Now that an army had been gathered, it was inevitable that they would be discovered if they moved on a large scale. Most of the rebels were hiding deep inside the abandoned towns and mines not far away from the Great Iron Plants. They could only turn into surging underground torrents after the order was given.
Only Long Yangjun, Li Yao, Li Jialing, and a few experts in the rebels were bold enough to infiltrate the Great Iron Plants and contact the local Nepenthe believers of the Great Iron Plants under the command of the Grand Guardian in person.
The underground world was a maze made of enormous caves, tunnels, and gaps. Theoretically speaking, it was the easiest place to defend and the hardest place to attack. As long as an elite troop was sent to block the main channel between the two enormous spaces, everybody's routes of entry and exit would be blocked.
However, the Great Iron Plants was a mature mining area that had been exploited for a hundred years. There were too many tunnels and tunnels that were connected to each other. Nobody except the experienced miners knew where a dark branch deep inside a tunnel led to at all.
In order to deliver fresh air and clean drinking water, and to deliver the precious resources from below the ground, an enormous ventilation and logistics system had to be established, too.
In the past tens of thousands of years, the demon race had built such a system, the Star Ocean Imperium had built it, the Star Ocean Republic had built it, and so had the Imperium of True Human Beings.
The tube systems that had been abandoned in the previous dynasty had become shortcuts for secret operations. It was impossible for the few Immortal Cultivators to guard against them.
Among the Nepenthe believers, there were naturally old miners who had been dealing with rocks for their entire lives. Li Yao was an unparalleled expert who could shuttle in the ventilation tubes. They crawled into the ventilation tubes from the cracks without any hindrance, from the ventilation tubes into the tunnels, and from the tunnels into a mine that had been drained decades ago.
According to the regulations of the mining industry of the Imperium of True Human Beings, such mines that had been drained had to be backfilled with rocks and quickly-solidified liquid metals to ensure the stability of the entire geological structure and prevent large-scale collapses and geological movements from affecting the world of Immortal Cultivators on the ground.
However, the cost of backfilling with rocks was extremely high. For the greedy, corrupted Immortal Cultivators, the "Regulations of the Mining Industry" were nothing but a pile of garbage. The Black Iron Group was under the name of the Dongfang family in the first place, and the capital was not the Dongfang family's territory. Why would Li Minghui care about the regulations?
Therefore, the Great Iron Plants was surrounded by dark, empty, forsaken mines. The Nepenthe believers had dug through most of the mines in a few years and covered them carefully, turning the rocks in the area into trees that had been hollowed out by termites. They were riddled with holes on the inside, but they could not be seen from the outside.
Li Yao and Long Yangjun were not far away from the Great Iron Group. They bypassed the guards at the periphery of the Black Iron Plants and appeared on the rocks rocks that looked like a beehive not far away from the Great Great Iron Plants.
Wearing gray capes, everybody seemed to have been melted with the rocks around as they observed the panorama of the Great Iron Plants from the high stance. The first thing that caught their eyes was naturally the well of magma at the center of the Great Iron Plants that looked like a volcanic eruption.
It was like a torch lit by the condensation of billions of heavenly flames. It was burning fiercely, roaring and howling. Even from several miles away, one could feel its scorching temperature. If one blinked, one would feel as if sparks would splash onto one's face.
Long Yangjun told Li Yao that below the rocks where the Great Iron Plants was located was the confluence of three mother lodes of fire, which could generate intense and rather stable spiritual energy of the fire. It was the most excellent energy source. In the terms of the modern Cultivation civilization, it meant that there was a magma belt below the Great Iron Plants that had a super high temperature and a super high pressure but a rather stable geological structure. There were also a few rare mother lodes of high quality nearby. Therefore, a smelting factory had been established on the spot to refine the minerals with the geothermal energy. The raw minerals would be refined into refined minerals before they were transported to the surface. The cost would be much lower.
Li Yao observed as far as he could. As he expected, he saw the geothermal energy factory around the Well of Flames, as well as the mines, smelting plants, and metal processing plants that were based on the energy factory. There was also a small processing plant for components.
The smelting and refining furnaces high and low were like cold giants that rose all the way to the top of the cave, making the underground space, which was rather spacious in the beginning, extremely dull.
The trickiest problem for the underground smelting was not the water for industrial purposes but the discharge of the poisonous gas. Li Yao noticed that countless enormous tubes with a powerful attraction force were distributed on the ceiling and the walls of the Great Iron Plants, which were drawing the black gas that was so dirty that it was almost solidified nonstop. After multiple filters, all the highly toxic materials were filtered and compressed into tiny cubes. Only then would the air that was purified be recycled.
Despite the best efforts of a thousand powerful air cleaning magical equipment, the air was still filled with all kinds of suffocating smells. Even Li Yao felt slightly uncomfortable, as if somebody had stuffed two clusters of rubber and asphalt into his nostrils. He really did not know how the workers and their families here could take it.
"In fact, the Imperium of True Human Beings is exactly the same as the New Federation before your return. A lot of demon workers are employed. To be more exact, the 'demonic cells' inside the bottom-level workers are activated with all kinds of drugs, granting them all kinds of bizarre 'abilities' with severe side effects," Long Yangjun said in a low voice.
"Or rather, since the collapse of the demon race's reign ten thousand years ago, human beings have never stopped enslaving the demons at the center of the cosmos. Leaving the high-level demons aside, the strong, hardworking low-level demons are the best labor force. Who would be willing to slaughter all the 'livestock'? Wouldn't it be too wasteful?
"Of course, in order to defend the dignity and pride of the civilization of mankind, and for the spirit of humanitarianism, it is not very common to completely transform human beings into bizarre-looking demons. However, the practices of partial modification of human organs, or the combination of human beings with certain demonic genes through the principles of 'eugenics' so that offspring with certain functions can be produced, similar to the breeding of pet dogs, have never stopped.
"For the workers living in the heavily polluted factories below the ground, their respiratory system is more like that of demons than human beings, which gives them the ability to survive and work in the heavily polluted environment.
"It does come with a price. The demonic genes can only help them work when they are in their prime years, but they cannot stop the highly toxic heavy metals from accumulating inside their bodies. The final result is a significantly shortened lifespan and a certain probability of damaging their intelligence. However, for the factory owners of the Immortal Cultivators, it is not much of a 'price'. After all, they do not need the miners to live to the limits of their natural lifespan or to have high intelligence. It will be easier to control them if they are a little stupid."
Li Yao was both creeped out and infuriated. "Those Immortal Cultivators can be so shameless!"
"You are wrong about the Immortal Cultivators," Long Yangjun said coldly.
Long Yangjun said coldly, "The Immortal Cultivators are not the originators. They are merely following the bad rules of the previous dynasty. As early as the Star Ocean Republic, the sanctimonious Cultivators certainly established 'model factories' on the surface of the planet in broad daylight. Not to mention the elegant environment, the chirping of birds, the fragrance of flowers, and the sound of laughter, but deep below the ground where the sun could not find them, weren't they doing exactly the same thing for the excessive profits? After all, since the demonic genes have been activated, the workers are considered to have been corrupted by demons, or they are simply part of the demons now.
"Demons are the greatest enemy of human beings. Then, neither the Cultivators nor the Immortal Cultivators will feel guilty when they enslave the 'demons'. They can be justified in doing so, can't they?"
Li Yao was silent. He suddenly felt grateful for everything that Jin Xinyue had done in the past hundred years.
Without the resistance of the demons led by her, would the Xing Yao Federation still have so many cruel factories today?
That was definitely not something that should exist in the dreamy world in Li Yao's mind!
Other than the fatal venomous gas, the deafening noises that the thousand industrial air cleaning magical equipment let out when they were outputted at full power were also hovering above the Great Iron Plants like thousands of snakes that were dripping venom and crawling into everybody's ears.
Li Yao tried to conceal his spiritual energy to the minimum and resist the noises with only his tough body. Very soon, his mouth was dry, his heart was beating fast, his back was sweating, and his veins were bouncing crazily. Countless dark and bloody thoughts popped up in his head.
"How is it?"
Long Yangjun smiled. "You should understand now why so many people are crying and begging me to practice the Serenity Arts, right? Even if it is only to resist the incessant noises, it will be worth it! "
Narrowing his eyes, Li Yao stared at the air cleaning magical equipment that was running above his head and shook his head. "It doesn't make sense. Even the high-power air cleaning system for industrial purposes cannot emit such earsplitting noises as long as it is carefully produced, maintained regularly, and replaced with mute pads. It is a technology that even the Xing Yao Federation can solve. There's no reason that the Imperium of True Human Beings can't!"
"Like you said, it has to be 'carefully produced' and 'regularly maintained and replaced with mute pads'. Every replacement requires the shutdown of part of the factories. The cost is very high, alright?"
Long Yangjun said, "Compared to such a high cost, it is much cheaper to distribute three pairs of earplugs to every worker and their family every month. Which approach do you think an Immortal Cultivator like Li Minghui will choose?"
Li Yao frowned. "The air cleaning system is running all the time, and the noises will never disappear. It means that the residents here have to wear earplugs every day. Wouldn't it be very inconvenient for them to talk to each other?"
"That's exactly what it is!"
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