Zhao Feng-or rather, Ink Eagle, who had altered his build and appearance.
He looked at Pan Jie, who lay before him like a heap of sludge, his expression as still as an ancient well.
Huo Yao had once mentioned to him that the fellow who had pocketed the semi-spirit medicine she had given him to grease the wheels had been banished here by the Eight Extremes Gate. He had simply let the matter slip from his mind afterward.
Only when he slipped outside the Blackstone Mine to lie in wait and observe did he discover that its steward was none other than Pan Jie.
He watched patiently for two days and saw Pan Jie go out to buy healing pills, making him even more certain that Yuan Xiaochuan was hiding here. He quietly followed Pan Jie down into the mine tunnel, confirmed the location of the mine passage, then waited until he returned before striking.
Zhao Feng searched his corpse. Besides banknotes worth five thousand taels, he found a bottle of Vermilion Pills that gave off a bloody odor and killing intent.
He put the pills away, then quietly shut the door to the room and descended into the mine tunnel, following the mine passage Pan Jie had entered earlier.
Deep in the mine passage.
Yuan Xiaochuan was still regulating his breathing with his eyes closed when undisguised footsteps sounded from around a bend in the passage.
He could not help frowning.
This Pan Jie really is insatiably greedy.
Pan Jie had once had a broad network of connections within the Eight Extremes Gate. Yuan Xiaochuan had met him by chance, and the man had fawned over him. It was clear that he valued profit above loyalty.
Thus, after being wounded, Yuan Xiaochuan had evaded the search parties and fled