"Hey, what else could it be? Something's gone wrong at the spirit mine over there. All they're digging up are the bones of the dead. Who knows if someone's been stirring up trouble."
"Not necessarily. Maybe that place used to be a graveyard."
"That's impossible, isn't it? The vein contains natural Spirit Stones of incomparable purity. I went to take a look myself. There's no way bones of the dead could turn up there."
Human bones were steeped in filth and ill fortune. Without suitable means to cleanse them, even if the place became ordinary ground, a Spirit Stone vein would never form there.
They were more inclined to believe that some faction had entered the place earlier, then encountered something unknown and been wiped out inside.
Only now, after several major powers in the city joined forces to excavate it, had it come to light again.
"Hey, why talk so much about it? It has nothing to do with us anyway. Still, I think more and more strange things have been happening in the city lately."
"Who knows what's going on in the eastern district? According to the authorities, quite a few people have died. Even several constables who were cultivators got killed."
"Really? Is the killer so deranged that he isn't even afraid of the authorities?"
"Well, anyone willing to kill isn't afraid of dying. Of course they wouldn't fear the authorities..."
"These past few years, it feels like everywhere's been growing more chaotic. I really don't know what's going on."
Conversations filled the restaurants and inns, which welcomed people arriving from outside every day.
Thus, news from outside spread in, while news from here spread out.
Lu Qing walked along the street in blue robes, voices converging on him from every direction.
His eyes were utterly