Although Jinhua Street was bustling, it also had its social stratifications.
The places Wang Lai could afford were some secluded brothels, narrow gambling houses, and low-grade taverns.
Living a life of drunkenness and debauchery, squandering the money he swindled from dead miners, Wang Lai began to "make" Spirit Stones again.
He had to "make" Spirit Stones, as he also owed money to the gambling houses.
A horse does not get fat without night grazing, a person does not get rich without windfalls.
Just as Mo Hua expected, Wang Lai's methods for "making" Spirit Stones were all underhanded.
There was stealing, cheating, tricking, and robbing.
There was being a lackey for a Noble Clans disciple of South Yue City, clearing the way for him to earn rewards; there was extorting protection money from small merchants;
There was setting up cons in the gambling houses and tricking Spirit Stones from visiting cultivators; there were highway robberies and stolen goods;
There was even finding a female cultivator from a brothel to perform petty tricks called "tricky" to swindle Spirit Stones...
Mo Hua truly had his eyes opened.
The way Mining Cultivators earned Spirit Stones was only one: through hard, sincere effort, yet both bitter and tiring.
And yet Wang Lai, without doing any proper work, spent each day in dissipation...
The harder one worked, the more toil they endured, the more miserable their life became.
This world truly bullied the honest cultivators.
Mo Hua felt some emotion and at the same time, some doubts arose in his mind.
He remembered Lu Ming saying that when these ruffians like Wang Lai truly ran out of Spirit Stones, they would join the mines as Mining Cultivators for a few days, dig some ore, and earn a few Spirit Stones.
But during these days, Wang Lai indeed experienced times when his pockets were dry, without a single Spirit Stone to his name.
However, he hadn't entered the mines once, nor dug any ore.
"Something's not right..." Mo Hua furrowed his brows.
This Wang Lai seemed to have nothing to do with the mines.
This seemed highly unlikely.
Mo Hua waited patiently, and after a few days, he found that Wang Lai was finally going to enter the mine.
Because he found an elderly Mining Cultivator to whisper:
"There are top-grade ores hidden by the Lu Family in the mine, let's steal some, and we won't have to worry about food and drink for the rest of our lives..."
Stealing from the mine...
Mo Hua's pupils contracted.
The five missing miners seemed to have died in the mine because of an attempt to steal ore...
And stealing ore was a great taboo for Mining Cultivators.
Why had those five unfortunate miners suddenly thought of stealing ore?
Mo Hua looked at Wang Lai, his eyes brimming with a cold light.