The commotion that night was anything but small.
But whether it was the cook and servants in the backyard or the tenants upstairs, they all tacitly chose to pretend to be deaf and dumb.
Even the next morning, when they saw Chu Hongluan occupying the shopkeeper's seat, they only dared to smile obsequiously and honestly greet her with a "Good morning, shopkeeper."
Chu Hongluan nodded and used the assets left by the original manager to pay them hush money one by one, without intending to make things difficult for them.
"The inn will remain open as usual," Chu Hongluan instructed, then picked up a brush and wrote a notice to post outside the door, which read: Drinks are free today.
By noon, the inn's lobby was already packed with people.
Chu Hongluan and Liu Jinghong pretended to be guests, occupying one of the tables and listening quietly to their rambling conversation.
I sat there all morning, and all I heard were dirty jokes and bragging; not a single useful piece of information came out.
"Where have you been making your fortune lately, Brother Liu? Why don't you ever take your underlings with you?"
"Ha! It's not about getting rich! It's all about risking your life for money!"
"Oh? Brother Liu also became a mercenary?"
"I didn't want to either! But they're offering way too much. Just by taking the recording bead and wandering around the wilderness, you can get anywhere from fifty to a thousand high-grade spirit stones, depending on how useful the footage recorded by the bead is! Usually, the more dangerous the place, the more valuable the footage! People die for money, birds die for food!"
Chu Hongluan, who was sitting at the next table, quietly pricked up her ears.
When will we be able to freely enter and leave the wilderness?
"That's certainly generous! I wonder who the big boss behind this mercenary guild is! To be able to hire two Transcending Tribulation Realm cultivators to open the entrance to the Wilderness twice a day, sending people in and bringing them out..."
Shh—keep your voice down, or the walls may hear you.
After that sentence, the two began to whisper among themselves.
But Chu Hongluan's cultivation level is what it is; even setting up a soundproof barrier might not be enough to stop her, let alone simply lowering her voice.
"If you ask me, the mastermind behind that mercenary group might actually be one of the nine major sects."
"Hiss—what do you mean?"
"No way, you actually believe them? They said the two Tribulation Transcending Realm cultivators they hired were rogue cultivators?! How could that be! How many Tribulation Transcending Realm cultivators are there in the whole world?!"
"You mean... one of these two Transcending Tribulation Realm cultivators might be a senior elder from a major sect?"
"Anyway, I can't imagine who else besides the nine major sects could have such abundant human and financial resources."
"So what are they after by using us to explore the wilderness?"
"I don't know about that. Sigh, for small fry like us, as long as we make money, that's enough. Why think so much?"
"That's true! Waiter! Bring another pot of wine!"
Alright!
Chu Hongluan and Liu Jinghong exchanged a glance, got up one after the other, left the inn, and after asking around, they found out the location of the mercenary guild.
Without saying a word, they headed straight for the mercenary guild.
With their exceptionally good looks and expensive attire, the two would certainly not be considered low-key on the street.
Despite this, no one was foolish enough to come looking for trouble.
Although they couldn't see through the two's cultivation levels, judging from their aura alone, they were definitely not people to be trifled with.
Those who can establish themselves in Chaos City are all seasoned veterans. Each one is incredibly astute.
Except for a few extremely arrogant individuals, they generally won't provoke others unless they are unsure of their abilities.
Moreover, acting in a high-profile manner either indicates a lack of common sense or a sense of impunity.
Nobody wants to take the gamble.
Chu Hongluan and her companion had already arrived at the entrance of the so-called Mercenary Guild.
The shop didn't look very big, and it was even a bit old. Perhaps because it was midday, there weren't many people coming in or out, so it didn't stand out at first glance.
There were two guards standing at the entrance, both at the Nascent Soul stage, which was quite a generous gesture.
The two stepped across the threshold, and the guard merely glanced at them without stopping them.
The store was actually much more spacious than they had imagined. There wasn't even a table or chair inside; it was completely empty except for the walls, which were covered with task posters.
Some posts offered to help catch adulterers, while others offered to hire someone to commit murder. The bottom right corner indicated the poster's name: Zhang San, Li Si, Wang Wu, or anonymous.
Most of the posts on the wall were new ones that had just been put up this morning. They were stamped, indicating that someone had accepted the task. Once the task was completed, they would be torn down.
Among the layers of task posts, several took up a particularly large area of the wall, with the words "Mercenary Guild" clearly written in the lower right corner where the poster was located.
Chu Hongluan looked through them one by one and found that they were all missions related to the Wilderness. One of them was what the person at the inn had mentioned earlier: to take the recording bead and go for a stroll inside.
What ultimately caught her attention was a team mission posting that called for the recruitment of several hundred cultivators at the Golden Core stage or above to venture into the eastern Wilderness in search of treasure. What exactly they were looking for would only be revealed once they entered the Wilderness.
Treasure hunting is nothing unusual; what Chu Hongluan cares about is the location. If she remembers correctly, the Phoenix Clan's territory, marked on the map given by the Pavilion Master's wife, is also located in the eastern part of the Wilderness.
Chu Hongluan had an idea and turned to ask the manager, "Are there any spots left for the hundred people this mission posting is for?"
The manager looked up, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the two of them, and replied apologetically, "Oh, bad timing. There's only one spot left, so what about you two..."
Upon hearing this, Chu Hongluan prepared to find another way. Just as she was about to speak, she was interrupted by a voice from the side.
"These days, even the smallest fry want to try their luck in the wilderness."
Chu Hongluan and her companion looked in the direction of the sound and saw seven or eight fierce-looking men sitting on the ground against the wall in the corner. All of them were at the Nascent Soul stage.
The one who spoke was Scarface, the leader.
His provocative gaze was fixed on Liu Jinghong, clearly indicating that his earlier words were also directed at Liu Jinghong.
"What are you looking at? Did I say something wrong? Looking at your delicate skin, if you really went to the wilderness, you wouldn't even be left with bones! And you're bringing such a pretty young lady with you... In that case, wouldn't it just be a freebie for us all?"
Upon hearing this, the burly men behind him immediately burst into laughter.
Liu Jinghong's eyes gradually darkened, and beneath the cold gleam lay a surging killing intent.
But when Scarface saw that Liu Jinghong remained silent, he became even more convinced that Liu was a coward.
Although he couldn't discern Liu Jinghong's cultivation level, he believed that Liu Jinghong's cultivation was either so low as to be negligible, or that she was carrying some kind of magical artifact that could conceal her cultivation level.
In his mind, such magical artifacts were usually just tricks used by low-level cultivators to create an air of mystery, and were not worth mentioning.
Moreover, as a peak Nascent Soul cultivator, he could roam freely in 70% of Chaos City. There was no reason why he would run into a brick wall here today.
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