Who Let Him Cultivate?!

The best course of action would have been for Daoist Buyu to flee with them, but he had not opted for that, signaling his lack of confidence in protecting them both from the newly awakened ancient Unification stage creature.

Lu Yang performed Eldest Sister’s Form Boxing, trying to summon his Eldest Sister, only to find that he could not utilize the spiritual essence, and was even unable to transform.

Form Boxing indeed was an art of magic skill.

Meng Jingzhou tested his current power level. “Although we can’t use magic ability, the strength of our bodies hasn’t significantly changed,” he reported.

It was a piece of good news.

“What time is it now?”

Lu Yang recalled the second rule which mentioned that ‘from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m., the thatched cottages and inn rooms with doors shut are absolutely safe, everywhere else is dangerous.’

From 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. was considered the danger period.

“The streets are deserted since it’s after 9 p.m. now, people must have gone home. We need to find a place to take shelter, or get to an inn!”

There were several lit straw houses nearby. Meng Jingzhou knocked politely on a door, saying, “Fellow villager, we are cultivators who have unintentionally trespassed this place. Could you please open the door and let us stay the night? We will compensate you greatly; you may pick any golden spirit stone you like!”

Meng Jingzhou tried a few houses in a row, but not a single door opened.

Lu Yang stopped him. “Don’t waste your energy. Have you forgotten the fifth rule? Never open the door if you hear someone knocking? Not only us, but there must be commoners living in Buyi Town as well, they also need to abide by the rules.”

[Nineteenth Rule: the villagers cannot reveal anything about the town to outsiders.] This indicated that Buyi Town had a native population.

Just as Meng Jingzhou was about to speak, Lu Yang signaled him to be quiet.

From somewhere not far away came the heavy sounds of footsteps. The heavy, irregular breathing suggested the creature was massive, and the pattern of the footfalls indicated it moved on four legs, or even more. Lu Yang had no idea what creature it could be.

Lu Yang could even see the shadow of the creature hovering around the corner.

“Run!” Lu Yang whispered, and he and Meng Jingzhou hastily fled.

Before understanding an opponent’s realm and abilities, it wasn’t wise to confront it.

As the two ran in the direction opposite to the creature, they successfully lost it as it hadn’t noticed them.

Pausing to listen for any surrounding movements and verifying that the creature was not close, they cautiously walked down the street until they found an inn.

The inn was brightly lit, with a man in white leisurely dozing off on the counter, and two merchants were discussing which room to take.

“Finally found an inn, I’m dead tired. Let’s take two Grade-A rooms.” the Merchant slammed a silver coin onto the counter.

His companion promptly stopped him, “Did you forget what was said on that piece of paper? Do not stay in Grade-A rooms!”

“You actually believe what’s written on that paper?”

“Better safe than sorry,” countered the companion, picking up the silver piece. Glancing at the piece of paper, he nervously thought about how confounding this town was and resolutely decided to leave by morning.

With an appeasing smile, he addressed the man in white. “We would like two Third Grade rooms, please.”

The man dressed in white took the silver without giving any change, promptly handed them three keys. “Only one room per group is allowed; you have been given all three keys to Third Grade Room No. 3.”

The merchant frowned at this. Indeed, this inn was pricey; a Third Grade room shouldn’t cost this much.

Lu Yang warned the two. “You all must abide by the rules written on the paper.”

Recalling the rule which warned against trusting strangers too easily, the merchant couldn’t discern Lu Yang’s intention and hurriedly went upstairs.

Meng Jingzhou was about to ask for a Third Grade room for themselves when Lu Yang grabbed a pen and paper from the counter and pulled Meng Jingzhou behind him.

Meng Jingzhou then remembered the 15th rule [Inquire about anything regarding the inn with the innkeeper, and anything outside the inn with the medicine shop owner, but do not speak to them]]

Lu Yang wrote on the paper: Are you the owner of this inn?

The owner wrote back: Yes.

Lu Yang placed a silver coin on the counter and wrote: I want to rent a Third Grade room where no one has died.

The owner handed over three keys, each labeled, ‘Third Grade Room No. 4’.

The two glanced at each other and proceeded to the second floor, where they noticed eight black-doored rooms, but only the doors marked ‘Third Grade Room No. 3’ and ‘Third Grade Room No. 4’ were brown.

The room with the Number 3 was for the merchants, while the room with Number 4 was for them.

Entering their room, they sat down on the bed and finally relaxed, noticing that their heartbeats were racing.

“Wasn’t this discussed with you at home?” asked Lu Yang.

“Not at all. I did not even realize that cultivators in the Unification stage had the ability to manipulate reality and set rules. I see the elders in our family who are at this stage, they spend their days bird-watching, gardening, fishing, and scolding people on the streets, they hardly seem capable of this!” Meng Jingzhou exclaimed.

Lu Yang agreed. He hadn’t perceived the elders of the Seek Dao Sect to be so powerful either.

However, if it was said Eldest Sister was capable of such ability, he would believe it.

At least, the magnitude seems to match the ability.

There were footsteps, light and sure, they belonged to a person.

From across the hallway came a knock on the door, a gentle voice humbly asking, “Honorable guest, have you retired for the night yet? The innkeeper accidentally gave all three keys to you and I cannot access the room. I have freshly prepared dinner here, which is complimentary. Could you please open the door so I could serve it to you?”

The occupant of Room 3 was no fool, sensing something was off and choosing to abide by the rules, did not respond to the plea.

The person upon receiving no response, knocked increasingly harder to the point where the entire hallway echoed with the sounds.

“Honorable guest, open the door!”

“Open the door!”

“Do you hear me asking you to open the door!”

“Believe me, I will break this door down!”

Shedding their disguise, the knocker pounded on the door with increasing ferocity. Thankfully, the door was of superior quality and wasn’t smashed open.

Seeing as the merchants weren’t falling for the trick, the knocker reverted to their gentle tone: “Alright then, I will leave the food at the door.”

Still, the merchants gave no response.

The imposter employed the same trick, knocking on Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou’s door, starting with gentle knocking and gradually increasing in volume, unveiling their true intention

Again, no one fell for the trick.

Footsteps echoed and then stopped. The trickster was gone.

“Something isn’t right; those footsteps were too brief. It doesn’t sound as if they went downstairs or upstairs; they are still on the second floor!” a chill ran down Lu Yang’s spine.

A scene came to mind: The trickster clings to the walls with their hands, hiding at the top, waiting for the merchants to let their guard down, surreptitiously opening the door to collect the food, and then would swoop down on them…

Whether the merchants concluded the same way or whether they were simply cautious, there weren’t any indications of their opening the door.

“Let’s get some rest,” yawned Meng Jingzhou. The rules stated that they must be asleep by midnight, equivalent to 11 pm.

He took a blanket from the cupboard, spread it on the floor and offered to sleep on the lower bunk.

Then he blew off the candles, the room was pitch black, the meager moonlight outside seeped through the paper window, illuminating the room.

Meng Jingzhou looked out the window, his heart stopped.

A dark figure appeared outside the window, swaying side to side, as if clinging onto the window ledge, craning its neck to glimpse inside.

The concern was this was the second floor… how tall was the creature?!

“Check if the windows are bolted!” Lu Yang shouted suddenly, remembering the rule about not opening the windows!

Upon entry, they had only thought about locking the door and had completely forgotten about the windows; they had no idea whether the windows were merely closed or bolted!

The pair moved quickly, noticing the windows indeed were unbolted, they quickly bolted them just before the creature began knocking on the windows.

Peering through the window to see the person-shaped shadow outside made their hearts beat loudly.

The two of them survived their first night, narrowly missing danger.

(A special addition in return for Lord > ^Q￡’s support).