If you traveled back to ancient times, while others ate Guanyin clay, you would actually have giant

"Actually, you were half right. Penglai Island is indeed just a cover, but Baiyujing is not in the South China Sea either."

Zhou Wu can only talk nonsense for now, as long as he doesn't go to the South China Sea.

"As expected, I knew it, where is it?"

Zhou Wu's words were tantamount to acknowledging Hou Zhenghao's guess. Although it wasn't entirely correct, it was at least half right. It seemed that his years of research had not been in vain.

"In the north?"

Zhou Wu didn't have time to think much and could only randomly name a place.

"The north? You're lying to me. Isn't the north the Da Zi? It's been taken over by the Da Long now. Are you trying to trick me?"

"Who told you that only the Dazi are in the north? That's short-sighted. If it were that easy to get to Baiyujing, who would want to be a mortal?"

Hou Zhenghao thought about it and realized that it made sense, but he no longer dared to easily trust Zhou Wu.

"Then tell me, what's different about that place?"

This was no challenge for Zhou Wu. Although he had never been to the Arctic, he had watched a lot of animal documentaries when he was a child.

"The further north you go, the colder the weather becomes. Eventually, the whole world turns into an ice and snow world where no life can survive, except for a few mythical beasts."

"A mythical beast? What kind of mythical beast?"

"A pure white polar bear, and a pair of black and white birds that can't fly."

"There are two kinds of things in the world? Are you kidding me?"

"Hmph, you've been there? How do you know you haven't?"

"What else is different?"

“There, the sky glows green at night, and it can even illuminate the entire earth.”

"Green light! Mythical beast, icy and snowy world."

Hou Zhenghao was deep in thought. Although he was not sure whether Zhou Wu was telling the truth or not, Zhou Wu was the only person who knew about Bai Yujing so far, so he had no choice but to take a gamble.

"Hmph, I'll trust you one more time."

After saying that, he turned the carriage around and headed north.

"Hey, you bastard, didn't you say you'd let me go if I told you?"

"Hehe, don't worry, once we get there and it's verified that you weren't lying, I'll definitely let you go. After all, we'll be fellow immortals from now on."

After Hou Zhenghao finished speaking, he covered Zhou Wu's mouth again to prevent Zhou Wu from making a fuss.

Zhou Wu was kept locked in the carriage for an unknown number of days. Hou Zhenghao would regularly bring him food and drink, so he was not neglected in this respect.

These past few days, the carriage has been running smoothly without any bumps, and Zhou Wu guessed that they must have reached the original territory of the Dazi.

The carriage slowly came to a stop, and Hou Zhenghao pulled the gag out of Zhou Wu's mouth.

"Aren't you afraid I'll call for help?"

“We’ve reached the grassland. It’s sparsely populated, and you often can’t see a person for dozens of miles. If you’re not afraid of being carried off by wolves, you can give it a try.”

No wonder Hou Zhenghao untied Zhou Wu; it turns out that once you get to the grasslands, without horses and food, a person cannot survive.

Zhou Wu was naturally more aware of the cruelty of the grasslands than Hou Zhenghao, but it was impossible to just sit and wait for death.

. . . . . . . . .

royal palace.

"It's been so many days, and there's still no sign of Zhou Wu?"

"I deserve to die."

It has been more than ten days since Zhou Wu went missing, and there has been no news at all. It is not even clear whether Zhou Wu is dead or alive.

The capital is now in complete chaos.

The Emperor, the Retired Emperor, many friends in the military camp, the Crown Prince, and the Fourth Prince all closely followed all news about Zhou Wu.

Some even sent their own people to search for Zhou Wu's whereabouts, but without exception, they all returned empty-handed.

"Your Majesty, I suspect that Zhou Wu may have been kidnapped."

Lu Da, who was never good with words, suddenly spoke up from the side.

"Kidnapping? Why do you feel like you've been kidnapped?"

Not only Li Tiancheng, but Gu Xinyuan, who was also present, was also somewhat puzzled. Although Zhou Wu had offended many people, everyone knew that Zhou Wu was the most valued minister of His Majesty. Even if powerful families wanted to take action against Zhou Wu, they would have to think twice.

Do you still remember Hou Zhenghao?

As soon as Hou Zhenghao arrived, everyone reacted and returned.

Hou Zhenghao kidnapped Zhou Wu once for some unknown reason, but he disappeared after Zhou Wu was rescued. Although there is no evidence, it is not impossible, based on Lu Da's words.

"Then why did Hou Zhenghao kidnap Zhou Wu?"

Gu Xinyuan was also puzzled at this moment. Logically speaking, Zhou Wu and Hou Zhenghao had no interaction before, and did not even know each other.

"Since you mentioned Hou Zhenghao, let's investigate why he kidnapped Zhou Wu in the first place."

After Li Tiancheng finished speaking, he first looked at Lu Da, and then, still not entirely at ease, spoke to the more attentive Gu Xinyuan.

"Xinyuan, I'll leave this matter to you. Go and investigate it."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Gu Xinyuan didn't dare to delay for a moment and took his leave.

. . . . . . .

The capital city, the Marquis's residence.

Gu Xinyuan led his men to investigate again. He stood at the door for a long time, looking at the dilapidated Marquis's mansion, feeling a mix of emotions.

Although he wasn't particularly close to Hou Zhenghao, they were both military officers and had some interactions in the past. He had even visited Hou's residence before, but the Hou residence was now a thing of the past.

"Go in and carefully inspect every place."

"Yes."

At his command, the guards behind him began to file in, searching every inch of the Marquis's residence, every tile.

At this moment, Lu Da also arrived.

"Brother, this place was searched once before, and there was nothing there."

"Then what can we do? We can only keep looking and see if we've missed anything."

Gu Xinyuan also knew that after Hou Zhenghao kidnapped Zhou Wu last time, the imperial court had already sent people to confiscate his property here. They came again today, but Gu Xinyuan really had no other choice.

"Hey~"

With a sigh of helplessness, Lu Da slammed his fist into the wall, and the wall actually echoed back.

"has a problem?"

As fellow military officers, Gu Xinyuan and Lu Da were naturally very sensitive to such voices.

"Someone, break down this wall."

Sure enough, a new discovery was made, and now both of them pinned their hopes on the secret behind the wall.

The guards found some tools and quickly smashed open the wall, revealing a hidden world inside.

Inside was a secret room, or to put it more bluntly, a place more like a Buddhist shrine.

The room was filled with various golden Buddha statues and other religious items.

However, this place, which should have been calming and soothing, inexplicably gave the two of them a chill.

"Brother, something feels off about this place."

“I have the same feeling. It’s just a Buddhist temple, why build it so hidden? There must be a secret.”

As they talked, the two began searching, looking for ritual implements, metal objects, and Buddha statues.

The two noticed that these Buddha statues looked different from usual; the Buddha statues that should have had kind and benevolent faces had their eyes wide open in anger.

The ritual implements were also terrifying: human bone nails, human skin drums, and soul-binding banners woven from human hair.