Chapter 130: Rules

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty: Rules

"What's happening?" The sudden plummeting of the flying carriage left Meng Jingzhou utterly astounded.

Cold sweat beaded on Lu Yang's forehead as he desperately pushed his Flying Sword Art to its limits, yet the carriage continued its descent; he had lost all control of the Green Peak Sword, unable to sense its very existence.

Daoist Buyu said in a low, heavy voice, "Spiritual energy cannot flow in this place. All spells have ceased to function!"

"What?!"

Daoist Buyu, well-traveled and deeply experienced, had a rough idea of what had occurred, and if his suspicions were correct, the three of them had met with truly atrocious luck.

Yet now was not the time for such talk; the pressing urgency lay in saving Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.

Rising, he tore open the roof of the carriage, slinging Lu Yang under one arm and Meng Jingzhou under the other, pinning them to his waist before leaping down.

Though spiritual energy was barred here, the physical body suffered no restriction, and as a grand master of the Body Integration Stage, Daoist Buyu could leap directly from the high heavens without suffering a scratch.

Lu Yang tried several times to force his eyes open and assess the situation, but the raging gales of the descent prevented both him and Meng Jingzhou from doing so.

Seeing that they were on the verge of hitting the ground, Daoist Buyu released his grip, gently cushioning the two as he struck the earth first, his impact smashing a deep crater into the ground, immediately after which Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou landed, caught by Daoist Buyu in an interval of less than a second.

Had Daoist Buyu held them tight as they hit the ground, he himself would have been unscathed, but Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou could never have endured such an impact, leaving them dead or severely maimed!

"Pant... pant... pant!" Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou gasped, their souls yet to settle; this excursion was unique indeed, their carriage crashing the moment they left the gates.

"Where is this?" Lu Yang knit his brows, discovering that they were in a small town, utterly ordinary in appearance, leaving him entirely at a loss as to why spiritual energy could not function here.

"Why has no one come out?" Lu Yang noticed a new anomaly; it was just past the hour of Hai, and the din of the carriage's crash had been immense, yet not a single soul had emerged to investigate.

Could this town be devoid of life, a place of the dead?

No, candles flickered within the thatched cottages and the inn, and silhouettes could be seen flitting past the paper windows; there were certainly people.

What was going on?

Lu Yang felt that this place exuded a bizarre, unsettling strangeness.

He looked toward Meng Jingzhou, who shook his head, equally ignorant of the circumstances.

Daoist Buyu walked over to the wreckage of the carriage, dragging the Green Peak Sword from beneath the debris; the weapon had been gifted to Lu Yang by Yun Zhi and was of supreme quality, meaning a crash of this magnitude could not inflict the slightest damage upon it.

"Take it for self-defense." Daoist Buyu handed the Green Peak Sword to Lu Yang, his former jovial demeanor completely vanished, replaced by a solemn gravity.

Daoist Buyu discovered that the suppression of spiritual energy here was incredibly severe; even he could not mobilize a shred of it.

Suddenly, a piece of paper materialized in the hands of all three men, densely packed with words written on both sides.

Rules of Buyi Town

Rule One: No spiritual qi exists within the boundaries of the town; spiritual energy cannot be utilized.

Rule Two: From the hour of Hai to the hour of Chen, thatched cottages with closed doors and rooms within the inn with closed doors are absolutely safe; all other places are dangerous.

Rule Three: You must leave the thatched cottages and the inn during the hour of Si; you must not return to them before the hour of Xu.

Rule Four: Ensure you fall asleep before the hour of Zi.

Rule Five: You must not enter the Tian-character room.

Rule Six: If you hear knocking at the door or windows while inside a thatched cottage or the inn, do not open them, regardless of what the person outside says.

Rule Seven: There are only spotted dogs and white dogs within the town, no black dogs; if you see a black dog, flee immediately.

Rule Eight: The private school has been abandoned for many years; there is no schoolmaster in the town. Only the barking of dogs will echo from the school, never the sound of reading.

Rule Nine: The one dressed in grey clothing is the schoolmaster; if you encounter him, you must pretend not to hear him, regardless of what he says.

Rule Ten: Do not lock eyes with the schoolmaster; if you do, you will turn into a black dog.

Rule Eleven: All food within the town is provided free of charge and may be taken at will, but you must not eat meat buns.

Rule Twelve: Be wary of government officials; those dressed in black clothing belong to the government. If you encounter them, flee immediately and do not look back, no matter what they call out.

Rule Thirteen: If you feel that someone is following you, firmly believe it to be an illusion; under no circumstances show anxiety or irritation.

Rule Fourteen: The body of a human after death is called a corpse; it is normal for a corpse to move.

Rule Fifteen: If you have questions inside the inn, ask the innkeeper; if you have questions outside the inn, ask the apothecary owner. However, you must not speak to them.

Rule Sixteen: After entering the black door, do not speak, and do not eat anything inside.

Rule Seventeen: Do not easily believe the words of strangers, but those dressed in white clothing speak only the truth.

Rule Eighteen: There is a man-eating monster in the ancestral hall.

Rule Nineteen: The ancestral hall is safe.

Rule Twenty: The residents of this town must not disclose anything regarding the town to outsiders.

Rule Twenty-one: Upon leaving the town or killing the town mayor, compliance with the Rules of Buyi Town is no longer required.

The white paper was covered front and back with rules, and once Lu Yang finished reading, it vanished into thin air.

"What is this?" A sense of the absurd bloomed within Lu Yang; the rules hummed with an ominous foreboding.

"A trick conjured by a cultivator of the Body Integration Stage!" Daoist Buyu said grimly; seeing these twenty-one rules, he was finally certain of his conjecture.

There was a master of the Body Integration Stage present, and judging by the suppression exerted upon himself, there was more than one!

"Disciple, young Meng, have either of you heard of the phrase 'the great era is nigh'?"

The two nodded, yet remained somewhat perplexed; the concept of a looming great era was far too vague, and they remained ignorant of what it specifically entailed.

"The arrival of a great era manifests in many ways, one of which is the awakening of powerful figures from other eras from their slumber!"

"Now, the spiritual mechanisms are clear and the dao rhymes are active, making it easier to cultivate and comprehend the grand dao; some even say one can attain immortality!"

"The eras of Da Gan and Da Yu produced countless great masters, yet trapped by their own comprehension, they could progress no further. To this end, they devised a method of slumber, using spiritual stone marrow as a vessel to seal themselves and enter a state of suspended animation, waiting until the dao rhymes grew active to awaken."

"When their consciousness awakens, their bodies have not yet fully revived, requiring a period of time. Consequently, they will employ all manner of means to protect themselves and keep their whereabouts hidden."

"Demarcating an area, establishing rules, and imprisoning those who stumble inside is one such method."

"Do you know the difference between the Void Refinement Stage and the Body Integration Stage?"

The two shook their heads; such matters were still a distant prospect for them.

"The difference lies in whether one has mastered rules."

"Rules?" Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou repeated subconsciously.

"A cultivator of the Body Integration Stage can alter the rules of reality within a certain range based upon their own will. However, the modified rules cannot excessively violate common sense; for instance, one cannot decree oneself invincible or immortal within an area."

"The river spirit trial and the Mind-Questioning Mountain trial you encountered upon entering the sect were both manifestations of rules."

"A Body Integration cultivator's grasp over rules is relatively weak, necessitating the establishment of multiple regulations to restrict the actions of people within those rules."

"The mastery of rules differs for those of the Tribulation Transmutation Stage and Immortals. Immortals are the most exaggerated; upon attaining immortality, they condense a Dao Fruit, which is the very symbol of a rule, its power blanketing the entire world."

Lu Yang recalled the Dao Fruit of the Immortal Fairy—so long as someone chanted her honorable title and immortal name, she could resurrect.

From the outcome, the individual known as the Immortal Fairy was deathless and indestructible.

Yet on a global scale, this meant the Immortal Fairy could transcend all constraints of time, space, soul, and flesh to resurrect directly, a defiance of the world's common sense that could only be described as terrifying!

Lu Yang shared his hypothesis with the Immortal Fairy, who nodded, confirming his thoughts: "Not a grand age, but your mind spins quickly enough."

Lu Yang had no spare mind to heed the Immortal Fairy's teasing for the moment, listening as Daoist Buyu continued, "Judging by the rules, only this small town lies within the opponent's control. The range of rules mastered by a Body Integration cultivator is not this small; the opponent is afraid of being discovered by the Immortals of the Great Xia Dynasty!"

"A rule that can even restrict me implies the opponent has more than one Fusion Stage cultivator."

Daoist Buyu revealed a ferocious glint in his eyes, his gaze sharp as a sword: "The Five Great Immortal Sects and the Great Xia Dynasty have already joined forces to eliminate many awakening Fusion Stage cultivators. It seems today I need to rid the world of a few more!"

He flicked his horsetail whisk, its hairs as fine as ox-hair, unleashing tens of millions of sword qi currents.

The Dao of the Sword was the very foundation of Daoist Buyu, a path he had comprehended for a lifetime; even without utilizing spiritual energy, he could still invoke the sword qi!

The sword qi bombarded the barrier of the small town, and unable to withstand the onslaught, the barrier was blasted open with a gap.

At the gap, four figures awaited Daoist Buyu—there truly was more than one Fusion Stage cultivator!

The rules they had established were rules they themselves had to obey; they could not use spiritual energy inside the town, so they intended to deal with Daoist Buyu outside of it.

"Kill him!"

Daoist Buyu laughed long and loud, taking great strides as he walked out of the town, releasing the overwhelming pressure of the peak Fusion Stage to confront the four opponents!

"You think a pack of worthless trash like you can kill me?"

Before leaving, he left a final word for Lu Yang and the other: "This battle may last for several days. You two stay alive and well in the town!"

The gap healed, and Daoist Buyu vanished outside the town.

There is one more update today.

(End of Chapter)