The passage at the end of the mine had been excavated into a T shape. They had struck the middle of a skeleton, then dug left and right along its recumbent form. Its tail had already been fully unearthed, and they were now excavating the head.
Judging by the skeleton's size, at their current digging speed, they estimated it would take just under half a day more.
The digging had stopped for the moment. A crowd had gathered, buzzing with discussion, loud enough for Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang to hear from a distance as they hurried over. The two passed between the skeleton's ribs.
The skeleton was enormous and long, with no feet or claws discovered so far. Its shape suggested some kind of giant snake, and the portion already unearthed alone stretched nearly a hundred meters.
Its color was rather strange too, half black and half translucent, giving it the look of black jade.
"It even glows. What on earth is it?"
"Could that glowing thing be what we're supposed to dig up?"
"Do you think this thing's worth a fortune?"
The two men, one tall and one short, ran up behind the crowd and heard the chatter. Some people were talking curiously, while others whispered into each other's ears, seemingly harboring ideas of their own.
In short, the spectators had blocked the way ahead completely. Some stood on tiptoe and craned their necks, while others even jumped up like gibbons and hung from the skeleton above to look. Whatever the case, they made it difficult for latecomers to see what was happening up front.
Shi Chun immediately began tapping shoulders one by one. "Make way. Coming through. Make way..."
Some moved aside, some were slow to react, and others dawdled and spread their hands, indicating that they were packed too tightly to move. A few even looked him up and down, their expressions saying that everyone was squeezed in here, so why should they make way for him?
For a group thrown together on the fly, their discipline certainly left something to be desired.
Seeing their reactions, Shi Chun had no intention of indulging them. He lashed out with his whip, sending it whistling through a flurry of strokes that drew cries of pain and startled yelps. Some angrily demanded to know what right he had to hit them.
Shi Chun could not be bothered to answer. He only wanted a clear look at what was happening ahead.
Whatever else could be said, violence sometimes worked better than courtesy. At least they all hurried to make way, squeezing out a path for him even if they had to force it.
Those lashes truly carried the swagger of "the Eastern Nine Plains are my turf."
Following behind him, Wu Jinliang felt his nerves quiver and broke into a slight sweat. Sneaking around and attacking people earlier was one thing, but wasn't doing this in public going a little too far?
He realized that their chief really did not consider himself an outsider. He showed no restraint whatsoever and lacked even the slightest awareness that a thief ought to skulk around.
When they first decided to sneak in, he had expected a heart-pounding ordeal of ducking and dodging from start to finish. Once inside, however, he discovered that he seemed to have overthought things. It felt as though their chief had steered the whole affair off course, and now it had veered so far that it was getting ridiculous.
There were simply too many people packed together. Even following the chief, he could not reach the front, as the people being pushed back from ahead blocked him again. Fortunately, he was tall enough to get a rough view from this position. After one quick look, his eyes widened instantly!
Shi Chun, naturally, had forced his way all the way to the front. The overseers there heard the whipping behind them and merely glanced back at him. Seeing that he was one of their own, they returned their attention to a point diagonally above.
Shi Chun looked up, and his eyes widened a little too, disbelief showing in them.
Another skeleton had actually appeared atop the ribbed, dragonlike skeleton. It rested on the Dragon Bones and had not been fully unearthed. Though half buried in soil, its exposed, ferocious outline was still recognizably a snake's head. Whether it was the skull belonging to these Dragon Bones was unclear.
Whether it was or not did not matter. What mattered was that, besides its two eye sockets, the snake's head seemed to have another hollow between its brows. It was unclear whether that, too, was an eye socket.
What drew everyone's attention was a floating mass of glittering purple mist inside the bony hollow that resembled a third eye. It looked like a miniature nebula made up of countless tiny, glittering purple stars, its interior constantly shifting shape. At times it drifted like flowing clouds, at times it resembled countless staring eyes, and at times it looked like innumerable enchanting butterflies fluttering their wings. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
The Purple Glittering Nebula was roughly the size of a person. Someone was standing on the snake's skull beside it, trying to reach out and touch it, providing a point of comparison.
That truly took some nerve. Without even knowing whether the Purple Glittering Nebula was harmful, he dared to touch it. Many people held their breath and watched intently.
Everyone who could see it knew that this nebula was anything but ordinary. Whatever treasure it might be, this was probably the employer's main reason for having them excavate.
Some privately marveled at how carefree their employer was. With such a rare treasure sitting here, he actually dared not to stay and watch over it himself. Was he certain no one could steal it?
People on either side of the snake's skull were still excitedly swinging their picks and breaking up the earth, intent on digging out the entire skull. Soil and stones kept clattering down, but fortunately, it was damp this deep underground, so there was little dust.
The overseer touching the nebula swept his hand back and forth through it, stirring it every which way, yet seemed unable to affect it at all. Every so often, he let out a surprised "Huh? Huh? Huh?"
Those repeated exclamations made Shi Chun itch with curiosity. In his mind, he cursed the man's ancestors. Huh, my ass! Just tell us what's going on!
Eventually, he could bear it no longer. He tucked his whip into his belt and prepared to leap up and try it himself.
But an overseer in the front suddenly shouted, "Everyone come down! Stop digging! You, stop touching it too! All of you come down and wait for Mr. Shen to decide."
The overseer waving his hand through the nebula and the miners swinging their picks immediately jumped down one after another.
This was no different from dumping a bucket of cold water over Shi Chun's head while he was burning with curiosity. He stared at the overseer who had spoken. Hearing the man issue such orders, he was uncertain how much authority he carried. If he really was some sort of leader, openly defying him would be unwise and could easily expose Shi Chun.
Still, his thoughts were the same as everyone else's. From his first glimpse of that glittering purple nebula, he had decided that it was the true target of this excavation. After all, he had personally examined the skeleton earlier and found nothing special about it. He had been somewhat puzzled before, but here was the answer.
Although the Land of Exile was a place of legends, where many dazzling figures had fallen, and he had heard plenty of tales worthy of song and tears, this was his first time seeing such a wondrous glittering purple nebula. One glance told him that it was something extraordinary.
Its appearance led Shi Chun to assume that he probably had little time left.
Earlier, he had mistakenly thought Shen Youkun's target was the enormous Dragon Bones. Taking those away would be difficult and require plenty of work, but if the target was this nebula, collecting it might not be hard.
In other words, once the objective was achieved, this excavation would probably end.
Once it ended, work would stop and everyone would inevitably be gathered together. When that happened, his routine of slipping through gaps and meddling here and there would no longer work. Any missing people would also be noticed immediately.
To him, all of that was secondary. Since he had dared to come, he had the courage to face being exposed. The real problem was that he had yet to achieve his purpose in sneaking in, and now they were about to wrap things up?
He knew Shen Youkun had come to do something that could not bear the light of day, but he had obtained no leverage against him on this trip. Once he left the Land of Exile, the man would not let him off.
What leverage was there in digging up a treasure underground? Plenty of people in the Land of Exile mined underground to earn money.
Unless he could clearly spell out what was wrong, he had nothing with which to threaten anyone.
Could he really threaten Shen Youkun over those large shipments of supplies of dubious origin? Someone else with power might be able to make it work, but for a small fry like him, facing a force that could extend its reach into the city gates, treating that as leverage was simply a joke.
So his gaze settled on the glittering purple nebula again. If he could discover what it did, perhaps there was still a chance.
Yet he also knew that even if he went up and touched the nebula, the chances of figuring out its purpose on the spot were slim.
If all else failed, he could only find a way to seize it and get it into his own hands first.
The problem was that he had not touched it yet and did not know whether he could take this treasure away. The sight of that overseer touching the nebula was still vivid in his mind.
Since Shen Youkun had come for this thing, he presumably had a way to collect it. If there was truly no other option, Shi Chun would have to wait until Shen Youkun took it, then find a way to snatch it from him.
But the other side had strength in numbers, and provoking a group beating would be troublesome. Still, perhaps he could make use of those murdered overseers' bodies. He could claim that Shen Youkun intended to silence everyone and use that to incite the crowd...
In the space of a thought, his mind had already turned through a range of possibilities. He immediately decided to try touching the nebula first.
Faced with something unknown, deciding it was pointless without even trying was not his style.
There was no time to lose, and he knew he truly had little time left. The overseer he had encountered on the way had already gone to inform Shen Youkun, who would arrive soon.
Fortunately, he had a mouth too. After turning the idea over, he suddenly announced loudly, "Mr. Shen will be here shortly! His orders are to leave only two people here to watch. Everyone else must withdraw around the corner at once and wait there!"
As he spoke, he took his whip in hand, walked to the very front, and turned to face the crowd. He waved the whip with a hint of intimidation, giving the impression that he did not think much of any of them.
There were too many people gathered here. If he could take that Purple Glittering Nebula away upon touching it, stealing something in front of so many witnesses hardly seemed appropriate.
He did not know whether this bluff would work either. Never mind that for now. If it was an option, he would try it first.
It was the fellow who had just whipped his way to the front. Many recognized him by the wound on his arm, and those who had tasted his whip looked displeased.
Seeing this, Wu Jinliang immediately felt a headache coming on. The bastard was at it again.
"You are..." the overseer who had just given the orders asked hesitantly.
Seeing his doubts arise, Shi Chun's eyes flickered. He adapted on the spot, instantly revising his plan and deciding to suppress this man's suspicions first. He swiftly raised his whip and pointed it at him, cutting him off. "You'll stay here with me to keep watch. Everyone else, go around the corner and clear the area."
He waved his whip at the other overseers, signaling them to comply. "Mr. Shen has something to attend to. Keep an eye on everyone in a moment. No one is allowed to peek."
Everyone thought, What else could he have to attend to? He just wants to collect that glittering purple treasure without letting us see how it's done.
On hearing that he could remain on-site to supervise, the overseer who had issued the orders felt considerably reassured. He set his doubts aside for the moment and waved at everyone as well. "Do as Mr. Shen instructed. Clear the area for now!"
The other overseers immediately began shouting in turn, driving the crowd back.
Shi Chun, now holding the whip behind his back, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Good. It had worked.
In the crowd, Wu Jinliang was somewhat dumbfounded. When he heard that two people were staying, he had thought one of them would be him. Instead, someone else was staying. What was that supposed to mean?
After seeing the look Shi Chun sent him, he still did not know why, but he turned around and cooperated, leaving with the crowd.