Chapter 94: Essence of Phosphorus

  The mine owner, holding a whip in his hand, stood proudly among the many miners. A miner with tattered clothes and covered in dust from head to toe rushed out of the mine tunnel.

  Shan Hu saw this person and his eyes widened, shouting: "Wang Lao Qi, you and Li Jiu have not been seen coming out of the mine for half a day. Are you hiding in the cave to avoid work? It seems that your skin is itching again and you want to look for trouble. Do you think you will eat dinner tonight?"

  The whip was raised and was about to lash down heavily on Wang Laoqi's body, when Wang Laoqi hastily took two steps forward and said: "Shang Tou, don't hit me, I have something to report."

  Shang Hu raised his whip in mid-air, a look of cold suspicion on his face as he asked, "What is it? Speak quickly."

  Wang Laoqi took two more steps forward, lowered his voice and said: "Shang Tou, Li Jiu and I found a strange thing in the mine. It doesn't look like phosphorus ore, but rather like metal ore. We used all our strength to dig out half of it from the mine, but we don't dare to make a decision on our own. Please go take a look."

  "Huh?"

  Shan Hushen's heart skipped a beat as he looked at Wang Laoqi with suspicion, then raised his hand and said, "Quickly, lead the way."

  Two men hastily walked into the mine, the inside of the mine was gloomy and dark, the sound of stone crashing was endless, the mine branched out with countless veins, Wang Laoqi led Shang Hu in a hurry towards a very secluded vein, running far away, there were almost no human voices nearby, before seeing Li Jiu carefully digging on the wall with a pickaxe.

  Seeing two people coming over, Li Jiu hastily stopped what he was doing and stood to one side, shouting: "Shang Tou, come quickly and take a look, this fine stone is quite unusual."

  Shan Huji rushed two steps forward, and on the wall of the cave, among the pale blue phosphorescent stones, a deep black metal the size of a fist was emitting a quiet glow, as if it had condensed the color of the surrounding phosphorescent stones hundreds of times over.

  The phosphate ore was brittle and loose, but this piece of ore was extremely hard. The two miners didn't know what it was, but Shang Hu recognized it at a glance, his heart racing wildly in an instant.

  "Phosphene! Isn't this phosphene? Spiritual metal power, heavens! It's been released, it's finally been released!"

  His heart was almost ecstatic. He knew that the probability of a mine producing such a spiritual metal was extremely low, and he didn't expect to encounter it himself. This small piece of phosphorus essence could be sold for at least a hundred taels of gold, and obtaining it would make him suddenly rich.

  He took a deep breath, and Shang Hu forcibly suppressed the expression on his face, saying in a deliberately light tone, "What is this thing, buried in the ore can't be seen, you guys dig it out and take a closer look."

  "Yes, boss."

  Two miners walked over, exerting themselves greatly once again, and finally dug out the metal from the mountain wall. It was only about the size of a fist, but it felt heavy in their hands, weighing down on their wrists. The quiet luster on its surface seemed to be able to draw people's souls into it.

  Wang Laoqi gulped and swallowed a mouthful of saliva, handing the ore to Shang Hu, saying in a low voice: "Shangtou, although I don't know what this is, but at first glance it's definitely something good."

  Shang Hu nodded slightly and raised his eyes to ask: "By the way, did you find out if anyone else knows about this?"

  Wang Laoqi smiled and said: "No one else knows, we didn't tell anyone, I'm reporting directly to you."

  Shang Hu nodded again and smiled: "Very good, you've done a great job this time. Come over here, I'll tell you..."

  Two mine slaves were praised and excitedly walked to Shang Hu's side, when suddenly a flash of light passed by, Shang Hu held a sharp sword in his hand, and with one stroke, he pierced Wang Lao Qi through the heart.

  Li Jiu, who was standing beside him, let out a loud cry of surprise and turned to run towards the outside of the mine. However, Shang Hu's sword flew out of his hand and pierced Li Jiu from behind, killing him instantly.

  Shan Hu's face turned cold, and he secretly pinched a bit of phosphorus powder in his hand, his heart uncontrollably filled with wild joy.

  "Spiritual metal, spiritual gold, it's said that the immortals can use it to refine spiritual instruments. If I could find a way to sell it, it would be enough for me to squander for many years."

  Shang Hu's excited face twisted, and he coldly glanced at the two corpses on the ground. He let out a faint hum, and in his heart, he secretly thought: "Such good things absolutely cannot be known to others that I've embezzled them. These two mine slaves... after a while, I'll arrange the scene properly, and when reporting to the Gong Sun family, I'll say they killed each other due to infighting. Although those above will also blame me, compared to obtaining the phosphorus essence, I've still gained a huge advantage."

  The merchant carefully arranged the scene of the fight to the death, then put a fist-sized iron ingot into his bosom and hid it close to his body. He pressed on the outside with his hand, feeling uneasy, and forcefully tucked in his stomach, suddenly flattening his chest, and no longer showing any signs. Only then did he walk away calmly.

  Avoiding the sight of other miners, he slipped out of the mine quietly and looked up at the sky, his heart secretly anxious.

  With such a large piece of spiritual gold hidden in his bosom, it was like holding a scorching hot yam, and Shang Hu hurriedly looked for a place to hide it. Stealing such precious gems from the mine would be a capital offense. If he were discovered by the elders of the Gong Sun family before hiding it, he would surely die without a burial ground.

  Thinking of this, he felt a little flustered in his heart. As soon as he came out of the cave, he loudly shouted to the miners beside him: "Stop work, stop work! Today, the boss is kind and lets you eat early and rest. Tomorrow, give me more energy."

  The sound went far and wide, and all the mining slaves looked up in astonishment.

  Today the sun is rising from the west, usually at this time it would still be a while. However, no one dares to ask anything, who wouldn't want to rest early, excitedly putting away tools, the crowd gradually disperses.

  Work is over, and Shang Hu can return to his residence earlier. He hides the phosphorus in a secret compartment under his bed for now. Watching anxiously as the miners disperse, Shang Hu turns around and hurries towards the distant mountain waist, taking deep breaths along the way to calm himself down. As he walks up a small stone path behind a mountain wall, he suddenly hears a cold voice from behind him:

  "Business protection..."

  Shang Hu's face turned pale and she shivered with a chill, feeling an icy coldness spreading throughout her body, as if her blood vessels were about to freeze.

  It was none other than Gong Sun Hong, one of the seven elders of the Gong Sun family. It's as if I'm asking for trouble, Gong Sun Hong rarely inspects the mines, what's going on today? If he finds out that I secretly stole something so valuable, I'll be killed on the spot.

  Sweat beaded on his forehead, his heart racing with anxiety and anger, but he forced a smile onto his face, bowed deeply and hastily turned back to say:

  "Seventh Elder, how did you come..."

  Gongsun Hong's tall figure stood beside the mountain rock, with a stern killing aura on his body. He asked coldly: "Why did you stop work so early today? Is there something going on in the mine?"

  Gongsun Hong's every word made Shang Hu's heart skip a beat, his palms were covered in cold sweat, and he didn't know if Gongsun Hong had discovered his secret.

  Shang Hu said with a smile: "Seventh Elder, it's like this. Today these miners have all added to their efforts and the output is more than 10% higher than in previous days. I especially allowed them to leave work early today to rest and build up their strength. Tomorrow I plan to squeeze them even harder and make them increase production again."

  Gongsun Hong's face changed from anger to joy, and he let out a soft "oh" as he took a step forward and patted Shang Hu's shoulder in praise, saying: "Good, good, I was right not to have misjudged you. You do have some skill in managing these mining slaves. Alright, go ahead and make the arrangements."

  A tall figure stepped out from beside the merchant, toes pointed to the ground, and in a few bounds disappeared at the end of the mountain path.

  Shang Hu let out a long sigh as Gong Sun Hong's figure disappeared, feeling that his legs had gone soft in just that brief moment. He was still afraid that the slap from Gong Sun Hong would cause the phosphorus essence in his arms to fall off the horse. Now it seemed that this Seventh Elder must have been passing by, what a false alarm.

  Shang Hu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, put down all his worries, pressed the phosphorus in his arms, and his heart burst into bloom. He rushed to his residence on the mountain waist, a delicate wooden house. With a creak, he pushed open the door, Shang Hu turned back to close the door, and his heart was completely at ease, letting out a long sigh of relief.

  "We're finally safe!"

  Just as I was about to step towards the bed, I suddenly felt a sharp cold blade pressed against my neck, and a low, menacing voice came over: "Don't make a sound, or I'll kill you with one sword."

  The long sword lightly pulled back, a wound was cut through with a hiss, and Shang Hu's body suddenly became cold all over, completely stunned in place.