An Outrageous Act of Defiance

At noon, the spirit mine was filled with the aroma of meat.

All the miner disciples lined up and received large bowls filled to the brim with red-braised pork.

Perhaps it was the pleasure of good food that brought rare smiles to the faces of these miner disciples, who had suffered who knew how much inhuman treatment.

Tieniu followed beside Chu Xinghe, shoveling great mouthfuls of red-braised pork from his bowl.

"Senior Brother Xinghe... boohoohoo... you're a good man. Please don't let me follow you anymore. I've got bad luck, and I'm afraid I'll bring you bad luck too."

Tieniu spoke with an honest, guileless look on his face.

Tieniu's surname was Wang, and his full name was Wang Tieniu. Nor had he been talking nonsense when he said he had bad luck. After asking Qin Xiangqian about him, Chu Xinghe learned that Wang Tieniu really was a man of exceptionally bad luck.

Not only was the lad not very bright, but his luck was abysmal. Ever since entering the spirit mine, he had scarcely mined a sizable piece of raw stone. Wherever Tieniu went, things were pretty much as bleak as could be.

As the people at the spirit mine put it, the fellow had a constitution that came with bad luck.

That was why many people were unwilling to go near Tieniu.

But after hearing all this, Chu Xinghe was beside himself with excitement!

Born with bad luck? There was such a good thing?

He had already considered why all his efforts had failed every single time.

It had to be his luck... his luck was far too heaven-defying!

Now someone with inborn bad luck could taint his own luck a little and suck it away. His path to becoming a Martial Emperor would be within reach!

So Chu Xinghe took Tieniu with him to inspect the spirit mine without hesitation.

After lunch, a group of miners prepared to return to work as usual. There was no rest time here.

Every day, apart from the time needed to sleep and eat, they had to spend every moment working with all their might.

But just as they were about to start, a piece of news stunned every miner.

"Starting today, all disciples will have one hour to rest after lunch!"

The miner disciples were dumbfounded. After confirming several times that they had heard correctly, they burst into cheers that echoed throughout the spirit mine.

Before their cheering had died down, countless carriages from the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce appeared at the mine.

Countless brand-new miner disciple uniforms were unloaded from the carriages and distributed throughout the mine. Every miner received two brand-new uniforms at once!

The miner disciples were utterly dumbfounded. What special occasion was it today?

Better food... time to rest... and brand-new disciple uniforms?

What was going on?

As countless miner disciples chattered among themselves, Qin Xiangqian looked at Chu Xinghe with a wry smile.

"Senior Brother Xinghe, improving their living conditions is one thing, but increasing their resources really will cause trouble!"

Qin Xiangqian was dumbfounded as he looked at the various resource allocations and benefits Chu Xinghe had drawn up for the miner disciples.

In the past, these miner disciples had consumed about one percent of the spirit mine's annual output.

Chu Xinghe became anxious on the spot when he heard that.

What the hell? One percent? Was that any way to treat people?

It had to be raised! Raised like crazy!

"Senior Brother Xinghe, under your plan, these miner disciples will consume at least ten percent of the mine's annual output. How... how can we guarantee the sect's supply of spirit stones? This will cause losses for the sect!"

Cause losses for the sect?

Chu Xinghe's eyes lit up when he heard Qin Xiangqian's words.

He had been so busy feeling sorry for the miner disciples that he had nearly forgotten about causing the sect losses.

Now he looked at the plan he had drawn up!

It consumed only ten percent of the output? He was being far too much of a skinflint. Could he even call himself human?

With a grand wave of his hand, Chu Xinghe raised the resources once again.

When Qin Xiangqian saw the final figure Chu Xinghe wrote down, he nearly fainted!

The spirit mine was to spend thirty percent of its annual output on benefits for the miner disciples?

All miner disciples would have four days off every month? If special circumstances arose, they could also request up to three days of leave without any reduction in benefits?

The cultivation techniques available to all miner disciples would be raised from the lowest grade to a grade just below those of the outer sect disciples?

All the miner disciples' various benefits would also be second only to those of the outer sect disciples?

As each provision appeared, only one phrase came to Qin Xiangqian's mind: "Outrageous defiance!"

Senior Brother Xinghe, are you trying to punch a hole through the heavens?

Previously, ninety-nine percent of the spirit mine's output had been sent to the sect, and even then the sect had demanded an increase in production every year. Now he wanted to keep thirty percent and send only seventy?

And these miner disciples had previously worked every day of the month. Now they would not only have time to rest every day, but days off every month as well. Wouldn't that lower the mine's output even further?

After working it out, Qin Xiangqian had only one thought... the spirit stones sent to the sect each year might not even amount to half of what they had before.

No matter how exceptional Senior Brother Xinghe's position was, if the sect lost half its annual supply of spirit stones, wouldn't all hell break loose?

Qin Xiangqian tried to dissuade Senior Brother Xinghe, but Senior Brother Xinghe wouldn't listen at all. He had Ma Liang post the various miner disciple benefits he had written down, and the gleaming Haotian Token seal on the notice represented the supreme authority of the Vast Heaven Sect!

Qin Xiangqian knew something big was about to happen!

Senior Brother Xinghe's string of actions was far more terrifying than buying the Tianyi Spirit Mine.

The sect's annual supply of spirit stones would suffer, but even more terrifying was that once the Vast Heaven Sect did this, wouldn't the miner disciples of other sects rise up in revolt?

In the past, everyone had it bad, so they had tacitly accepted the rules. But if one day they suddenly found out others had it better, how could there not be trouble?

That was how people were. You couldn't compare them; once you did, trouble followed!

But Chu Xinghe didn't take in a single word of Qin Xiangqian's advice.

Something big? Heh... that's exactly what I've been waiting for!

I finally got the chance to come out here, and I finally got my hands on the Haotian Token. How can I call it a day without punching a hole through the heavens this time?

Soon, after Ma Liang posted the benefits Chu Xinghe had drawn up for the miner disciples, all the Vast Heaven Sect's spirit mines erupted.

When the miner disciples saw the newly established benefits, their first reaction was that they were fucking dreaming!

To put it bluntly, these benefits were a little worse than those of the Vast Heaven Sect's outer sect disciples, but they were better than those of outer sect disciples in ordinary sects!

In some small sects, even inner sect disciples probably received no better treatment than this!

Could it really be true?

But when the Haotian Token seal, representing the Vast Heaven Sect's highest authority, gleamed before everyone's eyes, the miner disciples understood.

Senior Brother Xinghe meant it!

He was nothing like those so-called sect leaders who had come here before and made their so-called promises, only to pat their backsides and leave. Their words hadn't even had as much substance as a fart!

Chaos!

The Vast Heaven Sect's spirit mines were in complete uproar.

Ma Liang found himself surrounded by countless miner disciples.

"My lord... is what's written there true?"

"Call me Senior Brother Ma Liang!" Ma Liang said calmly, imitating Senior Brother Xinghe.

"Senior Brother Ma Liang, this isn't a joke, is it?"

"Right, right! Senior Brother Ma Liang, isn't this joke going a little too far?"

Ma Liang swept his gaze over the group of miner disciples!

A joke?

Hmph! They were the ones joking!

"Open your eyes wide and look. What's that on there? It's the sect master's Haotian Token! Who would dare make a joke with the Haotian Token?"

"And do you know who drew up this plan? It was none other than Senior Brother Xinghe!"

"You probably don't know who Senior Brother Xinghe is, do you? Let me tell you, Senior Brother Xinghe is the number one person of the younger generation under heaven today!"

Ma Liang recounted Chu Xinghe's exploits in the Vast Heaven Sect to the miner disciples one by one, embellishing them as he went.

In Ma Liang's telling, Senior Brother Xinghe was practically a saint!

He looked after every junior brother and sister, even accepting punishment himself for their sake!

He respected every senior brother and sister. Even as a personal disciple who had inherited the sect master's Haotian Battle Intent, he had never looked down on anyone because of his status!

He had single-handedly defeated the younger generation of Martial Emperor City, and Zheng Yu, who possessed the seven-colored glazed body, had been defeated by Senior Brother Xinghe in a single move!

Afterward, as a fifth-grade alchemist, he had refined a peerless divine pill and been hailed as the number one person of the younger generation in the alchemy world!

This time, the sect had entrusted him with the important task of choosing a spirit mine for the sect, even giving him full authority to make the decision!

As Ma Liang spoke, the miner disciples' eyes filled with disbelief!

Besides Ma Liang, Wan Lin and the other junior brothers and sisters also began recounting what Senior Brother Xinghe had done in the Vast Heaven Sect, one after another.

Gradually, every miner disciple became filled with longing!

Senior Brother Xinghe!

Was this the legendary Senior Brother Xinghe?

When he came to the spirit mine yesterday, everyone had assumed it would be the same as before: he would simply go through the motions, they would have a meal with meat, and everything would return to normal.

As for Senior Brother Xinghe's words, who had really taken them to heart?

But they realized they had been wrong.

Terribly wrong!

Senior Brother Xinghe hadn't just talked. He had actually done it!

He had done what others dared not do, and undertaken what others dared not undertake!

Why had they become miner disciples of the Vast Heaven Sect?

Was it because they liked mining?

No. Who among them hadn't dreamed of defying heaven and becoming a god?

So what if their aptitude was poor?

So what if they lacked talent?

Did that mean they had no right to pursue their dreams?

After countless rejections and ridicule, who knew how many people had chosen to enter the Vast Heaven Sect's spirit mines and become miner disciples?

They too had once cherished dreams. Countless times, they had imagined that one day, sword in hand, their lofty ambitions would carry them into the ninth heaven!

But reality had dealt them a crushing blow. As miner disciples, they received nothing apart from the most basic cultivation techniques and enough resources to keep them mining.

Yet why did they continue to persevere? Because they still had dreams!

But gradually, they had come to realize that perhaps those dreams could only ever be dreams.

Today, Senior Brother Xinghe had stepped forward and told every one of them that, from this day on, they once again had the right to pursue their dreams!

Their resources and benefits were second only to those of outer sect disciples, and, even more unbelievably, Senior Brother Xinghe had given them more advanced cultivation techniques.

From today on, they could obtain resources by working hard in the mines.

As long as they worked hard enough and met the corresponding requirements, they could learn the Vast Heaven Sect's more advanced cultivation techniques!

If they performed well enough, they could even become outer sect disciples of the Vast Heaven Sect openly and honorably—or even inner sect disciples!

They could become the future of the Vast Heaven Sect!