Lou Xiening burst into the study room with a deep scowl plastered on her face,

Just behind her a short man closely followed her carrying a golden abacus in his left hand and a grey stone tablet in his right.

"That Gong bastard" Liu Xiening shouted as she sat down

The short man just nodded his head

There were many green jade slips scattered on the table in front of Liu Xiening,

She took one of the green jade slips and studied it,

Liu Xiening stared intently at the green jade slip studying it,

Seemingly finished she just crushed the green jade slip.

She looked angrily at the short man

"Xiao sheng!" Liu Xiening said in outrage

"What do you mean by this?"

She took a handful of the jade slips and threw them

At the short man called Xiao Sheng

"This is too little information" she almost shouted the last part

Xiao sheng just stood there and gave a helpless shrug

"Master this is not my fault" Xiao Sheng answered 

"Elder Gong Yi Xiao has been obstructing me in every possible way"

"Even finding basic information is turning out to be a difficult task"

Liu Xiening snorted in contempt at that 

"That bastard and his son must be embezzling quite a lot, for them to control everything so rigidly"

Xiao sheng just stood there not daring to comment on anything 

 Lou Xiening began to tap her chin seemingly thinking about something 

"At least tell me you have found a way for us to gather the resources we need" she suddenly said out loud 

Xiao Sheng sighed heavily but nodded

"I have narrowed it down to two ways we can make a fortune"

Xiao Sheng said

"But, both of these methods require a substantial amount of wealth to just to establish these operations" Xiao sheng explained

The deep scowl on Liu Xiening's face disappeared replaced by an 'I'm interested now' look.

She motioned at Xiao Sheng with her hands

"Explain," she said 

Xiao Sheng closed his eyes like he was remembering something and began to speak

"The first way I came up with was for us to open a black market, for this region,"

"There is a large population of casual unaffiliated cultivators"

"Most of the items these cultivators use such as flying swords pills talismans are all obtained through killing and stealing,

" so they can't be sold at conventional markets"

Xiao sheng paused for a second and then continued 

"And that is where our black market comes in we will be operating on the principle we can buy and sell these ill-gotten goods"

After finishing speaking Xiao Sheng paused waiting for Liu Xiening 

Lou Xiening nodded reckoning Xiao Sheng to continue

"This black market can be established without any interference or hindrance from elder Gong Yixiao"

Xiao sheng  hesitated for a second

"But for this market to succeed and bring us profits we need a large number of resources, not just spirit stones but many other items to cover all the sales and the transactions we will make"

Xiao Sheng became quiet waiting for Liu Xiening 

Liu Xiening frowned for some time and then nodded her head like making a decision 

"And the second way?" Liu Xiening asked

Xiao Sheng also nodded his head

"The second way is for us to open gambling ring over fights between the salves and prisoners present in the mines"

Xiao sheng causally stated he knew this was a controversial method

Liu Xiening's face became serious 

"Between the mortals?" She asked a scowl reappearing on her face

"Why would cultivator pay to watch some measly mortals die"

Xiao Sheng shook his head at that

"Not mortals, practitioners, cultivators and monsters"

Liu Xiening looked at Xiao Sheng as if he had sprouted multiple heads 

"What are you talking about?" Liu Xiening asked in exasperation 

"What practitioners?"

"what monsters?"

She picked up one of the green jade slip from the ground 

and waved it in front of Xiao Sheng

"According to the information, you gathered there are barely over 60 cultivators combining all the mining camps and no more than 12 are at the foundation establishment realm"

Liu Xiening three the green jade slip at Xiao sheng

"Whom will they fight each other?"

" not to mention their absence will be noticed by the sect higher up"

"Are you mad, that will be all the reason that bastard deputy head, Gong will need to destroy me"

Liu Xiening lay back in her seat as if exhausted 

"It has been nearly 6-days since I came here and we haven't made any progress to finding a solution"

Liu Xiening said

"I can't embezzle the mine resources without that surnamed Gong breathing down my neck, neither can I steel from the sect"

"Nor am I able do anything else not without already having a small fortune"

"How will I reach my goal without more resources"

Suddenly she got up and began to pace around the room

After a few minutes, she came to halt 

"Have you heard back from my elder brother?" she said turning toward Xiao Sheng

"Will he help me?"

Xiao Sheng shook his head in refusal 

"I haven't heard back from elder Kong" 

"There is a rumour circulating that elder kong has been running around doing errands for a nascent soul elder called true monarch red rabbit"

Xiao Sheng said with some sadness

Liu Xiening turned and kicked the desk shattering it into dust

"That lucky bastard" liu Xiening said with some envy

"If he is running around on orders of a nascent soul elder, I doubt he has a mind to help his little sister"

She snorted in anger and sat down

"What else can we do?" 

Xiao Sheng helplessly shrugged his shoulder

"We would need to either bribe custodian Wu or buy the people ourselves for the fighting ring," he said

"That is the only way to get what we want"

Liu Xiening looked at Xiao Sheng like he was an idiot

"Why would we need to bribe Custodian wu, isn't this his sole responsibility to supply us with the workers for the mine"

Xiao sheng simply shakes his head

"The mines are not the main source of income for the sect, so we aren't a priority to receive high-level slaves"

"Most of the cultivating prisoners are sent to the river camp and the mountain camp to hunt for monsters, herbs and other resources"

Xiao sheng explained

"So we get the leftover pile" lieu Xiening asked in surprise 

Xiao Sheng nodded 

 

"How did the previous head make his astonishing wealth"

Liu Corning asked in bewilderment 

She had spent every spirit stone she had to buy this position because she heard 

that her predecessor had made his unbelievable wealth in this position

Liu Xiening was an early-stage gold core elder to the rest of the world 

but in secret, 

she was a  late-stage gold core cultivator 

She could  try to break into the nascent soul realm anytime she wanted

But she didn't because she was scared

 many gold core cultivators failed at this step unable to move forward and wane 

Many even die 

Because of the rumour,

 she had come here to try to gather more resources and spiritual items 

that would increase her odds to cross the threshold and become a nascent soul realm cultivator 

 But it had almost been a week she still hadn't found the way her predecessor made his wealth

All she found were problems after problem

The biggest problem was the deputy head Going YiXiao

He had been constructing her since the moment she arrived

That bastard and his son were already in control of the entire operation of the mine before she ever got here

Asking around she found that all her predecessor did was cultivate in seclusion 

The predecessor had no oversight over this mine 

everything was done by The Gong family father and son

It begs the question from where did her predecessor amass his wealth

Even though no one knew of her secret, not even her disciple Xiao sheng 

She was running out of time

 as soon as someone found her secret they would run to her 

And try every God dammed method to control 

Even now she had received more than 13 marriage proposals 

And marriage in this sect meant living in a beautiful cage she can't let that happen

"We need to find some way to gather the resources we need"

She said sternly to Xiao Sheng

Xiao sheng bowed his head

"I will try my best, Master," he said

.......................................

In a dimly lit cave illuminated by a white coloured orb floating in the air

Pollux was sitting in the middle of the room

 surrounded by other men

Pollux looked around approvingly with his piercing blue eyes

There were seven of them including pollux

They were sitting in a circle with pollux sitting at the centre of the circle

The dim light in the cave gave the illusion everyone there was an aspect of shadows with only half their body in light

All the men had a face very similar to Pollux

All of them were wearing rags for clothes but none of them looked weak or malnutrition

All of them had a strong physique with bulletin muscle complete in contrast with rags

They looked as if they didn't belong in these rags.

They were very similar white tall men radiating with power

The only clear distinction between them was the hair colour

Each one of these men had a different hair colour

Like a rainbow

They were all sitting there with their eyes closed as if meditating

Pollux cleared his throat

All the men simultaneously open their piercing blue eyes

"I would like to commence the council meeting"

Pollux said

Everyone nodded at this

Pollux also nodded

"Then I ask the brothers of the light present here what have we understood so far about our new situation?"

A man with green hair raised his hand

Pollux looked at the man and nodded

"I found out that the mine has a new supervisor, some gold core realm women," the man with green hair said

"I didn't find her name though"

Pollux looked around the room

Dissatisfaction clear on his face

"What else?" He barked

A man with bright yellow hair raised his hand

Pollux waved his hand with annoyance 

"Disperse with the formalities"

Pollux told the room

"No need to raise your hand brother Joshua"

"In fact, if anyone has something to say, just speak"

The man named Joshua nodded 

"I found out that the woman's name is Liu Xiening" 

"She is the younger sister of if the sword maniac of red star sect Liu kong"

A man with blue hair spoke up as soon as Joshua became quite

"The rumour she caught this position at a high price," he said

"She has also brought her only disciple with her he has been seen asking the foremen questions about the mines"

After the man with blue hair spoke the room became quite

Pollux seeing that no one else had anything to contribute 

He shook his head in disappointment

"This is too little to know about our new enemy," he said with a sigh

" Our plan enter the final stage we are about to realise the glory of light"

" We can't afford to make any mistakes at this point"

Pollux started to rub his hands together it was a sign that he was nervous

"This new woman is bad news for us" Pollux continued

"Most likely someone somewhere must have found something and sent this woman here to find out everything she can"

"Why else would she begin to ask dangerous questions as soon she came here"

"Why don't we bribe this one as well " A man with red hair spoke

"The last guy was very happy with what we gave him, he went to great length to help us"

Pollux jerked  his head in refusal

"The previous supervisor was an idiot, a great fool"

"He couldn't think about anything other than cultivation"

"he wasn't smart enough to decipher   the situation otherwise we all would have died a long time ago"

Pollux stopped rubbing his hands and clenched them into fists 

"But this woman is different if she understood the origin of the things we give her and inform the nascent soul cultivators of the sect, we will suffer fates worse than death"

" not mention we would be punished for falling our task"

Every single person in the room visibly flinched at Pollux's words

"So, what do we do?" A man with pink hair asked

Pollux was irritated by the interruption

He turned to the man in question and looked at him coldly 

"Brother John if you raise a question you should also have the solution to it ready, otherwise you are wasting everyone time"

The man with pink hair smiled  sheepishly at the scolding

"So Brother John are you about to tell us what to do next?"

John continued to smile sheepishly but stayed quiet 

"I thought not"

Pollux snorted and looked away from john in disgust 

"We have only one way to go and that is up," Pollux said in a confident manner

"What do you mean brother Pollux?" The man with red hair asked the question everyone was thinking

" We need to quicken our plan brother Colin, we need to act before the woman even thinks about taking an action against us" as Pollux said this the light in the room became brighter 

Everyone in the room became visibly excited when they heard this declaration 

"Will our plan be ready in time," John asked with concern

"Our plan is almost ready we just need a worthy sacrifice and a steady vessel" it was the man with blue hair who answered john's question

There was a loud cheer at that statement 

"Brothers of the light go and begin the preparation for the promised day" 

Pollux stood up and raised his hands in the air

"We will soon bask in the glory of the one true light of kindness" pollux shouted so loudly 

That it echoed around the cave

Everyone except the blue-haired man got and cheered loudly and then left one by one 

Whilst saying

"May the light guide us"

When every except the blue-haired left

Pollux turned to the man and questioned

"Can I help you with anything, brother Edward?"

The man named Edward stood up from his position and faced Pollux squarely

"How long before the Boy is ready?" He asked   

Pollux was visibly surprised by the question

He looked shocked and confused 

He was very secretive about the whole situation, he was sure no one else knew

Then understanding flashed in his mind and he became angry

Giving his best death stare to Edwards

"JULIA!" He said with gritted teeth

"She is one of yours" he accused 

Edward suddenly smiled as if giving confirmation

"How we're you able to fool the old man?" Pollux asked

He was sure he was the only  apostle old man  trusted 

It had taken him years before he could gain his trust 

And now this Edward was telling him it took him less than 10 years to do the same

If it got out his position as the chief apostle would be in danger 

Edward put his hands behind his back

"Ohh, Old Bu is good but I'm much better" he answered with a smile

That wasn't an answer but Pollux couldn't force this man to give up his secrets

Pollux gave up and just laughed

"I have already tinkered with the arts and sutras given to him by the old man soon he will be ready"

Edward nodded with a dazzling smile on his face

"How long have you left the poor boy in that dark place," Edward asked

" A month now" Pollux answered

"You should check on him soon"

Edward said whilst coming face to face with Pollux

The smile on his face disappeared and Edward became serious

"And the great secret is still a secret I presume"

Pollux stiffly noted he was uncomfortable with the closeness of the two

"Old Bu doesn't know if that's what you mean?"

Edward simply turned and left the room without answering Pollux leaving him guessing

Pollux looked at the man with blue hair with hatred

 his hands were still clenched into fists so tight that blood oozed out of his fists