Chapter 3590 — Mine Zone Allocation

"Rest easy, Senior Brother Meng—none of us would dare bring shame upon the Qingyun Pavilion." The new recruits shivered and hastily swore in unison.

Meng Jueming nodded, then shot a malicious glance at Wei Zhao, who trailed behind the group. With anyone else, a mishap would have meant trouble for him too; but with Wei Zhao, he would have welcomed it. Compared to that trifling risk, ridding himself of Wei Zhao by such means would have been cause for great celebration!

Still, such things could only be entertained in his head. After yesterday's humiliation, he dared not recklessly scheme against Wei Zhao again for the time being—but if he could find a chance to give the fellow a good disgust first, that would be fine indeed!

Meng Jueming led them through a long corridor. Judging by the ever-descending slope, they must already be underground, yet every twenty feet along the walls on either side were set fluorite stones that glowed of their own accord. Though the surroundings were confined, the light was as clear and bright as it was above ground.

After a moment Meng Jueming halted. Before them stood a gate fully thirty feet tall, and the recruits could not help swallowing hard. Behind this gate, surely, lay the legendary spirit jade mine.

"Once you pass through this gate, you are in the spirit jade mine's excavation zone. But before you go in, you must first come with me over there and sign a contract." Meng Jueming pointed to the side of the gate, where a table and several cabinets had been set up. The cabinets were crammed full of countless blank paper contracts, and behind the table sat a white-bearded elder, dozing off in a drowsy haze.

Meng Jueming led the group over and patted the man's shoulder. The white-bearded elder opened his eyes, looked at Meng Jueming, and smiled. "Junior Brother Meng, it's you. What's this? All of these are our Qingyun Pavilion's new recruits this year?"

"That's right." Meng Jueming nodded, then introduced him to the group. "This is Senior Brother Dai Wuchang. He came up through our Qingyun Pavilion and now handles contract matters here at the Spirit Jade Hall. Well? Aren't you going to greet Senior Brother Dai?"

"Greetings, Senior Brother Dai!" The recruits hurried to pay their respects. Though this Senior Brother Dai Wuchang looked quite advanced in years, his cultivation stood only at the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage. By the cultivation world's rule that the strong command respect, his seniority ranked about the same as Meng Jueming's, so a simple "Senior Brother" from the others would suffice.

Still, this Dai Wuchang was an old man who had never been taken in by the Xuanji Pavilion—which surely meant he was a sorry specimen indeed, so worthless that the Xuanji Pavilion had no use for him, driving him at last to the Qingyun Pavilion, that dumping ground for failures.

Dai Wuchang nodded and turned to Meng Jueming. "Junior Brother Meng, how many contracts do you need this time, and for which mine zones?"

Meng Jueming did a quick tally. "If you would, Senior Brother Dai: two for Mine Zone Seven, ten for Mine Zone Eight, and one for Mine Zone Ten."

"Right away, I'll get them for you—wait, Mine Zone Ten? You want one for Mine Zone Ten too?" Dai Wuchang suddenly froze, staring at Meng Jueming in astonishment. "Junior Brother Meng, did you misspeak? You mean Mine Zone Nine, surely?"

Meng Jueming shook his head and glanced at Wei Zhao in the crowd with a cold smile. "You heard correctly, Senior Brother Dai. I want one for Mine Zone Ten. It's a public zone—there shouldn't be any problem with that, should there?"

Following Meng Jueming's gaze to Wei Zhao, Dai Wuchang understood at last—so the fellow meant to make sport of someone. He let out a laugh and shook his head, then said with the indifference of one whose business it was not: "Of course there's no problem. Mine Zone Ten is a公认 dead zone—we've been worrying no one would ever work it. I'll prepare it for you directly."

"A public zone? A dead zone? What's all this, Senior Brother Ku?" Sensing some trickery at work, Wei Zhao turned to ask the Brother Ku beside him.

Though Senior Brother Ku had no say in such matters, he had deliberately come along today lest Wei Zhao be cheated without even knowing it. Even if he could not help Wei Zhao, at least he could help him see the situation clearly and spare him a blind loss.

Senior Brother Ku shook his head helplessly and sighed, then explained: "By the spirit jade's reserves and distribution density, the Spirit Jade Hall has divided the entire vein into ten mine zones, ranked from best to worst as Zones One through Ten. The smaller the number, the higher the quality."

"By long-standing custom, Zones One through Three lie at the very heart of the mountain range and belong to the disciples of the Chongtian Pavilion. Zones Four through Six lie outside the center and belong to the Xuanji Pavilion's disciples. Zones Seven through Nine lie around the periphery and belong to the Qingyun Pavilion's disciples. As for Zone Ten, that is the public zone on the outer edge, open to disciples of all three pavilions. But though Zone Ten does hold spirit jade, it is exceedingly sparse—a whole year's digging yields barely a few pieces, and even those are worthless scraps with the thinnest trace of spiritual energy. Ordinary people simply won't waste their time going in; you can go a whole year without seeing a soul there, which is why it's called the dead zone. A zone's quality corresponds to the mountain's spiritual energy—which is also why the Chongtian Pavilion's cave dwellings are the finest: beneath their caves lies the finest mine zone!" Here even Senior Brother Ku, honest man that he was, could not suppress his anger. "I thought that however much Senior Brother Meng might target you, at worst he'd assign you to Zone Nine—even if the yield there is low, you'd still come away with something. I never imagined he'd demand the dead zone, Zone Ten. This is going too far! Junior Brother Lin, let's just go. There's truly no need to waste our time in a place like this!"

Ha—who would have thought that Senior Brother Ku, that long-suffering saint of a man who had endured everything for years on end, had a temper in him after all? A rare sight indeed!

Amused as he was, Wei Zhao felt a stir of gratitude. He patted Senior Brother Ku on the shoulder and consoled him: "It's fine. We're here now, so let's make the best of it. Even a dead zone isn't necessarily incapable of yielding spirit jade. Besides, if I turned tail and played the turtle now, wouldn't I just be giving them a free laugh at my expense? I should at least see what this spirit jade mine looks like!"

"Oh, Junior Brother Lin, don't be so stubborn—just come with me!" Seeing Wei Zhao looking so composed, still unaware of how serious the matter was, Senior Brother Ku grew anxious. "You don't understand—you can't just walk into this spirit jade mine for nothing. Once you sign the mining contract, you'll have to work here a full three months at least. Apart from important occasions like the new recruits' trial and the ranking matches, you'll have to come here and mine at all other times—otherwise you'll have broken the contract and face severe punishment!"RP