146: Chapter 145: Little Que’er!_1 146: Chapter 145: Little Que’er!_1 More than a thousand miles south of the Gu Yuan Tribe, several thousand slaves were bustling around on the low rolling hills.
These n, won, elderly and young, looked extrely gaunt, and their movents suggested the living dead due to the long hours of grueling labor they’d endured.
Above the undulating hills, tribesn stood on guard, staring unblinkingly at the working slaves.
On the cliffside, dozens of desiccated bodies swayed in the wind, seemingly a grim reminder to those below against attempting to escape.
The mountains echoed incessantly with the clanging of mining tools.
The once uneven landscape had been pierced with nurous mines, and thousands of slaves, burdened with bamboo baskets, trudged out of them.
They dumped the rubble from the baskets onto a designated patch of land, imdiately to be ransacked by other slaves in search of any exposed Elental Stones).
The primary mining techniques and simple tools hindered the speed at which they could mine the seams.
Taskmasters brandished long whips, barking harsh orders at the slaves.
Any slight displeasure led to physical punishnts without hesitation.
The life and death of these slaves ant nothing to them; to these oppressors, slaves were as insignificant as dust, easily extinguished.
A few slaves, huffing in low voices, struggled to carry a boulder larger than their bodies out of the mine.
The heavy stone bent their backs, leaving traces on the ground.
Their bodies were naked except for a piece of beast skin tied around them, a precaution against concealing any Elental Stones.
“Indeed, it’s an astonishingly large vein.
May the ancestors bless, I never expected our Xuan She Tribe to have such fortune.
Even if we were only to get half of these Elental Stones, we would surely dominate this ten thousand mile wasteland,” the Commander Xia remarked passionately.
Upon hearing this statent from Commander Xia, another man couldn’t help but laugh heartily.
He chid in, “It’s indeed an astonishing vein.
According to the tribal people below, after thorough exploration, the Elental Stone Vein spanning thirteen miles is near the surface.
As long as these worthless slaves clear the top layer, mining underneath would be effortless.
We will probably make over ten thousand Elental Stones a year.
Who knows, there might even be so dium grade Elental Stones deep down.”
Elental Stones ca in many grades: lower, middle, upper, and top.
A middle grade Elental Stone could be exchanged for a hundred lower grade ones, and an upper grade for a hundred middle grade ones.
Still, very few people would exchange their Elental Stones as every grade increase ant tens of tis the amount of primal energy and purity, which imnsely benefitted a warrior’s cultivation.
“I wonder how our tribal chiefs are doing.
The last Centurion escorting the slaves ntioned that the Gu Yuan Tribe’s chief, Xiao Chen, has returned and has even publicly slain two of our Blood Refining Realm Warriors.
He also set a ten-day promise.
Looking at the ti, the fight must have ended by now!”
“Commander Xia, can the humble Gu Yuan Tribe really put up a challenge against our tribes, led by our illustrious chiefs?
This Xiao Chen is nothing more than an insignificant clown.
The Gu Yuan Tribe itself is a joke to our sons.
It’s just a bunch of kids who chanced upon so luck and got arrogant.
When we join forces to surround little Gu Yuan, I bet the new slaves must already be on their way!
Ha-ha….”
“Ha-ha-ha…You’re right, the next batch of tribal warriors should be arriving soon.
Although Elental Stones are valuable, this place is too barren and dull.
I wonder when the tribe will send others to replace us, it’s so boring here.”
The loud, raucous laughter echoed across the mountain ranges, causing the slaves to tremble involuntarily.
The exhausting labor they have engaged in for a long ti had left them utterly worn out, leaving them to go through the motions subconsciously.
“Are you really thinking of leaving this Elental Stone vein, Brother Xia?”
A man with the surna Yu asked with a hint of sarcasm.
He looked at the robust man nearby.
They exchanged knowing glances and chuckled, communicating tacit understanding.
The saying goes, where there is purity, there are no fish.
Where there are people, there are followers.
As the leaders appointed by the Xuan She Kui Shui Tribe chiefs to guard the mine and supervise mining, who would believe they hadn’t kept so for themselves secretly?
As long as the embezzlent wasn’t too excessive, the Tribe wouldn’t chase after them.
Just then, down the cliffside, a woman and a child seed to be less than ten years old were helping each other lumber along with a bamboo basket full of mineral residue on their backs.
The heavy weight made it hard for the mother and child to walk.
“Ah Mu, do you think big brother Chieftain will co to rescue us soon?
Que’er misses ho and my friends back in the tribe.”
“Que’er, be good, hold on.
The Chief will definitely co to save us and get us out of here”?
“Ah Mu, Old Tribe Uncle, Grandpa Mu, Uncle Lin…
and little brother Ah Di, they are all dead.
But why hasn’t the Chief brother co yet, little Que’er can’t hold on any longer.”?
“It’s all Que’er’s fault.
I shouldn’t have disobeyed Ah Mu’s words, sneaked out of the tribe.
Otherwise, Old Tribe Uncle and Grandpa Mu won’t be seized and killed by these bad guys while trying to save Que’er.”
The innocent heart of the child couldn’t understand why these ferocious evildoers, who were also humans, would treat them so cruelly.
The bamboo basket on his back was too heavy.
As mining slaves, aside from two or three hours of rest, the rest of the ti was spent in endless labour.
Coupled with the hardship of living in the wilderness, where supplies were scarce, these people from Xuan She Kui Shui Tribes could hardly suffice, let alone care for these mining slaves.
To them, the death of these lowly mining slaves was inconsequential.
“Ah Mu, what’s wrong with you?”
The woman stumbled and fell forward.
The mother and son who were leaning on each other both collapsed on the ground, and the waste from the bamboo basket on their backs spilled all over the ground.
The sudden incident caused a disturbance that naturally attracted the attention of an overseer nearby, who was brutal and ruthless.
The whip in his hand instantly lashed out.
“Little Que’er, sir, don’t hit him.
He’s still a child.
It’s because I’m too tired that I led him into this.
If you want to hit soone, hit !”
The whip saturated with dewdrops was especially sturdy.
With every lash, a deep mark would be ingrained on the body, etching into the bone.
“Lowly slaves, daring to slack off.
It seems like you’re seeking death.
Get up quickly!” Although the woman was begging bitterly, the overseer turned a blind eye, showing no rcy with his whip.
The cries for help caught the attention of Xia Jie and Yu Ji, who were highly placed and chasing fa.
“Seeking death!”
The burly man with the surna Xia suddenly bellowed.
The long spear in his hand pierced the void in an instant, shooting violently towards the mother and son below.
“No, Que’er!”
Seeing the spear coming to a sudden stop, the woman let out a piercing scream.
An intense force suddenly erupted from her already emaciated body, pushing little Que’er away with one push.
Ps Sorry guys, I just got the notice that the book will be on the shelves tomorrow, I’m completely unprepared.
For soone like , who is physically handicapped, coming back from work and posting chapters haphazardly at night, this is too sudden.
Also, to the readers on QQ Book City and the generous patrons on Qidian, I’ve received your ssages, I hope you forgive .
My hands are simply too crippled.
Sotis I get ho too late to finish a chapter.
There will be a new chapter tonight, the exact number of chapters I can write depends on the speed of my handicapped hands, please go easy on the criticism, my head is fragile.
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