The Medicine Shop

"How many people in this inn are dangerous?" Lu Yang first wanted to determine the sources of danger here, and whether the waiter was the only one. The waiter, dressed in white, shakily raised two fingers. "T-Two." "Who!" "The two of you." Meng Jingzhou stepped forward and kicked him. "Be honest!" The waiter felt completely helpless. In these white clothes, he couldn't lie—the two of them really were the most dangerous people in the inn. Lu Yang adjusted his question. "To ordinary people, how many people in this inn are dangerous?" "Just me," the waiter answered truthfully. "Between you and the innkeeper, who is stronger?" "I am. But we have to follow different rules, and he inherently counters me." "Is your power in Heaven-rank rooms the same as in other places?" "No. Based on the rules, I am stronger in Heaven-rank rooms." "Is there anyone else like you who possesses different levels of power in different places?" "Yes. For instance, the things inside the thatched cottages during the day. They are very strong inside the cottages and can travel freely between them. But once they leave the cottages, their strength becomes no different from an ordinary person's, and they lose the power to travel between them. I don't know what those things actually are, though." "Anyone else? What about the black-clothed government runners and the gray-clothed private school teacher? Do they have power enhancements?" "No. But they were cultivators originally, so their strength is far greater than an ordinary person's." "What is the relationship between the runners and the schoolteacher?" "I'd guess they don't get along well and might even be competing. For example, like the runners, I have to kill a certain number of people before I can leave the town. I'm not clear on the schoolteacher's exact situation, but the requirement is probably the same." "Do you know where the town mayor is?" "I heard the mayor is inside the government office. I've never seen him come out." "How do you kill the mayor?" "I don't know." "What are the mayor's powers and abilities?" "I don't know." "Where is the ancestral hall?" "The ancestral hall can't be found during the day. It only appears when the Hai hour arrives." The waiter answered every question, behaving quite cooperatively. What the waiter revealed matched the deductions Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had already made fairly closely. With nothing left to ask, Lu Yang got to work, stripping off the waiter's white clothes before running him through with a sword to send him on his way. As a Demonic Cult Branch Master, how could he possibly leave any loose ends alive? "Good thing you took them off beforehand, or the white clothes would've gotten ruined." Meng Jingzhou stretched lazily. "Finally, we can get a peaceful night's sleep." Lu Yang felt the same. Tonight had yielded quite a harvest, and there would be no more annoying knocking at the door. The two searched the body and found the Inn Rules on him, but having already figured those out, the paper was of little use. "Our rules vanished after a single reading. If we didn't have good memories, we'd have forgotten them long ago. But people like him get to keep their rules to ensure they don't misremember. Looks like the waiter and his kind get treated completely differently from us." At the Si hour on the third day, the nightwatchman's gong woke them. Yawning, both felt remarkably well-rested. Having heard the waiter's cries for help and the various rackets during the night, the innkeeper decided to go upstairs in the morning to check on him. When he saw the gruesome state of the waiter's corpse, he fell into a long silence. *Are these two really from the righteous path?* Upon leaving the inn, Lu Yang even left a note for the innkeeper: *The white clothes work well. Lend them to us for two more days.* What Lu Yang failed to notice was the hint of dread in the innkeeper's eyes as he watched them go. Besides, the tone of this note sounded far too much like an overbearing demonic cultivator who never paid his debts. It gave off the distinct vibe of: *Nice stuff. Let yours truly borrow it; once I'm sick of playing with it, I'll return it to you.* *Must be my imagination, right?* Evidently, the innkeeper knew very little about the Dao Seeking Sect. For low-level cultivators like him, their perception of a colossal titan like the Dao Seeking Sect came mostly from hearsay. And hearsay, most of the time, was unreliable. After leaving the inn, the two found the medicine shop. Inside stood an apprentice wearing gray clothes. Seeing customers arrive, the apprentice greeted them warmly. "Honored guests, what do you need? Did you hear a dog barking, or did you encounter a black dog?" "If you heard barking, I have medicine ready right here." The apprentice brought over a pot of bubbling red liquid. "This is made from powdered cinnabar grass simmered for ten hours. After drinking it, you'll feel temporarily drowsy. Once you've had a sleep, the effects of the barking will disappear." "If you encountered a black dog, then come with me right away, or you'll soon be assimilated by it. "There's a well in the backyard. You have to draw the water yourself. As long as you drink the water you drew with your own hands, you won't be assimilated by the black dog." Meng Jingzhou was about to say they wanted to see the shopkeeper, but Lu Yang stopped him. Meng Jingzhou understood his meaning. There was no need to explain anything to the apprentice; the apprentice was a stranger, and what he said was almost certainly a lie. The two sat there composed and unhurried. No matter how anxious the apprentice acted or how much he seemed to care for their well-being, they did not utter a single word. About an hour later, the apprentice walked into the backyard, and only then did the medicine shopkeeper, dressed in white, appear. "Did you two run into some trouble, or do you have any questions?" The shopkeeper was an elderly man with a kindly face that easily inspired trust, inviting people to confide their troubles. The two still remembered the rules: one must not speak to the medicine shopkeeper. Lu Yang handed him a slip of paper: *We heard a dog barking. How should we handle it?* "You need two qian of illuminating grass. Moisten it with saliva, crush it, and plug your ears with the shreds. Keep them plugged for a quarter of an hour, and the effect will be eliminated." Lu Yang wrote again: *Give us four qian of illuminating grass. Also, what if we encounter a black dog?* "Encountering a black dog is troublesome. Anyone who runs into a black dog will involuntarily bark like one, and the moment they make a sound, they will be assimilated by it. "There is a way, however: sew your mouth shut with needle and thread, leaving not the slightest gap. Keep it sewn for an hour and don't make a single sound during that time, and you won't be assimilated." Lu Yang listened attentively, then wrote: *How do we leave the town?* "Leaving the town? That is even more troublesome—I'd even say it's impossible. "The town has an ancestral hall. Inside is a half-naked Buddha statue with blindfolded eyes. Take the statue out of the hall and smash it, and an exit leading outside will appear. But that exit is filled with Bone-Dissolving Astral Wind. The astral wind enters through the seven apertures and exits through them; in that single pass, one's flesh melts away, leaving only a skeleton. One's body dies and their Dao is extinguished; no one can resist it. "This is the only way to leave the town." Their hearts sank. A rule like this was clearly meant to trap people here forever. Then again, it made sense. The ancient Body Integration cultivators hiding here would never allow word to leak out.