A deep voice came from the tower above "Stop", but Lingyun ignored it and waved his hand, dissipating the pressure that was about to supress Lingyi next to him, and also commanding the ground below to form chains around the two guards.
In his fifth life, he was a rogue cultivator with four roots, earth being the main. He used his abilities to open a small construction workshop, although it wasn't large and there were few chances to go out, he still earned well and even trained his earth control spell to perfection. In fact, among the five control spells, only fire wasn't at perfection. He felt that he had good comprehension, which probably came along with the stronger soul after several lifetimes.
Suddenly, a man jumped out from the window of the tower and was about to fight him, but when he felt the spiritual pressure, he stopped himself and respected the person with equal cultivation a little.
"I wonder who you are?" he asked while looking at the Zhu family badge on the other person's belt.
Lingyun snorted "Lingyun, branch lineage, black iron mine supervisor. Call your guards away, the supervising tower will be taken back. Just guard the outer ring and patrol around the mountain, no need to stay on the mountain when you have nothing to do."
When hearing it was someone from the branch, Liye looked disdainful before leaving. In every place, the supervisor or manager had the highest authority, the guard could only take power when there was a raid. Now that the supervisor was from the branch, he could only make his guards work hard, else any single report would cause them to lose merits.
The combination of the merit elder and the local supervisor ensured that the main lineage couldn't get ahead of the branch lineage. If it wasn't because the law elder and inheritance elder were both main lineage elders, then the branch lineage could directly take over all supervising positions without worry.
Lingyun sent them away then closed the small array around the tower with his badge, then he turned around and looked at the shocked Lingyi next to him. He smiled and shook his head "If it wasn't because they were family, I would just torture them a bit to relieve my anger. Anyways, go take me to the earth fire rooms. I will also be refining the ore."
Lingyi became respectful and nodded, then moved in front of Lingyun, explaining to him the situation of the mine "Currently, we have around a thousand mortals of the family that mine. Since the black iron is a low-rank, even mortal martial arts masters can mine them.
We have a monthly output of around 500 to 600 kilograms, the records will say it's 500, the rest can be kept by the local supervisor. Before, it was the main lineage, so the supervisor and the guards shared the extra output amongst themselves."
Lingyun nodded "From now on, just split it 70-30, 30 for you. I am learning to refine, so I need a few more ores. I will compensate you another time."
Shaking his head, Lingyu quickly rejected "What compensation? Elder brother gives me a share, which is much more than I got before. My parents said that the next supervisor should be from the branch line, which is why the sent me here to train. As long as elder brother is here, I will be able to refine peacefully. Elder brother might not know, but the blue earth fire here is of a high quality, nearly reaching the first-stage mid-grade.
If it wasn't because all the refiners in the past years were all from the branch lineage, then this secret couldn't be kept. There are only three blue fire veins in the family mountains, any slot is always fought over, while the high blue fire vein is kept in the main mountain and can't be used by our branch lineage at all."
Lingyun nodded "My grandfather told me. Well, it's even better if it can stay this way. When it advances, it will make a big sound and the family will know it."
The two nodded. At this point, the clash between the branch and the main lineage was something everyone in the family felt. In the past it wasn't this serious when other clan leaders took reign, but the current clan leader, Zhu Yeluo, is very arrogant and disdainful of the branch lineage.
They soon arrived at the earth fire rooms on the side of the mountain, away from the mines. Lingyi showed him the two mining rooms. There was a cauldron in each one, and the structure of the fire cave was orderly. Lingyun knew this was because the branch lineage put effort into this.
There were several formations that hid the fire rooms interior, inside, there were even more formations that controlled the fire to the best ability. He understood that this structure was used to hide the real stage of the fire, else, with supervisors above, it would be too difficult to hide the stage of the earth fire.
The formations were also very helpful to refining. If it wasn't for the stability of the blue fire, then it would be impossible to achieve the effect of controlling the fire with the formation. Other earth fires have to be controlled in combination of fire techniques and formations. Here, the fire techniques could be used freely without any extra expense.
'It's no wonder the art of refining is so advanced here… but why is alchemy neglected in comparison? This kind of fire is exactly the perfect natural fire those chemists wished they could get. With little regulation, this could be re-created into a natural chemical laboratory…' he threw the thoughts out of his mind, focusing on learning the formation control techniques Lingyi taught him.
After inspection, Lingyun walked back to the tower with Lingyi. He didn't know the situation, so even if he looked at all the maps, he couldn't change things.
At least he knew that the main lineage couldn't fake the maps – every five years, the supervisor would change factions. The so-called yearly change was about people, there was naturally another switch between factions.
He also guessed that the main lineage had to have their own secret, based on the situation, maybe there was a secret extra earth room, since the quality of the earth fire was very high and creating another earth fire room was possible.
This was another reason why Lingyun knew the family wouldn't go far – if there were only two rooms, with the quality of the earth fire, the local earth fire vein might have already advanced. Instead, a third room was built, splitting the earth fire vein further.
As for why the main lineage didn't find out the quality of this earth vein? The fire rooms were built on the node of the vein, if the main lineage built another fire room elsewhere, they would only get a low-level earth fire. They might even be happy to have hindered the growth of the main earth fire node, since it is the branch that controlled that node.
He secretly shook his head 'This way of internal competition is extremely harmful for the family. It's no exaggeration to say that this generations' clan leader is the worst.'