Chapter 133: Corpse Activity is a Normal Phenomenon

When the two returned to their room, they chanced upon the two itinerant merchants. The merchants, who had been quite overbearing just yesterday, were uncharacteristically friendly today, even inviting the duo in for a seat, but Lu Yang, unwilling to have excessive contact with them, flatly refused.

Undeterred by the rejection, the merchants simply closed their room door.

The sound of the gong echoed once more, the night watchman crying out, "The hour of Hai has arrived."

Clack, clack, clack; the rhythmic sound of footsteps drifted down the hallway again as the waiter, his eyes completely pitch-black, wandered through the corridor.

The waiter tapped lightly on the door opposite theirs: "Honored guests, are you in? Please open the door."

Just when the two assumed it would unfold exactly as it had the previous night—with the merchants resolutely refusing to open up and the waiter's knocking growing louder until it became deafening.

Creak—

The door opposite them swung open.

One of the merchants was horrified by his companion's action: "What—what are you doing! Why did you open the door!"

"Close it, close it quick!"

"If you want to die, don't drag me down with you!"

"Why won't the door close!"

Though there were clearly two merchants, from beginning to end only one of them spoke; the other made no sound whatsoever, which was exceedingly uncanny.

"Don't—don't come over here, ah—"

Following a heart-rending shriek from across the hall, everything fell dead silent.

"What happened? The merchants aren't stupid, why would he open the door on his own?" A wave of chill welled up from the depths of Meng Jingzhou's heart.

Lu Yang pondered for a moment, struck by a possibility: "Do you remember the person we saw killed by the official bailiffs this morning? He returned from the dead, looking no different from a living person."

"The rules stated that moving corpses are a normal phenomenon, but the rules never mentioned corpses coming back to life!"

"Was that person who returned from the dead this morning really still himself?"

Meng Jingzhou's eyes widened: "Are you saying... one of the merchants was already dead, but his companion didn't realize it?"

Lu Yang nodded: "Yes, that is exactly what I mean!"

Meng Jingzhou's scalp went numb. Seeing the bustling crowds on the street today, he had thought not many had fallen victim, but now it seemed that there were likely quite a few living dead roaming the streets during the day!

A violent pounding on the door erupted once more, and this time, it was Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou's own door that was being struck.

"Help, save me quickly! The waiter is going to kill me!"

"Open the door, hurry up and open the door!"

"I beg you to show some mercy and save me! I can give you gold, spirit stones, and the location of a ruined paradise cave-dwelling!"

"Don't kill me—"

Immediately following came the dull thuds of an axe hacking into flesh and cleaving into bone, accompanied by the agonized screams of the merchant.

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou exchanged a glance and both resolved not to open the door; all signs of life across the hall had clearly vanished just moments ago, so this sudden plea for help was wrong no matter how one looked at it, bizarre and surreal.

Furthermore, Lu Yang had learned from the Immortal Fairy that the two traveling merchants were by no means decent folk, so there was no need to save them.

The merchant's voice faded, replaced once more by the waiter's gentle tapping at the door: "Two honored guests, are you in? Please open the door."

"Two honored guests, are you in? Please open the door!"

"I told the two of you to open the door!"

"Open the damn door for me!"

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

Whether it was due to the excellent quality of the door or the constraints of the rules, the waiter did not manage to force the door open as he wished.

Lu Yang heard the waiter's footsteps ascending the stairs, presumably returning directly to the Heaven-tier room.

The monsters outside the window did not reappear; the night passed in safety.

The next day, upon leaving the inn during the hour of Si, Lu Yang noticed that the door opposite them had changed from brown to black, and the two merchants emerged from the room chatting and laughing, smiling as they greeted Lu Yang.

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

Lu Yang's gaze froze; the two merchants no longer needed to abide by the ordinary rules.

Meng Jingzhou could not help but ask, "Which one of you was crying out for help last night?"

The two merchants looked utterly bewildered, their expressions seemingly genuine: "Crying for help? Who was crying for help?"

Unable to gauge the true state of the merchants, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou refrained from saying more and left in a hurry.

During the day today, the two had been shadowing the official bailiffs from a distance, discovering that the bailiffs only ate one meal a day, and it had to be meat buns.

Meng Jingzhou had once stolen a meat bun, and upon breaking it open, he saw that besides meat, there were things resembling fingernails and hair inside.

After the bailiffs finished their meal, they would walk the streets, herding the crowd like ducks; if some unfortunate soul accidentally turned their head, they would suffer a gruesome death on the spot and then revive.

"Did you notice? The bailiffs walked through the entire town, yet they specifically avoided the vicinity of the private school!"

Lu Yang spread out a map, which he had drawn while wandering the town yesterday; labeled on the map were the carriage crash site, the inn, the private school, the tailor shop, the medicine shop, and the official magistrate's office.

The map was drawn in an indescribable manner, but the good news was that since he drew it himself, he could understand it.

"It seems the rules they follow are not the same, and they are not a monolithic entity either!" Meng Jingzhou smiled; this was good news, it just depended on how they could utilize this information.

While walking down the street, the two noticed shadows flitting inside a thatched hut through the paper windows.

The rules demanded that one must not return to the thatched huts or the inn before the hour of Xu; what manner of things could the people inside the thatched hut be?

"It seems this town still holds many rules we know nothing about."

Different identities required adhering to different rules; Lu Yang felt that the ancient cultivators of the Body Integration Stage must have been dreadfully bored.

"Fairy, can you see the situation outside? How is my master's battle going?"

The Immortal Fairy clicked her tongue in admiration: "Your master's comprehension of the Dao of the Sword runs incredibly deep; even fighting one against four, he shows no sign of falling into a disadvantage."

Lu Yang nodded; then he could rest easy.

The two returned to the inn, and Lu Yang wrote a line of words on a slip of paper, handing 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 matters of the town to outsiders, but the innkeeper could, which proved that the innkeeper was not a local.

The innkeeper had not expected Lu Yang to ask this question and wrote down the word: Yes.

Lu Yang wrote: A mortal or a cultivator?

The innkeeper wrote: Ninth layer of Qi Condensation.

Lu Yang wrote: How did you become the innkeeper?

The innkeeper wrote: I cannot say.

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

The innkeeper wrote: What I follow are the Cloth-Gown Town Inn Rules; the specific rules cannot be told to you.

Lu Yang wrote again: Do you want to leave?

The innkeeper's right hand trembled slightly: Yes.

Lu Yang produced his identity jade medallion: The two of us are disciples of the Dao Seeking Sect who entered this place by mistake, and we also wish to leave.

Upon learning they were disciples of the Dao Sect, the innkeeper grew even more agitated, his hand trembling as he wrote: What do you need?

Lu Yang wrote back: Take off your white clothes.

The innkeeper froze at the sight of Lu Yang's demand, never expecting such a request.

The regulations he bound himself to dictated that he fulfill a guest's wishes as much as possible within the rules, with the exception of those violating basic ethics and morality; there was no mention of a ban on stripping off garments.

The innkeeper shed his white robes and handed them over to Lu Yang.

Securing the clothes, Lu Yang returned to the room with Meng Jingzhou.

"They've been knocking on our door for two days straight—tonight, it's our turn!" Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou let out a chilling laugh.