Chapter 3589 — Charging Successful
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
Still, risky as it was, a thing like this could be done on a small scale. With people he counted as his own—Xiao Che, 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.