No matter whether they genuinely came to quell the rebellion or not, they at least came because of it. Upon seeing a group of people charging from the cave, they immediately scrambled to draw their weapons.
The people rushing out of the cave saw the weapons drawn by those running towards them and those who had weapons immediately grabbed them to confront each other. The tension on the miners' faces was visibly clear, uncertain of what was happening.
From outside the cave, someone shouted, "Drop your weapons!"
His companions echoed the intimidation.
From inside the cave, another loudly retorted, "What do you want to do?"
As the crowd parted, Shen Youkun stepped forward, pointing at the group charging towards them and rebuked, "What do you want to do, are you tired of living?"
Despite having lost his cultivation, facing the gleaming cold weapons, his defiance remained unchanged. This showed how little he regarded these natives, a problem evidently enabled by the natives themselves. For instance, East Nine Plain's Master did not tolerate such behavior, which somewhat intimidated him.
Seeing him, the group from outside the cave lowered their weapons, the leader asked in surprise, "Mr. Shen, are you all right?"
"What could be wrong with me, why are you not guarding outside and instead running in here?" Shen Youkun scolded, still relying on this group to stop those trying to escape.
With both sides confronting each other like this, one could imagine the situation. Shen Youkun was furiously enraged, cursing loudly, "A bunch of idiots!"
Confirming there was no danger, Qi Ziru was also brought forward, his calm voice overshadowing the impatient Shen Youkun, "The ones who broke out, was it just one person?"
He wanted to confirm because if it truly was a single person daring to risk so much alone and play everyone like this, then he must really hold him in high regard.
"Yes, just one person."
"We only saw one person."
"No, not far from the entrance there was also a miner lying down, seemingly severely injured and unconscious, but that might also be fake."
"Ah, that's right, if the miner's rebellion is fake, then that seemingly severely injured and unconscious miner might also be fake."
As the crowd responded, a guard who had been standing at the entrance chimed in, "That miner is the tallest one, very conspicuous; I remember him repeatedly coming in and out."
At these words, Shen Youkun suddenly muttered to himself in a daze, "A tall figure, two people..."
Visions of nearly colliding with a tall figure at the cave entrance flashed through his mind. With a slap, he suddenly struck himself hard on the cheek and growing more agitated, exclaimed, "It's them, uncle, it's..."
Qi Ziru sharply interrupted, "Shut up, first go and seal off the cave entrance."
Shen Youkun anxiously said, "Uncle, I know who it is, it's..."
Qi Ziru sharply commanded, "I told you to shut up!"
"..." Shen Youkun immediately fell silent, his uncle was truly angry, and he could only obediently keep quiet.
Under Qi Ziru's command, the personnel quickly chased out.
By the time the group rushed out of the mine, it was twilight, and not a single person could be seen.
Qi Ziru didn't allow everyone to go searching around, instead he bluntly stated in front of everyone, "Who can guarantee the murderer hasn't set up a ruse and is actually still hiding in the cave? Who can ensure the murderer didn't blend in with us during the chaos?"
After a headcount, it was discovered that five supervisors were missing.
Qi Ziru didn't remove the masked men's masks to check each one.
Some who earned this payoff were somewhat well-known, and it was sufficient for Shen Youkun to know who they were; they didn't want to reveal their true faces in front of others, but this wasn't why Qi Ziru refrained from checking.
He didn't allow those guards who were originally hidden around to return, leaving only a few to block the entrance, diverting the rest to join the excavation team to dig out the remaining parts of the skeletal structure within the cave as quickly as possible.
He accepted the advice of those two supervisors; there was no need to move the dirt out, just dump it in the nearby tunnels. In any case, the excavation needed to be swift.
After arranging all this, Qi Ziru laboriously got up from his lounge chair, gestured to stop the palanquin bearers from accompanying him, and strolled through the valley, followed only by Shen Youkun.
Looking nervously around, Shen Youkun, knowing who was causing the trouble, was indeed a bit scared that the murderer might suddenly leap out now that he was away from the protective circle.
Once out of earshot of others, Qi Ziru stopped and glanced at his nephew, looking towards the darkening sky, "Don't be nervous, they've already got what they came for and are busy escaping."
Hearing this, Shen Youkun was indeed reassured, looked back at the cave entrance, contemplating his uncle's intentions, certain that the murderer had escaped, yet wondering why he then suggested the murderer might still be in the cave and had the cave entrance sealed.
Qi Ziru's voice broke his train of thought, "Was it the Master who paid us a visit?"
Shen Youkun suddenly pulled himself together, "That's right, it's 'Si Chun' and 'Wu Jinliang' who came. It was only after the guard at the entrance reminded me that I remembered, Wu Jinliang should have seen me at the entrance. I was so focused on looking for you that I neglected it for a moment."
Qi Ziru clicked his tongue and sighed, "It's really them! Just two people daring to brazenly blend into so many and act recklessly, even daring to sneak someone so conspicuously tall among us, blatantly treating us as nothing. What audacity! Not only did they make fools of us, but stealing the treasure was as easy as reaching into a bag for them. Truly a remarkable person!
No wonder you preferred to go to great lengths to get rid of them rather than confront them directly. You had already learned deeply, yet you chose not to disclose it beforehand. Had I known earlier that such a capable person was involved, how could I have allowed you to handle it lightly, how could I have let him succeed so easily?"
Shen Youkun muttered somewhat guiltily, "Back in the mine, I suspected it was them and wanted to tell you, but you scolded me and wouldn't let me speak."
The implication was, look, there are times when I want to say something, and you don't let me; times when I don't, and then you blame me for not speaking. It's really difficult for me to judge the right timing.
Qi Ziru, not intending to get angry due to his physical and mental inconvenience, still couldn't help but change his expression and scolded, "Idiot! Haven't you said enough already? With what you've told, anyone intent on finding out could guess who took the treasure.
Before we catch them, we cannot let anyone outside know who took the treasure. We must rely on our own forces to pursue them. Otherwise, how would we answer to our clan? Do you want to invite other powers to snatch the treasure as well? Those who heard you today, none can be spared!"
Shen Youkun, silenced and choking up repeatedly, finally realized he had been foolish.
Feeling guilty, he changed the subject, "Uncle, that fellow is very cunning. He escaped with the treasure, and catching him again might not be so easy."
Qi Ziru gave him a disdainful look, then, standing with his hands behind his back, gazed into the distance and slowly said, "Unless something unexpected happens, he should not be able to escape."
Shen Youkun was taken aback, "Not able to escape?"
Unsure whether it meant now or sooner or later, and seeing his uncle's composed demeanor as implying the former, he vaguely sensed something and instinctively looked around.
Qi Ziru hummed, "The heavy responsibility entrusted by the clan, do you think I would entrust it all to you? While you were recruiting people, I had already contacted another group of people here as a backup. If you succeed, fine; if not, others are ready to take over.
When I received your confirmation that you had found the item and came here, I also took the opportunity to survey the terrain around us, setting up ambushes on some likely necessary paths. I have already ordered that anyone leaving this place without my permission, once discovered, will not be spared!"
Shen Youkun could understand such arrangements, preventing any stragglers who might try to sneak away, but he still doubted, "How many men have you arranged? There are so many paths around such a large area."
Qi Ziru replied, "He's afraid of being pursued and will likely rush to escape far away within a short distance. He'll probably follow the easier escape routes, and the chances of collision are quite high."
Shen Youkun remained worried, "Uncle, that fellow is not only crafty, but he can also fight well here. If the men blocking him are too few, they might not be able to stop him."
In such a vast area, he believed his uncle couldn't possibly have arranged densely packed teams everywhere, nor could he set up such an exaggerated formation in the Land of Exile.
"He won't escape unless he finds a loophole. Once found, even if he is of the High Martial Realm, he won't escape!" Qi Ziru's indifferent response was filled with confidence.
Shen Youkun blinked the eyes on his fleshy face, understanding now. His uncle's preparations were extremely thorough, and he began to feel excited, eagerly anticipating the situation of Shi Chun, that thief, falling into his hands. He couldn't help but grind his teeth.
Qi Ziru, indifferent to his reaction, looked down and then began to pace back and forth, muttering to himself, "What exactly is that sparkling purple nebula? Does the clan know, or not? They should not know, otherwise for such an important item, they wouldn't fail to notify us in advance... "
He was now considering, in case they couldn't stop him and that Master ran away, whether to hide this matter from the clan, as he would have to put to death all knowledgeable parties involved afterward.
People tend to have self-interest, easily considering their own benefits. He worried that this mess would bring dissatisfaction from the clan towards him, leading to an unexpected departure from this place. After all, he had already found the item the clan demanded, and he truly did not want to complicate matters further.
Despite his confident appearance in front of his nephew, the capabilities of that Master, who had tricked everyone here, still disturbed him, leaving him somewhat uneasy...
Hurrying to a mountainous area, Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang moved a large rock and pulled out two bundles of clothes. Normally, the two of them were dressed appropriately when going out, as they represented the face of the East Nine Plain.
They also dug out two items from the pit, a large and a small knife.
The small one was not exactly small, just normal carried knife size, but it seemed smaller compared to the large one. It came with a sheath wrapped in cloth strips.
The large knife had no sheath, was entirely black, nearly half a zhang long, almost one chi wide, with a back as thick as a fist — a big and heavy knife, which Wu Jinliang swung onto his shoulder with one hand.
This knife had no significant origin; he had personally forged it at a blacksmith's, simply because the blacksmith had let him use materials freely. Following his principle of taking advantage when possible, he personally made a hefty knife. Later, he found that wielding such a big thing in fights had its advantages, and he grew accustomed to using it.
When Shi Chun wanted to present a good appearance, the carried knife was also handed to Wu Jinliang to hold; naturally, in times of fleeing and protecting oneself, there was no need.
After resetting the large rock, the two embraced their knives and bundles and quickly ran again.
Along the way, they ran along lower terrain like mountain gorges, not daring to run towards higher terrain easily as it made them easy to spot. Only occasionally, when wanting to check the situation behind them, would they take the nearest mountaintop to sneak a peak for any pursuers.
After running for a while and doing this a few times, Shi Chun, about to dive back into a ravine, suddenly put his hand on Wu Jinliang's shoulder, and both of them abruptly stopped halfway up the mountain slope.
Wu Jinliang was about to ask what was wrong but before he could, Shi Chun was already warily scanning the surroundings, saying, "Something's not right!"
He then turned around and crouched down to the mountaintop, peering back the way they came.
So, Wu Jinliang joined him and asked, "What's wrong?"
Shi Chun spoke in a grave voice, "It's too quiet. We've seen no one chasing us all the way. Just letting us escape like this, do you think that's normal?"