Whether the news was reliable or connected to his mother, it was undoubtedly an extremely important lead—one that
"Steward Niu, how widely has this news spread?" Jiang Chen couldn't help but ask.
"The Xieyue Upper Domain is in the northwestern part of the Eight Upper Domains, so here in Liuli Royal City, hardly anyone knows about it. But in several domains north of the Eight Upper Domains' center, some people have been spreading this word around. Of course, it's not exactly a major event—even when people talk about it, they don't take it all that seriously. It's only because it involves a First-Rank Sect that anyone mentions it at all. If it were a Second or Third-Rank Sect, I doubt anyone would bring it up."
First-Rank Sects always carried a certain cachet. After all, there weren't many truly First-Rank powers in the Eight Upper Domains.
Liuli Royal City sat in the southern reaches of the Eight Upper Domains, while the Xieyue Upper Domain was in the northwest. The straight-line distance between them was a full two to three hundred thousand li.
If one were to travel there on foot, without covering at least a million li, one would never set foot in the Xieyue Upper Domain.
Factor in the various unexpected complications of the road, and for an ordinary person wanting to journey from Liuli Royal City to the Xieyue Upper Domain, unless they set aside three to five years, they shouldn't even think about it.
Jiang Chen turned it over in his mind for a moment before asking again: "The person who posted the bounty—are you certain there's been no further news?"
"Mm, nothing more. He's probably far from Liuli Royal City by now. His cultivation wasn't very strong. With his level of ability, drifting from Liuli Royal City all the way to the Xieyue Upper Domain would take at least seven or eight years. If what he was searching for was the Holy Maiden of the Moon Goddess Sect, then he'd surely end up going to the Xieyue Upper Domain eventually?"
Since he didn't know the nature of the relationship between Young Master
In truth, deep down, Niu Wu felt that the bounty poster would be fortunate to even reach the Xieyue Upper Domain alive.
After all, traveling from Great Cangyun to the Xieyue Upper Domain meant crossing nearly the entire breadth of the Eight Upper Domains. For a martial artist of modest strength to make such a journey unscathed—the difficulty was simply too great, and the chances of success were infinitesimal.
Moreover, the very fact that this person had posted the bounty showed he had never heard of the Moon Goddess Sect in the first place. Since he hadn't heard of it, he might not even know to look for it in the Xieyue Upper Domain.
Being able to learn this much from Niu Wu—while none of it was particularly definitive—Jiang Chen was already more than satisfied.
After all, this matter was ancient history. For Niu Wu to have any recollection at all was already remarkable. A minor bounty from nearly a decade ago—for an innkeeper to forget the details was perfectly normal.
"The Xieyue Upper Domain... the Moon Goddess Sect..." Jiang Chen silently mulled over these two names. He had already made up his mind—he would definitely make his way there to investigate.
Either way, reaching the Xieyue Upper Domain meant passing through Pill Fire City.
Pill Fire City was in the northern part of the Eight Upper Domains, and the Xieyue Upper Domain lay to its northwest. Any route to the Xieyue Upper Domain inevitably passed through Pill Fire City.
One could, of course, choose to avoid Pill Fire City. The southern reaches of the Xieyue Upper Domain contained vast mountain ranges stretching for tens of thousands of li—completely uninhabited.
If one took that route, one would have to traverse those desolate ranges. Uninhabited mountains were almost always the haunts of various demon beasts—an extremely dangerous place.
Therefore, virtually all martial artists heading to the Xieyue Upper Domain would choose to pass through Pill Fire City.
Jiang Chen had already mapped out his route in his mind: first, head to Pill Fire City to rescue
"Steward Niu, this information has been extremely useful to me. By the way, where does Grand Innkeeper Dong—Dong Sheng—reside?" Jiang Chen asked.
Hearing Jiang Chen ask about Dong Sheng's whereabouts, Niu Wu's heart leaped. He realized the Third Young Master was going to stand up for him—and in his excitement, he became somewhat flustered.
All these days, he had only been thinking about how to refuse Dong Sheng, never about how to actually deal with him.
So when Jiang Chen asked, he was caught completely off guard.
"Tell me—what's your bottom line?" Jiang Chen smiled faintly.
"My bottom line is keeping the shares I currently hold and not letting Dong Sheng monopolize everything. Besides, that man is perfectly incapable of running the Flying Horse Inn properly." Niu Wu laid his cards on the table.
Steward Qiu echoed: "Grand Innkeeper Dong has been far too selfish in this matter. To get his way, he shamelessly sent his idiot brother-in-law to stir up trouble. The Flying Horse Inn is an absolute mess right now."
"Then let Dong Sheng hand over his shares," Jiang Chen said calmly.
"What?" Niu Wu froze.
Steward Qiu's jaw dropped as well, his mind going blank.
Let Dong Sheng hand over his shares? The tables had turned far too quickly! It was originally Dong Sheng who had been aggressively trying to seize their business shares.
Now the situation had reversed—they were the ones demanding Dong Sheng's shares? Would Dong Sheng ever agree to that?
Niu Wu smiled bitterly: "Third Young Master, Dong Sheng seems to have... some backing. There's a son of one of the Deputy City Masters in Golden Bell City who's on very good terms with him. They're apparently sworn brothers."
"A Deputy City Master?" Jiang Chen paused. "Can a Deputy City Master actually call the shots in Golden Bell City?"