"Ling'er, Zhao Yun has entered the Mysterious Iron Ore Mine according to plan."
"Then Master's plan can begin."
Zhao Yun had already sent word back when he was captured.
"Yes. Let him stay in the Mine Tunnel for a while first. We can wait for the Ye Family to finish clearing out Shopkeeper Tong's people. There is no rush for our plan."
Zhao Yun had pretended to faint and been brought into the Mysterious Iron Ore Mine, exactly as Chen Ze had planned.
During the two days he waited for the Ye Family's purge, Chen Ze lived a comfortable little life.
With Zhao Ling'er by his side, his days were not dull in the least.
Over these two days, Chen Fan's Doppelganger brought back news every day.
The City Lord's Mansion had completely concluded its investigation into the Shopkeeper Tong incident, and had tacitly approved of everything the Ye Family had done.
The other several Lineages were also excessively quiet.
Wannan City was currently peaceful and harmonious, as though nothing had ever happened. It seemed people had deliberately chosen to forget certain matters.
However, Chen Ze did not care about such things. It was better if no one investigated; that made him safer as well.
News also came back from Zhao Yun.
Last night, a disturbance had broken out outside the Mysterious Iron Ore Mine, but it quickly subsided.
When he got up to mine today, everything inside the Mysterious Iron Ore Mine remained as usual, except that there seemed to be some new miners.
More than a hundred miners were now buried in their work within the Mysterious Iron Ore Mine. The slightest bit of laziness would bring a barrage of beatings and curses.
"Looks like the Ye Family cleared things out quickly. I never imagined the Ye Family was so powerful. The entire Wannan City seems to be shrouded beneath this Lineage."
Combining all the news he had received over the past few days, Chen Ze reached this conclusion.
But then Chen Ze gave a dry chuckle. "Hehe, but I am destined to carve off a piece of the Ye Family's enormous cake."
Within the Mysterious Iron Ore Mine, Zhao Yun's Doppelganger was lying low according to Chen Ze's instructions, playing the role of a qualified miner.
Over the past two days, Zhao Yun had already figured out how this mine operated.
Every miner in this Mysterious Iron Ore Mine had either been deceived into coming or captured outright.
Not a single one had come willingly.
Every miner here wore shackles on their feet, restricting their movements.
Every miner had a daily mining quota.
The required quota was determined according to each person's cultivation.
Those at Qi Refining First Layer had to hand over ten kilograms of Mysterious Iron Ore each day.
Those at Qi Refining Second Layer had to hand over twenty kilograms of Mysterious Iron Ore each day, and so on.
The amount of Mysterious Iron Ore demanded each day happened to be the absolute limit a person could mine in a day.
The Ye Family had calculated it all long ago. Other than resting, every miner here could only complete their quota by mining without pause.
As for those who failed to finish their quota each day, at best, they would be denied food.
At worst, not only would they receive no food, they would also be beaten and hung up as a warning to the others.
Even that was not the end of it. Every unfinished amount would also be carried over to the next day.
This cycle continued until they could complete their quota every day.
The more than one hundred miners here had long since completely lost any desire to resist.
They were now like walking corpses, driving their spiritual energy, swinging their picks, bending over and digging with their heads down.
They had no room to resist at all.
They could not even die if they wanted to. Whether mining or resting, someone was always guarding them.
The only thing they could do was cling to life, dragging out a wretched existence until their lives reached their end, or until the entire mine had been hollowed out.
Zhao Yun, who was mining, had just silently stored a piece of Mysterious Iron Ore in the Myriad Things Space when he suddenly heard a pained howl.
A miner had moved just a little too slowly and immediately received a guard's whip.
Then the guard's voice rang out. "Move faster."
Zhao Yun's Doppelganger was not without gains every day either. The cultivation he displayed was Qi Refining Third Layer, and his daily quota was thirty kilograms of Mysterious Iron Ore.
In reality, Zhao Yun could mine more than forty kilograms of Mysterious Iron Ore every day.
Moreover, because he was a Doppelganger, Zhao Yun would not feel tired even if he mined nonstop. It was only that his spiritual energy recovered rather slowly.
On top of that, Zhao Yun could use the Myriad Things Space, skimming off part of the ore every time he mined it.
He only needed to complete the thirty-kilogram daily quota. He stored all the rest in the Myriad Things Space.
Wannan City, Chen Ze's residence.
"Master, if these ten kilograms of Mysterious Iron Ore are recycled to the Myriad Things Shop, the return is only two Points. Isn't that too little?
"With Zhao Yun's strength, he can only collect an extra twenty kilograms of Mysterious Iron Ore a day right now."
Zhao Ling'er was somewhat puzzled. Though she was clever, and though she and Chen Ze had devised this plan together, she was still unsure whether it would work.
"It is fine. My target is not merely this tiny amount. This is only the beginning. What I want is the Ye Family's entire Mysterious Iron Ore Mine."
"We can begin tonight."
"Yes."
Night fell.
Chen Ze suddenly felt his mind tremble, and he murmured.
"Mm, my cultivation has broken through again. Qi Refining Sixth Layer."
"With my current strength, I should already have no opponents within the Qi Refining Realm. Even against someone at the early Foundation Establishment Realm, I would have the strength to fight.
"But even if I did encounter one, if the Doppelgangers attacked together, it would still be uncertain who would win and who would lose."
"Now is not the time to think about that. Zhao Yun should already have begun making his move."
Inside the Ye Family's Mysterious Iron Ore Mine.
Having completed his daily quota, Zhao Yun's Doppelganger was pretending to sleep.
At this moment, Zhao Yun's Doppelganger sensed that the other three people sharing the same Mine Tunnel with him had already fallen asleep.
These three had the same displayed cultivation as Zhao Yun's Doppelganger: all were at Qi Refining Third Layer.
Zhao Yun circulated the Breath Concealment Art. His aura vanished completely, and his figure moved like a ghost as he swiftly touched the three people in the Mine Tunnel once each.
The three vanished in an instant, yet in the blink of an eye, their figures appeared again.
The three who had reappeared exchanged smiles with Zhao Yun.
Then the four people in the Mine Tunnel closed their eyes at the same time and pretended to sleep.
All four people in this Mine Tunnel were Doppelgangers Chen Ze had purchased.
On the first day after entering the Mine Tunnel, Zhao Yun had already memorized these three people's appearances and mannerisms. He had even learned their names and sent all the information to Chen Ze.
Upon receiving this information, Chen Ze directly purchased three Doppelgangers from the Myriad Things Shop.
The method Zhao Yun's Doppelganger used to make the three disappear was simply to temporarily store them in the Myriad Things Space.
Meanwhile, in a forest a thousand li away from Wannan City, Chen Fan's Doppelganger had already been waiting there.
At the same time as Zhao Yun stored the three in the Myriad Things Space, Chen Fan released them again.
Chen Ze's purpose in doing this was merely to keep the Myriad Things Space from being exposed. Spending three Points was nothing.
Now, the three people who had entered the Myriad Things Space did not feel that they had ever been there.
They had only felt their bodies lighten, then been startled awake.
When they opened their eyes, all they saw was Chen Fan's Doppelganger, dressed in a black cloak and wrapped from head to toe.
Yet they still sensed that something was different. Their surroundings were no longer the pitch-black Mine Tunnel.
Before you continue