Help

Just then, a foreman passed by. Seeing this scene, he asked Gao Shiping with a smile, "Martial Uncle, who is this? He even needs you to personally accompany him." Yue Qianchou dismissively turned his head aside, as though he had heard nothing.

Gao Shiping's face sank. He barked at the foreman, "Don't be rude. This is your Martial Uncle Yue Qianchou. He merely made a small mistake and has temporarily been punished to work here. Before long, he'll be going back. How can you compare him to ordinary miners?"

"Martial Uncle Yue, Martial Uncle Yue," the foreman said with a forced smile. His expression was somewhat insincere as he muttered inwardly, So this is Yue Qianchou, the one who offended the Sect Master. If even that was a small mistake, then most of the miners here were innocent.

"Junior Brother, don't take his words to heart. Come, have a few drinks at my place," Gao Shiping invited.

Yue Qianchou cupped his hands and smiled. "Then I'll respectfully accept rather than stand on ceremony!" The two burst into laughter and headed toward the overseer's residence with their arms around each other's shoulders, immediately drawing countless gazes. The miners in particular looked on with envy in their eyes.

An overseer's life was truly comfortable. At a single command, fine wine and delicious dishes were soon laid across a table in the refreshing wooden house. Both men were in good spirits, raising their cups again and again as they drank to their hearts' content.

The miners got one day of rest every three days, and naturally there was a reason for it. Mining was simply too physically demanding, while most miners were below the Foundation Establishment Realm. Without rest, quite a few would likely be worked to death before long. This was not a job ordinary mortals could do; if mortals did it, they probably could not dig out more than a few Spirit Stones in a day. Rest was naturally one way to ensure the mining output.

Before they left the table, Yue Qianchou let out a full belch and said, "What a coincidence. Before I entered the sect, I had quite a bit of experience in mining. If Senior Brother Gao trusts me, then on the last day of every three days, I'd like to ask Senior Brother to continue keeping watch at the cave entrance for me."

How could Gao Shiping fail to understand what he meant? His eyes immediately lit up. The two laughed again and had a heart-to-heart talk. In the end, Gao Shiping insisted on seeing him off, while Yue Qianchou found it hard to refuse such warm hospitality. As a result, the former personally escorted the latter straight to his dwelling cave.

Gao the Butcher's arrival frightened the other three people in the cave into scrambling to their feet. The two men called each other senior and junior brother with wine fumes on their breath, their familiarity enough to make others green with envy.

Seeing his junior brother's living conditions, Gao Shiping frowned and thumped his chest as he promised, "Junior Brother, endure this for now. Tomorrow, I'll definitely find you a clean place to stay. Leave it to your senior brother."

After Gao the Butcher had visited, the three men's attitude toward Yue Qianchou changed greatly. They became far more restrained and no longer dared turn their backsides toward him.

Yue Qianchou understood perfectly. He glanced at the three, then suddenly noticed a bloody wound across Shi Xiaotian's back, clearly left by the Wolf Fang Whip. He could not help asking, "Shi Xiaotian, what happened to your back?"

Hearing himself called, Shi Xiaotian hurriedly climbed up again to answer his martial uncle. After seeing Yue Qianchou's relationship with the overseer, he did not dare act as he had before. Shi Xiaotian had fallen short of his quota by one hundred low-grade Spirit Stones this time. According to the rules, he had to take one strike from the Wolf Fang Whip. This wound was his punishment.

Since he had opened his mouth, Yue Qianchou asked a few more questions. Shi Xiaotian answered them one by one.

Shi Xiaotian had truly been unlucky. His family had originally been nobles of the Huaxia Empire. Because he had been born with good aptitude, a Core Formation stage cultivator from the Qingguang Sect had taken a liking to him and wanted to accept him as a disciple. Cultivating immortality was a blessing one could only encounter by chance in the Huaxia Empire, so his family naturally agreed with delight. Thus, Shi Xiaotian entered the Qingguang Sect. With his decent aptitude, he reached Qi Refining Level Four in his first year. Yet in the second year, his master was killed by someone unknown while down the mountain. Worst of all, he and a certain elder's grandson both fell for a female disciple. Young men were bound to fight over love and jealousy, but in the end they angered a certain elder, who kicked him all the way here.

When Yue Qianchou heard that Shi Xiaotian's master had also died, he could not help looking at him twice more. When Shi Xiaotian got to the part about fighting over a woman, Yue Qianchou truly could not hold back his laughter. Looking at Shi Xiaotian again, he felt a sense of mutual sympathy. Thus, he had the thought of helping him out.

"Tomorrow, you'll come mine Spirit Stones with me!" After saying that, Yue Qianchou sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

Shi Xiaotian froze. Though unwilling, he did not dare say anything more. Many years later, whenever he recalled that night, he could only sigh that fate had played an earth-shattering joke on him. From that night onward, his destiny had completely taken a turn.

The next day, Yue Qianchou, who had been meditating cross-legged, did not know when he had fallen asleep. In his dream, he and someone bathing in the forbidden grounds were sweet as honey. Perhaps after hearing Shi Xiaotian's story of fighting over love and jealousy, what he thought by day appeared in his dreams by night. Otherwise, why would the Immortal sister, whom he had not dreamed of for so long, appear again? By the time he woke with a yawn, the sun was already high in the sky.

He wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth. Before him was Shi Xiaotian's grimy face, unable to hide its anxiety. Seeing that the other two had already vanished from the cave, Yue Qianchou smiled in satisfaction. He would never treat those who listened to him poorly.

"Martial Uncle, you're awake. It's nearly noon already. Let's hurry!" Shi Xiaotian had actually wanted to leave long ago. If not for his concern over Yue Qianchou's relationship with Gao the Butcher, he would have disappeared long since.

Seeing the two sets of mining tools laid out before him, Yue Qianchou gave an acknowledging grunt and walked out empty-handed. Shi Xiaotian picked up the two baskets and followed. Though Yue Qianchou said nothing after glancing back, he secretly nodded. If Shi Xiaotian did not even have this much tact, then he would not have been worth helping.

The area around the Spirit Stone mine had long become empty. Aside from a few guards, only several people could be seen at the mine entrance.

"Junior Brother Yue, you truly made me wait!" Gao Shiping laughed when he saw the two approaching. Yue Qianchou waved and walked over with a smile. "How could I dare trouble Senior Brother to personally come? I simply drank too much yesterday, and my body was somewhat tired, so I overslept."

"This is?" Gao Shiping asked doubtfully when he saw Shi Xiaotian behind him.

Yue Qianchou sighed. "Many hands make light work! I specially found someone to be my helper. I believe we'll have a better chance of completing the task."

"Ha! I believe in Junior Brother's abilities, and you certainly won't disappoint me." Probably only Yue Qianchou could understand the deeper meaning in Gao Shiping's words. Then Gao Shiping brought out something wrapped in a banana leaf. "Junior Brother will likely be going in for another three days. This is a little food—take it in and eat!"

Smelling the aroma of meat, Yue Qianchou accepted it with thanks. The other foremen nearly had their eyes pop out. Since when had Gao the Butcher become so thoughtful? Some even suspected the two had a taste for the cut sleeve.

The other foremen also warmly called him Martial Uncle Yue. After inspecting the two late miners, they let them into the mountain cave. Even Shi Xiaotian benefited greatly from following behind him. Cold and ruthless Gao the Butcher actually nodded and smiled at him too—this was truly something that came once in a thousand years.

Yue Qianchou strolled unhurriedly toward the deepest part of the mine cave. Shi Xiaotian followed behind, so impatient he wanted to kick him. Half the daylight was nearly gone, yet Yue Qianchou was still in no hurry at all.

After walking all the way to the hole he had dug yesterday, Yue Qianchou stopped and smiled. "Didn't eat this morning? That's my fault for oversleeping. Come, eat something first. You'll have strength to work once you're full." As he spoke, he opened the banana leaf wrapping, revealing a huge lump of golden roasted meat, fragrant enough to make mouths water. He tore off half and handed it to Shi Xiaotian.

Yue Qianchou took a bite. Mm! It really tasted quite good. He rather liked Gao Shiping, someone who would put effort into handling matters after taking payment. Unlike certain people in his previous life, who took things and still refused to do anything—those were the people he hated most.

Just as he was eating with great relish, he suddenly heard crying. Shi Xiaotian was holding that huge half of roasted meat and bawling his eyes out. Yue Qianchou froze and asked strangely, "What are you crying for?"

"Reporting to Martial Uncle, Xiaotian hasn't eaten meat in a long time. Xiaotian misses home," Shi Xiaotian choked out as he wiped away his tears.

What a child! Yue Qianchou swallowed the meat in his mouth. "Damn! I thought something happened. You're sniveling like a woman. Hurry up and eat! Finish eating so we can work."

Thus, the two squatted in the deepest part of the mine cave, hugging their roasted meat and gnawing madly. The smacking sounds of their chewing echoed through the cave. After finishing, Shi Xiaotian happily patted his belly. Yue Qianchou told him to take up the tools and led him into the hole he had dug.

When Shi Xiaotian saw exposed Spirit Stones everywhere along the cave walls, his eyes immediately widened. He simply could not believe it. This mine cave had clearly been dug before, yet why had no one taken the Spirit Stones right before their eyes? Naturally, he did not know these were what Yue Qianchou had left behind, too lazy to waste time picking them up.

Yue Qianchou pointed deeper inside. "I found this place. There are more inside, all just like this, with exposed Spirit Stones everywhere. Just casually digging around will be enough to finish our three-day quota. Xiaotian, can you mine enough for two people for three days by yourself?"

Shi Xiaotian nodded excitedly. "Rest assured, Martial Uncle. You can rest to the side and leave it all to me. Mining Spirit Stones like these doesn't take much effort."

Damn it! Did he think I brought him here just so I could slack off? Being misunderstood did not feel good. Yue Qianchou's facial muscles twitched as he explained, "I'm not leaving this place to you so I can rest. I'm going to look for better mineral veins. We can't just care about today and ignore the future!"

Hearing that Yue Qianchou was going to search for better mineral veins, Shi Xiaotian immediately thumped his chest with a bang. "Go without worry, Martial Uncle! Leave this place to me."

Why did that sound like he was comforting someone about to die? Yue Qianchou rolled his eyes. "Don't go out for these three days. Mine here without worry! I'll bring you food. Remember to dig it clean. Don't waste the exposed Spirit Stones." After Shi Xiaotian agreed, he could not be bothered to say more. He turned and left to find a good place to dig high-grade Spirit Stones.