Chapter 3606 — Almost Catching Up to Me
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"Show-off newcomer, I dug eight fine stones today, so let us see whether you can enjoy the same dog-luck as yesterday! Though out of pure humanitarianism, I suppose you can still manage eight—only they will all be worthless stones, ha ha ha!" The moment Wei Zhao appeared, Meng Zhou sprang out, unable to contain himself. Today, to give Wei Zhao a proper sting, Meng Jueming had personally taken the field, guiding Meng Zhou in his digging, and Meng Zhou had strained every sinew at it. The final haul was one stone more than yesterday—the envy of all around!
Of course, Number Seven mining zone had more people than just Meng Zhou; there were also outer disciples of Azure Cloud Pavilion who had failed to advance to the early stage of Heaven's Path Foundation Establishment in the previous round and were here doing hard labor.
They no longer enjoyed the treatment of cave dwellings. They could only rely on the jade earned by brute labor to cultivate slowly, and whenever they broke through, they could go and re-enter the trials for inner disciples and rise to that rank.
So, even with Meng Jueming's help, he could only assist Meng Zhou in finding jade where there was no one around, which was hardly efficient! In this respect he was a little envious of his miserable senior brother—that thing could help Wei Zhao find jade across the whole of Number Ten mining zone.
Never mind the newcomers of Number Eight; even Li Zhengming, assigned to the same mining zone as him, now looked at Meng Zhou with plain envy in his eyes. He had only gathered five fine stones today.
"Eight, is it? Not bad at all—you are almost catching up to me. Still, you must keep at it!" Wei Zhao deliberately arched an eyebrow and tossed off the remark while tipping the spirit jade from his basket onto the weighing platform.
"Good heavens! One stroke of dog-luck and you, a jinx from dead Number Ten, think you are something grand? Wait till the inspection—then we will see you cry!" Meng Zhou nearly exploded with rage. He had strained every sinew today to put Wei Zhao in his place, and the fellow had not even deigned to take him seriously. Compared with being belittled, this bland, breezy disregard was all the more hateful and infuriating!
"Forty-five catties and three taels, no problem!" The worker in charge of weighing checked the figure against the ledger submitted by the guards and announced it.
Wei Zhao let out a small breath of relief. Just as yesterday, he had secretly stashed away two worthless stones short on spiritual energy. In truth, given the number of worthless stones he had dug today, he could have hidden one more—but then every worthless stone he had dug today would have had to be charged into a fine stone. A haul of nothing but energy-rich fine stones with not a single worthless one would have been a bit unscientific. To avoid the bird that sticks its head out getting shot, it was better to play it safe—after all, there was plenty of time to come.
At the number read out from the scale, Xu Lingchong, who had been waiting for the joke, could not help but change countenance slightly. Though his deep background meant he had never personally mined, he had once served a stint as a steward in the Spirit Jade Hall to pad his credentials, and he had some notion of these procedures.
Forty-five catties on the scale was nothing rare for the top-numbered quality mining zones, but for dead Number Ten, it was somewhat outrageous. RS