Chapter 695: Chapter 688: Mining Area

Sitting cross-legged on the deck of the Spirit Ship, Chen Hai watched in silence as Shangguan Hong and Jiang Bieli were captured by He Yu, tortured to the point of wishing for death.

On the deck of the Spirit Ship, the others who had been forcibly drafted did not understand the Territory of West Barbarian Mountain. In their eyes, Shangguan Hong and Jiang Bieli looked foolish, like complete idiots.

But the thoughts in Chen Hai’s heart were certainly different from theirs.

In his understanding, there were no Heavenly Immortal level cultivators in their West Barbarian Mountain Territory.

Then where did Shangguan Hong and Jiang Bieli, these two Heavenly Immortals, come from? And why did they appear near the domain of the Bloodthirsty Sect?

After much thought, Chen Hai could not find a reason!

If Shangguan Hong and Jiang Bieli were still safe and sound, sitting on the deck of this Spirit Boat, perhaps he would look for an opportunity to get closer to them and probe their origins.

But now, these two fellows were hanging on to their lives by a thread, having lost most of their vitality.

Given the robust Life Force of a Heavenly Immortal, as long as they could catch their breath, the horrific injuries on their bodies, though not deadly, would still result in them being branded with a Slave Seal and thrown into the War Slave Camp.

Although Chen Hai was unclear what this Slave Seal was or what the War Slave Camp was,

anyone with a bit of sense would know that the fate of those who were branded with the Slave Seal and sent to the War Slave Camp would be extremely miserable.

To approach these two unlucky souls by voluntarily going to the War Slave Camp? No one would be foolish enough to make such a choice.

After pondering with a frown for a while, Chen Hai used the Heavenly Mechanism Technique to make a conjecture.

However, he could only roughly deduce that the appearance of these two individuals in the West Barbarian Mountain Territory was somehow related to him.

As for other matters, he could not calculate at all.

Such a result did not surprise Chen Hai; after all, the Heavenly Mechanism Technique’s prediction of events can only outline some general situations, and among the matters related to these two individuals, there were indeed beings whose strength far exceeded his own.

“I, Chen Hai, am known for my warm heart and for being kind to others. Within the West Barbarian Mountain Territory, I have mostly been in seclusion, rarely causing trouble outside.”

“It stands to reason that I should hardly have any enemies at all. I can affirm that I have never met those two Heavenly Immortals before.”

“If they really came for me, with ill intentions toward me, then they…”

Frowning, Chen Hai pondered for a moment, “Could it be that they come from overseas, here because of Zuo Yunxiao’s death?”

After thinking it over, he felt that this guess might have a significant possibility.

After all, before Zuo Yunxiao’s death, he had threatened Chen Hai, claiming that there were Heavenly Immortals backing him.

Besides this, Chen Hai could not think of any other deed of his own that could have provoked a Heavenly Immortal-level power to seek revenge against him.

“Once those two misfortuned souls are branded with the Slave Seal and thrown into the War Slave Camp, who knows how long they might live?”

“Regardless of whether or not they came because of Zuo Yunxiao’s death,”

“For now, I better take care of myself first.”

“On this deck of the Spirit Ship, although there are all sorts of people in droves, with the people from Heavenly Mansion here to keep order, presumably no one would dare to cause trouble.”

“While there is leisure time, it’s better to cultivate in tranquility. No matter what lies ahead, one’s own strength is the foundation—the more one can improve, the better.”

With this thought in mind, Chen Hai sat cross-legged and began to immerse himself in cultivation.

The Spirit Ship soared through the sky at great speed.

After He Yu captured Shangguan Hong and Jiang Bieli, it took him most of the day to circle a few times within the West Barbarian Mountain Territory.

By the aid of the All Living Beings Mirror, an auxiliary Immortal Artifact, four or five unfortunate souls of True Immortal and True Demon stature were discovered by the Heavenly Mansion’s crew aboard the Spirit Ship and were forcefully conscripted onto it.

Within the Territory of West Barbarian Mountain, it was already hard to find a handful of cultivators at the level of True Immortal and True Demon.

Chen Hai managed to enter the Earth Immortal Realm mainly because of the Black Water Immortal Mansion; the ample Spiritual Energy inside was the reason.

Otherwise, even if his Basic Method of Cultivation had an extremely high limit, without sufficient Spiritual Energy to inhale and exhale, his efficiency in cultivation would be much slower.

Other cultivators from Sect powers within the Territory did not have the same foundation as Chen Hai.

After Chen Hai used Gathering Spirit Stones and drained nearly a third of the Territory’s Spiritual Energy, exacerbating the already scarce Spiritual Energy of West Barbarian Mountain Territory, many of the already scarce True Immortals and True Demons had found their own paths and fled to other regions.

For the Heavenly Mansion’s Spirit Ship to find and conscript four or five True Immortals and True Demons within West Barbarian Mountain was already quite difficult.

West Barbarian Mountain Territory was the last stop on He Yu’s mission.

After conscripting four or five more True Immortals and True Demons, the entire Spirit Ship crossed the sea of clouds and finally began its journey home.

…

In the southern part of Zhan State, within a vast mining region in the southeast territory.

Teams of fully-armed Immortals patrolled back and forth throughout the area.

The Heavenly Mansion occupied roughly a third of the mining area, while the remaining two-thirds fell under the influence of the Demon Palace.

The boundaries between the two territories in the mining area were distinct. The standard-issue armor of the patrolling Immortals varied in color and style so markedly that one could easily distinguish which side they belonged to at a glance.

At the intersection of the two powers within the mining area, whenever the patrol teams from both sides happened to meet, it was better if they only glared at each other angrily. Occasional verbal spats had already become the norm.

Initially, this place was merely an ordinary mining area covering a mere ten miles or so.

Ever since Star Stone was discovered here, the area had completely transformed; it had ballooned to cover hundreds, if not thousands, of miles.

Lesser powers with an eye on this mine would be either annihilated or expelled.

After countless battles, the Demon Palace and the Heavenly Mansion finally joined forces to completely occupy the entire mining region.

In the beginning, each of the two powers held half of the Star Stone Mine.

Where there were interests, there were conflicts. After taking over the mine, clashes between the Heavenly Mansion and the Demon Palace continued both overtly and covertly.

As time went by, the area under Heavenly Mansion’s control had dwindled to about one-third.

Clearly, in the conflict with the Demon Palace, Heavenly Mansion was the weaker side; otherwise, the mine would not have ended up in its current state.

A massive Spirit Ship soaring through the skies approached from the distant horizon.

After entering the mining area, the Spirit Ship slowed down, and it started to descend gradually in a flat terrain.

“We’ve arrived. Get down, hurry!”

“I’m the Manager of the mine. True Immortals and True Demons, follow me. Your task is to mine. Later, I will assign you to different teams.”

“Earth Immortals and Heavenly Immortals, over here. I am Manager Sun from the Patrol Camp. Your positions will be arranged later according to your strength.”

…

The Spirit Ship had just stabilized when dozens of people from the mine flew towards it and stopped near the Spirit Ship.

Those from the mining area shouted repeatedly at the conscripted individuals on the Spirit Ship.