Who Let Him Cultivate?!

Upon refusal, the peddlers weren’t upset and closed their room door.

The sound of the gong rang out again – the watchman announced, “It’s the time from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.”

Clop, clop, clop – the orderly footsteps once again echoed from the corridor as the eerily black-eyed inn servant prowled around.

The inn servant knocked lightly on the door across from them, “Dear guests, are you there? Could you please open the door?”

Just when the two of them expected it to play out like the night before, the peddlers insisting on not opening the door and the knocking growing louder till it was deafening —

Creak —

The door across from them was opened.

The action surprised one of the peddlers, “You, what are you doing! Why did you open the door!”

“Shut it quickly, shut it quickly!”

“If you want to die, don’t drag me down with you!”

“Why won’t the door shut!”

There were two peddlers, but only one spoke from start to finish. The other didn’t make a sound the whole time, which was very strange.

“You, don’t come over, Ahhh —”

A heartrending scream came from across the hall, and then there was silence. “What happened? The peddlers aren’t fools, why would they open the door?” Meng Jingzhou felt a chill in his heart.

Lu Yang fell into thought for a moment and imagined a possibility, “Do you remember the man we saw being killed by the officer this morning? He came back to life and looked no different from the living.”

“It’s stated in the rules that ‘Moving corpses are a common phenomenon,’ but the rules did not mention the revival of corpses!”

“Was the man who came back to life this morning really himself?”

Meng Jingzhou widened his eyes, “You mean… One of the salesmen is already dead? But their partner didn’t notice?”

Lu Yang nodded, “Right, that’s what I mean!”

A chill tingled through Meng Jingzhou’s scalp. Though they’d seen lots of people on the street today, he’d thought not many had been harmed. But now, it seemed as if there were likely quite a few Living Dead wandering around during the day!

The violent knocking began again, but this time it was on their door.

“Help, save me! The inn servant wants to kill me!”

“Open the door, open the door quickly!”

“Please, have mercy and save me. Gold, Spirit Stones, the location of the Relic Blessed Cave — I can give them all to you!”

“Don’t kill me-”

With that, there came the sound of a dull thud as an axe entered flesh, striking bone. Accompanied by the trader’s scream of pain.

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou looked at each other, both deciding not to open the door. The screams of the two peddlers had just silenced, and despite the newfound pleas for help, something seemed wrong, eerie and strange.

And what’s more, Fairy Eternity had informed him that the two traders were anything but kindly souls. There was no need to aid them.

Once the peddler’s voice had disappeared, the inn servant’s gentle knocking started once again: “Dear guests, are you there? Can you please open the door?” “Dear guests, are you there? Can you please open the door?”

“I said open the door!”

“Open the damn door for me!”

Just like yesterday, the knocking grew louder until the whole inn could hear it.

Either the door was well-made, or there were rules restricting it – the inn servant did not manage to break down the door.

Lu Yang heard the inn servant’s footsteps going upstairs, presumably heading straight to the suite.

No monsters went past the window tonight, and they passed the night in peace.

When they left the inn at 9 a.m. the next day, Lu Yang noticed that the door of the room across the hall had turned black. The two merchants emerged from the room laughing and joking, bidding Lu Yang a jovial hello.

“Rule Sixteen: Upon entering a black door, do not speak or eat anything inside.”

Lu Yang’s gaze hardened: the peddlers no longer had to follow the normal rules.

Meng Jingzhou couldn’t help but ask, “Who was the one calling for help last night?”

The peddlers seemed quite puzzled — their expressions not feigned, “Help? Who needed help?”

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou left hurriedly, unsure of the peddlers’ situation and unwilling to speak anymore.

During the day time, they secretly followed the officers, and found out that they only ate once a day – a meat bun.

Meng Jingzhou once stole a meat bun, opened it up, and in addition to the meat, found what appeared to be fingernails and hair.

After the officers had eaten, they would walk the streets, herding people along like ducks. Some unlucky people would accidentally turn their head, be killed on the spot, and resurrected immediately after death.

“Did you notice? The officers walk all around the small town but they never go to the private school!”

Lu Yang spread out the map. He had drawn it when they were walking around the small town yesterday. The map marked the crash site, the inn, the private school, the tailor’s shop, the potion shop, and the government office.

The quality of the drawing on the map was of a questionable standard, the good news was that at least he could understand what he had drawn.

“It seems the rules they’re following aren’t the same! It’s not one-size-fits- all!” laughed Meng Jingzhou. This was good news depending on how they used it.

As they walked on the main street, they noticed through a paper window that there were people in the thatched huts.

According to the rules, “You can’t return to the thatched hut or the inn before the time of 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.” So, who could be inside the thatched huts?

“There seem to be many more rules about this town that we don’t know about.”

Different identities have to abide by different rules. Lu Yang wondered if the Unification period ancients had too much free time on their hands.

“Fairy, can you see what’s happening outside? How is my master doing?”

Fairy Eternity was amazed, “Your master has a deep understanding of swordsmanship. He can even hold his own against four opponents.”

Lu Yang nodded. If that’s the case, he could rest assured.

The two returned to the inn, and Lu Yang wrote a line on a piece of paper and handed it to the innkeeper: Are you from the outside?

Meng Jingzhou watched from the side, understanding Lu Yang’s intention. The rules stated that locals could not disclose the town’s affairs to outsiders, yet the innkeeper could. This meant that the innkeeper was not a local.

The innkeeper didn’t expect Lu Yang to ask such a question but wrote the word “yes.”

Lu Yang wrote: Normal person or cultivator?

The innkeeper responded: Ninth Level of Qi Training.

Lu Yang wrote: How did you become the innkeeper?

The innkeeper wrote: I can’t say.

Lu Yang wrote: Do you have to observe different rules from us? What are the specific rules?

The innkeeper responded: I follow the “Rules of Buyi Town Inn.” I can’t tell you the specific rules.

Lu Yang then wrote: Do you want to leave?

The innkeeper’s hand shook slightly: Yes.

Lu Yang handed over his Identity Jade: We’re both disciples of the Seek Dao Sect. We arrived here by mistake and also want to leave.

Peering at the jade identity of the Seek Dao Sect disciple, the innkeeper was even more excited. With a trembling hand, he wrote: What do you need?

Lu Yang wrote: Take off your white clothes.

Unprepared for this demand, the innkeeper initially wore a puzzled expression.

The rules he adhered to stated “Within the boundaries of the rules, accommodate customers’ requests as far as possible, except for those that contradict morality and ethics,” there was no mention of not allowed to take off clothes.

The innkeeper took off his white clothes and handed them to Lu Yang.

Lu Yang put away the clothes and went back to the room with Meng Jingzhou.

“After knocking on our door for two days, tonight — it’s our turn.” Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou shared a cold laugh.