The Chaos Heart-Devouring Worm pried a piece of rock from the wall and chewed it. "Master, the stone in this cave is extremely hard. I'm afraid only Cultivators at the Nirvana Realm can dig through it."
Fang Chen nodded. Among the people he had seen outside the mine, even the weakest Cultivators had reached the Nirvana Realm, and many were at the Quasi-Saint Realm. Some came from the Ye Family's outer ranks, while many others belonged to the Ye Family Affiliated Forces.
In the Ye Family, those of the Direct Bloodline who had awakened the Xuanhuang Sacred Body held the highest status. Next came the Collateral Bloodline, and last were the people from forces that had attached themselves to the Ye Family.
Those attached forces had it hardest. At the very bottom of the Ye Family's towering structure, they were exploited most severely. They were little more than the Ye Family's beasts of burden, given the hardest and most dangerous work.
Those lineages had little choice. Though the Affiliated Families did the most exhausting work within the vast Ye Family, their lives were still fairly good compared with low-ranking lineages under other powers.
If they stopped relying on the Ye Family, they would not even know where to go on the immense Barbaric Continent.
Their combined strength far surpassed that of the Glazed Sword Sect back in the Southern Wastes. The Glazed Sword Sect had not had a single Saint then, while many of these Affiliated Families had Saints. Yet they had not gone to the Southern Wastes. They would rather be a phoenix's tail than a chicken's head. Besides, they were already affiliated with the Ye Family; even if they wanted to leave the Central Barrens for the Southern Wastes, they would need the Ye Family Members' permission.
And