Thunder Valley is a mountain range in the far north of the Xin Kingdom.
Even on Golden Ferghana Horses, covering the whole route would take at least two days.
Ye Tian Yun and his party moved without any hiccups on the first day and night, and soon they had already traversed more than half of the path.
They were already deep into the Northern Province and were about to resume their journey after resting for a few hours in a Tavern.
Even though they weren't tired, the horses also needed to rest. Thus, while the horses recuperated, the group had taken a room and went to rest as well.
Another thing to note was that the place belonged to Gao Suyin, which made everything else very convenient.
Now that they were ready to resume their journey, all of them got on the horses.
Just then, Ye Tian Yun gestured to them to stop.
"What happened?" The other looked at him in confusion and found him staring at the carriage, which was parked in a nearby inn.
One more thing was that there were quite many people guarding the carriage, and there was a big insignia on the side of the carriage.
[Fu Clan]
The first to recognize the insignia was none other than Jun Xie.
"Fu Clan is everywhere…." Jun Xie was surprised to see them even here.
This was his first time in the Northern Province; this was why he was experiencing too much cold.
Gao Suyin nodded, "They have branches all over the Kingdom, and they mainly focus on acquiring stuff for cheap, upgrading it a bit, and then selling it at a very high rate."
Ye Tian Yun scratched his chin while asking, "What do you think is the main item for the Fu Clan Annual Auction Gala?"
"Hm?" Gao Suyin, in Gao Xuan's disguise, shook her head, "I don't know, never bothered to check."
"Oh, it's alright." Ye Tian Yun nodded, no longer pursuing any other topic.
Just then, Zheng Xiang commented, "We should do something about this. The Fu Clan is trying to sabotage the hype for the wedding."
"Hm?" Gao Suyin frowned. "What? Really?"
Jun Xie gave him a look, but Zheng Xiang had already opened his mouth, "Well, a few days ago, Brother Jun told me that the Fu Clan is planning to announce the main item for the Annual Auction on the day of the wedding."
"One of the core members of the Auction house has claimed that the item is so good that it will quite possibly take the limelight away from the newlyweds."
Jun Xie then said, "Just like how the King's Royal Edict caused much more citizen reaction and hype than the Prime Minister's announcement."
Gao Suyin frowned and simply nodded.
Ye Tian Yun glanced at her and asked, "How come you're unaware of this? Is it because your organization is still expanding?"
Gao Suyin shook her head, "I am not interested in the Fu Clan's auction, so I never bothered."
"Oh?" Ye Tian Yun light nodded, "Well, let's see if these people have any interesting information for us."
"Hm? Are you sure?" Jun Xie frowned, "There might be more than one Foundational Establishment Realm cultivator."
"Yeah," Even the usually silent Bai Qing'er spoke, "Also, I heard from one of the senior disciples in the sect that the Fu Clan's guard threw tracking dust on the attackers. That thing is very dangerous, not because it's a poison, but because the thief can be traced back from whichever corner they are hiding in."
Ye Tian Yun smiled, "This is surprising; well, I will go ahead and see how powerful these people really are."
"Should I come?" Jun Xie asked.,
Ye Tian Yun shook his head, "Nah, it won't take long. You guys should get down from the horses and book a room for yourselves."
They nodded and separated from Ye Tian Yun.
The plan was pretty simple - once Ye Tian Yun had gauged the enemy's strength, he would then make an effective plan to take as many treasures as possible.
And in such cases, someone with an illusion technique could really make a huge difference.
Ye Tian Yun sighed and spread out his spiritual aura.
"Eight Qi Condensation Realms, Five Qi Refining, and Two Foundation Establishments…"
Ye Tian Yun scratched his chin while assessing the enemy's strength.
'This isn't much.'
For his group, a battle like this wouldn't be big trouble.
'I alone am enough for this, but I would rather prefer to see other's capabilities.'
This time he was planning to put Bai Qing'er and Wu Qingwu in the forefront, to confuse the enemy and see the strength of these two in terms of real capabilities.
After roaming there for about ten or so minutes, he came across an interesting discussion between the two guards.
….
Ye Tian Yun came back inside the tavern and called everyone to his room.
Within a few minutes, all of them were sitting around a big table in Ye Tian Yun's room.
"Why is this room bigger than the others?" Zheng Xiang scratched his chin, "Are there different types of free tickets?"
Gao Suyin smiled, "Yeah, and the one I used is called being the owner."
Ye Tian Yun smiled, "Well, this room came in handy, so it's all good. But still, Gao Xuan, you should have taken this room as yours; no one here would have minded."
The other found nodded, "True. It's your tavern, Brother Gao; no need to be so polite."
Gao Suyin simply smiled, "I don't like over-exaggerated things, and I am comfortable with the small room that I have,"
Ye Tian Yun shrugged, "Alright, let's focus on the work then. So, as I said, there are about Eight Qi Condensation Realms, Five Qi Refining, and Two Foundation Establishment Realm experts."
Zheng Xiang frowned. In the whole group, he was still a weak link, and he needed to work a lot before he could be considered useful.
"This is manageable." To his surprise, others were not much worried.
And it was Jun Xie who said this.
"We can handle them; however, we should carefully plan our attack, and I think we all agree that we should carry it out outside of the city. But the only problem is, we don't know how long these people will stay here. Don't forget, ambushing them is not our main priority."
Ye Tian Yun smiled.. The discussion he had overheard between the guards was precisely related to the problem Jun Xie had put forth.