Chapter 1035 - 870: Targeting Shi Chun Again

On a sheer cliff shrouded in boundless fog, the Red-clothed Woman, now dressed in a black palace gown over her fair skin and beautiful features, was sitting cross-legged in cultivation, the enveloping mist around her manifesting strange traces of flow, flickering in and out of the void.

The mountain mist suddenly surged and heaved. The Red-clothed Woman flicked her wide sleeve, and a ball of white light blossomed before her, rapidly spreading into a mirror image no larger than a washbasin.

There was a person in the mirror image—her trusted subordinate Dao Zhen—who bowed slightly to her within the image. His voice came out from the mirror as well, "My Lady."

The Red-clothed Woman's lips moved slightly. "What is it?"

Dao Zhen replied, "That Lei Ying from the Gong family is spreading rumors, saying the reason Shi Chun dared to make such a huge hole in the population-introduction matter is because he has a way to get enough money from Yanfu Continent to fill that hole. He's saying that mount of his can not only see safe routes in the Extreme Abyss, but also see the Sandalwood Gold veins underground, which is why he was willing to waste even a miner quota just to bring the mount inside."

On this side, they have already identified a suspect who hired a killer and have set their sights on Gong Shaoci and Lei Ying.

Originally it wouldn't have gone this fast. They'd only just traced things to those Artifact Refining Sects, when Young Master Nan's Wuyu Inn wanted to mortgage itself; at that point, Gong Shaoci withdrew and didn't participate, which drew attention over here. Add to that Shi Chun having just gone to Nanshan before being targeted by killers last time, so the investigation progress jumped ahead to Gong Shaoci's side.

As a result, they actually found suspicious financial movements in the corresponding period. The destination of that sum was unknown, and there were no matching other expenditures on Gong Shaoci's side—meaning some secret payment was made—so he was immediately placed under surveillance.

The Red-clothed Woman, who was slowly withdrawing her power, abruptly opened her eyes at these words and asked, "Trying to kill with a borrowed knife?"

Dao Zhen said, "It should be. Therefore, we can basically conclude what that Lei Ying's purpose was in going to the Water Mansion, and thus also confirm that the killer really was hired by Gong Shaoci."

The Red-clothed Woman asked, "Why would the Gong family brat do this?"

Dao Zhen said, "Shi Chun once courted Miao Dingyi's daughter in Life Prison, and Gong Shaoci is also pursuing Miao Dingyi's daughter. Miao Dingyi has never given a clear answer, and now he openly stands behind Shi Chun. It's very likely that's the reason."

Hearing this, the Red-clothed Woman seemed to think of something. A trace of mockery appeared at the corner of her lips as she muttered, "Miao Dingyi's future son-in-law, is it?"

Dao Zhen said, "That's hard to say. My Lady, how shall we deal with it?"

The Red-clothed Woman said, "We watch from the side."

Dao Zhen bowed slightly. "Yes."

The Red-clothed Woman flicked her wide sleeve, dispersing the mirror image, then slowly closed her eyes again…

In Nanshan Royal City, at the Central of Bowan Building, Miao Dingyi stood before a window with his hands behind his back. After listening to his subordinate's report, his face was overcast as he said, "Where did this rumor come from?"

The so-called rumor was the story that Shi Chun's mount could find Sandalwood Gold. This rumor had truly startled him; he had no idea how such a secret had leaked. By rights, there was no way it should have come from Shi Chun's side.

As for his side, it was absolutely impossible to leak, because he was the only one who knew about it here, and he certainly had not let it slip.

That meant the leak could only have come from Shi Chun's side.

This made a faint anger surface in his eyes. Such a massive vein of profit, an endless, peerless, unmatched path of wealth, and that bastard Shi Chun actually failed to maintain absolute caution—utterly absurd!

So, he did not believe this was a mere rumor; he was convinced the leak had come from Shi Chun's side.

His subordinate said, "We don't know. It came out suddenly, with no leads at all. We're investigating."

Miao Dingyi took a deep breath. He knew that once someone believed this matter, Shi Chun's situation would become troublesome. Yet that damned place Yanfu Continent was not somewhere one could easily enter to pass on a message; the cost of travel was simply too high.

He said in a deep voice, "All parties still holding a 'Gold Collection Order'—tell them to keep their eyes wide open. If they discover any sign of someone preparing to enter Yanfu Continent, report to me at once!"

His subordinate accepted the order. "Yes."

On the dunes, storage bags were being upended one after another in the hands of Wu Jinliang and the others as they tallied all the Sandalwood Gold they had mined.

Five days—it took a full five days to finally clear out that vein. To say it was absolutely cleared was impossible; a few scattered remnants being overlooked was unavoidable.

After everyone joined in the counting, all the Sandalwood Gold was ultimately gathered into three bags. Wu Jinliang carried them over to Shi Chun, grinning from ear to ear as he said, "First time I've counted money until I'm tired. All told, a bit over seventy billion—we've really struck it rich."

Shi Chun said calmly, "Let's go. Keep searching."

He raised his hand and pointed in a direction.

He hadn't been idle these past few days either; he had already found a second vein, and had tossed some Sandalwood Gold on top of it as a marker. As long as they went in that direction, any new vein found would no longer be "discovered by him," but dug up by the Golden-haired Rat Clan following the Sandalwood Gold exposed on the surface.

Of course, there were some false markers along the way. Otherwise, if any exposed Sandalwood Gold automatically meant there was a vein, that would be far too unrealistic.

It was just that he truly couldn't laugh the way Wu Jinliang did; he simply could not bring himself to.

These past few days, he had also made all sorts of attempts with the corpse, and had even killed another heinously guilty subordinate. The result confirmed one thing: the Death Refusing Incense likely really had no effect in this world.

That meant the dream of building an endless channel of wealth was shattered.

No matter how beautiful the idea, it was useless; reality had to be faced.

The reality is, no matter how much money they dig up, they can't hide it. The moment they leave, it'll be exposed, and once it's exposed, it can't go into his own private pocket.

If he really brings that much money out, it'll be hard to explain things to Miao Dingyi.

According to Miao Dingyi's instructions, once it was confirmed that the mount San could detect Sandalwood Gold veins, someone had to be sent out to report it.

But he didn't want to report it. He'd originally planned to go back and tell Miao Dingyi that reality was harsh—that San's superpower was suppressed on Yanfu Continent and was useless.

Now it was troublesome. If he really kept fooling Miao Dingyi, then he wouldn't be able to take much money out. Taking too much would prove that San was useful.

By then he honestly didn't know whether San would still belong to him.

Handing San over to Miao Dingyi would be the lightest possible outcome. One must know this was the secret of the greatest fortune in the world; once anything happened, all kinds of possibilities could arise.

The problem was, if he didn't bring enough money out, the Heavenly Domain Dingnan Prefecture's territory wouldn't be able to hold, and Young Master Nan would be screwed over miserably. By then, the people who had joined Wuyu Inn weren't just going after Young Master Nan to collect debts—there was no way he'd get off clean either.

How many days had it even been since he started living like a proper human being?

Having nothing else to do since they came in, Wu Jinliang, who'd been busy picking up money nonstop, also noticed that Shi Chun was acting off. On the way, after they found the next spot where Sandalwood Gold was exposed on the surface and the Golden-haired Rat Clan once again burrowed underground to investigate, Wu Jinliang seized a chance to sidle up to Shi Chun and whisper, "What's wrong?"

Shi Chun didn't hide it from him and said quietly, "Things are a mess. Death Refusing Incense is useless in this realm."

Wu Jinliang froze. Once he processed the stakes, he cried out in shock, "No way, how's that possible? It works even inside the 'Beidou Refusal Array' that even top experts can't break—why doesn't it work here?"

Shi Chun shot back, "How would I know why?"

Wu Jinliang knew he wouldn't joke about something like this. His whole spirit immediately collapsed; the drive he'd had for digging money was completely gone. If what you dig out doesn't belong to you, what's the point of digging?

After confirming there was nothing down below, the group set off again. They flew about a hundred li and once more encountered Sandalwood Gold exposed in the sand. The Golden-haired Rat Clan excitedly burrowed down again to investigate.

Of course, Shi Chun knew this time was also a bust. The next spot with real goods was after seven or eight decoy locations.

Even so, there was no stopping the Golden-haired Rat Clan's powerful underground probing ability. They checked one spot after another very quickly, and by the next day cheers rang out again—they'd found another Sandalwood Gold vein.

Wu Jinliang's chuckle was extremely forced; this was the first time in his life he'd run into the problem of having so much money it gave him a headache.

Standing amid the jubilant crowd, Shi Chun seemed a bit lonely. He'd also lost any interest in going to search for the next vein…

In a pavilion deep within the jade towers and jeweled halls, Wei Mo stood with his hands folded, quietly waiting. His mind turned over and over; he had no idea why Right Minister Jia Huan had suddenly summoned him.

This time truly caught him off guard. After losing the Battle of Great Pardon last time, he'd been discarded by the Right Minister and had been left to sit on the cold bench ever since, taking a hard lesson in the fickleness of the world. Now he'd suddenly been summoned again to the Right Minister's residence, and he really couldn't make sense of it.

He waited for nearly 15 minutes before Right Minister Jia Huan's figure finally emerged from the depths of the covered corridor. Wei Mo hurriedly cupped his fists and bowed from afar, and even after the other man came up and sat down in front of him, he still did not rise.

"Rise," Jia Huan said with a wave of his sleeve.

Wei Mo lifted his head but did not lower his hands. Seeing Jia Huan staring straight at him, scrutinizing, he promptly bowed his head again and said, "Please instruct me, Right Minister."

Jia Huan said, "You've operated in Sheng Province for many years. I've heard you secretly hold quite a few forces in your grasp, and that you've been covertly supporting Heavenly Domain Dingnan Prefecture with them?"

At these words, Wei Mo turned pale with fright and dropped to his knees on the spot, trembling. He didn't know how best to respond.

He hadn't expected the Right Minister to even know about this sort of thing. In truth, this didn't exactly count as colluding with the enemy. Who in a position like his didn't have a few people who followed the tide and shifted with the winds?

The problem was, if someone insisted on making an issue of it—especially someone like the Right Minister—then it became a rock-solid piece of leverage. In that case, he was as good as dead.

But he quickly calmed himself. He figured that a dignified Dongsheng Right Minister couldn't have called him over just to personally investigate this matter; that would be too far beneath him.

He then replied, in a show of fearful humility, "Your subordinate has indeed operated in Sheng Province for many years. After suddenly losing power, some friends who followed me naturally grew nervous and unsure where to turn. Having experienced Shi Chun's abilities firsthand, I think highly of Heavenly Domain Dingnan Prefecture's prospects, so I suggested they go there to seize the initiative. I guarantee with my head that there has been absolutely no collusion between myself and Shi Chun. I merely asked him, on account of our acquaintance born from conflict, to look after some old friends a little."

Jia Huan said blandly, "So, by your account, you know Shi Chun quite well?"

Wei Mo gave a wry smile. "I wouldn't say 'quite well,' but we did come to know each other through fighting, and I've continued to keep an eye on him."

Jia Huan said, "You botched things at the Battle of Great Pardon. Now I'm giving you another chance to atone for your mistakes with merit. Recently, have you heard anything about Shi Chun entering Yanfu Continent?"

Wei Mo paused, having an inkling of the reason behind this, and said in shaken uncertainty, "Your subordinate has heard a little."

Jia Huan said, "Some things are hard to do out in the open, so Dongsheng Bank will organize a mining team to go in. You'll still be the one to take the lead. There's only one objective: get that mount of Shi Chun's into our hands."

Shi Chun again? Wei Mo froze once more. This was something he'd never imagined, especially since he'd only just managed to smooth things over with Shi Chun. He hurriedly said, "Right Minister, this rumor came from a very suspicious source and may not be true. To waste a 'Gold Collection Order' worth several tens of billions on this isn't worth it."

Jia Huan said, "Does the Royal Court need to care about a few tens of billions? Whether it's true or not doesn't matter. What matters is that we verify it ourselves."