Martial Saint with Passives

But this was out in the wild.

The reek of blood was so thick.

It would soon attract hordes of insects and beasts!

After a single night, these corpses would be practically unrecognizable.

The Sect wouldn’t send anyone to investigate until the next day, or possibly even the day after.

By then, it would be impossible to tell what happened.

Besides, plenty of people had seen with their own eyes that Sun Qihong and his men were being hunted down by the Demon Sect, chased all over the place.

Only Jiang Che himself, with his [All-Seeing Eye], had been able to see through their act.

So, he could easily explain that the Demon Sect members had caught up to them and killed them.

He could say he had rushed over, but was too late to save them.

Fortunately, he had managed to kill the Demon Sect members and retrieve the ore.

It was a perfectly plausible story.

Next, he took the upper half of Mr. Wu’s corpse, hacked it to pieces, and threw the remains into a nearby river.

The others were easy to account for.

But this man shouldn’t have been here in the first place.

So his body had to vanish!

Once he had done all that, he turned and went to pull the cart, which was loaded with ore.

No matter what, this cart of ore had to be returned to the warehouse!

This was the key to his fate!

Before long, Jiang Che had pushed the cart back to the warehouse.

"Steward Jiang! You’re finally back!"

At the warehouse entrance, Cheng Ming stood with five or six other miners.

Cheng Ming breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the ore had been brought back.

If the ore had been stolen, he would have been punished as well!

He hurried forward and asked, "Steward Jiang, what about Mine Supervisor Sun and his men?"

Jiang Che sighed. "The Demon Sect forced them to move the ore, then murdered them once they reached the location. I was too late when I arrived. I only managed to kill the Demon Sect members. Mine Supervisor Sun and his men... are all gone."

At his words, the miners at the entrance fell silent.

An old miner who had worked under Sun Qihong for years couldn’t help but sigh. "Leader Sun could be a cheapskate, but he never did anything too outrageous. How could he meet such an end..."

"Tell me about it! And Captain Chen and Foreman Gong, too. Good men, gone just like that..."

A look of sorrow appeared on Jiang Che’s face at just the right moment. "It’s my fault. All my fault! If only I had gone earlier..."

Cheng Ming immediately consoled him. "Steward Jiang, don’t say that! If it wasn’t for you, we probably all would have died here today! You did more than enough!"

Jiang Che didn’t reply, just shaking his head with a bitter smile.

"By the way, Steward Jiang, when are we going to retrieve the bodies of Leader Sun and the others? It’s too pitiful, leaving them exposed in the wild like that," someone suddenly asked.

Jiang Che immediately replied, "The mountains aren’t safe at night. With all that blood on the ground, it’s sure to attract Black Beasts or worse. Let’s go during the day. Besides, you’ve all had a rough night, and I see some of you are injured. You should get some rest!"

’I can’t let them go collect the bodies now. If they discover something isn’t right, I’ll be in deep trouble!’

Cheng Ming nodded at once. "You’re right! It’s definitely dangerous at night. Going during the day is much safer!"

Jiang Che said, "Right. We still have to handle the matter of Mine Supervisor Sun and his men tomorrow, and the Sect might send people to investigate. Everyone needs to rest up and be ready!"

Hearing this, the crowd didn’t linger. They murmured their agreement and dispersed.

Soon, Jiang Che was the only one left in the warehouse.

He promptly shut the door.

By the light of an oil lamp, Jiang Che began to take inventory of the ore, checking it against the falsified ledger Sun Qihong had given him.

After a careful check, he breathed a sigh of relief.

On the surface, at least, not a single piece of ore was missing.

Of course, he didn’t for a second believe that Sun Qihong and his men hadn’t been secretly selling off ore before this.

Then, Jiang Che pulled out the book he had taken from Sun Qihong’s body—what he suspected was the true ledger.

He flipped it open. He was right!

It was the true ledger, recording all the actual data!

Jiang Che began to meticulously compare it with the other ledger.

The more he read, the more his brow furrowed.

It clearly recorded which month they had reported a thirty percent loss due to a "tunnel collapse," and how much Profound Iron Ore they had actually shipped out.

It noted which quarter they had used "Black Beast raids" as an excuse, and detailed how much Snow Crystal Jade they had pocketed.

There were also records of losses skimmed from every stage of the operation.

"A deficit of thirty to forty percent each year..." Jiang Che did a rough calculation and gasped!

The ore produced by the Black Stone Mining Area each year was incredibly valuable. A thirty percent deficit amounted to hundreds of thousands of taels of Gold! This was no small sum!

However, the ledger only recorded that Sun Qihong and his men sold ore to the Demon Sect; it made no mention of who their superior backer was.

At best, it only proved that Sun Qihong and his men embezzled ore and colluded with the Demon Sect.

It couldn’t be used to directly implicate the high-ranking official suspected to be Vice Sect Leader Xie Songnian.

’Looks like this ledger can only be an ace in the hole, not hard evidence.’ Jiang Che closed the book and tucked it into his robes.

He suddenly remembered something and turned to leave the warehouse.

Soon, he arrived at a detached house.

This was Sun Qihong’s residence.

The room was relatively tidy, and a cup of unfinished tea sat on the table.

Jiang Che immediately activated his [All-Seeing Eye].

His gaze swept over the walls and floor.

Soon, he noticed something unusual about the floor tiles.

The grout line was slightly wider than in other places, and it looked like it had been moved before.

He lifted the floor tile and, just as he suspected, found a hidden compartment!

Inside were several wooden chests.

The moment he opened a small wooden chest, Jiang Che’s eyes lit up.

Inside was a thick stack of gold notes!

Jiang Che counted them—it was at least tens of thousands of taels of Gold!

He then opened the other chests.

They were filled with top-grade ores!

’This must be Sun Qihong’s private stash...’

Jiang Che decisively helped himself to it.

None of this was on any ledger, and Sun Qihong’s backer didn’t know about it either.

If he took it, no one would ever come looking for it!

Just as Jiang Che was about to leave with the chests...

He suddenly noticed there seemed to be another layer beneath the hidden compartment!

Jiang Che immediately pried open the panel.

Inside was a stone box carved from a single, solid piece of Snow Crystal Jade!

Jiang Che was stunned.

’What could be inside that the box itself is carved from Snow Crystal Jade?’

He opened it at once and found a palm-sized Small Jade Bottle inside, which seemed to contain some kind of liquid.

Jiang Che pulled out the stopper and took a sniff.

’Huh? Why does it smell just like Snow Crystal Jade? But it’s much, much stronger...’

Suddenly, he remembered something, and his eyes flew wide.

He remembered hearing people in the Sect say that in certain mine shafts with high concentrations of Snow Crystal Jade, the incredibly dense Spiritual Qi would, over many years, cause an essence called "Snow Crystal Milk" to form!

Consuming it could cause a Martial Artist’s Qi Blood to skyrocket!

A single drop was as effective as dozens of pounds of Top Grade Exotic Beast Meat!

It was useful not just for those in the Bone Forging Realm, but even for Great Cultivators at the True Master Realm!

Jiang Che made a quick estimation.

This small bottle was enough for him to break through to the Late Stage of Bone Forging, and maybe even touch the threshold of the Refining Organ Realm!

Jiang Che decisively took it.

Next, he went to the residences of Chen Ze and Gong Yi.

All three were minor bosses in the Mining Area, so they each lived in their own detached house.

This, in turn, made things convenient for Jiang Che.

After a thorough search.

In Chen Ze’s home, he found a considerable amount of gold notes.

He also found a small bottle of Snow Crystal Milk.

It just wasn’t as much as Sun Qihong had.

Gong Yi’s house, on the other hand, mostly contained rare ores.

Jiang Che gathered everything together and did a quick inventory.

’Gold notes totaling nearly one hundred thousand taels of Gold, three large chests of high-quality ore, and two bottles of Snow Crystal Milk...’

’I’ve struck it rich... I’ve really struck it rich!’

Jiang Che was overjoyed. With this much money and these resources, he wouldn’t have to worry about funds for a long, long time!

The gold notes and Snow Crystal Milk were small, so Jiang Che kept them on his person.

But the ore took up too much space. Moving it back to his own quarters would be far too conspicuous, which gave Jiang Che a headache.

Suddenly, he remembered the secret cave he had found on the outskirts of the Mining Area.

It was hidden and dry—the perfect place to hide things!

No sooner said than done!

Using the cover of night, Jiang Che shouldered the chests of ore. Aided by the stealth effect of his [Shadowless Escape Stream], he silently transported everything to the cave.

Looking at the "spoils" piled in the corner of the cave, he could finally breathe a true sigh of relief.

But as he thought it over, a new worry surfaced.

He was, after all, just an ordinary disciple with no background.

If his opponent really was Vice Sect Leader Xie Songnian...

...then the man could find any excuse to make his life difficult.

Even without evidence, he could "manufacture" some!

When that happened, he wouldn’t be able to talk his way out of it even if he had a hundred mouths.

’This won’t do. I need to find a powerful backer!’

Having made up his mind, Jiang Che pocketed the gold notes and Snow Crystal Milk, activated his [Shadowless Escape Stream], and sped off in the direction of the Cangyun Sect.

...