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    When Chen Xuanfeng and Jin Luosha arrived at the local adventurers' guild in the nearby city, they were surprised by its unexpected prosperity.

    Back when Chen Xuanfeng, posing as the "Holy Grail Knight," entered the human world, he frequently relied on the services of adventurers' guilds. After all, such places, teeming with a mix of all walks of life, often circulated information that contained some quite valuable content, which was unattainable from the more orthodox mercenary or thief guilds. However, the adventurers' guilds Chen Xuanfeng had seen in the Western nations were quite rudimentary, sometimes merely operating out of a corner of a bar. Yet, the branch of the adventurers' guild before them now was a large, three-story building covering a vast area.

    Entering through the main door led to a modest foyer plastered with various popular information and tasks. Further inside, there were two staircases leading up and down. The upper floor housed a bright, spacious office area for handling detailed commissions and paid information requests. The lower floor, on the other hand, was a bustling, chaotic entertainment hub. In a space that was half above and half below ground, styled as a bar, it actually included a restaurant, inn, gambling den, and various other businesses. Various dark transactions and information were secretly exchanged here, making the flow of people and funds far exceed that of the formal business department upstairs. As for the topmost part, it was a secret area reserved for VIPs, inaccessible to ordinary adventurers.

    The adventurers' prosperity in the Southern Continent stemmed not only from war but also from its diverse races, thriving commerce, and absence of a unified central authority like the Radiant Temple or a great empire. After all, a powerful regime could not tolerate, nor did it need, too much free force wandering around. In this fertile southern land, the complex terrain and numerous self-sufficient ecological regions made unification an extremely difficult task, instead providing adventurers with a vast space for survival.

    Of course, Chen Xuanfeng wouldn’t bring Jin Luosha into the rowdy underground bar, so he made his way to the second-floor hall. There was a row of sixteen reception counters, each staffed by two or three people serving adventurers. The rest of the hall was furnished with many tables and chairs for the adventurers' use.

    "Hello, sir, how may I assist you?" As Chen Xuanfeng approached a counter, a woman immediately noticed him and politely inquired.

    "I would like to purchase a detailed map of the eastern foothills of the Andes Mountains, along with related information, please," Chen Xuanfeng replied. Although repairing the teleportation magic array was just a passing suggestion from Jin Luosha, feeling that he had neglected her too much over the past three years, he did not want to refuse the young girl's wish.

    "Certainly, sir, please wait a moment," the woman promptly turned around and soon returned with a thick stack of maps for Chen Xuanfeng.

    The Andes Mountains are one of the famous large mountain ranges in the south. Even a part of the mountain range covers an area of several hundred kilometers. The Twelve Sages had once placed a teleportation array there, but after several hundred years, apart from the name of the mountain range, most of the terrain and names had changed. The Styx Tower only retained written records but no maps, so Chen Xuanfeng had to conduct a large-scale search. He wanted the most detailed maps, naturally resulting in a considerable quantity and price, but Chen Xuanfeng did not mind. After paying and taking the maps, he and Jin Luosha found a quiet spot to sit down and began to sort through the maps according to the records in Jin Luosha's memory, searching for the location of the magic array left by the Twelve Sages.

    The two were remarkably efficient, sorting through the maps in just two hours and narrowing down five suspicious locations. Then, Chen Xuanfeng proceeded to purchase detailed information about these places from the guild.

    However, this time it did not go smoothly.

    "Sorry, sir, do you have any adventurer or mercenary rank qualification certificates?" The woman did not turn to fetch the information but instead asked Chen Xuanfeng.

    "No, is there a problem?" Chen Xuanfeng shook his head in response. In fact, during his last visit to the human world, he had obtained a sixth-level mercenary certificate within a month, but if the identity named "Feng Xuan" were to appear before humans, the chance of the Pope of the Radiant Temple personally coming after him tomorrow would be quite high.

    "That makes it a bit troublesome. Among the five locations you requested, the exploration level of the Sinabo Valley is 'highly dangerous.' According to the guild's 'Adventurer Safety Regulations,' we probably cannot provide you with information about that area," the female staff member apologetically replied.

    Chen Xuanfeng already knew about this rule. Due to historical incidents where the adventurers' guild had released information about extremely dangerous areas, leading to a large number of speculative adventurers going to explore and suffering heavy casualties, such regulations were later established. Information about high-danger areas could not be provided to low-level adventurers or mercenaries, even if they were Sword Emperors or tenth-level mages. This was not a challenge to the authority of the continent's top experts, but rather because combat ability and adventure ability were not necessarily related. The adventurers' guild's records included incidents of tenth-level mages dying from mistakenly eating wild poisonous mushrooms and Sword Emperor-level experts being buried alive by magical traps. Two hundred years ago, there was even a legendary Sword Saint who wanted to go to the northern Orc Alliance but got lost and ended up on the southern elf island, eventually being severely injured by the high elves' combined stellar magic (note, this is not Amakusa Shiro, this book is not "The Tale of the Wind"). Therefore, it was not unusual for the adventurers' guild to provide information about dangerous areas only to experienced mercenaries or adventurers.

    However, Chen Xuanfeng would not give up so easily and immediately asked, "Oh? What dangers does the Sinabo Valley have?"

    The woman couldn't help but laugh, "Sir, please do not tempt me to reveal information, as that would make me violate the guild's regulations."

    Chen Xuanfeng did not ask further and directly requested information about the other four locations before leaving the counter. After all, if the other four places were not his target, the last one would naturally have to be visited. If he wanted information, he could simply hire a seasoned adventurer. The guild’s rules were just a way to cover their backs, not to stop people from venturing into dangerous zones.

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