Chapter 136: No Way to Clear the Trial?

hi, Account: Chapter 136: No Way to Clear the Night Stage:

The apothecary owner leisurely continued, "This place was arranged by several great cultivators of the Body Integration Stage, who established the laws. The array possesses gates of both life and death; the Heavenly Dao always leaves a thread of vitality, so the rules decreed here must inevitably contain a path to survival."

"Yet those great cultivators of the Body Integration Stage were truly unwilling to let anyone depart, hence they devised such a specious rule."

"It serves their interests, while still respecting the principle that the Heavenly Dao leaves a thread of hope."

Suppressing a powerful urge to curse their mothers, Lu Yang continued to write: Then how does one kill the town mayor?

The apothecary owner remarked, "He cannot be killed. The mayor possesses an undying body, so how exactly do you intend to slay him?"

Meng Jingzhou clenched his fists tightly, cursing in his heart every single one of those Body Integration cultivators who had established the rules.

It would have been better not to lay down the twenty-first rule at all—what difference was there between having this rule and not having it?!

Lu Yang’s expression was not particularly pleasant either, yet he remained reasonably calm, knowing that shouting obscenities would not resolve their plight, so he continued to write: Where is the town mayor?

The apothecary owner gave a soft chuckle, "Do you two truly still harbor thoughts of killing the mayor? Regrettably, I do not know the mayor's location. However, you might go and ask the official bailiffs; after all, they are considered the closest to him. As for whether they will speak or not, that is none of my concern."

Just before they departed, the apothecary owner called out once more, "Seeing that you genuinely wish to leave this place, let me offer you a word of warning. The mayor is capable of knowing everything that transpires within the town; this is his ability, so you must be cautious."

Meng Jingzhou was just about to politely offer his thanks when he remembered they could not speak to the apothecary owner, leaving him to merely nod to show he understood. Domain.xsiqu.a

From beginning to end, Lu Yang remained entirely unmoved.

"Do you believe everything this apothecary owner said is the truth?" Meng Jingzhou asked in a hushed whisper.

Lu Yang did not reply until they had walked a considerable distance away from the apothecary shop, whereupon he sneered, "Constrained by the rules, what he spoke was naturally the truth, but it does not mean he stands upon our side."

"Do you know what the greatest difference between him and the innkeeper is?"

"What?"

"The apothecary owner tried every means possible to make us speak."

Startled, Meng Jingzhou came to a sudden realization. When communicating with the innkeeper, both sides had utilized written text, but throughout their exchange with the apothecary owner, their side had been writing while the apothecary owner spoke.

When one party speaks, the other party, if momentarily careless, will answer aloud using their voice.

"Old scheming bastard," Meng Jingzhou cursed under his breath, before feeling something was amiss again, "Since he wishes to harm us, why did he still warn us that the mayor knows everything that happens in the town?"

Without a second thought, Lu Yang stated directly, "He sees that we are exhausting all methods to leave this place and that he cannot stop us, so he threw in another crucial piece of information to let us know the mayor is invincible."

"This is highly likely to yield two outcomes: either we give up on leaving, or we panic and throw our own ranks into chaos, defeating ourselves without a fight."

Meng Jingzhou clicked his tongue, sensing the immense trouble ahead, "Right now, the most troublesome matter is that the mayor can know what happens to us. Even if we devise a way to leave, the mayor can still stop us!"

How were they to manage a stealthy escape right under the mayor's nose?

Lu Yang fell into deep contemplation for a moment, when suddenly a flash of inspiration struck his mind, conceiving a solution.

Producing paper and brush, he wrote upon the page: Let us communicate through writing; perhaps it might diminish the mayor's attention upon us.

Meng Jingzhou nodded.

Lu Yang continued to write: Do you still remember the jade pendants the sect bestowed upon us? Every single jade pendant is a symbol of identity. Once a pendant shatters, the sect will actively dispatch people to investigate the situation. The jade is too hard for us to crush by hand, but we can hurl it into the exit, where the astral winds of the passage will grind it to pieces.

Meng Jingzhou's eyes lit up, and after making a quick mental calculation, he found this to be a truly marvelous strategy.

Meng Jingzhou also wrote: Then how shall we deal with the town mayor?

Lu Yang wrote: We must figure out the mayor's pattern of movement, starting first with the bailiffs.

The two of them sketched and wrote upon the paper, formulating a detailed plan, before burning the written page entirely to ashes, pretending as though absolutely nothing had occurred.

As Lu Yang walked along, he arrived near the private school. The sound of reading aloud echoed just as it always did, though according to the Immortal Fairy, this was actually the sound of dogs barking, which under the influence of the rules had transformed into the cadence of reading.

If anyone failed to suppress their curiosity and attempted to enter the school, the reading sounds would revert to barking dogs, and something unfortunate would transpire.

The schoolmaster stepped before Lu Yang, continuing his attempts to persuade him to enter the school, but Lu Yang lowered his head, turning a completely deaf ear to the words.

The schoolmaster was remarkably eloquent, his words flowing in an endless torrent, "My friend, we meet again. You come here all alone, so it appears you have had a falling out with your companion. This proves that deep down in your heart, you still believe my words. Do not trust the dictums written upon the rules; the rules are nine parts truth and one part falsehood, you cannot tell them apart..."

Just as the schoolmaster intended to launch a sudden surprise upon Lu Yang, abruptly bending his waist to force eye contact with the bowed youth, his vision suddenly went entirely black, utterly oblivious to what had occurred.

The schoolmaster had focused his entire attention upon Lu Yang, allowing Meng Jingzhou to stealthily slip around to the rear and ensnare him within a burlap sack.

The two rubbed their hands together in anticipation; they had been thoroughly frightened by the schoolmaster last time, but now they no longer feared his gaze and were absolutely determined to have their revenge!

Those of the demonic sect were mostly people of passionate temperament who never left a grievance unavenged, a trait vividly mirrored in Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.

"Strike!"

The two unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks, showing absolutely no mercy to the schoolmaster.

Never had the schoolmaster encountered such an ordeal, wailing repeatedly, "Stop hitting me, stop hitting me!"

Rule Nine: The one wearing a grey robe is the schoolmaster. If you encounter the schoolmaster, regardless of what the other party says, you must pretend you did not hear it.

Both of them were soft-hearted fellows who would normally cease their assault upon a plea for mercy, but unfortunately, constrained by the rules, whatever the schoolmaster said had to be treated as unheard.

There was no helping it; they could only continue the beating.

Finally, the two let out a long breath, their hearts thoroughly comforted by the thrashing. Before leaving, Meng Jingzhou even spat upon the ground, "Bah, scum, don't let me run into you again."

Arm-in-arm, the two returned to the inn, leaving the schoolmaster to break free from the burlap sack, staring at their receding figures with a fiercely murderous gaze.

"Don't let me run into you two again!"

At the hour of Si on the fourth day, the two arrived at the eatery downstairs, which was the only place in the entire town that offered meat buns.

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

Considering that the meat buns cost nothing, even if they could not eat them, they had to carry them away. The two swept every single meat bun into a bundle to take with them, utilizing the very same burlap sack they had used to trap the schoolmaster yesterday.

When the bailiffs clad in black garments arrived at the eatery just as they did every day, they discovered that not a single meat bun remained.

"Who did this!" the bailiffs roared in fury.

According to the rules for the bailiffs of Cottoncloth Town, they could only consume meat buns each day. Now that the meat buns were gone, what were they supposed to eat?!

"Chief, look at those two over there, aren't they carrying our meat buns on their backs?" One bailiff possessed a keen sense of smell, catching the scent.

Seeing the bailiffs turn their gaze toward them, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou knew the matter was exposed and hastily took flight.

What had merely been suspicion now turned to absolute certainty, "It is definitely them, pursue!"

"You two bastards stop right there!"

Lu Yang called back even as he sprinted, "We can't! Rule Twelve states that if you encounter people of the government, flee immediately. I am merely acting according to the rules, so do not make things difficult for the two of us."

The leader of the bailiffs was stamping with rage, "But the damn rules didn't say you could take away the meat buns!"

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou moved their legs with flying speed, leaving the bailiffs entirely unable to keep pace with them.

(End of Chapter)