When I woke up, I wanted to go home.

Zhu Chongjiu and his entourage arrived at the town's city gate. Zhu Chongjiu looked at the gate, which was a metal gate about ten meters high and fifteen meters wide, radiating a dark metallic luster.

After seeing Zhu Chongjiu examining the city gate, Tongli explained for him: "Because this is the border between humans and the vast snow-covered plains, ferocious beasts often attack towns, so the walls and gates of border towns are relatively tall and sturdy!"

Zhu Chongjiu nodded without saying anything and continued walking forward.

He turned to Tongli and the others and said, "After we enter the town, don't call me 'sir,' just call me Ninth Brother."

Tongli and his team members answered in unison: Yes, sir!

Oh, no!

Yes, it's Ninth Brother!

As Zhu Chongjiu and his companions talked, they walked to the city gate, where the soldiers guarding the city blocked their way.

Tongli quickly ran over, stuffed a small cloth bag into the hands of the city guard, and then ran back to Zhu Chongjiu, saying, "Ninth Brother, we can enter the city now!"

Zhu Chongjiu glanced at Tonglidao; had they given him money or something?

Tongli replied, "Hunting teams like ours don't pay when we go out hunting, but we each pay ten silver coins when we return!"

However, if the hunt yields no results, each person will be charged five silver coins; if not only is there no harvest but there are also heavy losses, then no fee will be charged, Tongli continued.

Zhu Chongjiu nodded, thinking to himself, "That makes sense!"

It seems that the local authorities are quite people-oriented.

Once inside the town, most of the houses are built of stone and have no windows, just a single door.

Indeed, there is no sun in this world, and not much light, so houses don't need windows.

Furthermore, the absence of windows can increase the room's insulation.

Speaking of the town, Zhu Chongjiu walked from the cave toward the town and sensed that the closer he got to the town, the less the wind and snow fell and the temperature gradually rose.

After arriving in the town, the blizzard had mostly subsided.

Occasionally, snowflakes would fall and a light breeze would blow, and the temperature would remain stable at around minus thirty degrees Celsius.

Of course, Zhu Chongjiu did not try to extract information from Tongli and the others.

There's no way to apply this kind of logic. After all, nobody's stupid; everyone knows common sense.

In particular, the Tongli team knew that Zhu Chongjiu was a high-level martial arts master, so they should know more than they did.

It would be quite absurd for Zhu Chongjiu to ask Tongli and the others the question of why human settlements are in better condition than vast ice and snowfields!

While thinking about something, Zhu Chongjiu followed Tongli and the others along the main road of the town, heading deeper into the town.

At this moment, Tongli turned to Zhu Chongjiu and said, "Ninth Brother, you don't have a place to rest yet, do you? Perfect timing, let's go to our camp. Our hunting team has a camp in the town."

After Tongli explained, he said that he needed to go out hunting to make a living and improve his physical condition, so he bought a piece of land in the town.

"It's just on the edge of the town, a bit far from the town," Tongli said somewhat embarrassedly.

Zhu Chongjiu said: No problem. We must be tired after so many days in the vast snow-covered mountains. It's good to take a rest.

Then you guys hurry up and get rid of my things, I need the money to buy some things.

As Zhu Chongjiu spoke, he looked at his own onesie fur coat and then at the obviously more exquisite fur-lined clothes worn by Tongli and the others!

Tongli replied, "Ninth Brother, if you're not in a hurry, you should transport this batch of goods to the big city to sell."

Because your goods are all high-end items, and you're shipping so much at once, the nobles in the big city really need them and they're in high demand!

"If we sell it in this small town, the price will be much lower," Tongli said, looking at Zhu Chongjiu.

Zhu Chongjiu pondered for a moment. It's alright, I'm not short of money. Let's sell it. If I run out of money, I'll just make another trip to the vast icy mountains and snowfields!

Tongli asked doubtfully, "Ninth Brother, if you don't have any money, why would you take the risk of going to the vast icy and snowy plains?"

With your strength, you could easily become a guardian in any small town or big city, or serve as a guardian for powerful nobles.

The vast ice and snowfields are fraught with danger, especially in the depths!

I've heard from the older hunting teams that there are level six demonic beasts deep in the vast ice and snow plains, which is equivalent to the strength of a human emperor!

Zhu Chongjiu didn't take it seriously after hearing it; as long as it was a carbon-based life form, he would deal with it.

As for this level and that level, of course, he only thought about it in his mind and didn't say it out loud!

Zhu Chongjiu and his group arrived at the Tongli team's camp, which was somewhat like a courtyard house, but much larger, covering an area of ​​1,500 square meters!

There are houses all around, and in the middle is a field containing some weapons and fitness equipment.

Upon entering the camp, Tongli gave the largest stone house to Zhu Chongjiu.

Ninth Brother, please rest in this room. Just call me if you need anything.

I'll go out and find some buyers for your goods in a bit, and the team members also need to dissect those ordinary wolf carcasses.

After saying that, Tongli turned to leave.

Zhu Chongjiu called out to Tongli: "Tongli, wait a minute. Take out the roasted monster meat jerky from my cargo and distribute it to the brothers."

Whether they take it to exchange for money or eat it themselves to improve their health is none of your business. Just leave me a little bit, as I don't need much food right now!

Tongli was overjoyed upon hearing this and said to Zhu Chongjiu in a trembling voice, "I understand, Ninth Brother. On behalf of the brothers, I thank you, Ninth Brother!"

As soon as Tongli finished speaking, he immediately bowed down!

Tongli knew how precious the meat of high-level monsters was; even advanced mages would only consume it for a period of time when they were about to break through, in order to enhance their physique and increase their chances of breaking through.

Just a few days ago, Zhu Chongjiu gave each of them a piece of meat. After eating it, they were only at the level of a beginner martial arts master, but in the past few days they have clearly felt that they are about to advance to the intermediate level.

Moreover, Tongli has been at the beginner level of martial arts master for seven or eight years.

Tongli was certain that if he ate another piece of monster meat, he would definitely be able to break through to the intermediate level of martial mage.

Several of the remaining teammates also showed a clear trend of breaking through to the level of novice martial mage. After eating two more pieces of monster meat, they would definitely be able to break through as well.

The way to break through in this world is very simple: martial arts masters rely on hard training and rare and precious materials to enhance their physique.

When it comes to magic mages, talent is valued more. Martial mages, at the very least, have lower talent, but if you have money, you can become one.

Buying all sorts of rare and precious materials to enhance one's physique is different for magicians, who rely more on talent and their understanding of the world!

Okay, let's stop here for now. After all, this is all Zhu Chongjiu knows right now!

A small portion of this was just my own speculation!

Zhu Chongjiu knew Tongli's current feelings. No matter what world it was, power, strength, and wealth were the most respected!

Zhu Chongjiu then said to the grateful Tongli, "Inside the wolfskin bag containing the dried meat, there's a smaller leather bag containing the dried meat from that high-ranking wolf king. It's for you."

I don't care who you give it to or what you do with it! Just buy all that raw monster wolf meat and sell it for money!

Upon hearing this, Tongli immediately knelt down from his bowing position and shouted, "Ninth Brother, you are my own brother for life! If you ever need my permission, just say the word, and I will go through fire and water for you! I will die for you!"

Zhu Chongjiu looked at Tongli kneeling on the ground and laughed and scolded, "Alright, stop with the mushy stuff, get out of here, I need to rest!"

Tongli walked out with snot and tears streaming down his face. Zhu Chongjiu glanced inside the stone house and saw a stone bed, a stone table, several stone stools, several stone cups and bowls, and a stone basin that was probably for washing.

There was a stone stove next to the house, which clearly indicated that someone had lit the fire before they came in.

There were also several black, stone-like objects next to the stove.

Zhu Chongjiu understood that this must be a combustible material similar to coal!

The stove had only been burning for a short while when the room became warm.

Zhu Chongjiu suddenly remembered something, opened the door and shouted outside: "Tongli, whatever you do in town, buy me a set of clothes that I can wear when you come back."

After saying that, Zhu Chongjiu closed the door. Regardless of whether Tongli heard him or not, he lay down on the stone bed, ready to take a nap. Although he didn't need to sleep much now, he still wanted to wake up naturally!

Just as Zhu Chongjiu was in a deep sleep, he was awakened by the sudden sound of the door opening.

He shouted sleepily, "Who is it? What do you want? Believe me or not, I'll beat you up. Get lost!"

Just then, one of the Tongli team members cried out, his voice trembling with emotion: "Ninth Brother! Ninth Brother, something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened!"

Zhu Chongjiu sat up. "What's wrong? I'm not dead yet! How could things be bad?!"

The Tongli team members quickly changed their tune, saying, "It's not Brother Jiu, it's not that you're bad, it's that Captain Tongli is bad!"

Zhu Chongjiu glared at him. "Tongli? What? Speak up! Get to the point! Stop dawdling!"

The team members explained that because they had a lot of goods this time, and they were of a higher quality, they went to the largest merchant house in town to negotiate prices with the shopkeeper.

However, the price offered by the other party was extremely low, almost like giving it away for free. Captain Tongli knew that this trading company was owned by the town protector's nephew, so he didn't dare to linger and prepared to return!

However, knowing that we had so many high-quality goods, the other side wanted to detain Captain Tongli there and make the brothers take the goods to exchange for them.

They even shamelessly threatened, "We didn't mean to bully you. Once the goods arrive, we'll pay you the price we just gave you and release your captain!"

Captain Tongli refused to leave and was about to go, but the people from the trading company beat him up and forcibly kept him there, leaving me to come back alone to pick up the goods!

Only then did Zhu Chongjiu see clearly the team member, whose face was already bruised and swollen, crying out!

Zhu Chongjiu cursed under his breath, then laughed in anger, thinking to himself, "The owner of this trading company is also not very bright. How could Tongli and his gang of traitors have killed so many ferocious beasts of such high level?"

There must be some big shot behind this. If there's someone important, why are they still so arrogant? They really don't know their place! They're used to being local tyrants!

go!

Why are we going to Ninth Brother's place?

Zhu Chongjiu looked at his team members and said, "Where are we going? Let's go take him down!"

As Zhu Chongjiu spoke, he walked outside. The team member behind him called out anxiously, "Brother Jiu! Brother Jiu, we can't be reckless! The merchant guild has protectors; we won't get any advantage!"

Zhu Chongjiu turned to his team members and said, "What kind of protectors are you? Is this how you protect civilians?"

Zhu Chongjiu thought to himself, "When I first entered the city gate, I thought this place was well-managed, but I didn't expect it to be all bark and no bite inside!"

Zhu Chongjiu then spoke up: "What the hell is this protector? Just tell me if he's a carbon-based life form or not, and my greatsword will do the trick!"

The team members were puzzled. What base and what substance?

Zhu Chongjiu said sternly, "Hurry up and lead the way. If you dawdle any longer, I'll knock out the rest of your teeth too!"

The captain shuddered and hurriedly ran ahead to lead the way.

Since both of them were running and were martial artists, they arrived at the entrance of the trading company in less than ten minutes.

It was only because Zhu Chongjiu himself didn't know the way that he arrived; otherwise, it would have taken him less than two minutes.

Upon arriving at the entrance of the trading company, Zhu Chongjiu strode inside.