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Yes, Jiang Chen was their patron, but what if he wasn’t around? Or rather, if he was too far away in the Eternal Sacred Land to take care of them?

Heavenlight couldn’t openly deal with them, but it could easily make them suffer under the table.

It was better to avoid making enemies. A solution that was both peaceful and mutually satisfactory was optimal.

However, a little warning was necessary regardless. “I must remind you of one thing: you are now miners. If you harbor selfish desires, or worse, try to smuggle out any spirit stones, death will be the only result upon discovery.

“Don’t consider yourself lucky enough to get away. A single spirit stone is enough to warrant my wrath!” Jiang Chen warned ferociously.

Theft wasn’t necessarily actually going to occur, but it was best to pre-empt any problems before they arose. He didn’t want to end up benefiting these people after all his hard work.

Calling together all the craftsmen, Jiang Chen learned the general details about the spirit stone veins on the islands. Alongside those was a rudimentary excavational plan.

He wasn’t happy with their proposition. It was too conservative and slow, and he didn’t have that time to waste.

The craftsmen wanted to take two to three years to mine out the entire island, but Jiang Chen wanted everything to be done in that many months. Time was of the essence, and he didn’t want to spend too much time here.

“Young lord Jiang Chen, it’ll be impossible to excavate all of the stones within two or three months! Even the best masters in Myriad Abyss wouldn’t be able to accomplish such a feat. All that work needs time. Plus, we don’t have nearly enough people either.”

“What do you mean?”

“To excavate the spirit stones from the veins here requires a lot of manpower deployed in an organized manner. Unless you can get your hands on several million practiced miners and keep all of them in line, it simply cannot be done.”

“Other than the manpower problem, is there anything else?”

“Some parts are especially difficult to dig up. We need people to prospect and separate the usable from the unusable as well. It’s fine manipulation.”

“Back to the manpower problem, is it?” Jiang Chen laughed.

“Indeed, but that’s the hardest problem to solve, isn’t it?” the craftsman remarked.

The young man nodded. “Do as I command. Don’t worry about the requisite manpower; I’ll take care of it.”

“How many people can you get together, young lord Jiang Chen?” the craftsman looked rather astonished. “The mineshaft won’t be able to hold nearly that many. Chaos isn’t conducive to productivity.”

“I don’t intend on employing human hands.”

“No human hands? What kind of hands are you using, then?” the craftsman was utterly bewildered. How else were they going to get the stones out of the ground? They weren’t just going to separate themselves from the surrounding rock.

The Vermilion Bird was a powerful being, but it couldn’t take the place of thousands of workers in excavation.

Jiang Chen smiled mysteriously. “I have my ways. Just do your job and revise the plan to be as fast as possible.”

Off to the side, Imperial Prince Huo was as doubtful as the craftsmen.

The people from Heavenlight on the other hand, were relatively calm. They were here to dig, so the efficacy of the method used didn’t really matter to them.

Without further ado, Jiang Chen summoned the king of the Goldbiter Rats.

“Ole Gold, how many rats are there in your tribe now?”

The rat king chuckled. “We passed the hundred million mark a long time ago. What, young lord? Is there work for us to do?”

“Some community service,” Jiang Chen smiled. “I need about just one million of you. Can you handle it?”

“What’re you asking me that for? Since when have I been unable to handle anything you’ve thrown at me? One million is nothing. I can do ten or a hundred, easy.”

“I don’t need that many. Also, they need to be able to listen to orders,” Jiang Chen said.

“Don’t worry. My first, second, and third generations of descendants have awakened their intellects very nicely and they’ve received the most from you as well. They are absolutely loyal. All of the Goldbiter Rats are extremely grateful to you, young master Chen. They’d leap at the chance to help you.”

Jiang Chen didn’t suspect the veracity of this statement.

He personally felt that he’d treated the rats very well indeed. However, he was worried that their love of gnawing on spirit stones would win out. What if they couldn’t resist eating the things they were supposed to excavate?

“Ole Gold, I don’t doubt the Goldbiter Rats’ abilities one bit. This job is a bit more special, though. I’d like to hear what you think about it.”

The rat king blinked. “What is it, young master Chen?”

Jiang Chen laid out his situation.

The king of the Goldbiter Rats stroked his whiskers, then laughed squeakily. “A reasonable worry, yes. I can see newborn rats doing that. I’m sure the mature ones will be able to overcome their hunger though. If they know that these stones are important to you, they will make every effort to resist their desires.”

Jiang Chen nodded. “These spirit stones are sorely needed. I’ll give you other compensation and rewards at a later date.”

“Don’t worry about that, young master Chen. You wouldn’t forget about us if you had something good anyways.” The Goldbiter Rat king knew the youth’s temperament from the time it’d already spent with him. It would actually earn the young man’s disliking if the rat king haggled endlessly with him.

The young man was relieved by the certainty in Ole Gold’s voice.

“Go prepare your children then. Tell them the importance behind this operation. Any rat that can’t handle temptation should stay home.”

“Yes, of course.” The rat king nodded.

No one else present understood a word of this conversation since the two of them had spoken in ancient beast language. They were utterly confused when they saw Jiang Chen talking with a big golden rat at length.

“Everyone, this giant rat is descended from the ancient race of Goldbiter Kingrats. The species is characterized by its incredible chomping ability. Back then, even the bloodlines closely related to the four sacred beasts didn’t like to antagonize them.”