The dark mine was not completely devoid of light. It was just that one's eyes couldn't immediately adjust after being accustomed to the brightness outside. On the walls of the tunnel, simple oil lamps were placed at intervals, providing a dim light just sufficient to find one's way.
Carrying their burdens, the two figures, one tall and one short, deliberately slowed their pace, glancing around them from time to time.
The two shadowy figures who skulked about were the very same thieves Shen Youkun had bitterly mentioned, still not completely cleared out. Their respective heights made it easy to tell who was who.
Having put some distance between themselves and the miners ahead, and making sure no one was close behind, the tall Wu Jinliang still looked nervous, muttering a complaint under his breath, "That was close, almost got recognized by Shen Youkun. I said it was too dangerous to do this, but you just had to come and join the fun."
Shi Chun muttered back, "It's all fine though, isn't it? We've confirmed it over and over again from their own lips: they are all outsiders with unfamiliar faces. Aside from Shen Youkun, no one should recognize us. The reason we ran into him face-to-face was purely by chance, it won't happen all the time."
Wu Jinliang gave him a pointed look and reminded, "Listen, Chun Tian, don't count on luck here. Aren't we being a bit too brazen? What if we run into him again? He isn't blind; he can't always missee us. He probably hates our guts. My height makes me too conspicuous. You dare saunter right in front of him, but I'm scared! If we run into him again, there's a good chance he'll recognize us, and then with one shout, we'll be lynched..."
Shi Chun interrupted dismissively, "What 'one shout'? If he doesn't recognize us, fine, but if we do run into him face-to-face, just let him try to shout. He's just a man who has lost his cultivation, how hard is it to grab and use him as a hostage? The moment something seems off, it'll be easy to deal with. What's there to be scared of? Just do what we've got to do without scaring yourself."
"Uh..." Wu Jinliang scratched his head, speechless. On second thought, it seemed true that Shen could be easily captured if they ran into him again.
But then he quickly reconsidered, saying anxiously, "No, there's really no need to take any more risks. They've got so many hands after all. We've already seen the relics; it's just a pile of bones that have been buried who knows how many years. We've touched and examined them, and haven't found anything special about the skeletons. Besides, that pile of skeletons is too huge. Even if it's valuable, the two of us couldn't carry it off. Continuing to look is just a waste of time and increases the risk of exposure. We'd better pull out now."
He wouldn't have been so persistent in advising against the Master's decisions before, but things were different now. They had already accrued "enough merit," and all responsibilities on East Nine Plain had been lifted. Even if he yearned for one more sight of the tavern owner's daughter from the city, it was not worth the risk anymore. They could simply wait for the meeting and then use their "merit" to secure their freedom, with no need for further troubles.
The reason the two of them were here had to do with the "merit" they had recently accumulated.
Put simply, they had snatched a huge cache of supplies, so substantial that even they themselves were surprised. The whole gang was ecstatic, but the Master had frowned and muttered to him that something didn't seem right.
The defending force and the quantity of the supplies didn't seem to match up, meaning their victory seemed a little too easy.
He didn't think it was a big deal, as long as the goods were in hand. However, the Master had left a contingent plan at the site of the robbery.
After the goods were delivered to the city and successfully sold, the Master felt something was off again, thinking the deal had gone too smoothly.
Someone with the strength and power to amass such supplies in the Land of Exile wouldn't just let them go without attempting to take them back; yet, they didn't even come to investigate or complain, let alone try to recover the stolen items. If it had been them on East Nine Plain that had something stolen, even if they lacked the strength to reclaim it, they would have spread rumors to attract others' interest, making trouble for their opponents. But this time things went too smoothly, without even a hint of any unusual activity.
Likewise, the intelligence gathered from the precaution they left at the site of the robbery also brought back news: having watched for several days, no one had come to investigate the scene.
And the "merit" earned from exchanging the stolen supplies at their market value was just enough to buy freedom for everyone on East Nine Plain. Facing this sum, the Master brooded in silence for a long while.
Faced with the unrestrainable excitement of the group, no argument would stop their eagerness to leave. The Master didn't say much else and divided the "merit" among everyone fairly and squarely.
After the commotion settled, they sent away the rest of the group. The Master watched them leave and, unexpectedly, offered a deep and lingering bow to their departing figures.
He noticed that the Master's eyes were red, as if he had shed tears.
The Master turned his head away, apparently not wanting him to see, so he pretended as well.
In the end, only they remained. He thought he understood why the Master stayed behind: the tavern owner's daughter from Bowan Building, who would come to the nearby city to check on her accounts once every three months. The Master's affection for her was well known to all.
Seeing her only once every three months, it was understandable that he would stay to see her one last time before leaving. Even if he couldn't acquire her contact information outside, at the very least, he should bid her farewell in person. Otherwise, he might not be able to face himself.
But to his surprise, the Master made a different plan with him, suggesting their remaining behind could serve as bait, stating that if someone was indeed intent on seeing them leave, they would come to investigate upon discovering they had not.
He thought the Master was overthinking it—who would be so kind to give them so much in this forsaken place?
But then, someone did come, and from there, they traced their way back and uncovered the mastermind behind it all, Shen Youkun.
Shen Youkun, why on earth would you do such a good deed? It was downright inconceivable. The two of them naturally spared no effort to catch him and investigate. There were still quite a few days before they had to settle accounts with the boss's daughter, and since they were idle anyway, their investigation eventually led to the current situation.
No matter how much he tried to persuade him, Shi Chun still decided to take the risk and continue forward, saying, "With so many people needing to eat every day, along with the large amount of supplies being sent to us in secret, I don't believe so much expense would be for nothing. It's just temporary confusion; I'm confident that by the end we'll be able to understand his tricks."
Wu Jinliang was so anxious he wanted to stamp his feet, following Shi Chun's pace to persuade him further, "Even if there's some trick to this skeleton, if we can't chew through it or take it with us, then it's none of our business. It's not worth the risk."
Shi Chun turned to him and asked, "The Shen family suddenly brought out such a large amount of supplies. Where do you think it came from? Do you think it was accumulated?"
Wu Jinliang didn't believe it was accumulated. They had been in charge at East Nine Plain for several years and had only managed to send a few dozen people back to the city. Shen Youkun had only been exiled here for two or three years, and the supplies they had previously pretended to steal from him would have been enough to send away all of their more than a hundred people, not to mention the current consumption of so many people here. It definitely wasn't easily accumulated in this impoverished land.
So how had it come about? Some things were clear without saying. The issue likely lay with the guards at the city gates. After all, the exiled were divided into different classes, and such occurrences weren't rare.
But what could they do about it? Were they, mere ants, in any position to question those who controlled the city gates? If they wanted to look for trouble, they could certainly try.
Therefore, Wu Jinliang responded, "Does the source matter? Chun Tian, let's go, it's got nothing to do with us."
Shi Chun retorted, "Unrelated? Considering Shen Youkun's background out there, even if we were to leave, do you think he'd let us go easily? What's more, since he's the one sending us out, can you really feel at ease? If he could get so many things in here, wouldn't it be easy for him to send word outside and deal with us?"
These words made Wu Jinliang's heart skip a beat, and he hurriedly asked in a low voice, "What do you want to do?"
Shi Chun also leaned in and whispered back, "The source of those supplies clearly has issues, and there's definitely some shady business going on here. If we can figure out what it is and get a hold of something useful, we'll have more room to maneuver."
Wu Jinliang seemed thoughtful and uttered a sound of agreement. The objections he had harbored in his mind instantly faded away, but he still couldn't help but grumble, "I said, Chun Tian, of all people to mess with, why did you have to mess with the Shens? Now we're stuck in this situation where others cheerfully accumulate 'virtue' and leave, while we're left to live in fear."
Shi Chun heaved a sigh, "Do you think I wanted to? Damn it, who knew he really had connections."
It was ancient history by now. When Shen Youkun had first been demoted and arrived, he didn't act like an average person. He was full of bluster, and even after his demotion, he still looked down on everyone and scared them with his family background. Most people thought about their future and didn't want to cause trouble. If they couldn't afford to provoke, they avoided.
This was also why some of the cultivators who were exiled without their powers could still command some of the natives who still had their cultivation.
After some time, Shen Youkun grew increasingly audacious, to the point of walking sideways, so to speak. Eventually, he ran into trouble on the East Nine Plain side and ended up in Shi Chun's hands.
Shi Chun was well-known in this area, not someone who was vegetarian. He wouldn't indulge the other party's quirks, but out of respect for his background, he still acted courteously.
However, Shi Chun wasn't scared easily. Just because you claim to have a background doesn't mean I'll believe it without verifying, right? So he confined Shen Youkun with proper hospitality while having him contact his family through the city guards.
As it turned out, Shen Youkun couldn't prove his background despite multiple attempts.
The consequences were predictable. Damn it, he thought he could deceive me. Shi Chun would make him pay, that was for sure. He had had his eye on the fine clothes Shen Youkun had worn when he came in, and the first order of business was to strip Shen Youkun naked in public, with a round of humiliation and torture being unavoidable.
At the time, they didn't kill Shen Youkun, as they wanted him to learn that living could be worse than dying. They let out the word that Shen Youkun was a fraud and threw him to the relevant parties.
They had assumed Shen Youkun would surely die, but the news that came back was that Shen Youkun was being revered like an ancestor by others.
Upon investigation, they found that Shen Youkun indeed had a background outside, and contact had been made.
After Shi Chun learned of this, he was indeed a bit dumbfounded. He had come to understand that Shen Youkun indeed had connections, but the city guards were also firm, and not just anyone could easily get through. This misunderstanding arose until the Shen family cleared things up on their side. By then, Shi Chun had already severely offended Shen Youkun.
Afterward, Shen Youkun indeed repeatedly sent groups to give him trouble, but they never gained the upper hand.
Fed up, Shi Chun figured out a way to teach him a harsh lesson, and only then did Shen Youkun start to behave.
During that time, there had been opportunities to kill Shen Youkun, but Shi Chun restrained himself. Killing the man would change the nature of things. His family had the influence to reach into the city gates; would they let it go? If they truly became ruthless, cutting off his lifeline from the city gates would be all too easy; just about anyone could do it.