The Gold-Munching Mouse clan's involvement had produced mining efficiency that exceeded everyone's expectations — including
Originally, they had planned to finish within three months, but in roughly a month and a half, that enormous vein of spirit stones had been nearly completely mined.
Seeing the mountains of Ling Shi piled up before them, each stack radiating an alluring luster, everyone's breathing quickened involuntarily.
Even though the middle-aged man surnamed Han knew he was currently in the role of a miner, seeing so many Ling Shi stacked into mountains still made his eyes sting with envy.
Unfortunately, none of this had anything to do with the Tianzhao Island Domain.
In a month and a half, every last spirit stone in the vein had been thoroughly extracted.
Jiang Chen looked at the mountains of Ling Shi piled up one after another, and he could hardly conceal the excitement in his heart. The yield of these spirit stones was roughly in line with his estimates.
If he took half of them, it could cover at least thirty percent of the resources needed for the Myriad Heavens Spirit-Locking Divine Formation!
Combined with the Ling Shi he had already collected — roughly another ten percent — that meant he had solved forty percent of the resources required to activate the formation!
Jiang Chen's gaze settled on the people from the Tianzhao Island Domain.
"You lot should be congratulating yourselves — you've only been miners for a month and a half, and there was almost no hard labor involved."
The middle-aged man surnamed Han managed an awkward smile and nodded: "It's all thanks to Young Master Jiang Chen's brilliant strategy and masterful methods."
"Alright, enough flattery. Count your numbers and start thinking about the ransom. Either you become my slaves from now on, or you pay a ransom to buy back your freedom. It's up to you."
The middle-aged man hurriedly said: "We're willing to pay the ransom. But we don't know — how exactly should we pay it?"
"How much do you think you're worth in Ling Shi?"
The middle-aged man's face fell: "Our Tianzhao Island Domain isn't like your Holy Land — we don't have any large spirit stone veins. So it's very difficult for us to produce a large quantity of spirit stones."
Jiang Chen pointed at the mountains of spirit stones: "I don't need much. Just bring me one-tenth of these spirit stones, and I'll restore your freedom."
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man's face turned pale as a sheet, and he pleaded: "Young Master Jiang Chen, if that's the case, it'll be very hard for us to buy back our freedom. A spirit stone vein of this scale — the entire Wanyen Island might not even have ten such veins. And the only one that's been discovered so far is this one. The others either already have owners and have been almost completely mined, or they haven't even been found yet. Our Tianzhao Island Domain absolutely cannot produce one-tenth of the spirit stones from this vein. Even if we could, they would never use up all their Ling Shi reserves just to ransom us."
Jiang Chen knew this vein was indeed massive, but he had no intention of listening to their complaints.
He smiled faintly: "So you'd rather become my slaves then. That works too — if you can't produce the spirit stones, becoming servants and working off your debts isn't a bad arrangement."
The middle-aged man's face was a picture of misery as he begged earnestly: "Young Master Jiang Chen, everything can be negotiated, can't it? Just be a bit more flexible on the amount — if it's within our power, we will definitely do our best to meet it."
"Fine, I'll take another step back. One-twentieth of these spirit stones. That's my bottom line. If you can't produce that, then I'm afraid you'll have to become my servants."
One-twentieth was still not a small number.
However, the Tianzhao Island Domain could just barely manage it — after all, the people in this group were all important figures within the Tianzhao Island Domain. Losing them would significantly weaken the Domain's strength.
And so, both sides reached an agreement.
Jiang Chen released two of the minor figures and sent them back to the Tianzhao Island Domain to relay the message, instructing the Domain to raise the spirit stones and arrange a trade at Dongyan Island.