The Secret of the Waste Stones
The interior of the abandoned mine was pitch-black.
Had it not been for the fire starter in Jeok-un's hand, they likely would have tripped and fallen multiple times.
"Whew-wheet~"
Yet Jeok-un strode forward with long, confident steps, whistling as if he did not have a care in the world.
He is utterly unpredictable.
Watching his back, Hae-yeon thought to herself.
But she was not surprised.
After all, had there been a single thing she could understand from their very first meeting until now?
Therefore, Hae-yeon pushed aside her attempts to understand the man named Jeok-un and focused instead on his purpose for bringing her here.
She scanned her surroundings with sharp, focused eyes.
Countless details pierced through the dim light, rapidly organizing themselves in her mind.
Half-mined ores protruded from the walls.
Identifying the minerals through their surface characteristics, she deduced the overall layout of the mine from the direction of the tunnels.
A vast array of knowledge that an ordinary person would look at and never comprehend stacked neatly in her head, but...
No matter how much I look, there is nothing special. Underground gold veins this deep mean the mine is already completely depleted...
No matter how she looked at it, this was a closed mine whose gold vein had run dry.
Hae-yeon dryly evaluated the mine and considered another possibility.
What if there is another reason?
If so, the most likely scenario was that he had bought it harboring the vain hope that some gold might still be left.
No, that cannot be it.
Suddenly, a conversation she had shared with Jeok-un flashed through her mind.
"Are you planning to buy a few more mines like this?"
"Hmm, definitely more than ten."
"...Excuse me?"
If Jeok-un had bought only one abandoned mine, she might have settled on that conclusion.
But the number of mines he had purchased was far too high.
The Master I have seen is reckless, but he is by no means foolish.
The public rumor of Jeok-un was that he was a fool who did not know his place.
But she would never judge him that way.
Looking at his actions one by one...
The matter with the Noh brothers, his confrontation with the Lord, and even the incident with the Night Lord.
He had moved with a clear 'purpose' to achieve and seize his goals in every single action.
If so, his coming to this abandoned mine...
As expected, the Master's goal is not gold, but something else.
But thinking that way naturally raised another question.
What on earth did he want her to do here?
Step.
Suddenly, Jeok-un stopped walking.
"Alright, we're here."
"...!"
Hae-yeon looked around in surprise.
...What?
To her bewilderment, the front and both sides were completely blocked.
The dead end of the tunnel lay right before her eyes.
Jeok-un hung the fire starter on the wall.
The surroundings lit up brightly.
Good, it is still here.
A faint gleam appeared in Jeok-un's eyes as he found what he wanted.
The treasures, exactly as he remembered them from before his regression, were scattered everywhere.
Just then, Hae-yeon, standing behind him, spoke in a low voice.
"The gold has already vanished without a trace here as well."
Hae-yeon suddenly tossed something toward Jeok-un.
Jeok-un caught it deftly with one hand.
Recognizing what it was, a smirk spread across his face.
"Then this must be what you were looking for, Master."
"As expected, you're not just quick-witted, you're sharp-eyed too."
What Jeok-un held in his hand was trash that the miners had discarded as worthless.
To be precise, it was an ordinary stone with no distinct features or characteristics.
It was so useless that no matter how hard Hae-yeon racked her brain, she could not even think of a name for it.
"Could you tell me what it is?"
"It's waste stone."
"...Waste stone?"
Hae-yeon was puzzled. The literal meaning of the word was just discarded rock.
"There's no need to rack your brain trying to remember. I'm the only one who knows the name and true identity of this thing."
"...What?"
"This stone..."
At Jeok-un's next words, Hae-yeon's eyes widened in shock.
"...is rock salt."
"...!!"
A heavy silence descended upon them for a long moment.
Even Hae-yeon was too stunned to speak.
Shaking off her shock, Hae-yeon quickly looked around.
Countless waste stones were embedded in the walls and floor, and the ground was littered with discarded rocks.
Don't tell me all of these are...!
It was no wonder she was so shocked.
If Jeok-un's words were true, it meant that things far more valuable than gold and silver were scattered everywhere.
Hae-yeon spoke cautiously.
"Master, if this really is rock salt as you say... then what you plan to do is..."
In response to Hae-yeon, who could not bring herself to say the words out loud, Jeok-un puffed out his chest proudly and answered.
"Yes. I plan to smuggle salt with this."
"...!"
Hae-yeon felt dizzy for a moment.
Salt smuggling. In other words, illicit salt trade.
Yes, this was the exact reason Jeok-un had bought up so many abandoned mines in the area.
It was because they yielded these waste stones, which were actually minerals containing salt—rock salt.
Though dynasties and imperial courts changed over time, their attitude toward salt remained the same.
The imperial court maintained a strict monopoly, recognizing only official government salt.
All other private salt was strictly forbidden, and buying or selling it was treated as smuggling, punishable by severe penalties.
However, because the state monopolized salt, the product was of terrible quality and outrageously expensive, which naturally caused smuggling to thrive.
Salt is an essential element for human survival.
Therefore, even if the price was cheaper than government salt, the demand was astronomical.
If one could establish a proper distribution network, they could earn enough wealth to literally buy a nation.
That's why he bought the abandoned mines.
A commodity far more valuable than gold was piled high throughout the mines he had purchased.
Jeok-un intended to pour all of the Vice Lord's slush funds into this salt smuggling operation.
If the Vice Lord's slush fund was one, he could multiply it by a hundred, no, a thousand times.
No, even that was an understatement.
He could multiply it by tens of thousands of times.
Hearing the word "smuggling," Hae-yeon spoke in a trembling voice.
But as great as the rewards were, the risks of salt smuggling were equally immense.
"This isn't just dangerous. Do you know that under imperial law, salt bandits are punished on par with high treason?"
"Of course I know."
"...Not only you, Master, but all of Sadocheon will be dragged into this. The treaty of non-interference between the government and the martial world will be shattered as well."
Even the treaty of non-interference had its limits.
As mentioned before, the state only recognized government salt.
Since this was a core pillar of national finance, those who distributed smuggled salt were labeled salt bandits and punished as traitors.
Even Huang Chao, who started a rebellion during the Tang Dynasty, had been a salt smuggler, had he not?
"So why on earth are you pushing forward with this...?"
At Hae-yeon's question, Jeok-un chuckled and spoke.
"How can a man who set out to conquer the world back down just because the state forbids it?"
"...!!"
Hae-yeon was left speechless by Jeok-un's words.
The shock seemed too great.
Seeing her reaction, Jeok-un shrugged and spoke reassuringly.
"And there's no need to worry about getting caught in the first place. I told you, I'm the only one in the entire Central Plains who knows this waste stone is actually salt ore."
"...!"
Come to think of it, it was strange.
Why was the Master the only one who knew this stone was rock salt?
No matter how hard and difficult it was to extract, salt in the Central Plains—especially in the inland regions—was worth whatever price was asked.
Thus, it should have been discovered eventually.
There was only one reason.
"This waste stone isn't ordinary rock salt. Normal rock salt can be crushed and rinsed in water, but you can't extract salt from this one with just that."
"Then how?"
"A special solvent is required. A special solvent that can separate the salt crystals trapped inside the ore."
"...!"
"Without it, this is nothing but a useless lump of rock, just as people say."
In other words, even if they mined it in broad daylight and piled it up, people would only view them as fools hoarding useless rocks in a warehouse; no one would ever suspect them of being salt bandits.
"And I know the ingredients to make that solvent."
"?!"
Hae-yeon wore a look of sheer astonishment.
It was a familiar expression.
In his past life, when the Blood Queen had created the solvent, he and his brothers had all worn that exact same expression.
If not for the Blood Queen, we would have collapsed before we could even wage a proper war.
The rock salt in the waste stones was Sadocheon's war supply.
Not just war funds, but a vital war supply.
The Demonic Cult had not invaded simply to swallow the Jianghu.
They were a wicked breed capable of doing anything to manifest their demonic realm on this earth.
To bring down the world, they had restricted salt, an absolute necessity.
In times of peace, salt merchants could travel back and forth on ferries and with packs on their backs.
But once war broke out, that became impossible.
The enemy had employed a strategy to starve them out by cutting off the salt essential for survival.
The damage was not limited to martial artists.
Not only warriors but also commoners died miserable deaths because of it.
Ultimately, Sadocheon, situated on the front lines and deep inland, had to find salt by any means necessary.
Hae-yeon had worked day and night to find a new way to obtain salt.
Finally, she had discovered a method to extract salt from the waste stones.
And the next step was creating the solvent to extract the salt from the waste stones.
His role back then had been to procure the ingredients for the solvent for Hae-yeon.
Because Hae-yeon had repeatedly emphasized that he must obtain them at all costs, Jeok-un still clearly remembered the raw materials for the completed solvent.
This was another reason he was pushing forward with this, despite the risk of execution if caught.
It will be too late to prepare salt once the war starts.
After briefly reflecting on the past, Jeok-un shook off the thoughts and spoke in a confident voice.
"Trust me. I know the ingredients for certain."
At Jeok-un's confident words, Hae-yeon wore a dumbfounded expression.
Ha, this is truly absurd.
It was literally absurd.
Under normal circumstances, she would have scoffed at it as a ridiculous plan.
Yet, why was her heart racing as she listened to this preposterous scheme?
His courage and ambition are unbelievable.
It was truly a plan that only someone aiming to conquer the world would conceive.
Hae-yeon was instinctively drawn to it.
This... could be fun.
No matter how rational she was, her instincts as an unorthodox martial artist were being stimulated.
...Wait, hold on.
As Hae-yeon sketched out the grand and magnificent blueprint of a plan that could literally buy a nation, she suddenly froze.
The words Jeok-un had casually mentioned earlier struck her mind.
"But what do you mean by saying you only know the ingredients...?"
A smirk.
Jeok-un smiled playfully at Hae-yeon.
She had pointed out the most crucial detail.
To be honest, there was one tiny, minor problem with making this salt smuggling operation a success.
...No, surely not?
Hae-yeon hoped it was not what she thought, but Jeok-un betrayed her expectations once again.
"Now, your job is to find the exact mixing ratio of the solvent to dissolve these waste stones using the ingredients I provide."
"...?"
He knew the ingredients, but finding the mixing ratio was something Hae-yeon had handled in the past.
Well, you did it in the past, so you can do it again, right?
Jeok-un looked at her with an innocent expression.
"Now, that is the first repayment I ask of you."
"...!"
Hae-yeon looked as if she had been struck by an iron hammer.