Chapter 129
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Chapter 129: Oppression
This likely explains why attendance is taken at the mine at night, to ensure that every cultivator is accounted for and to prevent anyone from being forgotten in the mine.
After hearing Brother Cai’s introduction, Ji Yang recalled the giggling voices of women he had heard earlier, probably because of the energy of the earth demons!
However, he had never been interested in women, so how could he have heard such sounds?
This is pure slander!
“Ji Yang.”
At that moment, it was his turn for attendance!
Ji Yang immediately responded, “Present!”
Elder Lu looked in the direction of the voice, saw Ji Yang, and nodded slightly.
Many disciples did not show much reaction upon hearing his name. Although many of them had only been punished here for a few months, the high daily task targets forced them to stay longer.
Ji Yang, as a rising star, was not well-known in the inner sect, so most people had not heard of him.
However, a few cultivators cast surprised glances at his name.
One of them was a disciple at the Mid Golden Core stage, who first cautiously sized up Ji Yang before slowly retracting his gaze.
Ji Yang did not react much; he had grown used to it!
This was the treatment that a genius deserved, unless he stayed at Jingtan Peak without leaving!
Although he understood the reason for attendance, Ji Yang felt troubled afterward. The punishment time was already short, and now the mine would be sealed at night, meaning he would lose half of his cultivation time!
Even though there was the energy of the earth demons, they could just keep other cultivators out; why seal it with formations?
Such actions were worse than locking a public restroom!
From what Brother Cai had said, high-level cultivators were not afraid of this weak energy of the earth demons, and Ji Yang wasn’t afraid either.
He had already reached the Mid Golden Core stage, and he was confident in both his physical strength and his Techniques.
But most disciples were at the Foundation Establishment stage, and with the formations sealing the mine, how could he get in?
Was he supposed to sneak a word to Elder Lu and build some connections?
As attendance ended and the formations sealed the mine, Elder Lu and others began tallying the daily task targets.
“Yu Jing!”
“Forty stones short, carry over to tomorrow!”
“Pang Yang!”
“Fifty stones short, carry over to tomorrow!”
…
Seeing that the disciple called had only reached the Initial Stage of Foundation Establishment yet was fifty stones short made Ji Yang feel that something was off.
He had been punished for fifteen days with a daily task of one stone, which meant even with accumulation, it would only be fifteen stones at most. Moreover, he definitely would have mined some stones in between, so it wouldn’t have added up to so much.
Additionally, he had seen other disciples mining some stones beforehand, so it wasn’t as if there were no gains at all.
At that moment, Ji Yang heard the voices of other disciples.
"Sigh, ten stones a day is just too much! That’s ten times more than the Ziying Mine!"
"Just enjoy yourself! You are only at the Initial Stage of Foundation Establishment. I, on the other hand, am at the mid Foundation Establishment stage, and I have to mine fifteen stones every day!"
Ji Yang listened carefully again, confirming he hadn’t misheard.
Disciples at the Initial Stage of Foundation Establishment had a daily task of ten stones, so why did he only have one stone?
He turned to look at Elder Lu, who was upholding the law with a righteous image!
Ji Yang understood in his heart.
Fine, no need to build connections; he had already done that!
He thought about why things seemed so easy; with his realm raised, the weight of the ores increased, and yet the task target hadn’t changed. That was quite unusual.
It seemed that the previous Elder Li’s actions made Elder Lu feel guilty, leading him to use his authority to secretly lend Ji Yang a hand.
He could not thank you enough!
This made Ji Yang’s already short punishment period even more complicated.
Looking at the Xuan Iron Mine in his storage bag, which was no less than ten stones, Ji Yang decisively stored all of it in the Heaven’s Secret Pearl.
Now, he wanted to see how Elder Lu would respond!
Soon, it was time to check Ji Yang’s storage bag.
Ji Yang handed over the storage bag, and Elder Lu took it and opened it to inspect!
The storage bag was empty.
Elder Lu paused for a moment, but quickly returned to normal.
"Ji Yang, you are one stone short! Carry over to tomorrow!"
Hearing this, Ji Yang breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it was just a matter of building connections; he didn’t have to lie outright and ask for an exemption.
Other punished disciples looked at Ji Yang in surprise. Some recognized him as a new punished disciple but were amazed that someone at the Initial Stage of Foundation Establishment could mine nine stones of Xuan Iron Mine daily.
Meanwhile, a few disciples who knew Ji Yang remained silent.
At that moment, Ji Yang could have revealed Elder Lu’s secret plan and brought the light of justice to the forefront.
But he couldn’t do that.
Elder Lu had used his power for Ji Yang’s benefit, mixing public and private matters.
He wasn’t foolish; even though he maintained his righteous image vociferously in daily life, he didn’t know those people well. At such a critical moment, he certainly couldn’t prioritize his righteous image.
If exposed, Elder Lu might lose his position, so the matter had to be dropped.
But as long as he didn’t turn in the Xuan Iron Mine every day, he could remain as he was!
That was wonderful!
As for previously building connections to go mine at night, that probably wouldn’t work now. Elder Lu had already helped him with the exemption, and Ji Yang had no reason to go mining early just to leave sooner.
It was troublesome!
Ji Yang felt a bit frustrated.
As the roll call ended, many disciples remained in the camp outside the mining site.
Since they had all reached the Foundation Establishment stage, just taking a pill was enough to digest food, making the spiritual grain bun a thing of the past.
As Elder Lu and the others moved away, the camp began to buzz with noise.
Many disciples vented their frustrations to their fellow brothers, sharing their feelings and the difficulties of mining.
Ji Yang felt the same way; mining was indeed not easy!
While Ji Yang pondered, three people slowly approached a disciple not far away. These three had substantial cultivation levels—two were at the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment, and one was at the Mid Golden Core stage!
Even among the punished disciples, they were at the top level, and now that the guard disciples had withdrawn, their power was overwhelming.
What they did next did not disappoint Ji Yang.
The three approached the disciple at the Initial Stage of Foundation Establishment, and the young man in the lead, at the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment, spoke up:
"Junior brother, hand over your share for today!"
The oppressed disciple clenched his fists, his anger rising, and then pulled a heavy piece of Xuan Iron Mine weighing several pounds from another storage bag.
This was the unturned-in Xuan Iron Mine; unexpectedly, he had secretly hidden one piece.
He must have done this to deal with the current situation. As for hiding it and bringing it out of the mining site, that was impossible, as the sect had a special artifact that could detect untreated Xuan Iron Mine in storage bags. If discovered, he would face even harsher punishments from the sect, much worse than the mining tasks.
From the ease with which this disciple acted, it was clear this was not the first time he had been oppressed.
