Spirit Stone Mine, Seventh Branch Mine Tunnel.
At that moment, a dignified-looking, middle-aged cultivator sat cross-legged on a fairly flat rock in the Stone Cave, his eyes slightly closed as spiritual energy swirled around him.
Suddenly.
Hearing the commotion outside his Cave Mansion, he frowned and slowly ceased his cultivation. The spiritual energy around him quickly dissipated.
He rose to his feet, displeasure written across his face, and went outside the Cave Mansion. When he saw the noisy crowd, his frown deepened.
The two cultivators guarding the Cave Mansion saw the dignified-looking, middle-aged cultivator and hurriedly cupped their fists.
"Brother Ba... They wanted to barge into your Cave Mansion, but the two of us stopped them!"
The other guard hurriedly added:
"Brother Ba, their cultivation is higher than ours... We couldn't drive them away!"
"Enough. Keep guarding this place!"
Wang Daba waved a hand, then looked at the seven somewhat familiar mine overseers before him.
"Song Laoer, what brings you mine overseers here?"
"Wang Daba, we'd like to ask you something. Do you still have your Spirit Stone Raw Ore?"
Song Laoer cupped his fists.
"That's right... I'm here to ask about that!"
"Exactly. This is a serious matter, Wang Daba, so please don't hide anything!"
Wang Daba frowned as he took in the scene before him. He knew something had definitely happened.
Otherwise,
the mine overseers from all the other Branch Mine Tunnels wouldn't have come to him. He couldn't afford to act tough; he couldn't handle an attack from the other seven cultivators.
"My Spirit Stone Raw Ore has been here the whole time!
What happened...? Let's go inside and talk!"
Wang Daba said, puzzled. He knew it had to be related to the Spirit Stone Raw Ore, but he had no idea what exactly had happened.
With that, he turned and headed into the cave first.
"Come on, let's go take a look!" Song Laoer said.
"Fine, let's go in and see if Wang Daba did it!"
"If he did... we won't let him off!"
"We're coming too!"
The seven mine overseers followed Wang Daba into the Cave Mansion. Their eyes swept over the Stone Cave, where they spotted a pile of Spirit Stone Raw Ore.
"His Spirit Stone Raw Ore is still here!"
"But the amount doesn't look right... Could he have hidden some?"
"That's certainly possible!"
Seeing them grow more and more outrageous with every word, Wang Daba snapped,
"Enough. What happened? Why are you all staring at my Spirit Stone Raw Ore?
Song Laoer, tell me. What exactly brings you here?"
Song Laoer pondered for a moment, then said:
"Wang Daba, did you steal our Spirit Stone Raw Ore? The other seven of us were cleaned out—not a single piece was left. Only your Spirit Stone Raw Ore is still here, so you're the biggest suspect!"
Hearing this, Wang Daba couldn't help but feel startled. Then, inwardly, he was secretly delighted, though he kept a look of surprise on his face.
But he knew he absolutely couldn't let them pin this blame on him. Otherwise, he'd be in serious trouble.
He frowned and said:
"These past few days, I've been cultivating in the Stone Cave. I haven't set foot outside once. You can ask anyone, and they'll tell you the same!
"Besides, I've been on the verge of a breakthrough and have been cultivating nonstop. I've already advanced to the Qi Refining Fifth Layer, so I definitely didn't have time to go out during these past few days.
"Before you arrived, I was consolidating my foundation.
"And besides, it's not certain that everyone's Spirit Stone Raw Ore was really stolen. Maybe someone hid theirs and pretended it had been stolen."
He was saying this to flush out their informants. There might still be a few left, but it would cost him nothing to expose them. Why not do it?
None of his own eyes and ears had been exposed. Once the others began investigating one another, they would lose quite a few of their informants. Then his own network would be the largest and most far-reaching.
This was a clever ploy. Compared to losing their informants, Spirit Stone Raw Ore was their core wealth. He was sure they'd make the sensible choice.
At this,
Song Laoer and the other six mine overseers thought things over in silence, each showing a different expression.
Some furrowed their brows. Some looked resolute. Others wore regretful expressions...
Before long,
"Fine. We'll go back and investigate first!"
"Right. That makes sense!"
"It's unlikely, but not impossible!"
"We should look into it carefully!"
Before long, the Stone Cave had emptied out completely.
"Xiao Ba, come in!"
A stern voice rang out from inside the cave.
The young man guarding the right side heard him and jogged inside.
"Brother Ba... What are your orders?"
"From now on, send all our people out. Keep a close watch on the entrances and exits of the Eighth Branch Mine Tunnel in particular.
"If you see cultivators from another mine tunnel enter, don't stop them. Watch who they meet and what they talk about!
"Keep a close eye on the people from our tunnel who meet with the other seven mine overseers, too!
"...Understood?"
The guard, Xiao Ba, nodded.
"Brother Ba... I promise I'll get it done!"
"You may go!"
"Yes!"
He jogged out and began assigning people to their posts.
Watching Xiao Ba's back, Wang Daba knew he absolutely couldn't leave just then to deploy his people. He had a more important task: guarding the Spirit Stone Raw Ore.
The other seven Branch Mine Tunnels had been cleaned out. Now he was afraid that if he went outside, his own Spirit Stone Raw Ore would be stolen too.
By midday,
people were coming and going through the various Branch Mine Tunnels, their movements frequent and their activity intense. Yet the mine overseers pretended not to notice, while from time to time meeting miners from different tunnels.
On the surface, things looked much as they had before. In reality, though, the mine tunnels were now crawling with eyes and ears.
Every so often, miners could be seen wandering about, looking as if they had nothing to do.
As time passed, the idle people in the various mine tunnels gradually disappeared.
The mine overseers in each tunnel analyzed the information their informants brought them, but found no one who fit the profile of the Spirit Stone Raw Ore thief. At the same time, they cleared out the informants from other mine tunnels who had been exposed.
In the end, Wang Daba was the one who benefited most from this large-scale investigation. None of his eyes and ears had been exposed; they remained hidden in the shadows.
The next day,
the other seven mine overseers came to Wang Daba's Cave Mansion again. It was the only place that hadn't been robbed.
Wang Daba gathered all the mine overseers in the Spirit Stone Mine in his Cave Mansion.
"So... Have you found out who did it?"
Wang Daba was quite worried about this, too. He didn't want anyone eyeing the Spirit Stone Raw Ore he had stored away.
"We couldn't find any useful information!"
"Same here!"
"Looks like we're all in the same boat."
"Has anyone found a worthwhile lead? Let's search together and minimize our losses as much as possible!"
"Exactly! If you have a lead, speak up. We can discuss it together."
Seeing that none of them had any concrete leads, Song Laoer thought for a moment before saying,
"From what I've found, none of us stole the Spirit Stone Raw Ore. It was someone else. As for which mine tunnel that miner came from, I have no way of knowing."
"Song Laoer, spit it out already! Quit beating around the bush."
One particularly hot-tempered mine overseer said impatiently.
"Right... What can we do? Let's discuss it!"
"Exactly. Everyone's on edge. Get straight to the point!"
"Right!... Song Laoer, what do you have in mind?" Wang Daba agreed.
Song Laoer glanced around, then spoke unhurriedly.
"First, we need to keep this quiet. If we don't have enough Spirit Stone Raw Ore to hand over this month, our men will panic.
"Otherwise... we'll put the little thief on guard. The thief's cultivation is at most the Qi Refining Mid-stage—not very high. If he were stronger, he wouldn't steal; he'd just take what he wanted by force.
"The last step will require Brother Wang's help!
"The eight of us need to lie in wait here and let the little thief walk right into our trap!
"Judging by the thief's methods, the most likely explanation is the Earth Escape Technique. It's easy to learn, but hard to master!
"What does everyone think? Let's discuss it."
"No problem. The little thief will definitely come back. He's still coveting my Spirit Stone Raw Ore."
Wang Daba said approvingly. He wanted to find the thief who had his eye on his stash as soon as possible.
"Good... Let's work out the details!"
"We have to capture him alive... and get our Spirit Stone Raw Ore back!"
Inside the Stone Cave, the eight cultivators at the Qi Refining Mid-stage began making careful preparations. A big net had been cast, waiting for the little thief to walk right into it.