Chapter 99: Oddities – 64K Seeking Subscriptions

Seeing that the other party gave no response, Wang Wu knocked on the cabinet in front of him again.

But it still didn't move at all, as if it were soundly asleep and couldn't wake up for a while.

He knocked twice more, and seeing that there was still no response, Wang Wu gave up his original plan.

He had originally wanted to see if he could buy some wine and meat at the shop to eat on the road, but this fellow ignored him entirely.

The inn was obviously bizarre to the extreme, exuding an evil aura everywhere, yet Wang Wu seemed unbothered.

Turning around, just as he was about to leave the inn, two voices sounded at Wang Wu's ears:

"Wu Lang, where did you go?"

The voices of several female demons rang out, and Wang Wu, puzzled, replied, "Aren't I in this shop?"

"Which shop?" the female demons were startled.

"The one right on the road to the right of where I dismounted, you know? It's close, there's no reason you can't find it, right?"

While answering the women's questions in his mind, Wang Wu also turned his head. The moment he saw the scene behind him, he was stunned.

Along with Zi Yuan and the others' voices, a breathing sound came from behind Wang Wu. It wasn't loud, but it was unmistakable.

When he turned back now, he saw nothing, which made him uneasy.

At the same time, inside Wang Wu's spherical fortress, a group of demons were staring at a screen before them, equally puzzled.

Sunlight shot down from the sky, glowing a fierce red, and even the light radiating from the Guan Dao took on a reddish hue. In this open, desolate place, the demons saw no buildings.

"Wu Lang, this is…"

The female demons looked at Zi Yuan, because she was the only one among them with any knowledge of the human world. Yet Zi Yuan wore a bewildered, confused expression.

"I… I don't know either," Zi Yuan shook her head. "I saw him dismount and walk toward the roadside, but the next moment he vanished."

"What are you talking about? What do you mean he vanished?" Wang Wu's curious voice sounded through the communicator, but immediately, something seemed to happen over there; after a burst of clamor, rapid gibberish chatter followed.

Inside the bustling inn, a dozen seconds earlier.

Wang Wu watched a figure tumble and crawl down from the second floor, rush straight to him, seize his hand, and then swiftly lead him back upstairs.

They passed through a dirty, chaotic, dim corridor and burst into a room with its door ajar.

Bang—

After both rushed into the room, the person holding Wang Wu's hand slammed the door shut, pressed their back against it, chest heaving violently, panting heavily.

After a while, she finally looked at Wang Wu and then uttered a heap of gibberish that Wang Wu and the few inside the spherical fortress could not understand at all.

"What? What are you saying? I don't understand!"

Wang Wu looked at the woman before him, his expression bewildered, and said.

The woman was momentarily stunned by his words, but quickly recovered, coughed twice, and in a very odd accent said:

"Are you a demon from Zhou Land?"

She looked at Wang Wu and asked.

"I'm not a demon," Wang Wu retorted outright. "I'm human."

"Hehe." The woman smiled at his words, shook her head, and said, "If you truly are human, you probably wouldn't even wait for me to come down and capture you."

"You'd either become kitchen fodder, or end up a 'diner' like those faceless ones."

"What is this place?" Wang Wu asked curiously after hearing the woman's words.

"I see you don't look like a mountain wild demon, yet you don't know what this is?" the woman said, surprised.

"What, you don't know?" the woman's words irritated Wang Wu. "I just don't know. If you don't want to tell me, fine, I'm going back."

"Hehe, you can't go back now." The woman kept smiling, but her words carried obvious sarcasm: "If you want to blame anyone, blame your curiosity; you saw this bustling inn and decided to barge in, right?"

Saying that, the woman stood up, walked to Wang Wu, and began to undress.

"What are you doing?" Wang Wu noticed her actions and was taken aback.

"What else can I do?" the woman raised an eyebrow, continued stripping. Soon, she was completely naked.

"It's been a long time since I've seen a man," she stared at Wang Wu, her eyes filled with unabashed desire.

"Don't you demons love this? Since you can't leave now, why not make love with me…"

"I won't," Wang Wu cut off the woman before she could finish, refusing decisively.

"I find you strange," Wang Wu said as he refused, "so I don't want to do that with you; find someone else. Besides, you haven't answered me—what kind of place is this…"

Before Wang Wu could finish speaking, a strong gust slammed into his face. Though he reacted swiftly, the wind still brushed him.

Boom—!!!

A massive force struck the door behind Wang Wu, causing a violent explosion.

"You want to kill me?" Wang Wu, who had darted to the side, glanced at the spot where the woman attacked, wiped his cheek with his hand, and saw a clump of bright red blood on it.

"What a pity, what a pity," the woman flicked her long blade, her tone a mix of surprise and regret: "If you were willing, I had planned to let you stay with me for a year or two, then eat you once I got bored."

"But for now…"

Before the words finished, the woman lunged forward. The cold glint of her long blade flashed; a single glance seemed enough to slice a person into eight pieces.

"Hehe, turning into your true form at this moment—do you think you didn't die fast enough?" The distance between them was only a few meters, and the woman covered it in an instant.

She sneered as she watched the man's skin swell and twist, then be torn by newly formed tissue. The long blade was already swung, aiming straight at his face.

Clang—!

The sound of metal striking metal rang out, and the cold hue in the woman's eyes instantly turned to shock.

"Do you know that I'm invincible when I transform?" Wang Wu, who had already restored his true form, clenched the woman's knife-wielding hand tightly; with just a slight pressure, a dull bone‑cracking sound echoed from beneath her flesh.

Ah, ahhh—!!

Fresh blood spurted, excruciating pain surged to her heart, and her face twisted instantly with agony. Soon, she could no longer utter any sound.

Because Wang Wu's forehead began to glow, a golden beam shot out, piercing the woman's face.

Thump

The woman's lifeless body fell to the ground, a pitch‑black hole gaping in her forehead. In his true form, Wang Wu kicked the woman's corpse aside and then began rummaging through the room.

But there was nothing; after the woman died, everything in the room began to rot.

Finally, Wang Wu, having found a book, lifted that thing, but the moment he did, the book turned into flying ash and scattered.

Glancing at the woman's corpse on the floor, just like the other things in the room, her body had turned to white bone, and the clothes she had shed were completely decayed.

"Oh, it seems so."

Wang Wu planted a foot on the woman's skull and addressed his female demon and female demons:

"This woman tried to use force against me, but I have already killed her."

After speaking, Wang Wu opened the door and reappeared in the inn.

When the woman had dragged him into the guest room earlier, time was short, so Wang Wu did not observe the surrounding environment.

But now, walking alone down this corridor, Wang Wu finally had time to examine the situation here in detail.

It was obvious that every guest room housed a guest. While Wang Wu observed these rooms, they in turn observed Wang Wu.

Or rather, they.

"That Xia person is dead," said a man in a room, where a pair of men and women dressed in identical cultivator robes watched Wang Wu, moving through the corridor in the form of a Heavenly Demon Yin Spirit Body; the man spoke to the female cultivator.

Unlike the woman in the room, these two cultivators were clearly Zhou people; their cultivator robes matched the current popular style of the Great Zhou Dynasty cultivators.

"Sure enough, a monster..." the man whispered, watching Wang Wu, who was lingering in the room opposite theirs, peering through the crack in the door.

"No, not a monster," the woman shook her head, also observing Wang Wu outside the door.

"That's a demon..." she said.

"No, that can't be...?" the man replied, doubtful, "How could a demon even get into a place like this? They simply..."

In an instant, the male cultivator's pupils dilated, his whole body flung backward, and he plopped onto the floor.

He hadn't even seen when that thing had approached; when the dark‑red eyes pressed against his and met his gaze, he didn't even react.

"Hehe..."

The thing outside the door stared at the two horrified cultivators inside, opened its mouth, and emitted a series of eerie laughs:

"Which sect are you two from?"

Wang Wu naturally saw the two inside; on the second floor there were eight rooms in total, and the woman's room was now empty.

In the remaining seven rooms, some contained a corpse lying on the floor, breath still faint but indistinguishable from a dead body—a 'dry corpse'. Others held a madman sitting in the room muttering nonsense, clearly gone insane.

And the rest were completely sealed off, like a stone—'living dead'.

Only these two.

Wang Wu scanned the area and found that only these two could still be considered 'normal people'.

Moreover, these two were spying on him there, which was perfectly normal.

So, out of goodwill, Wang Wu asked.

"Don't be afraid; I am a demon cultivator, this form is merely my demonic transformation. I am not a completely mind‑lost demon..."

Wang Wu cut off his own sentence, then abruptly turned his head toward the end of the corridor, the place where he had come up.

A figure stood there quietly, if it could still be called a 'person'.

Wang Wu found it hard to describe what this 'person' truly looked like—like a human, yet not like one.

Its mouth was twisted in what seemed a smile, but it felt obviously fake, or rather 'crude'.

Wang Wu had no intention of communicating; a crystal on his forehead glowed, and a golden beam shot toward the other.

Unlike the woman Wang Wu had shot, this being's body, the moment the golden light struck, was also engulfed by the dazzling gold.

About three seconds later, the inn waiter's body vanished without a trace.

Wang Wu looked toward the stairwell, waited a moment, but nothing arrived.

So he pressed his head against the crack of the guest room door and called inside, "What is this place?"

After a brief silence, the male cultivator's mood slightly calmed, but the next second, another sound made his spirit instantly tense.

If this continued, he might go mad.

"What is this place?"

After waiting a while with no response, Wang Wu asked again.

"Bang bang bang"

He knocked on the door again.

"Why aren't you speaking? I know you're inside, speak! Speak!!"

"Why have you stopped speaking? Speak!"

"Bang bang bang!"

"Speak!!!"

"I see you, a man and a woman; don't think I didn't see you, speak quickly!!"

"Bang bang bang!"

With each knock, Huang Xuan's heart tightened a bit.

He and his senior sister have been in this place for a year; here, time no longer holds any meaning.

As long as they stay in the guest rooms, they are safe. Yet, despite the safety, there is no food.

True‑realm cultivators can abstain from grain, going a year without food or drink, provided they are not engaged in combat and move little.

But in a place like this, each day spent within this 'oddity' is an immense torment to both of their spirits.

Like the others in the rooms, as the inn's newest 'guests', their mental state is among the best, yet they have long been on the brink of collapse.

Not only him, but his senior sister as well.

"We, we are..."

At that moment, faced with the words and knocking from outside the door, the senior sister, whose reaction was not as intense as Huang Xuan's, suddenly spoke up.

When Huang Xuan looked at her, the senior sister also looked at him. In the other's eyes, Huang Xuan saw a hint of "relief".

"Senior sister!!!"

The instant he saw that gaze, Huang Xuan also knew what his senior sister intended to do. He hurriedly rose from the ground to intervene, but it was already too late.

The senior sister's strength surpassed his; she was a cultivator in the late stage of the True Realm. He was only in the middle stage of the True Realm, and at this moment the senior sister wanted to open the door—if he truly wanted to block it, Huang Xuan could have done so.

However, even he perhaps did not realize it. When the senior sister's hand reached for the latch, he shouted outwardly, but deep inside he actually agreed.

So he took no action and simply watched the senior sister pull the door open.

"We are disciples of the Cloud True Sect of Yuan Prefecture, senior."

Huang Xuan's senior sister, Pei Zhuoyun of the Cloud True Sect, looked at Wang Wu standing outside the door.

"I am Wang Wu, of the Extreme Heaven Vajra Sect," Wang Wu nodded toward the woman inside the door, then turned his gaze aside.

Because at the stairwell, several figures appeared.

"Oh, as soon as you opened the door, they followed," Wang Wu said with a smile, looking at the people appearing at the stairwell.

When he said that, those people were still gathered at the stairwell, a few standing on tiptoe looking this way.

And after finishing the sentence, they instantly arrived before Wang Wu and the others.

Looking at those faceless diners, the cook and waiter with reversed features, and an innkeeper whose skin was tightly stretched over his skull.

At that moment, smiles spread across Huang Xuan's and Pei Zhuoyun's faces.

"Ha ha, ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha…"

The two laughed, laughing heartily, tears streaming from the corners of their eyes.

In an instant, golden light burst at the innroom's doorway.

"What are you laughing at?" Wang Wu snapped his palm, severing several diners' bodies, while several beams of golden light shot from his forehead, striking the innkeeper whose skin was tightly pressed to his skull.

In three seconds, fourteen diners, one innkeeper, a cook, and three children—their bodies were engulfed by golden light and fell apart on the ground.

"A strange place."

After finishing all that, Wang Wu clapped his hands, looked at the golden light gradually fading from the ground, and said.

Then he turned his head toward the two again and asked:

"Why aren't you laughing anymore?"

Seeing the two standing dazed and not answering for a long while, Wang Wu asked again:

"I'm leaving now; will you follow me out?"

At that moment, the two who heard Wang Wu's words suddenly reacted, then nodded one after another.

"Then let's go," Wang Wu waved his hand and led the two downstairs.

Before going downstairs, Wang Wu checked the inn's counter; when he opened the drawer, aside from a heap of debris and dust, there was nothing else.

Wang Wu also glanced at the back kitchen, but the back kitchen was completely inaccessible.

Although behind the counter was the back kitchen, it was blocked by a cloth curtain; light filtered through, and the sound of pans clashing could still be heard.

But when Wang Wu walked over and tried to lift the curtain, he found it was actually solid. When his hand reached for the uncovered spot, it struck an air wall.

"Dammit, what a crappy shop?" After all attempts failed, Wang Wu muttered irritably.

Then, leading the trembling two toward the shop door, he kicked the big door open and stepped out first.

But before fully stepping out, Wang Wu looked at the two behind him and reached out his hand to them:

"Hold onto me."

He said.

The two did not hesitate, grabbing Wang Wu like a lifeline, and stepped out of the doorway with him, heading toward the endless darkness outside.

"Oh, Wu Lang, I see you."

Just as Wang Wu reappeared outside the Guan Dao, the voices of Zi Yuan and the others sounded beside his ear, or rather in his mind.

"Eh, who are these two?"

"The two I rescued from that inn, I don't know who they are, they said…"

Wang Wu's thoughts stalled at that point, then the now-human Wang Wu turned his head to the left, where a woman still clutched his hand tightly.

As for the one on his right, he let go as soon as he emerged.

"Which sect did you say you were from?"

He asked.

Pei Zhuoyun was momentarily dazed by the immense joy from surviving the calamity, though her eyes remained fixed on Wang Wu's human face.

But when Wang Wu called, she quickly regained her senses, blushed slightly, then stammered: "Um, senior, I am, I am Pei Zhuoyun of the Cloud True Sect."

"Thank you," Wang Wu nodded, then looked at the hand still gripping his.

Pei Zhuoyun followed his gaze downward, then noticed her own slip, her face reddening again, and hurriedly let go.

"Sorry, sorry…"

"No problem," Wang Wu waved his hand, then walked toward the Yin Zhi parked by the roadside and mounted it.

"We are outside Sanhe County; another two hundred plus li forward leads to Yu Chuan County," Wang Wu said, then spurred his horse and galloped toward Yu Chuan County.

Before leaving the inn, Wang Wu had Shu Niang bring Yin Zhi out and place it on the road; once they emerged, they could see Yin Zhi directly.

"Thank you, senior, for rescuing me, thank you, senior, for rescuing me!!" At this moment, Huang Xuan, also recovered from the post‑calamity joy, wore an unmistakable expression of excitement.

The two sprang up from the ground, flanking Wang Wu on both sides, their faces full of deep gratitude.

Although the sky was nearing total darkness, only a final sliver of red light still bathed the earth.

Yet even such an extremely bizarre environment was enough to make him weep bitterly.

"When the two of us return to our sect, we will surely prepare a generous gift for you, senior..."

"Alright, alright, stop talking about all this nonsense," Wang Wu said impatiently, cutting off the other, while riding his horse and pressing on.

"I don't need your future preparations; if you want to repay me now, you can give me some money. If you have none, never mind—this is just a trivial favor."

"And I'm not a senior; I'm not even thirty yet. Don't call me a senior all the time—I'm still very young..."

"Th-then... Daoist companion?" Pei Zhuoyun asked cautiously, following Wang Wu on his left as he rode.

"That's not bad," Wang Wu said with a smile, nodding.

As they pressed on, the two cultivators clearly intended to stay with Wang Wu and head toward Yuchuan County. Wang Wu didn't mind and let them follow.

Moreover, it gave him a chance to ask the two about more about this world—some basic knowledge, or rather, knowledge of the Zhou Kingdom.

After all, his current setting is a demonic cultivator and a foreigner, so it's normal that he knows little about the customs of the Zhou Kingdom.

Since Si Tu Jin could see that he was a demonic cultivator, others could naturally see it too, so there was no need to hide anything.

When Wang Wu left, he already knew there were people in the rooms outside, so he left after assuming a Heavenly Demon form.

Besides the Heavenly Demon form, he also possessed the Yin Extreme True God Body technique.

Along the way, the two were naturally very enthusiastic about any questions concerning Wang Wu, the lifesaver, and answered every query.

Wang Wu felt that the woman named Pei Zhuoyun was a bit too enthusiastic toward him; her gaze never left his face the whole time.

But that was understandable; his looks were indeed rather rare among humans.

Two hours later, the three of them successfully arrived at Yuchuan County.

After Wang Wu obtained the second batch—no, actually the third batch—of goods in Yuchuan County, he didn't leave immediately; instead, he found an inn in the town and stayed there.

The two cultivators also stayed with him in that inn; even after entering the town, they still seemed quite dependent on Wang Wu.

Time quickly turned to true night; since it was winter, six-thirty was naturally considered evening.

Bang bang bang—

Wang Wu was diligently cultivating, but at that moment, someone knocked on his door.

"Wang, Daoist companion, it's me."

Pei Zhuoyun's voice came from outside the door; Wang Wu looked up toward the doorway and called, "What's the matter?"

"Daoist companion, I have... I have something I want to tell you..."

Glancing down at himself, Wang Wu sighed, then got up, slipped on his clothes, walked to the door and opened it a crack.

"Wh—"

Before he could finish speaking, a figure barreled in.

Seeing several figures on the bed, Pei Zhuoyun, who had burst into Wang Wu's room, was startled.

Immediately, a large red flush spread across her face.

After looking there for a moment, she turned her gaze back to Wang Wu, a faint glimmer of rippling light visible in her eyes. Then, her ruby lips gently opened:

"Daoist companion, you only ask for some mundane gold and silver as payment; I... I really feel a bit embarrassed about that..."

After speaking, Pei Zhuoyun rose from the floor and charged straight at Wang Wu.

Time jumped forward to the next day.

When he woke up and lifted the quilt, Wang Wu only saw three. He turned his head to both sides, but saw no one else.

"That woman..." Wang Wu said, looking toward the room's doorway, shaking his head.

"Seems that rescuing her wasn't enough; I still have to help her..."

This is a classic fleeting romance.

(End of chapter)