Puppet Upgrade

Although the woman's actions relieved them of the copper ring's binding power, everyone's tasks were still extremely heavy.

One by one, they dared not delay too long, only pausing for a brief moment before returning to their posts to continue working diligently, fully immersed in mining.

Brother Zhong and Brother Xiang returned together.

Before parting, Brother Xiang hesitated, as if he wanted to say something.

"Brother Xiang, do you have something to say? Please speak freely!"

The latter deliberated for a moment before saying, "Brother Zhong, although we haven't known each other for long, I know you have a proud spirit."

"But now that we've all fallen to this state, perhaps, a proper bowing of the head can help us survive better."

"Of course, this is just my personal opinion. If Brother Zhong can take it to heart, then so be it. If not, just treat it as a fart and let it go."

"It's still the same: we came in together. From now on, only by watching out for each other can we survive better."

These words were quite profound for such a short acquaintance.

Brother Zhong looked at Brother Xiang.

He cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Thank you!"

"But I know what I'm doing!"

"Don't worry, Brother Xiang."

"I'll take you out in a while."

Although Brother Xiang only took Brother Zhong's words as comfort, he still chuckled.

People, after all.

Always need to live with hope.

He immediately said, "Then I'll wait for Brother Zhong to take me out!"

Time flew by, and in a blink of an eye, several days had passed.

In the mining area, people died of exhaustion every day, people escaped every day, and even more people came in every day.

For the mine slaves, this place was completely a purgatory.

There was endless work every day, and heavy tasks every day.

Compared to other mine slaves, Ten Mine, due to the mysterious woman, rarely saw people dying from exhaustion.

These past few days, Brother Zhong had submitted his quota of Ore on time and in full every day.

Ten thousand jin of Ore, for others, meant toiling and exhausting themselves for a whole day to gather, but for Brother Zhong, it was just a wave of his hand, a trivial matter.

This made Brother Xiang click his tongue in wonder every time he saw it.

"Brother Zhong, I didn't realize it, but what the person in charge of the ninety-seventh cave said earlier was true: you really do have a talent for mining."

On this day, after the two had submitted their tasks together, Brother Xiang looked at Brother Zhong, his face full of surprise.

These words made Brother Zhong roll his eyes.

In his previous life, when he first left school and was looking for a job, his call somehow went directly to a nightclub.

The nightclub manager even said he was born to do that kind of work.

Such strange talents are better off not having!

"Originally, I thought Brother Zhong wouldn't be able to adapt to life in the mine, but now seeing you full of energy every day, I'm relieved!"

For Brother Xiang, the mine was tough, but still bearable.

Compared to other mining areas, he even felt lucky to be assigned to Ten Mine.

And under these heavy tasks, chatting and bantering with Brother Zhong every day became one of the few moments he could relax.

Unfortunately, the pleasant time was only brief.

Soon after, he once again threw himself into the heavy and lengthy work.

Brother Zhong and Brother Xiang parted ways and went to their respective branch caves.

In Ten Mine, there were a total of three hundred and sixty-five mining caves.

Each mining cave was basically equipped with five mine slaves, and each mine slave was assigned a branch cave.

And very few people entered these branch caves.

Here, it basically became a personal territory.

As long as you could submit your tasks on time, even if you slept inside, there would be no problem, and no one would come to trouble you. But if you failed to complete the task, the consequences would be severe.

After Brother Zhong returned to his branch cave, he closed his eyes and began to ponder.

He had been at the mine for some time now.

But during this time, there had been no progress whatsoever regarding information about his future Disciple.

This made him feel a surge of irritation.

After all, he came to find a Disciple, not to mine.

"System, are there any hints about my future Disciple?"

"Host, please be patient. When the time comes, the clues will naturally appear!"

Brother Zhong sighed helplessly and could only wait patiently.

At the same time, he organized the rewards he had gained from signing in during this period.

Since he set off from Tianyuan, he had signed in for three Emperor Realm scriptures, four Saint Realm scriptures, several wood carvings, and even two cards.

One Puppet Upgrade Card and one Puppet Learning Card.

Thinking of this, Brother Zhong's body flickered, and he once again entered the Small World.

"Hei Bai, where are you?"

Brother Zhong came to the edge of the bitter sea and summoned Hei Bai.

Not long after, a streak of light flashed across the sky.

A black figure respectfully knelt before Brother Zhong.

"Master!"

Brother Zhong nodded and casually used the two cards on Hei Bai.

Immediately, Hei Bai, who was originally only in the Sanyin Realm, began to rise sharply in strength.

In just a moment, his Cultivation had already crossed into the Three Yang Realm.

After a few more breaths, he directly reached the Myriad Laws Realm.

Finally, he stopped only after reaching the sixth level of the Myriad Laws Realm.

This kind of improvement was quite terrifying.

For others to go from the Three Yin Realm to the Myriad Laws Realm, who didn't undergo thousands upon thousands of years of arduous Cultivation?

But what about Hei Bai?

One Upgrade Card directly took care of it.

Generally speaking, an Upgrade Card can only raise a Puppet's overall strength by one major Realm.

However, Brother Zhong's sign-in items were extremely special.

That is, the quality of the sign-ins increased with his strength.

In other words, with his current Cultivation in the Myriad Laws Realm, the Upgrade Card he signed in for was enough to instantly make Hei Bai a Myriad Laws Realm expert as well.

And in the future, as he continued to grow.

If one day he directly attained the position of Great Emperor, then the Puppet Upgrade Card he signed in for could also directly pull Hei Bai into the Emperor Realm level.

This kind of Realm-ignoring improvement was extremely terrifying.

If the followers around him might one day be unable to keep up with Brother Zhong's growth rate due to his rapid progress, then Hei Bai could always keep pace with his growth.

It could be said that his potential was quite astonishing.

And besides the Puppet Upgrade Card, the effect of the Puppet Learning Card was even more straightforward and brutal.

It allowed him to learn autonomously.

Even to Cultivate on his own, thereby breaking through to higher Realms independently.

At this moment, Hei Bai, though called a Puppet, was in every way like a new life.

"Thank you, Master!"

He silently felt the increase in his strength, his heart a little excited.

Brother Zhong nodded.

"Today, I bestow upon you the ability of autonomous learning. From now on, you may Cultivate on your own."

"From now on, you may go into the Time Pagoda and Cultivate together with the Twelve Demon Generals!"

The Twelve Demon Generals, after he first obtained the Time Pagoda, had entered it to begin their Cultivation.

And that Time Pagoda, to activate it once, required a large amount of Spirit Stone.

All the Spirit Stone Brother Zhong had acquired over the years had been invested into the Time Pagoda.

As the saying goes, whether it's one sheep or a flock of sheep, they all need to be herded.

Now that Hei Bai possessed the ability to Cultivate on his own, if he could further his studies in the Time Pagoda, Brother Zhong believed he would be pleasantly surprised when he came out again.

"As Master commands!"

Hei Bai bowed to Brother Zhong once more, then transformed into a streak of light and entered the Time Pagoda.

Seeing this, Brother Zhong wanted to bring Qilin into the Time Pagoda as well.

But on second thought, he currently had no usable subordinates.

Qilin would remain under his command to help him mine.

Although mining was not difficult for Brother Zhong, why bother doing it himself when he could have his subordinates do it?

Thinking of this, Brother Zhong exited the Small World.

He patted Qilin with one hand.

"Little Hei, time to work!"

...