Chapter 3589 — Charging Successful

Still, risky as it was, a thing like this could be done on a small scale. With people he counted as his own—Xiao Ran, Qiao Hongcai, even Brother Kubi—Wei Zhao had no need for such scruples; and if it truly came to the worst, he could always don the Thousand Silk Mask and go trade with outsiders in the market. That way, even if there were danger, no one would ever suspect Wei Zhao.

And apart from exchanging his own fine jade for other people's scrap, there was now another path before him, more convenient and safer still: the spirit jade mine.

Exploiting the concealment of the jade pendant's space, Wei Zhao could simply pocket a few pieces of spirit jade along the way as he dug. However tightly the mine might be guarded, the guards would surely keep their eyes on the spirit jade brimming with spiritual energy; this scrap jade with only a trace of energy in it—no one would much bother watching that. Reckoned up carefully, this scheme was in fact more feasible than trading for spirit jade with others.

Having turned it over in his mind, Wei Zhao at last resolved to go and feel his way around the spirit jade mine first. So long as he understood the workings of the mine, seizing an opportunity to pick up a bargain ought not to be difficult. Besides, his need for spirit jade was not so very great in the short term—he already had three pieces of spirit jade, large and small, in hand, and if he could scrape together five more, that would be enough to buy back the five medicinal ingredients needed to refine the Heaven's Way Golden Core.

The night passed without a word. Early the next morning, Wei Zhao and the other newcomers who had signed up for mining received a message through their cave dwellings' restrictive spell, bidding them come out and assemble.

Looking at this crowd of eager, excited newcomers, Meng Jueming, the senior steward brother, wore a long face black as thunder—and at the sight of Wei Zhao especially, the corner of his mouth could not help but twitch, his mood foul beyond all measure. Yesterday he had gone for wool and come home shorn, losing two pieces of spirit jade into the bargain, and even now the thought of it made him ache.

Just you wait till you're down in the mine—then you'll have your cry! Meng Jueming shot a vicious glare at the unconcerned Wei Zhao, and having no stomach for wasting words on this bunch of newcomers, he checked off their names one by one against yesterday's roster, then at once led them down into the mine.

Though the vein of the spirit jade mine lay beneath the mountain range—strictly speaking, right below everyone's cave dwellings—the mine's entrance was not here; far from near the caves, it was a considerable distance away. With everyone present being at least late Heaven Rank, they still ended up sprinting for nearly half an hour before they finally reached their destination.

And utterly unlike the earthen kiln or humble pit one might imagine, this spirit jade mine's entrance turned out to be a grand pavilion, its magnificence hardly inferior to that of the Welcome New Pavilion. Upon the plaque at its center, in strokes like dragons writhing and serpents darting, three dark-gold characters were carved: the Hall of Spirit Jade.

The flow of people in and out was sparse, but the guard was strict. It was not quite so extreme as a sentry every three paces and a post every five, yet cold-faced expert guards were visible everywhere. What secretly startled Wei Zhao was that any one of these guards possessed strength at least at the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage—meaning the weakest guard here was a master of Meng Jueming's caliber.

It was the first time for all these newcomers to come here, and one by one they could not resist looking about in curiosity. Yet wherever they were, even if they but let their gaze linger a moment too long, they would at once draw the stern eyes of the guards nearby, as though the next instant those men might pounce and kill—frightening the whole lot into silence, so that none dared glance left or right anymore, and they could only follow honestly behind Meng Jueming.

Taking in all their behavior, and seeing that they had been cowed into obedience, Meng Jueming at last put on the imposing airs of the senior steward brother and explained: "The Hall of Spirit Jade, like our Welcome New Pavilion, is one of the few halls on the North Island that stand independent of the Three-Tiered Pavilion. It is charged solely with overseeing the mining of spirit jade and its distribution—you might say that every piece of spirit jade on our North Island is taken out from this Hall of Spirit Jade."

An independent hall? Wei Zhao's heart stirred slightly. So on the North Island of Cloud Terrace Island, besides the Three-Tiered Pavilion, there were other independent halls after all. The Welcome New Pavilion was a gathering camp for newcomers, the Hall of Spirit Jade oversaw the spirit jade mine—no doubt the other independent halls each had their own unique functions as well.

At this, one of the newcomers spoke up: "Senior Brother Meng, you said before that these mountains of ours all sit atop a spirit jade mine. If that's so, then anyone could just find a hidden spot and dig down and get spirit jade—even if the Hall of Spirit Jade wanted to stop them, it couldn't, could it?"

At these words the newcomers all nodded thoughtfully. True, the Hall of Spirit Jade looked to have no small number of men, all of them experts—but the vein stretched across several great mountains, and even if every expert of the Hall of Spirit Jade were sent out to patrol without sleep or rest, they surely could not cover it all.

Do not overestimate a cultivator's moral integrity—and likewise, do not underestimate a cultivator's daring. Spirit jade moved men's hearts, and however powerful the Hall of Spirit Jade might be, it could not hold back cultivators' pursuit of it. To find a hidden spot and secretly dig for spirit jade—say nothing of others, even the weakest newcomers of the Azure Cloud Pavilion present here could not help but conceive such a notion.

"Find a hidden spot and secretly dig for spirit jade yourselves? Heh—in your dreams!" Meng Jueming gave a cold laugh, sweeping his gaze over all the newcomers as though they were idiots, and only after he had taken his full measure of superiority did he explain: "You think because the vein runs through the whole mountain range, you can just dig a few dozen yards anywhere and strike spirit jade. In fact, wherever spirit jade deposits lie, the top experts of the Three Pavilions have already laid down formations. In places covered by those formations, never mind digging spirit jade—you couldn't dig up so much as a clump of mud. You'd only bring the formation's backlash down on yourself: light, grave injury; heavy, death! Spirit jade may be mined, but the mountain's foundation must not be shaken. Otherwise, with the foundation dug out and ruined, no one will be able to cultivate in peace in their cave dwellings!"

Sss—!

The newcomers all drew a sharp breath of fright. And as it happened, there had indeed been some among them who had entertained that very notion—only they had not yet grown familiar enough with the surroundings these past two days to make their move. Now, hearing Meng Jueming's words, they were struck with dread after the fact. Had anyone dared to muster the nerve and try it these past two days, by now his corpse would likely be lying exposed in the wilds.