All the Mine Cultivators were herded to the edge of the Sand and Gravel Field outside the mine tunnel and ordered not to move a muscle. Anyone who disobeyed would be killed without mercy.
The Evil Ghost cultivators took control of the entire mine and investigated the disturbance in the tunnels.
A quarter of an hour later.
Long, deep-blue natural ore veined with cloud patterns lay in neat rows on the ground.
"Cloud Pattern Immortal Jade. Who would've thought that something this precious lay beneath such a barren mine?"
A dark-skinned Evil Ghost cultivator spoke.
He wore a crimson mask, its surface marked with several black lines that formed a vicious, wrathful expression.
"My lord, the mine manager has been brought here," someone reported.
"Oh?"
The Evil Ghost cultivator turned to look across from him.
Two guards were escorting a short, elderly man toward him.
The old man dropped to his knees and trembled as he said, "Lord Xue, it wasn't that your subordinate was incompetent. No one could've expected to dig up Cloud Pattern Immortal Jade. Wealth stirs the heart; the situation simply got out of hand."
The Evil Ghost addressed as Lord Xue nodded. "That's true. These Mine Cultivators must've gone mad when they saw the Cloud Pattern Immortal Jade."
He patted the old man on the shoulder and comforted him. "I understand how difficult this was for you."
The old man breathed a sigh of relief and was about to speak again when his head was suddenly yanked up.
Lord Xue gripped his head with one hand, clenched the other into a fist, and smashed it into his torso.
Pfft!
The old man's body burst into a cloud of blood and flew far away. It came apart in midair, scattering a rain of red and white across