Under the pressure of the armed celestial beings, everyone lined up in a long line. Chu Yao followed closely behind her senior sister and climbed onto the iron box.

Before getting on the bus, she turned around one last time and took a look at the spaceship floating in the sky, feeling deeply moved.

Sooner or later, I'm going to make one too!

——

The car was dark and enclosed, with only small iron windows on either side. There were no seats, and everyone was crammed together, sitting on a metal sheet covered in debris. Chu Yao leaned against her senior sister, watching the scenery pass by outside the window, her mind racing with thoughts.

This car was running quite fast, but it didn't seem to be able to keep up with the speed of someone at the Foundation Establishment stage. At best, it was only at the speed of someone at the Perfect Qi Refining stage. But I couldn't jump to conclusions, after all, I didn't know if this thing could get any faster...

There were so many people that she felt a little hot and irritated. She looked around and actually found a very short twig next to her butt.

Chu Yao picked up the branch, broke it in half, and handed one to her senior sister. Then she gathered her hair, twirled it a few times, and pinned it behind her head with the branch, instantly feeling much cooler.

Turning around, she found a man opposite her looking at her furtively, so she glared at him without hesitation. The man shyly avoided her gaze.

This was just a small incident on the way. Time passed quickly, and they were transported to a settlement surrounded by iron fences.

The settlement is located at the foot of a very high mountain, with tall spires standing on three sides. There are many houses, but they are built very simply, exuding an atmosphere of poverty.

Chu Yao and her senior sister got off the bus and were quickly assigned accommodation: rows of what looked like makeshift wooden houses. The rooms were extremely small, with only a wooden bed and a small cabinet.

But Chu Yao was surprised to find that each person had their own room. It seemed that this place wasn't as bad as she had thought.

Then she followed the crowd to the cafeteria—yes, she was hungry.

She hadn't felt hungry for hundreds of years since she established her foundation. Her stomach was rumbling at this moment. It was time for dinner, so she joined the crowd to get food.

Yes, she had learned to read the clock, and she learned it quickly. According to the Celestial Clock, it was half past eleven, just in time for lunch.

A completely new environment, a completely new world, everything required relearning. Although the conditions were limited and she couldn't get in touch with many things, she was still full of interest and enjoyed it.

She had to queue up to get food. After about ten minutes, it was finally her turn. She was given a bowl of porridge and a square-shaped flatbread.

It didn't taste very good, but it was filling enough. Chu Yao wasn't that particular. Before she became a Taoist, she'd worked in a tavern for ordinary people and had experienced all kinds of hardships. She immediately devoured the food in no time.

She was actually very confused. According to what the man said before, her spiritual power had changed into a different form and remained in her body, so her life span of the Nascent Soul stage was still there. But if that was true, why did she still feel hungry?

The spiritual energy required to maintain the mana of a Nascent Soul cultivator was far superior to that of a Qi Refining cultivator, not to mention that she had no spiritual energy at all and was no more than a mortal. Could she really live that long on just this little daily food?

Chu Yao felt a little overwhelmed, but she was indeed full at the moment.

Unable to figure it out, he simply stopped thinking about it. Time quickly came to one in the afternoon. A bugle call sounded outside the house, and Chu Yao gathered with the others in an open space.

At the front of the crowd, a middle-aged man stood with his arms folded, a big belly, and a cigarette in his hand. He took a shallow puff from time to time and blew out a few smoke rings.

Seeing that everyone was present, he threw his cigarette on the ground and stamped it out with his foot. Then he looked at everyone and spoke in a hoarse voice:

"My last name is Zou, and I'm the manager of our farm. You can call me Commander Zou." He put his hands behind his back and said in a contemptuous tone, "I don't care if you're a 'flying sword' barbarian or a murderer from the prison. Since you've got a slave ring hanging from your head, you're here to coil up like a dragon and lie down like a tiger!"

"I hope you understand that in this Beishan Mine, my words are the rules! The only thing you have to do is work honestly!" Fatty Zou pulled out a palm-sized milky white stone from his trouser pocket like a magic trick. "This is the Yuanmu Stone. Remember its appearance. Tomorrow morning, go down to the mine and get all of it! Each person must dig ten pieces a day. If you don't make enough, forget about eating!"

There was a commotion in the crowd, but no one dared to say anything. Fatty Zou nodded in satisfaction and was about to continue when someone actually stood up and said:

"What you're doing is against the laws of the Alliance!" This was the young man's words, full of the fearlessness of a newborn calf. Looking at his youthful appearance, it was unclear what crime he had committed to become a prisoner.

"Illegal? Drag him out here."

At a command, two celestial guards rushed out, one on each side, and lifted the young man out by his arms.

"Let me go, what are you doing? This is lynching...Ah!!"

Chu Yao saw Fatty Zou take out a black object that looked like a tile, draw a few strokes on it, and then the young man was knocked to the ground by the electric current emitted from the slave ring.

"You little bastard, you really don't take me seriously if I don't teach you a lesson!" Fatty Zou cursed, kicking the young man lying on the ground fiercely. "You still think you are in Longdi? This is Konghai, Lingyuan Star, a million miles away from your hometown. Here, my words are law! Carry him away!"

"Do you understand? This is what happens if you dare to anger me. Okay, everyone, disperse. Someone will teach you how to dig tonight."

Fatty Zou waved his hand and walked away on his own.

Chu Yao was stunned. She wanted to watch the show for a while longer, but it was over.

She felt like laughing, having already figured out what this place was all about. This young man was clearly a thug, judging by his clean prison uniform. This Zou guy had put on this act, probably to intimidate these new prisoners.

Those kicks just now were pretty fierce, but it's a pity that they were too much of an act. I'll give it six out of ten.

Chu Yao walked back to her little house lightly. She still had important things to do.