Chapter 131: Another Accident

The dining hall of the inn also had an air of the Six Dao Gate.

Thirty-six massive stone pillars supported the arched ceiling, below which hundreds of iron tables were neatly arranged, enough to seat thousands at once.

A group of lovely-faced, petite dwarf maids hid to the side, curiously pointing at a group of people in the dining hall and whispering this, occasionally covering their eyes and letting out low exclamations.

Inside the dining hall, over a hundred tables had guests seated, holding wine cups, either smiling reservedly or laughing loudly, and they were all looking at the disorderly group in the hall.

Over twenty burly men, each about 1.89 meters tall with a faint black tint to their skin, stood together, wildly throwing punches and kicks, not knowing which unlucky soul they were beating.

There were no miserable howls, no pleas for mercy; the twenty-odd men fought for a while, and aside from their own clamor, the person being beaten made not a sound.

Wu Tie and his party leisurely walked into the dining hall; a few dwarf maids suddenly saw them, hurried over, and cautiously said in a low voice: "Esteemed guests, please wait a moment; we are dealing with a troublemaker who ate without paying."

"Eating without paying"?

Wu Tie thought for a moment, recalling what Old Tie had said, that this behavior was called eating a tyrant's meal.

Generally, those who eat a tyrant's meal are either local bullies whom no one dares to charge, or wandering dragons whom no one dares to charge; both types are people the innkeeper dares not provoke.

Of course, there is also a third kind: relying on a worthless life, after eating and drinking one's fill, they crouch on the ground with hands over their head, letting you beat them. Generally, innkeepers are unwilling to cause a homicide lawsuit in public, so they usually won't beat to death someone who eats a tyrant's meal.

But that was Old Tie and their rule back then.

Applying Old Tie's old rule to this damned age is useless. At the inn run by the Six Dao Palace, if you dare to eat a tyrant's meal, they will literally beat you to death and then throw you out to feed the wild giant spiders.

A group of strong-armed inn servers shouted loudly, swinging their fists and suddenly lifting their big feet, viciously beating the unfortunate soul trapped inside. The dull thuds of flesh striking flesh rang out continuously, the "thud-thud" reverberations making hearts tremble faintly.

Wu Tie furrowed his brow, pointed at a table, and said: "No matter what you're doing, we're here to eat; send over the best dishes quickly, with plenty of portions and lots of meat..."

Wu Tie was curious why, after being surrounded and beaten by twenty-odd burly men for so long, the tyrant's meal-eating tough guy could make not a sound. An invisible force swept over, and Wu Tie instantly saw clearly the person being surrounded and beaten.

His expression suddenly changed; Wu Tie took several big steps forward, grabbed the shoulders of those burly men with both hands, and gave a light toss—over a dozen men lost their footing, stumbling east and west as Wu Tie flung them ten-odd meters away in one motion.

"Mozhangwang, how is it you?" Wu Tie exclaimed in astonishment.

With hands over head and legs curled up, assuming a standard, experienced pose for taking a beating, the tough guy who ate the tyrant's meal turned out to be none other than Wu Tie's troupe's sturdy Mozhangwang from the drifting theater group.

Mozhangwang, his body covered in marks from big feet, lifted his eyelids and stared in astonishment at Wu Tie: "Wu Tie... sir... uh, sorry for letting you see such an embarrassing thing... but it's fine, let them keep beating me; after all, I've eaten so much of their food..."

Wu Tie slapped his forehead with his hand, speechlessly looking at this guy.

A group of strong-armed servers nervously watched Wu Tie; with a casual sweep, he sent over a dozen of them stumbling far away, their footing lost, this strength terrifyingly strong.

These servers were all outer disciples of the Six Dao Palace, all possessing Foundation Establishment cultivation, with several having reached the Yuan Gang Body Forging stage.

The Six Dao Palace's martial art relies on strength to win; all its disciples can be called bronze-headed and iron-boned, with limitless strength. Even a Foundation Establishment disciple's strength far surpasses that of ordinary Perception Mystic Realm cultivators.

Wu Tie's casual sweep could reduce these disciples to such a sorry state, showing just how strong he is.

More importantly, unlike the scoundrel lying on the ground who ate the tyrant's meal, the attire of Wu Tie and his companions shows they are not ordinary caravan folk.

Especially Shi Fei, clad in splendid Yuan Soldier Heavy Armor, this armor shines all over, looks impressive, and certainly isn't cheap.

They can beat scoundrels, but they absolutely dare not offend guests.

A round-bodied old man, whose appearance somewhat resembled Shi Fei's, hurried over, frowned at the curled-up Mozhangwang on the ground, and respectfully bowed to Wu Tie.

"Esteemed guest, I am the inn's manager; you may call me Manager Dong. What's going on? Is it perhaps a misunderstanding?"

Manager Dong possesses Perception Mystic Realm cultivation, and seems to have reached the peak of that realm.

Unlike those Six Dao Palace outer disciples who only temper their bodies, with strong limbs but simple minds, Manager Dong does not follow the palace's flesh-tempering ascetic path; his perceptive ability is far greater than theirs.

He, like Shi Fei and Yan Hanlu, can clearly sense the terrifying danger hidden within Wu Tie's seemingly slender body, akin to that of a primordial demon beast.

That is a top-of-the-food-chain predatory creature, naturally suppressing herbivorous animals at the bottom of the chain.

Like a chick facing a tyrannosaurus rex, Manager Dong's pores all tightened, and each sweat follicle instinctively stood up.

"This is my friend; perhaps it's a misunderstanding... but never mind, hurry and serve a table of fine food and drink..."

Wu Tie smiled and nodded at Manager Dong, without specifically distinguishing anything for Mozhangwang.

"He brought a bunch of kids, ate and took a lot of roasted meat... he really didn't pay." A simple-minded server said blankly: "He himself admitted he ate a tyrant's meal, said he couldn't pay, and wanted us to beat him."

Before the burly server finished speaking, Wu Tie had already taken out a dog-head-sized natural gold nugget and slapped it onto the nearby long table.

"Manager Dong, please prepare a table of fine food and drink; also, take my friend to our room, give him a set of clean clothes, let him wash up and change."

Wu Tie smiled slightly, flicked his five fingers on the gold nugget—with a soft "swish"—the naturally soft and pliable gold nugget silently turned into a cloud of extremely fine gold powder, which piled on the table with a "shush-shush" sound.

The gold powder was so fine that much of it rose like mist, forming a continuous veil of gold mist that floated and rolled across the tabletop.

Manager Dong's expression suddenly changed; he turned and slapped the simple-minded server across the face: "Stupid fool, you say what you say? The guest is joking with you—isn't that allowed? Isn't it?"

"All you know is to train strength, train strength—look at you, all simple-minded... as stupid as the Zhu Chong Shou raised in the backyard; how will you ever find a wife? How will you have children? Get out, all of you get out, hurry and prepare meat and wine... slaughter a Zhu Chong Shou, quickly roast it and bring it up."

Manager Dong, smiling broadly, personally carried out Wu Tie's arrangements one by one.

The diners in the hall, seeing there was no more excitement to watch, each let out a few soft or loud hisses, shook their heads, and returned to their seats.

After about a quarter hour, Wu Tie and his party sat at a large table in the corner of the dining hall, having changed clothes; Mozhangwang, with his hair neatly groomed, sat innocently beside Wu Tie, giving a dry smile.

"Eating a tyrant's meal—aren't you afraid of being beaten to death?" Wu Tie cut a large piece of roasted meat for the female cultivator, curiously asking Mozhangwang.

"These past few days, I've performed a few small magic shows, sung some novel songs, and earned some money." Mozhangwang said with a hint of embarrassment: "But several elders in the troupe fell ill; the money went to buying them medicine, leaving us penniless..."

Spreading his hands, Mozhangwang said helplessly: "Those kids are craving meat; they're growing, and just nibbling mushroom bits won't do... so, following past custom, I brought them into the city to eat."

Drooping his eyelids, Mozhangwang's face slightly flushed as he muttered: "I'll come in first to order food, the kids will come in to eat their fill, then I'll take some meat and wine and leave... I'll stay behind and let them beat me up a bit, and then it'll be over."

"Custom?" Lao Bai, with a small appetite, already full, held a cup the size of his head, sipping on a fizzy ale made from plant stems, and curiously asked Mozhangwang: "How come you weren't beaten to death? We ratfolk have many brothers who also learned to eat without paying, and basically they all got beaten to death..."

"Eh... I'm just more... durable." Mozhangwang gave a wry smile to Lao Bai: "Actually, every time they try to kill me, many times they have succeeded in beating me to death... but that state, I don't count as dead; after they throw me out, I always manage to come back to life."

"In a big city, I only do it once... they think they've killed me, toss me into the wilderness, and consider it over. In the next big city, I keep doing the same... anyway, I only target the biggest restaurants and eateries; they have money, so one meal isn't a big deal."

Mozhangwang gave a bitter smile: "We have no money, the kids want meat... I know this behavior is bad, but... they want meat."

Mozhangwang originally glanced at Wu Tie with a sparkling look, but later his gaze became quite resolute.

He earnestly looked at Wu Tie and nodded seriously: "They want meat... that's correct... the fault is mine, for lacking the ability and using the wrong method to let them eat meat. This is my mistake, and has nothing to do with the children."

Wu Tie stared at Mozhangwang in astonishment.

After a long while, he finally asked a question similar to Lao Bai's: "What you're doing is too risky; what if... you..."

Mozhangwang looked at Wu Tie, rolled up his sleeve, extended one hand; amid the strange gazes of the crowd, his fingers and arm became extremely soft, gradually lengthening to several meters, then flexibly coiled into loops.

Under his skin, various strange spots appeared, and these spots actually gave Wu Tie an extremely dangerous feeling.

"This is my innate divine ability." The Demon Chapter King lowered his voice: "I'm not afraid of being chopped by knives or split by axes, and even if I were soaked in magma, I could hold out for a long time…… Many times they seemed to have killed me, but in fact it was feigned death…… I always, in the end, can wake up."

Wu Tie watched the Demon Chapter King's body freely stretching and contracting, and suddenly understood why this guy had achieved some success in cultivating the Formless Bone Demon Scripture, yet whenever he practiced the Diamond Subduing Demon Fist, his punches just didn't feel right.

Honestly, that masculine, vigorous fist style is completely unsuitable for this kid.

How could a guy whose whole body, even his bones, is soft and can be stretched at will possibly grasp the supreme dignity and hegemony of the Diamond Subduing Demon?

"What an impressive ability..." Wu Tie stared seriously at the Demon Chapter King: "Really, if you could have a good inheritance…… your strength should be able to let those children live good lives."

The Demon Chapter King's expression turned strange; he lowered his head, remained silent for a long time, and finally let out a faint sigh.

"Yeah, so I regret not having worked hard before……" The Demon Chapter King raised his head, wiped away the inexplicable moisture at his eyes, and said with a smile: "But now I'm happy. Having those kids with me, the troupe leader treats me well, and the others in the troupe are all good to me…… I like the Drifting Drama Troupe…… living like this for a lifetime is also quite good."

Wu Tie cut a piece of roasted meat, handed it to the shamaness who kept patting her little hands, and he himself cut a large piece of roasted meat and swallowed a few mouthfuls.

He looked at the Demon Chapter King, curiously asking: "You seem to have quite a story? Could you tell me, you……

Wu Tie was genuinely interested in the Demon Chapter King's origins; having grown to this age, he had never before seen a blond-haired, blue-eyed person. From the knowledge passed down by Old Iron, one could know that this was a large clan of ancient humanity.

'Knowledge' and 'wisdom' are closely related.

The Demon Chapter King must hide useful 'knowledge' for Wu Tie, and Wu Tie is happy to hear him say something. Whether it's broadening horizons or experience, interacting with people is always beneficial.

The Demon Chapter King fell silent for a moment; just as he was about to speak, a frantic roar suddenly came from outside the hotel.

"You've made it impossible for me to live as a person…… you've made it…… so I can never see my brothers again."

"You…… you……

A woman's shrill scream came over, followed by the 'puchi' sound of a sharp blade cutting through flesh and bone.

On the street, countless people shouted in unison, while stronger individuals roared in fury; the clashing of weapons rang out, and the heavy metallic impacts caused excruciating pain to people's eardrums.

"Those I intend to kill, you cannot stop!"

The initial frantic roar continued, followed shortly by several cries of 'Mom! Dad!' The chaotic noise made people feel agitated and vexed.

Wu Tie and the others exchanged a glance, then hurried out of the dining hall like many other guests, arriving at the hotel gate to look outside.