Yunkui Summit.
"You're already living together, yet you, as the master, still shamelessly squeeze your way in… do you have any dignity left as a sect master at all?!"
Watching the trio of master and disciples return from Lumina Square from afar, Yi Jing ground his teeth in fury.
Crack—!
He directly crushed the teacup in his hand.
He had pursued Yixuan for several years, only to be cleanly and decisively rejected every single time. Yet Yixuan had only known Arden Xu for a few months, and in front of him she had changed into form-fitting clothes and black silk stockings, showing every sign of blatant 'ingratiation.'
The stark contrast in attitude caused Yi Jing's mentality to completely collapse on the spot.
"Where exactly am I inferior to him?!"
The anger was real, the envy was real, and the jealousy and hatred went without saying. Unfortunately, Yi Jing had absolutely no way to deal with Arden.
He couldn't beat him, and trying to suppress him with the status of a martial uncle was useless—Arden had Yixuan, the sect master herself, backing him, and didn't even spare Yi Jing a glance. Every conflict only ended with Yi Jing making a fool of himself.
All he could do was stir things up in secret.
"As long as I pull this off, everything will get better… hehehe!"
Imagining Arden Xu being eliminated, and the disgraced Yixuan kneeling before him, begging for forgiveness, Yi Jing couldn't help but laugh.
Of course, it was just a fantasy.
Beep… beep…
Yi Jing took out his phone and dialed a certain number.
"What is it? Is the plan ready?"
It was the same female voice as before.
"Yes! Construction at the Gleaming Ridge Stone Mine has entered a critical stage. This is the best time to act."
"This time, you must succeed. No matter how abundant the resources we provide, we won't tolerate them being wasted. Do you understand?"
"I understand. This time I will definitely complete the mission and ensure nothing goes wrong," Yi Jing promised in a submissive tone.
"Good. But remember, this is your last chance."
"Yes, yes, yes!"
Beep beep beep…
After hanging up, Yi Jing stared toward the courtyard where Yixuan lived. His ingratiating expression instantly turned vicious.
"Hmph! You shameless couple! An old cow eating tender grass… just you wait!"
…..
Today was a rest day. Ju Fufu and Arden went down the mountain and came to Waifei Peninsula to shop and relax.
Yum Cha Sin.
"Little Arden—no, I should call you Daoist Arden now."
After serving tea and pastries, the proprietress Sweety didn't leave. Instead, she sat down with them.
"Recently, my body's been feeling stiff again."
As she spoke, Sweety pounded her shoulder. "See, when you have time, why don't you give me another massage and do some cupping?"
"….."
Arden took a deep breath of the fragrant air drifting over. Faced with such a good deal, there was no way he would refuse. "If you need me, just message me anytime. I guarantee I'll come as soon as you call!"
Ahem!
Sitting to the side, Ju Fufu shot a sharp look at Arden's hand reaching toward Sweety's tender fingers, making him abandon the thought. She didn't say anything more, though.
After all, you soften when you eat someone else's food and take someone else's gifts.
For the sake of the char siu buns Sweety proactively offered, as long as it didn't go too far, Ju Fufu would just pretend she didn't see anything.
"….."
Watching Ju Fufu stuff char siu buns into her mouth, Arden felt a bit speechless.
As a Tiger Thiren, Ju Fufu had always been a big eater since childhood—this didn't surprise Arden. And her allowing him to interact with Sweety was a good thing. It was just that, in Ju Fufu's heart, his status seemed to be one tier lower than char siu buns.
….
"Daoist Arden, did you and Fufu come to Waifei Peninsula because of the Gleaming Ridge Stone Mine?"
After catching up, Sweety finally got to the main topic.
"The Gleaming Ridge Stone Mine… what trouble is Porcelumex stirring up again?" Arden asked in confusion.
He and Ju Fufu had come purely to rest and had no idea about anything related to the stone mine.
"Something this big happened, and you didn't know at all?!"
This time, Sweety was the one who was shocked.
"A big thing… nom nom… what big thing?" Ju Fufu swallowed two or three bites of char siu bun and perked up as well.
"Honestly!"
Sweety shook her head, then took out her phone and sent a few messages. "I'll call the person over. You can ask him yourselves."
Very soon, a man who looked under twenty, wearing a worker's outfit, walked over and sat down at their table.
"Hello, Aunt Sweety. Greetings to the two Daoists."
The young man was very polite—though that form of address…
"Aunt Sweety… pfft—haha!"
Ju Fufu burst out laughing.
Compared to Sweety, Ju Fufu's only advantages were her appetite, her fighting ability, her beast ears, and her youth. Hearing the young man call Sweety 'Aunt' made Ju Fufu feel both amused and awkward.
Ahem! "Aunt is just an honorific. I'm not that old. I'm about the same age as Daoist Arden," Sweety defended herself.
Because she accepted commissions and helped Waifei Peninsula's residents solve many problems, people of all ages—men and women alike—called her 'Aunt Sweety.' It didn't mean her age had actually reached that level. As Sweety said, it was simply a sign of respect.
"I get it, I get it!"
Ju Fufu nodded repeatedly, though she clearly looked pleased at having scored a point.
"Uh… let's get back to business."
Arden Xu quickly steered the conversation back on track. He patted Ju Fufu's head with one hand, his gaze falling on the young man. "Who are you, and did you come to see us for something?"
"My name is Wang Meng. I'm a construction worker at the Meffer Mine."
Meffer… not Porcelumex?
Realizing the seriousness of the matter, Arden Xu narrowed his eyes.
Within the Lemnian Hollow, all large-scale Gleaming Ridge Stone mines were monopolized by Porcelumex, a subsidiary of the TOPS Alliance. There was only one exception—the Meffer Mine, which was being developed by Mayor Mayflower's family and operated by Yunkui Summit.
As far as Arden knew, the Meffer Mine was still under development and hadn't officially gone into production yet.
"Wang Meng, right? Go on."
"It was half a month ago. Suddenly, a large number of Ethereals flooded into the mining area…"
Wang Meng described what had happened.
In summary, during development, the Meffer Mine had come under attack by Ethereals.
Normally, encountering Ethereals during operations in a Hollow was quite common. However, the Ethereals attacking the Meffer Mine weren't just numerous—they came wave after wave, extremely frequently.
As a result, construction progress was severely delayed, and several workers were injured.
The workers reported this to the mine's operators, but to this day they hadn't received proper compensation, and security measures hadn't even been strengthened.
When they brought it up with the mine's person in charge, all they got was perfunctory excuses and delays.
With construction becoming impossible to continue, the workers banded together and decided to report the situation to a higher level of Yunkui Summit's management—in other words, to Sect Leader Yixuan herself.
After all, Yixuan and Yunkui Summit had an excellent reputation in Waifei Peninsula, and the workers believed that Sect Leader Yixuan would definitely be able to resolve the issue.
And just at that moment, Ju Fufu and Arden Xu—Yixuan's two personal disciples—arrived in Waifei Peninsula.