Chapter 3591 — A Failed Swap

Three months is neither long nor short. For cultivators with their vast lifespans, three months passing by in vain without the slightest gain was really no great matter—but for the newcomers present, the meaning of these three months was something else entirely!

Remember: if they wished to enter the Qingyun Pavilion for further advancement, they had to succeed in Foundation Establishment within a single year—and three months was already a quarter of that year!

Once the contract was signed, it meant that for the next three months, compared to newcomers like Xiao Che who had not come to mine, their cultivation progress would inevitably lag behind. After all, even if the spirit qi concentration in the spirit jade mine was naturally decent, they could not cultivate with focus, and the results were bound to be greatly diminished.

Still, come to think of it, if they could earn enough spirit jade within those three months, they would not lose out—for that would lay a solid foundation for the nine months of cultivation to follow, and their results then would surely far surpass those of Xiao Che and the like. It was entirely possible for them to overtake the rest from behind! So long as they ultimately succeeded in Foundation Establishment, they would be the victors!

In the end, signing this mining contract was a gamble. If they could dig up enough spirit jade in the coming three months, they won! If they dug up too little—or worse, ended with nothing at all—then they lost, and lost catastrophically!

Yet if this gamble could be said to hold both risk and reward for the other newcomers, then for Wei Zhao, who was about to be assigned to Mine No. 10, it was a sure loss with no doubt about it.

In three months, the others—if they were a bit diligent and lucky—might earn seven or eight pieces of spirit jade, and even the unlucky ones could at least scrape together four or five. But in a notorious dead mine like Mine No. 10, once the three months were up, Wei Zhao would very likely not earn even a single piece.

In fact, by past experience, in the dead Mine No. 10 there was scarcely any good jade full of spirit qi—not even much of the worthless jade with thin spirit qi. To think of gathering a hundred pieces of good jade in such a place in exchange for reward was nothing but a fool's dream.

Anyone else hearing this would surely have wisely chosen to back out. Better to be a turtle pulling in its head and beat a retreat than to waste three precious months of cultivation time for nothing. To stubbornly push ahead at such a moment—that was plainly to have a hole in one's head!

But Wei Zhao truly had no intention of retreating. He had never come for the meager reward of mining in the first place. Since spirit jade was scarce in the dead Mine No. 10, the supervision there surely would not be as strict as in other mines, which would instead make it easier for him to pull his tricks. In other words, possessing a divine artifact like the jade pendant space, what Wei Zhao wanted now was worthless jade. If he were truly swapped into a high-yield mine and watched closely day and night, that would be a nuisance!

Brother Kubi, however, clearly could not know Wei Zhao's plans. Seeing him wearing that easy, go-with-the-flow expression the whole time, he stamped his feet in frantic anxiety. For this junior brother who, alone among the few in recent years, had respected him from the bottom of his heart, Brother Kubi genuinely did not want to see him suffer a loss—especially such an obvious, massive one!

After a few more earnest words of persuasion, and seeing that Wei Zhao could not be moved no matter what, Brother Kubi finally gritted his teeth, steeled himself, and walked straight toward Meng Jueming and Dai Wuchang.

Seeing Brother Kubi squeeze his way over, Meng Jueming glanced at him in surprise. Over the years he had grown used to the other's meek and submissive manner, and had never seen such a resolute expression on Kubi's face—he even sensed a faint air of authority about him.

This spineless good-for-nothing actually had an air of authority about him? Meng Jueming was amused by the bizarre thought that sprang into his mind. He curled his lip and said, "Brother Kubi, what is it you think you're doing?"

Unexpectedly, Brother Kubi did not answer with his usual deference—did not even glance at him—but addressed Dai Wuchang directly: "Senior Brother Dai, please give me a contract for Mine No. 7!"

"Oh? Does Brother Kubi mean to go down the mine and dig for jade himself? Have the rules of the Welcome Pavilion changed—are you stewards now allowed to take on private work?" Dai Wuchang looked at Brother Kubi with a puzzled expression.

To prevent these steward brothers from neglecting their proper duties and letting the instruction of newcomers fall into ruin, the Welcome Pavilion had explicitly decreed that they were forbidden to take any private work—after all, they already drew a substantial monthly stipend, more than enough for their daily cultivation needs. Going down the mine merely to supervise and maintain order among the Qingyun Pavilion newcomers was permissible, but if they wished to dig for jade with their own hands, that would not do.

"No—I'm requesting this contract on behalf of Junior Brother Lin. According to the rules, any steward brother has the authority to arrange contracts for newcomers. There should be no problem with my doing this."

Under Meng Jueming's glaring gaze from the side, Brother Kubi finally forced out these words through sheer nerve. This was the first time in years he had so openly defied Meng Jueming's wishes.

"Oh? That's true enough as far as it goes, but..." Dai Wuchang was taken aback, then turned to look at Meng Jueming's dark, sullen face. In theory Kubi did indeed have that authority, but for all these years it had always been Meng Jueming alone who decided matters. Where was there room for Kubi to have a say?

"As for the arrangement for Wei Zhao, I already decided it earlier—that contract for Mine No. 10 was prepared for him. Brother Kubi, there's no need for you to make a fuss over nothing." Meng Jueming regarded Brother Kubi coldly. Though inwardly furious, the man was, after all, a steward brother of the same rank as himself—he could not simply fly into a rage as he would with a newcomer.

"Mine No. 10 is acknowledged to be a dead mine. As a steward—steward brother of the Welcome Pavilion, I must take responsibility for the newcomers' cultivation. I—I believe this will be detrimental to Junior Brother Lin's cultivation in the days to come!" Brother Kubi stammered.

Facing the authority Meng Jueming had built up over many years, Brother Kubi stood up to him openly for the first time, and in his heart he was still somewhat unnerved—so much so that his words came out haltingly.

Meng Jueming ground his teeth in hatred. Though he would have loved nothing more than to give this eternal coward a good thrashing, with so many eyes upon them he could only force his anger down. Kubi's words, after all, were not without reason; at this moment he dared not raise a hand—even a single ill-chosen half-sentence, once spread abroad, would become evidence that he was deliberately suppressing a newcomer, and for a steward brother that was a fatal stain.

Meng Jueming shot Dai Wuchang a look, and Dai Wuchang nodded in understanding. With a cold face he cut in, "Brother Kubi, that's not right of you. True, your Welcome Pavilion has its Welcome Pavilion rules, but our Spirit Jade Hall has our Spirit Jade Hall arrangements. What—is Mine No. 10 not a mine? Does it not need people to work it?"