Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 872 Spring chill shrouds the sky, golden light breaks through the dawn (Part 1)
Jin Chanzi and Qi Jinguang stood beside the mine pit, their eyes fixed on the huge colorless crystal below.

Qi Jinguang stared blankly for a while, his mind unconsciously recalling the price offered by Changchun earlier. Even the worst quality items cost 400 ghost money per gram.

Such a large piece of multicolored stone, wouldn't it be worth...?

Just as he was thinking, a cool breeze blew by, and Qi Jinguang suddenly remembered what Jin Chanzi had said earlier. His pupils narrowed slightly, and he suddenly woke up with a shiver.

When he looked at the rock below again, his eyes were clear and bright, no longer affected in the slightest.

Seeing this, Jin Chanzi couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

"That old Taoist Zhang dared to bet the luck of Longhu Mountain on this kid; he really hit the jackpot."

Jin Chanzi's gaze pierced through Qi Jinguang's back, and he seemed to see, in the darkness, the entire fortune of Longhu Mountain was protecting Qi Jinguang as if a dragon and a tiger were protecting him.

such a pity.

It's a pity I probably won't live to see the day this kid truly grows up.

After a moment of reflection, Jin Chanzi led Qi Jinguang to continue strolling along the edge of the mining area.

"what!"

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the crowd below. Qi Jinguang stopped and looked over, and saw five or six men carrying tools rapidly converging in one direction.

Over there stood a thin, middle-aged man. Faced with the sudden approach of the group, his expression changed drastically, and he drew a short knife from his waist: "Get out of my way!!"

Despite the man's threat, the crowd did not stop. Instead, they quickly moved closer and their eyes immediately fell on the mound of earth that had been dug up at the man's feet.

Beneath the mound of earth, a multicolored stone, about the size of a baby's fist, was shimmering brilliantly in the shadows.

Even with just a corner exposed, it's already as big as a baby's fist; if it were all dug out, it would probably be even bigger.

Upon seeing this, everyone's eyes immediately lit up with excitement.

"Go!" A furious shout filled with greed and ferocity exploded like a spark thrown into boiling oil!
Before the words had even faded, five or six burly miners, who had been eyeing him intently and were armed with picks and crowbars, pounced on the thin middle-aged man from different directions like hungry wolves smelling blood!
The middle-aged man's face turned deathly pale instantly. He roared, raised the gleaming short knife in his hand, and swung it fiercely at the person who had pounced on him the closest!
"Clang!"

The pickaxe and the dagger clashed violently, sending sparks flying! The immense force sent the middle-aged man's arm numbing, and he staggered backward. But the others seized the opportunity to surround him, their cold crowbars whistling through the air as they mercilessly struck his back and the back of his legs!

"Ah!" The middle-aged man let out a painful howl as he took a solid blow to the back and fell forward. But he reacted quickly, rolling away the moment he fell to the ground to avoid the fatal blow aimed at his knees. At the same time, he slashed his short knife upwards!
"Pfft!"

A miner who lunged too far had his thigh slashed open, leaving a deep gash that exposed bone. Blood instantly stained his trouser leg and the cold, frozen ground.

The screams, accompanied by even more frantic curses, completely ignited the small platform.

Chaos erupted instantly! Several figures were entangled together, fists, feet, clubs, and short knives clashing and tearing at each other wildly! Roars, screams, and the clanging of metal created a huge commotion that naturally drew more and more people's attention to this side.

Countless gazes, filled with astonishment, fear, indifference, and a deeper, barely concealed greed, all focused on the center of this chaos. The commotion spread rapidly like ripples.

"A fight has broken out! Someone dug up a big one!"

"It's Old Wang's side! Damn it, let's rob him!"

"Go check it out! You might find something bargain!"

The whispers quickly turned into a cacophony of voices. More and more people stopped what they were doing and began to gather towards the platform where the battle was taking place.

What started as a fight involving only five or six people gradually spiraled out of control, with more and more people rushing in amidst the chaos.

A white knife went in and a red knife came out; the pickaxe in his hand swung in a wide arc and smashed into the back of another person.

By the time someone realized something was wrong and tried to escape, it was too late. Chaos erupted, and once caught in it, the only way out was through sheer strength—fighting your way out.

Qi Jinguang frowned as he looked at the surging crowd below, which resembled an ant colony. He wanted to stop them, but Jin Chanzi gently pressed his arm down.

"The cause of others is the effect of others. If you suppress it today, the consequences will come back to haunt you in the future."

"Can……"

Qi Jinguang was puzzled upon hearing this: "Grandmaster Uncle, are we just going to watch like this?"

Jin Chanzi nodded and said without any hesitation, "I know what you're thinking. It's true that monks should be compassionate, but you try to manage everything, which means you can't manage anything. You try to save everyone, but in the end, you can't even save yourself."

Jin Chanzi looked calmly at the crowd below: "In some ways, we Taoists should learn from Buddhism. Bodhisattvas have the compassion to save people, but they also have the means of the wrath of Vajra King. If you really want to save people and the world, then show your Vajra means, the power of thunder, and sweep away all directions."

"I……"

Qi Jinguang was stunned. He glanced sideways at the increasingly chaotic crowd below and frowned deeply.

Jin Chanzi's intention was clearly to have him unleash a massacre to stop evil. However, this was far too domineering for Qi Jinguang, a young man, and if the timing wasn't controlled properly, it could backfire.

Seeing his hesitation, Jin Chanzi smiled and said, "Haha, child, don't worry. Our ancestors have said that there are many ways and methods to help people and the world. If you don't like the tyrannical way, then take the benevolent way. If you don't like the benevolent way, then take the holy way. There are many ways for you. The key is whether you can see where the root of evil lies. Treating the symptoms without addressing the root cause is the worst approach."

Upon hearing this, Qi Jinguang fell into deep thought.

The two didn't linger there, to avoid getting annoyed by what they saw, and simply turned around and went back.

After the two returned, Qi Jinguang sat silently in his chair, his brows furrowed, seemingly lost in thought.

"What's wrong with this child?"

Seeing this, Wu Man couldn't help but ask.

After Jin Chanzi explained the situation, Wu Man curled her lip and said, "You're crazy. You want a child to learn from a sage? Why don't you, you old Taoist priest, become a sage yourself?"

Faced with Wu Man's complaints, Jin Chanzi was not annoyed, but calmly said, "Be content. He had a choice, while I didn't even have a choice. Besides, isn't it good to be a saint?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Man frowned, vaguely sensing that there seemed to be a hidden meaning in Jin Chanzi's words.

Jin Chanzi sat down, looked at the dazed Qi Jinguang, and sighed: "This child, if nothing unexpected happens, will either become a saint or the leader of a sect in the future. He is destined for a prosperous and illustrious life, a destiny of rising like a dragon."

Is it really that mysterious?

Upon hearing this, Wu Man looked Qi Jinguang up and down, but couldn't see anything different about him.

Qi Jinguang sat there blankly outside, thinking for the entire night.

By dawn the next day, Wu Man had already prepared breakfast for everyone and was calling them out to eat.

Xiao Ran sat down, and his mental energy spread out, quickly enveloping most of the surrounding mining area.

News about yesterday gradually reached Xiao Ran's ears.

The battle raged for a hundred people, and more than thirty died in the end, including six unlucky ones who fell directly into the depths of the mine.

It's hard to count the number of injuries, but it's definitely more than that.

Finally, Changchun intervened and stopped the chaotic fight.

Of course, they weren't acting out of kindness; they were simply worried that the situation would escalate further and affect their profits.

Moreover, there is a shortage of manpower everywhere now, and those intermediary companies are said to have been listed as key targets by the company. It will not be easy to recruit people into the mining area in the future.

We can't just let these people die in such a muddled way.

However, to everyone's dismay, after Changchun forcefully suppressed everyone, he ordered people to dig out that five-colored stone.

Who would have thought that the colorful stone, which looked like the size of a baby's fist, was actually made of stone underneath? After a brief examination, the appraiser from Changchun Association simply threw it on the ground.

He left with the words, "Changchun won't accept this kind of garbage with so many impurities," and then walked away without looking back.

The lives of more than thirty people were treated like trash, dying in the mining area because of a broken rock.

When Xiao Ran told everyone what had happened, they were all deeply moved.

But Xiao Ran was not surprised by this; similar incidents were not uncommon in the mining area.

“These kinds of things will only happen more and more often in the future.” Xiao Ran put down his chopsticks and explained to everyone: “The colorful stones on the surface of the mining area have been mined to the point where they can be mined. The only way to make money is to keep digging down, but the curse down there is too strong. Without blood packs, ordinary miners may not even be able to get more than 300 meters before they never come out again.”

"It's all Changchun's doing. They deliberately raised the standards for purchasing ore and secretly increased the prices of supplies. I heard this junk is going to go up in price again!"

Wu Man took out the talisman for sale and threw it on the table, shaking her head and saying, "The Changchun Society is trying to force everyone to their deaths and squeeze every last bit of value out of them. They are even more ruthless than the evil spirits that suck the marrow from the bones."

This wasn't the first time everyone had heard about the shady dealings of the Changchun Association. In the past, the Changchun Association had at least been mindful of the company and would secretly engage in illicit activities. But here, the company's influence was negligible, and they were truly making no attempt to hide anything.

As the group cursed the Changchun Society, Qi Jinguang, who was staring at the talisman on the table, suddenly had his eyes light up as if he had understood something. He abruptly raised his head and looked at Jin Chanzi: "Grandmaster Uncle, I understand!"

Wu Man: ? ? ?
Jinchanzi:! !
Xiao Ran: ? ?

Wang Yu and Gu Bei: !

Everyone was taken aback, wondering what the young man had figured out. Then they saw Qi Jingguang dash out in a flash, not knowing where he was going.

(End of this chapter)