the best approach is to search for spirit stones inside yourself. Once you've collected enough, you can forcefully break through the restrictions if necessary. That would be the most appropriate method.

With this in mind, Yang Fan had no choice but to be patient and immediately began searching for a place to store spirit stones near the mine.

Such a large mine wouldn't be able to use up all the spirit stones on the same day; there must be a period of time during which spirit stones are exchanged.

There must be a place to store the spirit stones during this process. As long as he can find a place to store the spirit stones, he can take them all away smoothly.

Thinking of this, Yang Fan immediately began carefully searching for the place where the spirit stones were stored.

Near the mine, he found a row of wooden houses, each with its doors locked, and several layers of restrictions placed around the houses.

Seeing this, Yang Fan immediately and cautiously moved closer.

Once he reached the vicinity of the barrier, Yang Fan stopped and ceased his advance.

He noticed that some cultivators were patrolling around the barrier.

Judging from their clothing, these cultivators all came from different sects.

Clearly, in order to prevent members of any sect from embezzling funds, they checked and balanced each other.

Seeing this, Yang Fan already understood that this was both a problem and an opportunity.

As long as these people keep each other in check, it's not impossible for them to find a way to obtain spirit stones from them.

After pondering for a while, Yang Fan took out a talisman for escaping into the earth. After being enhanced by the small cauldron, the talisman was much more powerful than before.

Next, Yang Fan attached the Earth Escape Talisman to his body and then carefully slithered underground.

In his mind, as long as he could sneak underground, he could move all these spirit stones away from underground.

However, when he sneaked to the vicinity of the underground, Yang Fan was dumbfounded.

He hadn't expected that a magic array had been set up underground, effectively controlling the area.

Seeing this, Yang Fan grinned and shook his head helplessly.

Clearly, these people had considered these things when they built this warehouse to store spirit stones.