"This man is truly no simple sort." Bing Wushuang could not help but glance at Wei Zhao again. This was the first time he had met Wei Zhao face to face since leaving the Primordial Alliance; before, he had known the name only because of something involving Leng Leng. The only one who truly inspired his wariness and hatred was Lin Dongfang. As for Wei Zhao, in his eyes the man carried no weight at all—or more precisely, had no real presence whatsoever.

But from this moment on, Wei Zhao had gained a measure of standing in his eyes. Setting everything else aside, the mere fact that he could produce so many spirit jades in one go was remarkable in itself—a manifestation of strength.

Of course, it was only a measure of standing. Never mind that he was now an expert of the late Golden Core stage; even back when he had been at the early Golden Core stage, he would never have truly regarded a master of the consummate Foundation Establishment stage as worth his attention. At most, such a one was merely a somewhat sturdier ant.

"In that case, I take it no one has any further objections?" Xin Yi'an said, deliberately addressing himself to Xue Jianming.

Everyone was watching him as though at a joke, and Xue Jianming instantly flushed red to the ears. He had half a mind to keep making trouble, but that great chest of spirit jades was simply too conspicuous. Money can make the devil turn a mill; under such circumstances, what nonsense could he possibly say?

"Very well. Next I will announce the group assignments. This afternoon, mining begins with the first group; after three days, the second group will take over. Since there are no objections, we proceed accordingly." With that, Xin Yi'an made the final announcement.

On paper, Wei Zhao and the others were assigned to the first group along with the rest of the Cangwu Sect disciples from North Island—except that Qiu Lingshan, Wu Chengtian, and the others had long since used that great chest of spirit jades to buy themselves leave.

A short while later, Xin Yi'an was preparing to lead the first group down to the undersea spirit ore site. But when he turned his head, he froze on the spot. "Martial Granduncle? You mean to go down as well?"

"Nothing better to do, so I thought I'd go down and have a look with you all." Wei Zhao nodded. For all his casual, indifferent air, he was in fact rather interested in this undersea spirit ore site. After all, the Primordial Alliance's people would not remain here long; once the mortal-world training was over, this site would be masterless, and Qiu Lingshan could be set to organizing men to continue mining it.

Of course, there was a precondition: the quality of the undersea spirit ore site had to be high enough. If it was the sort of worthless mine that yielded only a few pieces of spirit jade in ten days or a fortnight, then it was a genuine white elephant—and Wei Zhao, after all, had no shortage of spirit jades.

"Oh, I see." Xin Yi'an understood at once, immediately grasping Wei Zhao's intent. Rich water should not flow into an outsider's field, after all; better that undersea spirit ore site should benefit this martial granduncle than some stranger.

Wei Zhao smiled faintly and offered no explanation.

The waters around the archipelago were not deep, and that undersea spirit ore site lay almost on the extended shelf of one small island, where the water was no more than ten-odd meters deep. With diving equipment, such a depth would pose no difficulty even to ordinary folk, let alone these powerful cultivators.

Naturally, Xin Yi'an would not provide them with any diving equipment—only the most basic mining tools. So they had to rely on their own breath-holding. It looked a little troublesome, but it was hardly an insurmountable problem; cultivators were long-winded by nature, and once they mastered the knack of exchanging air underwater, they could stay beneath the surface for a very long stretch.

Led by Xin Yi'an, the whole party descended into the sea and soon reached the undersea spirit ore site. Wei Zhao looked it over on all sides and was immediately disappointed.

"From the look of it, even if it's not a played-out mine, it can't be far off." Wei Zhao shook his head. Though no formal excavation had begun, his mining experience back on North Island had taught him to tell a good mine from a bad one easily enough.

Judging by the spiritual energy density of this undersea spirit ore site, on a lucky day a single person might still dig out two or three pieces of spirit jade; otherwise they would be hard-pressed to get even one. For the other disciples, who had no choice but to perform their obligatory labor, this was not so bad—but in Wei Zhao's eyes it was worth next to nothing.

After a word with Xin Yi'an, Wei Zhao made ready to leave at once. Reaching a place where no one was about, he habitually shifted into his primordial-spirit form. This had been the main substance of his training over the past few months: not only did it increase his immediate combat power, but more importantly, even after he returned to Cloud-Tier Island in the future, he would have a practiced command of all manner of primordial-spirit techniques—two benefits in one.

Yet no sooner had he surfaced than he saw Xue Jianming and another man slacking off on the pretext of catching their breath. But Wei Zhao was now in primordial-spirit form; with a little care and the cover of the seawater, ordinary people could not detect him at all—not even an early Golden Core expert like Xue Jianming.

"Brother Qin Yuanming, that matter I spoke to you about last time—have you given it any thought?" Xue Jianming asked. The two had deliberately chosen the most remote spot, and within a hundred meters in every direction only the two of them were at the surface exchanging breath. Add to that the perception of an early Golden Core expert, and there was no fear of anyone approaching to eavesdrop—little knowing that Wei Zhao was hovering right behind his head.

"Well…" The other man hesitated and did not answer.

Qin Yuanming? Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback at the name. He had not recognized the man earlier, but the name did ring a bell. This man was a training disciple of the Cangwu Sect from North Island, at the late Foundation Establishment stage; Wei Zhao had seen him several times, though they had never spoken.

But since Qin Yuanming was a Cangwu Sect disciple from North Island, and given the present tension between Xue Jianming and the North Island Cangwu Sect, how was this fellow mixed up with Xue Jianming?

Wei Zhao puzzled over it only a moment before understanding. Most likely Xue Jianming was quietly trying to win Qin Yuanming over on the Center's behalf. Thanks to the convenience of cultivating primordial-spirit techniques, Wei Zhao had spent these days watching Dr. Glasses and his people almost every day, and so their every move was naturally clear to him.

Even Yao Long of the Primordial Five Luminaries Sect and Jing Yueming of the Thousand Blades Sect had been placed by Wei Zhao on his key surveillance list. Though for the time being he had no intention of provoking the Center, he meant to have that roster in hand, just in case.

And indeed it was just as Wei Zhao had supposed: Xue Jianming was courting Qin Yuanming. By rights, the best people to court would have been fellow disciples on good terms with him, but Xue Jianming had always been haughty by nature. Plenty of his fellow disciples flattered and fawned on him, yet he had almost no real friends among them—not one worth putting on a list of recruitment targets. (To be continued.)