"Long live the old steward!"

"Long live the old steward!"

A group of people on the manor's plaza shouted in unison, their faces extremely excited.

Amidst the excited gazes of the crowd, Ning Zheng didn't bother with official words, knowing they were all eagerly waiting.

Soon, Ning Zheng skillfully listed the following four rewards.

Reward one, 100 new blacksmiths.

Reward two, each area is granted a [Large Storage Ring] for public savings, managed by the area's head.

And open the private purchase rights for [Small Storage Bags].

Reward three, the opening of the Jiao Blood Human Race.

Reward four, blacksmiths can sort and classify the spoils of war, choosing their rewards from the vast loot, each blacksmith receiving a voucher worth 500 Magic Coins!

...

Once the four rewards were announced.

Everyone excitedly discussed amongst themselves.

Ning Zheng glanced at them, seeing the situation, the discussion results would take some time, so he planned to inspect the mine, to study the new mine.

To see if the Shoushan Copper infused with black Three Flowers had any differences?

After Ning Zheng left, the management team including Jiucai Rong also engaged in heated discussions.

Adding new 100 blacksmiths is basically a mandatory choice.

The manor hadn't developed before.

The simple blacksmith shop was small, lacking any other facilities, the number felt just right.

However, with many facilities opened, the number of Forging Furnaces increased, more Spirit Fields... manpower was severely insufficient, productivity was lacking, many daily tasks were postponed!

The option for the first 100 blacksmiths was almost locked in.

The remaining three options still required careful consideration.

"Spatial storage doesn't seem that necessary?" Immortal Aunt couldn't help but say, "Anyway, the manor is pretty big now! Just place a warehouse, and it's done!"

She was tempted by the fourth option.

500 Magic Coins were a huge sum she could only earn in a week, even for someone running a medical clinic.

"Actually, this storage option would make things more convenient for us, for instance in transporting ores... now the manor on the mountain, and the prison below, needs daily deliveries of materials, having this would make it convenient!"

Jiucai Rong said: "Moreover, wealthy people also want to buy personal Storage Bags, a cubic meter costs 600 Magic Coins, it's a status symbol for them... However, compared to other options, it feels like it can be postponed temporarily."

The third, Jiao Blood Human Race, was a reward missed and not chosen before.

At that time, winter had just begun, they were considering whether to choose this cold-resistant new race for winter.

Even now, it's still a very excellent option.

With Money Child consuming soil, the Human Race being moderate, this clearly is a strong race in the early stages!

Frankly, having only two original races seems too few for current players!

And the last option, the straightforward and generous reward of 500 Magic Coins.

This was quite generous!

...

...

The Mine.

While they were enthusiastically analyzing, Ning Zheng had already reached the bottom level of the mine.

As for Gao, he didn't take her away.

Instead, he took a detour and secretly sent Gao to the walls of Xinyi State City.

In that situation, he could have taken Gao away.

Because she was not an Earth-bound Spirit, but a living person, she could certainly escape.

In normal circumstances before, her muddled brain wouldn't have been able to leave the city walls because the gate was guarded.

However, when the walls shattered, taking her away directly would have been easy.

But why didn't Ning Zheng take Gao away? Bring her back to the manor as a bodyguard?

Because Gao's true form was her heart.

If he didn't take her heart, taking her away was useless.

Instead.

It would raise suspicions with the Court.

If Gao disappeared, they might suspect she was behind it!

Maybe this batch of cultists secretly saved her, or there was some conspiracy going on.

They have control over her heart, which means they can decide her life or death at any moment, upon seeing her missing, they might mistakenly kill her instantly!

Taking her away would actually harm her.

Among the Supreme Prison's ancient prisoners, there were likely many; sending her back to hide among prisoners would not lead to suspicion of her.

Ning Zheng's Spiritual Root and breath were clearly different from hers!

Moreover, staying in Xinyi State City also had great strategic significance, possibly not worse than being in the manor!

It must be known.

Xinyi State City is at the center of the State.

He placed a nuclear bomb there, allowing him to enter the cockpit remotely any time, activating the Gundam Mecha of Xinyi State City!

Not only could he stir trouble anytime in the state city, but also secretly teleport into any town through the Teleportation Array!

The center of the Thousand Cities, nuclear missile, shoot wherever pointed!

Its own nuclear deterrent power might not be weaker than a small Holy Land!

Of course, there is a very important premise.

"I must understand the prison mechanisms inside."

"See if I can sneak Gao through the teleportation array to leave, and then quietly send her back after the action."

"The key point is that we cannot be detected."

"The Ghost is bound and cannot be taken away, but living people can... just don't know how strict their monitoring mechanism for living people is."

Ning Zheng felt there was a great chance.

After all, the heart is the core monitoring target for One Heart Realm prisoners.

These ancient prisoners, now with their brains being mined daily, are in a daze, so the monitoring shouldn't be strict.

Thinking over the issue of Gao, Ning Zheng inspected the mine vein and indeed found an anomaly.

He discovered a black Magic Copper!

And it was growing slowly.

"Looks like Copper Essence, nurturing essence?"

Ning Zheng pondered.

Gao is a living person, giving a black Three Flowers wouldn't revive her like a Ghost, making her a Ghost King.

Though not a Ghost King, it should still bring huge gains!

It's just that Gao herself is not of sound mind, and even if she gains new powers, she remains dazed, unable to utilize them.

Ning Zheng also didn't know exactly what changes had occurred.

"Need to observe a bit more."

Ning Zheng mused.

This black Magic Copper feels like this mine vein has indeed been upgraded!

Magic Copper is a necessary material for basic Magical Artifacts.

However, it's too basic, and its mana storage capacity is very low, starting from high tier Magical Artifacts, Magic Copper is no longer used to store mana.

They use a more advanced "high-energy battery" for weapon mana storage, which generally comes from precious Heavenly and Earthly Treasures, and even some Demon King's cores.

Thus, the forging of each advanced weapon, or even a Divine Weapon, requires cultivators to hunt crazily, delving into various Secret Realms and dangerous places.

Therefore, the mortality rate for high-tier cultivators has always been high, with alchemy materials, forging materials... which don't require adventure?

Currently, if the manor can mine advanced forging materials, more advanced "batteries," it would be a major boon.

As for not mining the cave?

Ning Zheng does not plan to do that.

Whether or not to sympathize with the old god is another matter.

The main issue is this Xinyi State Supreme Prison's regulatory mechanism is so comprehensive!

Escaping is extremely difficult.

Even rescuing an Earth-bound Spirit on the city wall requires overcoming numerous hurdles.

If not for taking advantage of the Evil Cult's attack incident, how could Ning Zheng possibly snatch the city gate "key" from the Fang Family single-handedly?

Even rescuing the dead is so difficult.

Let alone a living prehistoric old god.

This is a living person!

Not a defective Ghost, but a prehistoric overlord released would bring enormous harm to Xinyi State!

If Ning Zheng was right.

There should be dedicated people monitoring market flows, the output from various mines, whether it's to forge Magical Artifacts, whether Magic Copper is being sold...

If you don't mine, don't impose torture, they will probably come to inspect you!

This mine vein is Xinyi State's public property.

Providing supply and demand to various cities; not mining will significantly disrupt market supply and demand.

Not mining might lead to investigation causes, whether old era forces are attempting a rescue.

If it's a usual force, maybe it can withstand investigation, but Ning Zheng has too many secrets here which would cause major incidents upon inspection.

Thus, Ning Zheng plans to proceed as usual.

The specific situation of the black Magic Copper needs to be tested with forging some Magical Artifacts to understand the results.

After studying the mine for a while, Ning Zheng returned to the manor square, and found that Jiucai Rong and others had already finished discussing.

Everyone was so happy that their faces were flushed, and several even presented their traditional talent:

Eating dirt!

A group of goofy blacksmiths with their butts up were gnawing around excitedly celebrating.

"Sir, we choose gift vouchers worth 500 Magic Coins, and invite one hundred of our blue-collar friends to enter the manor to shine for the Manor Master!"

Jiucai Rong carefully said: "And, there are one hundred blacksmith positions, could you give the invitation letters to let us select people?"

Ning Zheng paused, this was getting bolder, they even want to sell invitation letters for money.

Previously, it was a special reward for them; regular options shouldn't be like this.

But after some thought, these blacksmiths did indeed perform well recently.

"Fifty positions, the others will be random." Ning Zheng replied.

"Thank you, sir!" Jiucai Rong smiled happily.