"Little Junior Sister, how's it going here? We've almost rescued all the trapped workers inside."
Chen Tianyi, having almost finished his rescue work, came to Hu Ke'er's side and asked.
"Well, I'm doing okay too. It's just that I haven't done such strenuous physical work for a long time, so I'm a bit tired."
Hu Ke'er gave a faint smile, wiped the sweat off her forehead, and slowly got up after bandaging another spiritual stone refining worker.
"By the way, Senior Brother, is there a hospital here that can properly treat these workers?"
"You mean the medical hall, don't you, Little Junior Sister? There is indeed a medical hall in the sect, but it's a place for the inner - sect disciples to receive treatment. It won't be open to these workers who have no talent for cultivation. Moreover, even if it were open, the medical hall wouldn't be able to receive such a large number of injured people all at once."
Chen Tianyi gently shook his head with a grim expression.
"Otherwise, we could only take them to the medical halls in the mortal world. But if that's the case, the workers' injuries would heal very slowly, and it might take a long time for them to return to their previous production levels."
"Refining spiritual stones is secondary. Even if there are only a few people, as long as the machine I have in mind is made, the number of workers needed can be greatly reduced. Now the most important thing is the people. Although these workers have poor cultivation talents, their physical strength is still far beyond that of ordinary people. If used properly, they might be a great help. Moreover, after the collapse of the spiritual stone refining room, we urgently need someone to help us clean up and rebuild it."
Hu Ke'er frowned slightly and thought for a while before saying.
Actually, Hu Ke'er needed these workers to help the blacksmith make more machines. Once there were enough machines, only one person would be needed to watch one or two machines to refine a large number of high - purity spiritual stones. In that case, the production capacity of one person would be equivalent to that of a dozen people in the past!
"By the way, Senior Brother, don't you know immortal arts and Taoist magic? Isn't there any spell that can help others heal their injuries?"
"Well, there is such a spell, but I can't treat so many workers all at once by myself!"
"Then how about you find some senior brothers you're on good terms with to help?"
Hu Ke'er raised her eyebrows and encouraged.
"If we can quickly heal these workers, we can quickly rebuild the spiritual stone refining room!"
"I'm not very popular in the sect. Maybe I still have to find Uncle - Master..."
Chen Tianyi gave a bitter smile after hearing Hu Ke'er's words.
"Then find Uncle - Master. Please, Senior Brother, go and find Uncle - Master for me~"
Hu Ke'er stuck out her tongue at Chen Tianyi and acted cute.
"Ah, I really can't do anything about you, little girl. Alright, I'll go find Uncle - Master now."
Seeing Hu Ke'er act coquettishly at him, Chen Tianyi helplessly shook his head, then mounted his flying sword and left.
"Ah, Senior Brother Chen is actually a really nice person. Why is he so unpopular?"
Hu Ke'er wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but since she came to Mount Longhu, she always felt that Chen Tianyi seemed to be targeted everywhere.
She would ask Senior Brother Chen about this when she had time. For now, the most important thing was to handle the current situation!
She was afraid she couldn't help much with the repair of the spiritual stone refining room, as she wasn't a person with architectural knowledge. So Hu Ke'er set her sights on her most proficient area, design and research. Since they wanted to refine high - purity spiritual stones, according to the current situation here, the simplest method was distillation and condensation. According to this design idea...
"Good! Hu Ke'er, I've finally found you!"
Just as Hu Ke'er was thinking about how to design the machine for refining spiritual stones, a familiar voice suddenly roared. Hu Ke'er frowned and looked in the direction of the voice. It was Uncle - Master Zhao, the former supervisor of the spiritual stone refining room.
"Uncle - Master Zhao, why are you here?"
"Why am I here? You little girl have the nerve to ask! If it weren't for you deceiving me and telling me there were high - purity spiritual stones on top, would I have ordered people to dig and caused the collapse?"
Uncle - Master Zhao blew his beard, his face turning ashen.
"If it weren't for my excellent Taoist magic and running out in time when the spiritual stone refining room collapsed, I might have been trapped inside!"
"Uncle - Master Zhao, are you here to seek accountability?"
Seeing Uncle - Master Zhao with a gloomy face, Hu Ke'er showed an indifferent expression.
"So what if I am? I really don't know what method you used to make Senior Brother, the sect master, hand over the spiritual stone refining room to you. Did you already foresee the collapse of the spiritual stone refining room and deliberately deceive me into digging so that you could take it from me? You little girl are so scheming at such a young age. Could you be a spy sent by another sect or the demon race?!"
"..."
Hearing Uncle - Master Zhao's accusations, Hu Ke'er was utterly speechless.
"Uncle - Master Zhao, aren't you overacting?"
"What?!"
Uncle - Master Zhao obviously didn't expect Hu Ke'er to directly retort regardless of their senior - junior relationship. His face turned from black to red, and he was about to explode.
"Uncle - Master Zhao, don't get angry first."
Hu Ke'er knew that the gap in combat strength between her and Uncle - Master Zhao couldn't be compensated by the weapons she currently had, so she quickly tried to calm Uncle - Master Zhao down.
"Uncle - Master Zhao, it's true that I told you there were high - purity spiritual stones on top of the spiritual stone refining room. And you did find high - purity spiritual stones, right?"
"Um."
Uncle - Master Zhao gently nodded after hearing Hu Ke'er's words.
"It's just that you..."
"It was indeed what I said."
Hu Ke'er admitted frankly, and then changed the subject.
"But I didn't tell you to dig, did I?"
"This—"
Hearing Hu Ke'er's words, Uncle - Master Zhao's expression froze instantly. For a moment, he couldn't think of anything to refute her.
"So, I just told Uncle - Master Zhao what was there. It was your own decision to dig, and it has nothing to do with me. Also, don't put such a big label as a traitor from another sect on me. I'm just an ordinary little girl who doesn't even have any talent for cultivation!"
"You little girl are really glib - tongued. But you're still of unknown origin, and you did take the spiritual stone refining room from me, right? Spiritual stone refining is the lifeblood of our sect. I won't hand over such an important thing to someone of unknown origin like you!"
Uncle - Master Zhao said with a sneering expression.
Just as I thought!
Actually, when Hu Ke'er first saw Uncle - Master Zhao, she knew that he must have come to take back the spiritual stone mine, as it was a very lucrative job.
"Then you're too late, Uncle - Master Zhao. The sect - master uncle has already handed over the spiritual stone refining room to Senior Brother Chen and me, with Uncle - Master Zheng assisting us."