Chapter 493: An Approach to Divide
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh_
The violent and wicked supervising Yakshas had driven all the cultivators together in the pitch-dark mine cave.
Wu Qi stood loftily atop a tall stalagmite, looking down at all the miners just like Lu Buwei a few days ago. He had his single arm placed behind his back, casting his cold gaze at the several thousand cultivators beneath. It was dead silent. No matter it was the Yakshas or the cultivators, no one dared to make a sound, and all of them could see an ill omen from Wu Qi's expression.
Some of these cultivators had come to the Northern Ocean for the purpose of purchasing aquatic products, and the others had accidentally intruded the region around the Northern Ocean. But, they shared the same fate, being captured by Miao Ying Palace and thrown into this mine, having all their belongs seized and made into coolies who were forced to do the hard labor with a treatment worse than pigs and dogs. However, regardless of their true motives, since Wu Qi arrived, he had tried his best to improve their working and living conditions, saving them from the risk of being wantonly slaughtered by those Yakshas.
Wu Qi thought he had done them a great kindness, and yet they had actually repaid him with a possible calamity!
He took a deep breath and told all the surrounding Yakshas via a voice transmission, ordering them to point out those cultivators who had completed their tasks accordingly in the last few days. Although these Yakshas had a rather low intelligence, they had very powerful innate abilities and a very good memory. They were like the most loyal old dogs. Without delaying, several dozens of Yakshas soared up into the sky riding on their sword beams, wheeling above the several thousand cultivators as they pointed out those who had been adhering to the work volume they were supposed to accomplish.
With another order, these cultivators were brought to the side by the Yakshas. Wu Qi gave them a glance and said with a deep voice, "You've worked hard to complete your tasks in the past few days, and you deserve to be rewarded! From today onwards, all of you will be made the foremen of this mine. You no longe need to work laboriously every day. All your quota will be filled by those who work for you!"
The group of selected cultivators, several hundred of them, were struck dumb at first, but then were immediately seized with wild joy. Some boneless fellows even dropped to their knees and kept offering kowtows to Wu Qi. Some had cupped their fists and bowed deeply, expressing their gratitude with a big smile on their faces.
Grinning coldly, Wu Qi turned to point his finger at the group of few thousand cultivators, whose face were smeared with mixed expressions, some indifferent, some mocking, and some cold, and expressionless. Then, he ordered the Yakshas via a voice transmission, "Beat them savagely at will, but don't break their bones and tendons. I still need them to mine the ores."
The Yakshas burst into a joyful laughter. Wu Qi had prohibited them from killing any cultivators for fun, from randomly beating cultivators for giggles, something that had filled the hearts of these fierce and savage Yakshas with frustration. But now, with the permission given, they happily drew their blades and sword while impatiently leaping into the crowd of cultivators.
However, before they could strike, they heard a cold snort from Wu Qi. It had sent a chill down their spines, making them quickly throw away the swords and blades while pulling out the whips strapped around their waists. Amidst the hideous laughter, nearly one thousand Yakshas charged into the crowd, swinging their whips as they began to give the several thousand cultivators who had been slacking in their tasks a round of brutal beating. The loud whistling of whips lashing across the air echoed out from all over the place, while several thousand cultivators were rolling and struggling on the ground.
The Yaksha had enormous strength. Every lash from their whip could easily shatter a rock. On the other side, the cultivators' bodies were tough. Even if they were not body cultivators, their bodies were at least a few times stronger than ordinary people. Loud slapping sounds were produced with every strike of the whip on these cultivators' bodies, leaving behind a bloody scar on their skins. The several thousand cultivators who had their energy depleted dared not to resist the beating, but just buried their heads between arms while twitching and twisting on the ground, shrieking and struggling. Soon, the ground was dotted with blood that splattered from their bodies.
The brutal beating went on for a full two hours. All this while, Wu Qi stayed standing on the tall stalagmite, watching the cultivators being badly beaten up. Both his eyes and face were cold as steel.
Among the several thousand cultivators were a dozen body cultivators, but even they could no longer withstand the beating from the Yaksha that came showering down like a raging thunderstorm. They were now lying flat on the ground, eyes rolling upward and showing only the white. Their bodies were twitching convulsively like fishes out of water. Even worse were some cultivators who had only focused on cultivating magical power. Their bodies were weak and fragile, and after a round of beating, they had long gone into a coma from the severe pain. If not for the fact that all cultivators had a lasting life force which was several hundred times stronger than ordinary mortals, they would be dead by now.
Taking a deep breath, Wu Qi raised his head to stare at the pitch-black rock ceiling above the mine as he said coldly, "Bring me one hundred cultivators who had mined the least ores, or even failed to mine one ore in the past few days!"
The Yakshas laughed strangely, obeying Wu Qi's order and dragging one hundred cultivators out of the crowd, whose faces were pale as snow. The Yakshas panted heavily but excitedly. They loved the brutal beating, the smell of blood that lingered in the air, and the killing intent and murderous aura emanating from within the cruel, merciless Wu Qi.
"I, had given you a chance!" With one hand placed behind his back, Wu Qi floated straight up into the air as he came hovering above the one hundred cultivators. "But, you did not cherish that chance! In this world, there are things you should never do! Once you do those, you will have to pay the price!"
He pointed his finger upward and cried out sternly, "I don't care what Supervisor Lu promised you, what benefits he gave you! Now, here in this mine, I am the one who is in charge of everything! Those who comply with me will thrive, and those who resist me will perish! Goddess herself has made me the deputy supervisor of the mine, which also means your life is now in my hand!"
Suddenly, a short female cultivator rushed out from among the one hundred cultivators, wailing bitterly as she went down on her knees before Wu Qi, "Fellow Daoist, Senior, Master Deputy Supervisor, I was blinded! Master Supervisor had promised us... he had promised us that as long as we made things difficult for you, he will give us..."
Wu Qi gave her a ruthless glance with a finger pointing at her. Immediately, she floated up into the air and had her throat clutched in his palm. He had exercised the most vicious technique of Inferno Hell Fiend Scripture, the technique that would harm others to benefit himself. As his palm trembled slightly, the woman's body began to twitch violently, and a despairing shriek spewed out of her mouth. In just a very brief moment, her body had turned into ashes and sprinkled down to the ground.
A lower-grade energy stone fell out from amidst the ashes, dropping and bouncing a few times on the ground.
A lower-grade energy stone was the reason for which this woman and the rest of the cultivators had gone against Wu Qi's order. Usually, only those cultivators of Xiantian realm would attach much importance to a mere lower-grade energy stone. But, not in this mine. Just because of a lower-grade energy stone, over ninety percent of cultivators had obeyed the order given by Lu Buwei's executing-disciples, secretly slacking in their works to make things difficult for Wu Qi.
All the energy essence in the female cultivator's body was completely sucked away by Wu Qi. The enormous energy essence rushed into his body and was quickly transformed into a vast stream of fiend energy, which flowed into his dantian and formed into an embryo of a Gold Core in just a blink of an eye. An eerie dark mist seeped out from within his body, completely enveloping him and making him look obscure. Only a pair of scarlet eyes could be clearly seen flashing amidst the dark smoke.
He laughed a strange laugh, waving his five fingers and unleashing five streams of dark mist, which transformed into a giant black web and blanketed down.
All ninety-nine cultivators gave a tragic howl together, as they had recognized the technique used by Wu Qi. It was the most vicious technique from the Fiend League, a technique that could seize all the life force and energy from the others, completely turning all the power in the body of an Immortal cultivator to his own.
It was said that the heaven cared for every living thing, and would always leave a slim chance of survival for everything. Therefore, only the most vicious, brutal, cruel, and savage technique from the Fiend League would plunder everything in the bluntest manner, not even leaving a chance of reincarnation for the victim.
The dark mist enveloped them, making them vanish into ashes in just a blink of an eye. A vast stream of blood essence and energy surged into Wu Qi's body, turned into Inferno Hell Fiend Energy by his Gold Core. Before long, the Gold Core had reformed into the Nether Inferno Fiend Nascent Soul, rolling and rocking violently within his body while emanating an immensely strong smell of rotting flesh. He threw his head back and gave a hoarse howl. A vast killing intent swept across the entire mine.
"I give you face and you ignore it?"
Wu Qi's voice rolled out of the pitch-dark Fiend energy like a sudden thunderclap.
"What Supervisor Lu can give you is one lower-grade energy stone, or even more lower-grade energy stones!"
"But, apart from food and water, I will not give you anything! Deprivation and plundering is what you will get from me, and your life is my target!"
"Be obedient and mine the ores with all your effort, and you will live and enjoy food and waters. If you disobey my command and refuse to work hard, death is your only destiny!"
Shrouded in a strong fiend light, the newly reformed Nether Inferno Fiend Nascent Soul rushed out from within his body, soaring up into the air while producing a sharp screech and wheeling around the several thousand cultivators at an incredible speed. These cultivators had a different level of cultivation base. The strongest one possessed an overall strength of a lower-grade Heaven Immortal, while the weakest one had just the cultivation base of a Gold Core cultivator. But, despite the level of their cultivation base, all of them had depleted their strength. As the Nether Inferno Fiend Nascent Soul kept making a sharp cry, streams of black light flew out of it and plunged into all the cultivators' bodies, leaving behind a wicked fiend spell on their immortal souls and souls.
Wu Qi gave a cold laugh, and with just a thought in his mind, a faint dark fiend flame burst out of the bodies of all several thousand cultivators.
The flame was biting cold and fiery hot at the same time, shifting randomly between the two as it burned the several thousand cultivators, throwing them to the ground rolling and twitching violently. Some even passed out from the severe pain.
"From today onward, address me as Master!" Hard-heartedly, Wu Qi glanced at the several thousand cultivators who he had taken a full control of.
Then, he turned to look at the group of cultivators who stood off to a side, whom he had picked earlier as the foremen. Using a very friendly voice he told them, "And, you can address me as Supervisor. You are different from those. You are humans, but they... they are just pigs and dogs!"
He took a deep breath and cried out loudly, "Repay ingratitude with kindness, ha, how stupid is that? I'll only repay kindness with kindness, and repay enmity with justice! Sādhu! Sādhu!"
After going through the lesson of Yuan Hua Sect, the way Wu Qi handled matters had become bloodier and more ruthless.
Within Miao Ying Palace, Goddess Miao Xin suddenly laughed. She was sitting on a soft couch with Lu Buwei standing next to her. Even as she laughed, she pointed her finger at Lu Buwei and said with a cold voice, "From now on, let Wu Wang handle everything in the mine... Old man, since you are good at serving people, you will be responsible for Master's food and drinks and accommodation. Should you make any mistake… hmph!"
She paused for a brief while, then continued with a smile on her face, "This Daoist Wu Wang is a man with a ferocious approach, and he is practicing an orthodox cultivation technique from the Fiend League. He is a good talent! Master has always liked people who are as cruel and merciless as him! Send my order. I want Daoist Wu Wang to present himself before me!"
A maidservant answered, then transformed into a beam of dark light and sped away.
Lu Buwei's face twitched, as his calm and focused eyes had a scattered look.