A single boat swept past Xianxia Pass, past the eight-hundred-mile-long Jigong Mountain, and past the Purple Eagle Dynasty.
The single-boat glided over towering mountains, across vast swamps, and across rivers hundreds of miles wide.
Looking down from his vantage point, Chen Ke was astonished by the precipitous peaks and harsh environment below.
When Liu Guanyuan explained the map to him before, he specifically mentioned the dangers on the way to Mingzhu Pearl City, but Chen Ke didn't think much of it at the time.
However, when he saw these icebergs, swamps, and rivers in front of him, he realized that Director Liu had not only not suffered a great loss, but had actually underestimated the situation.
Take that wide river, for example. If you weren't high in the air, you wouldn't even know it was a river; you'd think it was part of a lake.
There are some sandbars that rise above the water in the river, and from the air, you can see that their shapes are constantly changing.
Clearly, beneath the calm surface of the river, there must be turbulent undercurrents.
Even for cultivators, safely crossing the river to the other side is not an easy task.
The further northwest you go, the colder the climate becomes.
Fortunately, Chen Ke was prepared, wearing a fire-attribute cultivation outfit and a thick leather coat over it.
He wore a leather hat, leather gloves, and thick leather boots, with a thick ski mask covering his face, leaving only his eyes exposed, looking like a special forces soldier.
Wearing more clothes reduces the amount of spiritual energy he consumes, and spiritual energy can be life-saving in critical moments.
So Chen Ke wasn't afraid of trouble at all, and dressed it in whatever it could wear.
Even so, Chen Ke's body grew colder and colder.
As he entered the Ten Thousand Mountains region, a fierce blizzard swept in, and in that instant, Chen Ke almost froze into an icicle.
Buzz!
On the red training robe, fire-attribute runes were activated, causing the robe to shimmer with a faint red light and releasing a surge of heat that swept over the entire body.
Chen Ke felt indescribably comfortable; the Engineering Department of the Great Xia Academy could provide all sorts of strange and unusual things.
Of course, the prerequisite is that you must first be a member of it, and before receiving any items, you must sign a legally binding liability agreement.
Chen Ke took out a bamboo tube, uncorked it, and poured a mouthful of strong liquor into his mouth.
A stream of fire shot down my throat, warming my entire chest.
Cool!
The spirit he drank was from the earliest batch of purified liquor. After a few days of settling, its potency became incredibly mellow, and it no longer had that explosive, intoxicating feeling.
That night in the Yuanhua Hall of the retired emperor, both the retired emperor and the new emperor got drunk. It is said that the next day, both of them had splitting headaches and almost banged their heads against the wall.
Chen Ke strongly suspected that the emperor's demand for him to hand over the alcohol refining technology free of charge was an act of revenge for his drunken headache.
Well, it's worth it to get an earl's mansion and a new business for the Chen family.
Chen Ke wiped his mouth, took the helm, emerged from the clouds, and continued to descend.
Pearl City is nestled among these vast mountains, and it has already appeared on the navigation radar of the crystal screen.
The lower they flew, the bigger the blizzard became, with large snowflakes swirling in the cold wind and constantly obscuring Chen Ke's vision.
For a moment, he really thought the saying "the snow was as big as a mat" made a lot of sense.
In the distance, on a peak tens of thousands of meters high, a faint patch of light finally appeared.
The pearl on the mountain, we have arrived at Pearl City.
In the wind and snow, the lights flickered, yet still outlined the silhouette of a mountain city.
Although it was dilapidated, the city was still vast in scale, filling Chen Ke with anticipation.
Pearl City was once the second largest city of the Red Lion Dynasty, and enjoyed unparalleled glory.
Its main city is very large, located on the highest peak, Mount Pearl, while more than a dozen smaller towns are situated on the surrounding mountains.
The small town and the main city are connected by a series of suspended ice bridges, just like the rainbow bridge in Asgard in Norse mythology, thus forming a magical "city in the sky".
Although Chen Ke did not see the magnificent ice bridge, he did see countless towering stone pillars, carved into statues of giants, standing proudly among the mountains.
Some of the stone statues have collapsed, some are damaged, and some of the giant heads have thick, rusty iron chains hanging down like the giants' braids.
Although the ice bridge connecting the foot of the mountain to the main city has disappeared, and the network of stone bridges has been destroyed, the orcs still left behind two steep stone bridges.
Five hundred orcs, if they can hold these two bridges, are worth a thousand troops.
In stealth mode, Chen Ke piloted the Divine Boat, circling around Pearl City several times before finally flying towards the mountainside of a secondary peak.
There's no need to consider time differences; it's currently midnight in Pearl City.
Chen Ke knew nothing about this city and was even more afraid that there might be experts stationed here, so the safest course of action was to find someone to find out the truth first.
Anyway, his main purpose this time was to scout ahead, and he would be better prepared next time.
The summit of this secondary peak looks as if it has been flattened by an invisible shovel; there is not a single remnant of the former city, nor even a large rock.
On the rock face halfway up the mountain, caves of all sizes have been carved out, and lights shine from each one.
The firelight shining from thousands of grottoes illuminated the mountainside brightly and warmly, making the heavy snow falling in the light seem less severe.
When Chen Ke was circling high in the sky, he clearly saw two groups of people arrive at the mountainside.
The waist was illuminated, and two grottoes were lit up one after the other.
This grotto was probably a temporary transit point for spirit stone smugglers.
This group of people comes from all over the country, but they all share a common goal, which is why they came together.
Whether you are rich or penniless, whether you are a cultivator or a beggar, everyone has the same title: "Spirit Stone Smuggler".
Chen Ke was completely covered up, and after spotting the largest, brightly lit cave, he followed the winding path upwards.
Since the goal is to gather information, the natural approach is to find the most powerful and reliable member of this smuggling group.
However, while these people are reliable, they are also the most difficult to approach.
So before Chen Ke even reached the entrance of the cave, he was blocked by a tall warrior.
On the narrow, winding path, even turning around was difficult. Unless the warriors made way, Chen Ke had no chance of getting through.
"I just want to ask you some questions, it won't take up too much of your time," Chen Ke said in a rough voice, then took out a bamboo tube and gulped down a mouthful of strong liquor.
Cool!
Chen Ke exhaled a long breath of alcohol.
The rich aroma of wine filled the air, and the warrior's burning gaze was fixed on the bamboo tube in Chen Ke's hand, a terrifying swallowing sound emanating from his Adam's apple.
"Please tell your master that this is my gift to you!" With that, Chen Ke tossed the bamboo tube in his hand over.