Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou knew that despite Bu Yu Taoist's heroic performance, this battle was destined to be far from over.
The best way would be for Bu Yu Taoist to take them and escape from here. However, he didn't choose to do so, indicating that he didn't have confidence in protecting them from the awakened ancient combined-stage cultivator.
Lu Yang performed a set of Senior Sister's mimetic boxing, trying to summon Senior Sister. However, he found that he couldn't use spiritual power, not even transform.
Indeed, Lu's mimetic boxing was a spell.
Meng Jingzhou tested his current level and said, "Although I can't use magic power, there hasn't been much change in physical strength."
That was good news.
"What time is it now?"
Lu Yang remembered that the second rule stated, "From Hai hour to Chen hour, the thatched houses with closed doors and the rooms in the closed-door inn are absolutely safe. Any other place is dangerous."
Hai hour to Chen hour was from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m.
"We crashed during Hai hour, and now the streets are empty. People must have gone home. We must find a place to stay or go to an inn!"
There were several thatched houses nearby with lights on. Meng Jingzhou knocked on the door and politely said, "Fellow villagers, we are cultivators who have mistakenly come to this place. Could you please open the door and let us stay for the night? We will definitely show our gratitude. You can choose any amount of gold spirit stones!"
Meng Jingzhou tried several houses in a row, but none of them opened the door.
Lu Yang stopped him and said, "Don't waste your energy. Haven't you forgotten that the sixth rule states that you absolutely cannot open the door when you hear knocking? There must be more than just us in Buyi Town. There are ordinary people who also need to follow the rules."
The nineteenth rule stated, "The people of this town cannot reveal anything about this town to outsiders," which indicated that Buyi Town had indigenous people.
Meng Jingzhou wanted to say something, but Lu Yang made a hushing gesture.
The sound of footsteps came from not far away. The footsteps were heavy and had a long interval between each step, indicating a large body size. The frequency of the footsteps sounded like it had four legs or even more. Lu Yang didn't know what kind of monster it was.
Lu Yang could even see the shadow of the monster around the corner.
"Run!" Lu Yang whispered and hurriedly ran away with Meng Jingzhou.
Before knowing the opponent's realm and abilities, they couldn't rashly confront such an opponent.
The two ran in the direction of the monster. The monster didn't notice them and they quickly got rid of it.
They stopped and listened carefully to the nearby movements, confirming that there were no monsters before cautiously walking on the street and finding an inn.
The inn was brightly lit, and there was a person in white lazily lying on the counter. There were also two people dressed as traveling merchants discussing which room to stay in.
"Finally found an inn. I'm exhausted. Give us two rooms with the highest grade." One of the traveling merchants slapped a silver ingot on the counter.
His companion quickly stopped him and said, "Have you forgotten what it said on that paper? We can't stay in the highest-grade rooms!"
"Do you really believe that paper?"
"Better to believe it than not." His companion took the silver ingot and looked at the white paper. He felt uneasy and thought that this town was too strange. They must leave early tomorrow morning.
He forced a smile and said to the person in white, "Please give us two rooms with the middle grade."
The person in white took the silver ingot without giving any change and directly gave them three keys. "A group of people can only rent one room. There are only three keys for Room Three of the middle grade."
The traveling merchant frowned. This inn was too deceitful. How could a middle-grade room be worth so much money?
Lu Yang reminded them, "You must follow the rules on the white paper."
The companion of the traveling merchant remembered that the rules said not to easily trust the words of strangers. He couldn't figure out Lu Yang's intentions and quickly went upstairs.
Meng Jingzhou was about to say that they should take a middle-grade room when Lu Yang picked up the pen and paper on the counter and pulled Meng Jingzhou behind him.
Meng Jingzhou suddenly realized and remembered the fifteenth rule, which stated, "If there is a problem inside the inn, ask the innkeeper. If there is a problem outside the inn, ask the medicine shop owner, but you cannot speak to them."
Lu Yang wrote on the paper, "Are you the owner of this inn?"
The owner wrote back, "Yes."
Lu Yang took out a silver ingot and wrote, "Open a middle-grade room that has never had anyone die in it."
The owner handed them three keys with "Room Four of the middle grade" written on them.
The two exchanged glances and went to the second floor. They noticed that there were a total of ten rooms on the second floor, with eight rooms having black doors and only Room Three and Room Four of the middle grade having brown doors.
Room Three belonged to the traveling merchant, and Room Four belonged to them.
They entered the room and sat on the bed, finally feeling relieved, but they realized that their hearts were beating fast.
"Hasn't your family ever told you about this kind of thing?" Lu Yang asked.
"Not at all. I didn't even know that the abilities of the combined-stage cultivators are to modify reality and set rules. I've seen our combined-stage elders raising birds, growing flowers, fishing, and cursing in the streets all day long. They don't seem like people with such abilities!"
Lu Yang agreed deeply. He also didn't realize that the elders of the Seek Tao Sect were so powerful.
He believed that Senior Sister had such abilities, at the very least, her style matched the abilities.
Footsteps sounded, but they were light, indicating that it was a person.
Knocking came from the opposite room, with a gentle voice and a humble attitude. "Guests, are you asleep? The owner accidentally gave you all three keys. I can't open the door. Here is the freshly made dinner, free of charge. Please open the door and I will bring it in for you!"
The guest in Room Three was not stupid and knew that something was amiss. Following the rules, they didn't respond to the person.
The person outside became more and more insistent with their knocking, making loud banging sounds that could be heard throughout the corridor.
"Guests, open the door!"
"Open the door!"
"I told you to open the door, didn't you hear me?"
"Believe it or not, I'll break down this door!"
The person removed their disguise and started pounding on the door. Fortunately, the door was of high quality and couldn't be broken.
Seeing that the traveling merchant didn't fall for it, the person changed back to their original gentle tone. "Then I'll leave the food at the door."
The traveling merchant still didn't respond.The other party repeated their old trick, knocking on the door of Lu Yang and his companion. The knocking started gently, but the sound gradually grew louder, revealing their true nature more and more.
Still, no one fell for it.
Footsteps sounded, indicating the other party had left.
"No, these footsteps are too short. It doesn't sound like they're going downstairs or upstairs. They're still on the second floor!" A chill ran down Lu Yang's spine.
A scene formed in his mind: the other party propping themselves against the wall, hiding at the top, waiting for the merchants to let their guard down and sneakily open the door to get food, then swooping down on them…
Whether the merchants shared Lu Yang's thoughts or were just naturally cautious, they showed no intention of opening the door.
"Let's sleep." Meng Jingzhou yawned. According to the rules, they had to sleep before Zi Shi, which was before eleven o'clock at night.
He took a quilt out of the cabinet, spread it on the floor, and voluntarily slept on the bottom.
Then he blew out the candle, and the room plunged into darkness. The thin moonlight outside shone through the paper window into the room.
Meng Jingzhou looked out the window, and his heart skipped a beat.
A black figure appeared outside the window, swaying from side to side, as if clinging to the window sill, straining their neck to look inside.
The problem was, this was the second floor. How tall was this person?!
"Check if the window is bolted!" Lu Yang suddenly shouted, remembering the rule that windows should not be opened!
After they came in, they were only concerned about locking the door and forgot about the window. They didn't even know if the window was closed or bolted!
The two acted swiftly and found that the window was indeed not bolted. They managed to bolt it just before the other party knocked on the window.
Seeing the human-shaped shadow outside through the window, their hearts pounded.
The two had a close call but managed to get through the first night unscathed.
(Extra update for Alliance Master who loves to eat)
(End of this chapter)