Given Arden's temperament, there was no intention to compete with Porcelumex, even if it meant mutual destruction, there was no way he would comply with Yi Jing's wishes and choose compromise.
Moreover, Arden had already sensed that the matter might not be as simple as it appeared on the surface.
It was not merely about a single Porcelume ore vein; there could be hidden truths beneath it all. With that thought, Arden took out a talisman and pinched it between his index and middle fingers.
He planned to cast a divination.
When the divination result appeared, Arden's brows knitted deeply, his expression growing grave and unsettled.
The upper and lower lines are yin, the four in the middle are yang—its shape resembles a coffin… How could the hexagram turn out like this? That shouldn't be possible!?
This was far from a matter of mere benefits; it concerned a critical node of fate. One wrong move could lead to total collapse.
I must jump out of this situation!
Arden made his decision instantly and waved his hand.
"This place isn't suitable for staying any longer. Let's go—back to Yunkui Summit!"
Ju Fufu and Yiji immediately followed, leaving only Yixuan standing where she was.
She wasn't doubting Arden's judgment—rather, like him, she had also cast a divination and was in the process of deciphering the hexagram.
The reading was extremely vague, but it clearly wasn't a good omen, so Yixuan had to treat it with utmost seriousness.
"Shifu, listen to me—trusting your disciple won't be wrong. Just believe me this once."
Arden misunderstood her meaning, thinking Yixuan was hesitating. He grabbed her hand firmly and pulled her along without giving her a chance to object.
"Ah~!"
Feeling the warmth and strength transmitted through her arm, Yixuan let out a sigh and allowed herself to be pulled along by Arden.
Originally, if something were to happen to her, Yunkui Summit would be entrusted to Arden. But judging by the current situation, it seemed that even without any 'what if,' Yunkui Summit would end up belonging to him anyway.
Of course, that wasn't entirely a bad thing. Yixuan believed that with Arden's abilities, he could manage Yunkui Summit far better than she ever could, and she'd happily enjoy a quieter life.
"Huh? You're just leaving like that?"
The decisive withdrawal of the Yunkui Summit group completely caught Yi Jing off guard. He stepped forward, intending to stop them.
"Good dogs don't block the road!"
Arden shoved him aside with a single push.
Yi Jing could only turn to Laurent and Bu Lü for help. "You two should say something as well, shouldn't you?"
Laurent had no intention of persuading anyone to stay—leaving was perfect, as it eliminated competition. What was unexpected was that Bu Lü also showed no intention of intervening.
As Arden and his group departed, only Yi Jing and his disciple, along with the people from Porcelumex, remained in the mine.
"Congratulations to Porcelumex on winning the bid!"
Yi Jing offered his congratulations while rubbing his hands together. The sycophantic look on his face made him seem exactly like a traitor who had just sold out his own people and was now waiting for rewards from his new masters.
"Ms. Laurent, about that… shall we sign the contract now?"
"..."
Laurent looked at Yi Jing without saying a word, her expression filled with undisguised contempt and disdain.
She spread her palm, and one of her subordinates handed her a document.
Laurent passed the document to Yi Jing.
"Heh heh!"
Yi Jing accepted it with a beaming smile.
That was fifty percent of the shares in a large Porcelume mine! Just the dividends alone would be enough for him to live lavishly for the rest of his life without lifting a finger!
However, as Yi Jing reviewed the document, the joy and anticipation on his face gradually darkened.
"This contract isn't right! We agreed on fifty percent—why does the contract only say zero-point five percent?"
A reduction would have been one thing, but shrinking it down to just one percent of the original was something Yi Jing simply couldn't accept.
"Heh."
Hearing this, Laurent smiled indifferently and reached out to pat Yi Jing on the shoulder. "Zero-point five percent is already quite generous. One must learn to be content."
When Yunkui Summit was still in the picture, it was fifty percent. Now that the competitor had withdrawn, who would still give up such a massive share? She certainly wasn't stupid.
"But—"
Ignoring Yi Jing's attempt to continue, Laurent turned around, preparing to leave. "I still have work to attend to. Please excuse me."
The people from Porcelumex also left, leaving only Yi Jing and Bu Lü in the mine.
"Damn it! Damn it all!!"
Yi Jing stomped his feet in fury. "Porcelumex, Yunkui Summit… every last one of you looks down on me! Just you wait!"
He had the urge to tear up the contract on the spot and act like a 'real man' for once—but in the end, he obediently signed his name on it.
Harsh words were one thing, but even at zero-point five percent, it was still far better than ending up with nothing at all.
After returning to Yunkui Summit, the more Arden thought about the farce, the more something felt off.
He sought out Yixuan Shifu, and together they carried out a large-scale divination.
The result was just as grim: a sign of great calamity.
It wasn't that Arden, Yixuan, or Yunkui Summit were doomed—but that the world itself faced a great calamity.
It seemed a crisis was quietly brewing.
Arden was confident he could protect those around him and Yunkui Summit, but after some thought, he still decided to play the good guy for once.
Thus, in the name of Yunkui Summit, he proactively contacted Ms. Laurent of Porcelumex, informing her of the divination results and the potential crisis, hoping she would allow Yunkui Summit to inspect the mine and its surrounding area before development began.
He was promptly rejected.
She said that if there were any hidden dangers, Porcelumex would handle the inspection themselves, sparing Yunkui Summit the trouble—and even extended an invitation for Yunkui Summit to attend the mine's development groundbreaking ceremony.
Between the lines, her smugness was unmistakable.
After all, if a large Porcelume mine were successfully developed, promotions and pay raises would surely follow for Ms. Laurent.
"Hmph!So much for good intentions… If something really goes wrong, don't come crying to us!"
Arden wasn't the type to press his warm face against someone else's cold indifference. Since Porcelumex didn't care about his warning, any consequences that followed would be theirs alone to bear.
"Ahh~~ being human is hard… being a good person is even harder!"
Arden's rare attempt at goodwill ended in failure.
Of course, he didn't simply stand by and do nothing.
At his suggestion, Yunkui Summit set up a protective grand formation at Suibian Temple, the location closest to Lemnian Hollow.
If the worst were to happen, this formation would not only safeguard Suibian Temple and the disciples of Yunkui Summit, but also serve as a stronghold to shelter the residents of Waifei Peninsula.
Days passed one by one. As the date of Porcelumex's mining project groundbreaking ceremony drew near, neither Lemnian Hollow nor Waifei Peninsula experienced any major incidents. Everything seemed calm and uneventful.
Yi Jing never came back to Yunkui Summit to trouble Arden or Yixuan again—not even Bu Lü returned.
Arden had wanted to confront him and extract more information, but instead Bu Lü simply severed ties with the mountain sect altogether.
Still, beneath the calm surface, something felt like it was brewing. Arden couldn't say what it was, but he carried an unshakable premonition that something big was about to happen.
===BREAK===
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