Jiujiu touched the magic brush in his sleeve and continued:
"Although these common people entering the town look and walk normally, have you noticed that without exception, their bodies are relatively strong, which is obviously a sign that they have no worries about food and clothing.
Huazhou is no better than Bingzhou. The land here is relatively barren. Today's taxes in Dayan are not light, and even more falls on farmers. Even if last year was a good harvest year, they could only have enough to eat, which is impossible.
Everyone ate so well.”
After listening to Jiu Jiu's explanation, Jiu Lin'er realized that these townspeople indeed seemed to be living a better life than some people in He Xicheng.
"Why didn't the Yuwen family's secret guards report such an obvious problem?"
Liu Lun frowned slightly and had a bad feeling in his heart.
Jiujiu could see the problem here at a glance. It stands to reason that the Yuwen family's secret guards who specialize in investigation should also be able to detect the abnormality here. However, this was not mentioned in the information they received.
"I'm afraid the situation is more dangerous than imagined. Please be careful. Miss Chai, please help me if I encounter danger."
Jiu Jiuchao warned the people next to him, and immediately turned his attention to Chai Jiangcui beside him. After seeing that this task was difficult, Jiu Jiuren did not flinch, precisely because of Chai Jiangcui's support and confidence.
"Don't worry, I know this."
Chai Jiangcui nodded slightly, looking at the black line above the heads of the townspeople, the corners of his mouth raised slightly.
‘Is this a contaminated divine power? Or is this divine power inherently of filthy nature? There’s something interesting about Dongshi Town.’
…
Under Jiujiu's arrangement, a group of five people disguised themselves as knights and knights, and hurried towards Dongshi Town.
"Hey, those foreigners, what are you doing in Dongshi Town?"
Just when a few people arrived at the entrance of Dongshi Town, an old man sitting under a tiled house to rest stopped them.
Judging from the wary look on the old man's face, I guess Dongshi Town doesn't welcome outsiders very much.
Jiu Jiu and the old man cupped their hands and said politely:
"My father-in-law, we are Jianghu people from Bingzhou. We are going to Niu Meng Ridge to participate in the martial arts conference. We happened to pass by here and wanted to come in and have a rest."
Niu Meng Ridge and other martial arts conferences were all made up by Jiu Jiu. Anyway, ordinary people only live within a hundred miles of their residences throughout their lives. Who knows what the outside world is called. As for maps, those things are rare.
"Oh, I turned out to be passing by. Walk along this street, and after two intersections, you will find the only inn in Dongshi Town. It's best not to wander around the town with a few good guys. The people here are quite exclusive.
"
The old man carefully looked at their outfits and found nothing out of the ordinary. The wariness in his eyes dissipated a lot, and he kindly gave them directions.
"Thank you, husband, for informing me."
Jiu Jiu bowed and thanked them, and after they left the town entrance, they headed straight towards the town's inn.
Every town citizen he met along the way looked at them with strange eyes, which made Jiu Lin'er believe Jiu Jiu's speculation even more.
The setting sun was setting, and while walking on the road paved with bluestone slabs, Liu Jie glanced at the ground subconsciously, and suddenly discovered that his shadow suddenly became abnormally distorted. His hand obviously did not move, but his shadow was raised.
He waved his hands wildly, took off the shadow's head and tossed it left and right like a ball.
"!!..."
Liu Jie was startled, and just as he was about to make a move, he saw that the shadow had returned to its original state. Liu Jie was not sure and continued to stare for a long time, but there was still no change in the shadow, as if everything he just saw was dazzled by his own eyes.
"Liu Jie, have you discovered anything?"
Jiujiu noticed Liu Jie's abnormality and asked a little warily.
"Uh... no, I just felt something was wrong with the light and shadow."
Liu Jie hesitated for a long time, and finally shook his head. He was not sure whether he had seen it wrong. In this case, it is better not to take things lightly if you are not sure.
Jiujiu was a little suspicious when he saw this, but he didn't say anything more. But he also cast his eyes on his feet.
The journey was calm, and the distortion of the shadow never appeared again. The group of people soon arrived at the inn that the old man mentioned.
Liufu Inn, the name sounds good.
However, compared to the inns in the city, the environment here is much worse. On the first floor of the inn, there are some scattered tables and chairs, but there is not a single diner.
Chai Jiangcui also noticed with sharp eyes that several of the tables were almost covered with spider webs, and no one had cleaned them for an unknown period of time.
There was no waiter in the inn, only a middle-aged shopkeeper sitting listlessly at the counter, fiddling with his abacus in boredom.
Seeing everyone coming in, the middle-aged shopkeeper didn't have any enthusiasm on his face and just asked lazily:
"How many guests are there? Are they going to be working in a hotel or staying in a hotel?"
Jiu Jiu glanced at the dusty wine jar behind the counter, took out a small grain of silver from his waist, and said calmly:
"Stay in the hotel and give me two rooms."
"Okay, sir, please come with me!"
The shopkeeper took the money, and the expression on his face changed a little. He took out a bunch of keys from his waist and led a few people upstairs.
After looking at the furnishings on the first floor of the inn, everyone was prepared for the environment of the room, but they never thought that the condition of the room was worse than they expected.
As soon as the door to the room was opened, a thick musty smell hit us. A thin layer of dust accumulated on the floor and bed. There were even mice and cockroaches running around on the top of the cabinet.
"Uh-huh, dear guests, the environment of the shop is a bit rough, so please make do with it."
After brushing away the spider hanging in front of him, the shopkeeper felt a little embarrassed and apologized awkwardly.
Such a rich ecological environment made Jiu Lin'er, who had always been well-dressed and well-fed, turn blue in the face. If she had not taken the task into consideration, she would have turned around and gone downstairs at this moment.
"It doesn't matter, we people in the world don't care much about this."
Compared to his sister, Jiujiu seems much more casual.
At this time, Liu Lun, who was farther away, pointed to a black stone hanging on the door frame and asked with some confusion:
"By the way, shopkeeper, what is the black stone hanging on this door? Why do I see it hanging on every guest room?"
"Oh, you said this, this is here to ward off evil spirits. Dongshi Town is close to the mountains, and sometimes it is inevitable that some unclean things will sneak in. This dark stone can keep you safe."
Safe and safe? Feeling the strange aura in the stone, Liu Lun was a little unconvinced. His sect specializes in earth-based exercises and has a more in-depth study of things like the quality of stone and soil.
This so-called dark stone is probably the evil god raised by the Ancient God Religion, and is used as a medium to communicate with believers.
"I see."
In order not to arouse the shopkeeper's suspicion, Liu Lun did not continue to ask any more questions.