Chapter 131

Lu Yang and Meng Meng Jingzhou knew that, despite the heroic front put up by Daoist Bu Yu, this battle was destined not to end so simply.

In truth, the best course of action would have been for Daoist Bu Yu to take the two of them and flee, but he had not chosen to do so, which meant he lacked the confidence to protect them both from an awakened ancient Integration stage cultivator. Lu Yang performed a set of Senior Sister's Imitation Fist in an attempt to summon her, but he discovered he could not channel his spiritual power, nor could he even transform. The Lu Family Imitation Fist was indeed a spell.

Meng Meng Jingzhou tested his current level: "Although I cannot channel magic power, my physical strength hasn't changed much." That was a piece of good news. "What time is it now?"

Lu Yang recalled the second rule, which stated that from the Hour of the Bo to the Hour of the Chen, the thatched cottages with closed doors and the rooms in the inn with closed doors were absolutely safe; everywhere else was dangerous. The Hour of the Bo to the Hour of the Chen was from 9:00 PM to 9:00 AM.

"It was the Hour of the Bo when we crashed. There's no one on the streets now, so people must have all gone home. We must find a place to stay or go to an inn!"

There were several thatched cottages nearby with lights on. Meng Meng Jingzhou knocked on a door and said politely, "Fellow villager, we are cultivators who have strayed into this place. Please open the door and let us stay the night. We will surely reward you handsomely—you may choose whatever gold or spirit stones you like!"

Meng Meng Jingzhou tried several houses in a row, but not a single one opened.

Lu Yang stopped him: "Don't waste your energy. Have you forgotten the fifth rule, that you must absolutely not open the door when you hear knocking? There must be more than just us in Cloth Town, as well as ordinary commoners, and we need to follow the rules too." Rule 14: The commoners of this great town can reveal things about this great town to those inside, which meant Cloth Town had no original inhabitants. Just as Meng Meng Jingzhou was about to say something else, he saw the traveling merchant make a 'shh' gesture, signaling for silence.

A 'da-da-da-da' sound came from nearby. The footsteps were light, and the breathing intervals were short and heavy, suggesting a very small body. The frequency of the footsteps sounded like it had seven legs, or perhaps even more. The traveling merchant did not know what kind of monster this was. The traveling merchant could even see the monster's shadow at the corner. "Run!" the traveling merchant said in a low voice, and he and Meng Meng Jingzhou fled in a hurry. Without knowing the opponent's realm and abilities, one could not rashly face such an opponent. The two ran in the direction of the monster, but the monster did not discover them, and they soon shook it off.

The two stopped and listened quietly to the movement in the distance. Confirming there were no monsters, they walked cautiously along the street and found an inn.

The inn was brightly lit. Inside, a person dressed in white was lazily lying on the counter, and two people dressed as commoners were discussing which room to stay in. "Finally found an inn. I'm exhausted. Give us two Heaven-grade rooms." Lu Yang slapped a silver ingot on the counter. His companion hurriedly stopped him: "Have you forgotten what that piece of paper said? Don't stay in Heaven-grade rooms!" "You actually believe that piece of paper?"

"Better to believe it exists than to believe it doesn't." The companion took the silver ingot and looked at the white paper. He felt very uneasy in his heart, thinking this Cloth Town was too strange, and they must leave first thing tomorrow morning. He smiled apologetically and said to the person in white: "Please, give us two Earth-grade rooms."

The person in white took the silver and had no intention of giving change, directly handing the other party three keys: "A group can only rent one room. There are only three keys for Earth-grade Room 8 in total, so I'm giving them all to you." Lu Yang frowned; this inn was too much of a rip-off. How could one Earth-grade room be worth so much money? The traveling merchant reminded the two: "You must follow the rules on the white paper."

Lu Yang's companion recalled the rule about not easily trusting the words of strangers. He couldn't figure out the traveling merchant's intentions and hurriedly went upstairs. Just as Meng Meng Jingzhou was about to say he wanted an Earth-grade room, the traveling merchant picked up the paper and pen on the counter and pulled Meng Meng Jingzhou behind him.

Meng Meng Jingzhou suddenly realized and remembered that Rule 17 was to ask the innkeeper if there were questions inside the inn, and to ask the pharmacy owner if there were questions outside the inn, but one could not speak to them. The traveling merchant wrote on the paper: Are you the owner of this inn? The owner wrote: Yes. The traveling merchant took out a silver ingot and wrote: Open an Earth-grade room where no one has died. The owner took out three keys, on which was written "Earth-grade Room 7".

The two looked at each other and walked to the second floor. They noticed there were ten rooms in total on the second floor, of which eight doors were white, and only Earth-grade Room 8 and Earth-grade Room 7 were brown. Earth-grade Room 8 was Lu Yang's, and Earth-grade Room 7 was theirs.

The two walked in, and only after sitting on the bed did they let out a sigh of relief, noticing their hearts were beating very fast. "Has your family never told you about this kind of thing?" the traveling merchant asked.

"Absolutely not. I didn't even know the ability of the Integration stage was to modify reality and set rules. I look at those Integration stage elders in our family; they spend all day raising birds, growing flowers, fishing, and cursing in the streets. They don't look like people with that kind of ability at all!" The traveling merchant deeply agreed; he also hadn't seen the elders of the Wen Dao Sect being so powerful. If one were to say Senior Sister had this kind of ability, he wouldn't believe it. At the very least, her aura matched the ability. Footsteps sounded, the pace very heavy; it should be a person...

A knock sounded on the opposite door, the voice gentle, the posture very low: "Guest, are you asleep? The boss accidentally gave you all the keys. I can't open the door. There is freshly made dinner here, free of charge. Please open the door, and I will send it in for you!"

The guest in Room 8 was not stupid; knowing this reeked of strangeness, they strictly followed the rules and did not respond to the other party. Seeing the guest wouldn't open the door, the knocking became heavier and heavier, the 'bang-bang-bang' sound audible throughout the entire hallway. "Guest, open the door!" "Open the door!"

"I'm telling you to open the door, did you hear me!" "Do you believe I'll smash this door down!"

The other party dropped the disguise and knocked violently. Fortunately, the door was of high quality and wasn't hammered open. Seeing Lu Yang wasn't falling for it, the other party switched back to the original gentle tone: "Then I'll leave the food at the door." Lu Yang still did not respond.

The other party used the same trick, knocking on the door of the traveling merchant and the other, first gently opening the door, then the voice became louder and louder, increasingly unable to hide their true nature. Still, no one fell for it. Footsteps sounded, and the other party left.

"That's not right. These footsteps are too short; it doesn't sound like they went downstairs or upstairs at all. They are still on the second floor!" The traveling merchant felt a chill in his heart.

In his mind, he imagined a scene: the other party pressing their hands against the walls, hiding at the top, waiting for Meng Meng Jingzhou to relax, secretly opening the door to get the food, then descending from the sky and pouncing on the other party... It was unknown if the traveling merchant and Lu Yang had the same thought, or if they were just naturally cautious, but they had no intention of opening the door.

"Let's sleep." Meng Meng Jingzhou yawned. The rules said to be sure to sleep before the Hour of the Zi, which was before 11:00 PM. He took a quilt out of the cabinet, spread it on the floor, and took the initiative to sleep on it.

Then he blew out the candle. The room was pitch black, and the thin moonlight from outside shone through the paper window into the room. Meng Meng Jingzhou looked out the window, and his heart stopped.

A black human shadow appeared outside the window, swaying left and right, as if clinging to the window sill, straining its neck to look inside. The problem was that this was the second floor. How tall was the other party?!

"Check if the window is latched!" Lu Yang shouted suddenly. He remembered the rules saying not to open the window! After coming in, they had only focused on locking the door and had forgotten about the window. They didn't know if the window was latched or unlatched! The two moved extremely fast and discovered the window was indeed unlatched. Before the other party could knock on the window, they hurriedly latched it. Through the window, they saw the humanoid black shadow outside, their hearts pounding. The two passed the first night without any danger. (Added for Alliance Leader Shu Tanchi)

End of Chapter. Quick Book Library, My Bookshelf.