They were let in so easily!
Even after entering Northern Wolf City, Shen Qi still felt somewhat dazed. Looking at Chen Qing with complicated emotions, he felt that his master always seemed to have a solution to whatever problem he faced.
I thought about it and smiled again. Isn't this always the case? Why am I always so surprised?
"Life in Northern Wolf City doesn't seem to have been affected," Chen Qing remarked, looking around.
Shen Qi nodded. "It seems so."
There were few pedestrians on the street, but in the Northern Wasteland, where the weather is icy and snowy all year round, it was almost night, and not many people were willing to wander around outside. After all, this was not the warm Jiangnan region or the bustling Capital.
But it's still clear that people here don't seem to have disrupted their daily lives. Every house is lit up, and smoke rises from chimneys. You can hear neighbors inviting each other to dinner every now and then. Their tone and expressions don't seem tense at all, which is quite different from the report sent by Yuchi Feihong.
In his original report, most households were controlled by the forces of the Nether Moon Messenger. Every household had a Black Lantern, rarely interacted with outsiders, and tried to turn off their lights as early as possible.
Now, that report seems outdated.
"Does Your Majesty know what monster caused the Lord Ziyue to send out a distress signal?" Shen Qi asked curiously.
"I have some guesses, but I'm not sure yet." Chen Qing lowered his head. The hint from the Poison Mother outside was already quite obvious. In this world, there weren't many monsters whose names couldn't be called directly in the second version, and there were even fewer wraiths that could make the Poison Mother watch over them so intently.
"Should we go and meet up with Lord Ziyue first?" Shen Qi asked.
Chen Qing shook his head.
"Does Your Excellency think there's something wrong with Lord Ziyue?" Shen Qi asked, narrowing his eyes.
To be honest, having been tricked by Ziyue once, he didn't trust Ziyue much. But during the time Chen Qing was missing, Ziyue practically held up the entire Jiangnan, and she also mediated and suppressed internal power conflicts. Even though Shen Qi was almost tricked to death that time, he can't really doubt Ziyue now.
Moreover, if Ziyue were to harbor rebellious intentions, given that she possesses a monster like the Thousand-Faced Fox, the consequences would be truly troublesome.
"No," Chen Qing shook his head, "I just can't get in touch with her."
"Can't contact them?" Shen Qi was taken aback. There were people he couldn't contact? He remembered that as long as they entered the Lord's Divine Path Style System, the Lord could find them at any time, right? He could sense that the Lord could find him whenever he wanted.
"That's without hiding it," Chen Qing sighed. " Ziyue is a great sorcerer who survived from the era of the Warlock Dynasty a thousand years ago. For thousands of years, she has been hunted down by those great sorcerer families. To survive, she naturally has her own set of concealment techniques. There is probably no one in this world who can hide better than her."
"I see." Shen Qi nodded, then said, "Do you want me to use a large-scale spell to search?"
"I don't want to be targeted as soon as I arrive." Chen Qing shook his head. From the moment he entered, he had instructed Shen Qi to suppress the energy within his body. He himself was also concerned because if it really was that monster, his situation wouldn't be much better than Ziyue's if he were targeted.
Let's find an inn first.
Unlike other Horde- style Northern Desolation Kingdom, Northern Wolf City possesses its own impregnable mountain fortress, naturally attracting many merchants to stay there. Opening an inn here is highly profitable; often, even a dilapidated room can cost as much as some high-end restaurants in the Central Plains. The reason is simple: the locals here are not exactly friendly to the people of the Central Plains. After all, they were still at war a few years ago, Sixteen Cities of Youyun were forcibly driven back. Many Northern Wasteland citizens had male members killed by Central Plains soldiers, making it a new grudge.
Here, it's practically impossible to find any guesthouses, and even private inns are rarely visited. Savvy merchants stay at official inns. The current ruler of the Northern Wolf seems to be quite adept at making money, having grasped the desires of many merchants from the Central Plains and opened numerous royal inns. Due to the royal protection, the prices are even double those of private inns outside. Despite this, the flow of people is still endless.
After all, those who come seeking wealth all want to return home safely and peacefully, rather than encountering a shady shop and inexplicably becoming victims in a drawer.
Chen Qing and his group also chose a royal restaurant, which wasn't very close to the Northern Wolf's palace. Chen Qing and Shen Qi had chosen the furthest one. Given the current sensitive situation, there were probably many mixed forces gathered outside the palace. Gathering information there would easily attract their attention, so it was better to stay away.
Despite its remote location and the fact that it was a royal restaurant, business was only so-so. The proprietress, seeing Chen Qing and his companion dressed rather elegantly and clearly of Central Plains origin, beamed with joy as she came out to greet them.
The proprietress was wearing a thick cotton-padded coat, but her beautiful figure and radiant face were still clearly visible.
"Oh dear, sirs, it's snowing heavily outside! Come in quickly, Lao Hei, hurry up and tidy up a bit, bring some charcoal for the guests." Then, smiling at Chen Qing, he said, "Guests, you must be hungry after traveling so far, right? How about a pot of hot wine first? We have some blood ginseng from Jiangnan here."
"Oh my?" Shen Qi immediately laughed, "Such good stuff is hard to find in many places in the Central Plains. The proprietress has connections everywhere; how could she get such good stuff here?"
"Oh, this is the Royal Inn," the landlady said proudly. "It's always different from those shabby inns out there. This place is under the name of the Imperial Consort Beiyu, haven't you heard of it? Our Beiyu Family's young master is studying properly in Jiangnan, and he can get his hands on a lot of good stuff there. If you can afford it, we can even provide you with heated jade in your rooms. That's a really good thing, much more comfortable than charcoal fire, and not stuffy at all."
"Oh, you even have warm jade." Shen Qi laughed, "That must be expensive, right?"
"Of course it can't be cheap," the proprietress said. "Since you're from the Central Plains, you must know the price of this warm jade. In the Central Plains, only princes and nobles can afford it. In our Northern Wasteland, even ordinary princes and nobles don't need it."
"Please name your price, ma'am. We're freezing! If possible, please use this rare item to prevent my young master from catching a cold."
"That's quite a lot, judging by your delicate skin, young master." The proprietress chuckled and said, "In that case, five hundred taels a night."
"Wow, this is really not cheap." Shen Qi immediately shook his head and said, "At this price, ma'am, it's equivalent to many merchants making two trips."
"It depends on who you're dealing with. How can those common merchants compare to you two young masters? Do they even need such rare items? We're already offering cheap accommodations here. If you're near the palace, they won't even look at you for less than a thousand taels a night, and that's just for the room, not including food and drinks. It's different here. The room rate includes three meals a night and plenty of hot wine, but the Blood Ginseng Wine is a separate price."
"Tsk tsk. Sounds pretty good value." Shen Qi nodded.
Chen Qing looked up curiously and said, "Judging from the proprietress's tone, the Royal Restaurant in Northern Wolf City is doing quite well? We were terrified by that giant snake outside when we came here. If it weren't for some urgent business, and the fact that some merchants explained that the snake doesn't bite, we really wouldn't have dared to come in. I thought it would be very deserted here."
"Then you've got it backwards, sir," the proprietress said with a charming smile. "Don't be fooled by those scary snakes outside the city; it's precisely because of them that this place is so lively."
"Oh? What do you mean?"
"Sir, you must have visited the Northern Wasteland recently, right?"
"Who would have dared to come before? After all, such a big thing happened in the north," Chen Qing said with a smile.
"That's true." The proprietress nodded. "Originally, after the incident in the Northern Lands, although the Northern Wasteland didn't suffer the same fate, the panic it caused there was quite chaotic at the time. In addition, there were man-eating demons everywhere. Even the chickens and dogs in the yard might suddenly attack and eat people. At that time, we all felt that the world was about to end."
"We in the Central Plains were the same." Shen Qi nodded quickly. "I don't know what happened, but demons were everywhere, and we didn't dare to raise livestock too big anymore. So how did the Northern Wolf Kingdom recover to normal?"
"It's all thanks to those giant snakes!" the proprietress exclaimed. "Who would have thought that those man-eating pythons would behave so differently in the Northern Wasteland? Not only do they not attack the people here, but they also protect the merchants along the way and bring us food. The frozen meat that the officials have piled up now is enough to feed us for ten years."
"That's quite an exaggeration?" Chen Qing nodded and smiled, "It seems the Northern Wasteland has been protected this time."
"We don't know whose favor we've benefited from or whose protection we've received." The proprietress gave a wry smile. "After that, many missionaries came and claimed that they had protected the Northern Wasteland. Who are we supposed to believe? It's hard to say, since everyone has their own version of events."
"What are these claims?" Chen Qing asked with a gossipy look on his face as he sipped his tea.
"Well, there are many," the proprietress said, seemingly intrigued, as she sat down. "There are all sorts of Qigu sects, like the Underworld Nether Moon Cult that was popular a while back. They required every household to hang Black Lantern, and those days were truly unbearable. Even in broad Heavenly Capital, evil spirits would attack people. But then, our emperor suddenly announced his submission to Jiangnan. You know about that, right?"
"I know, that's why we're here to do this kind of business," Chen Qing said with a smile. "If the Northern Wolf hadn't suddenly announced their submission to Jiangnan, how would any of us merchants dare to reinvest?"
"Oh, a re-entry? It seems the young master is here to do big business." The proprietress seemed very happy; it seemed these two young masters had the money to book the warm jade room.
"Isn't this just to test the waters first?" Chen Qing continued with a smile, "Boss lady, tell me, what's the specific situation?"