Chapter 130: Medicine Shop

"How many dangerous people are there in the inn?" Lu Yang first wanted to determine the source of danger in the inn, specifically if it was just the waiter.

The waiter, dressed in white, trembled and held up two fingers: "Two, two."

"Who?"

"You two."

Meng Jingzhou stepped forward and kicked him: "Be honest!"

The waiter was helpless. Dressed in white, he couldn't lie. The two of them were the most dangerous people in the inn.

Lu Yang rephrased the question: "For ordinary people, how many dangerous people are there in the inn?"

"Just me," the waiter answered truthfully.

"Who is stronger, you or the innkeeper?"

"I'm stronger, but we have to follow different rules, and he can naturally suppress me."

"Is your power the same in the 'Heavenly' room as in other places?"

"No, based on the rules, my power is stronger in the 'Heavenly' room."

"Are there others like you who have different powers in different places?"

"Yes, for example, the things in the thatched huts during the day. They are very strong in the huts and can move freely between them, but when they leave the huts, their power becomes no different from an ordinary person's, and they lose the ability to travel. I don't know what those things are specifically."

"Anyone else? For example, the officer in black and the tutor in gray, do they have any power boosts?"

"No, but they were originally cultivators, so their power is much stronger than ordinary people's."

"What's the relationship between the officer and the tutor?"

"I suspect their relationship isn't good; there might be a rivalry. For instance, like the officer and me, I need to kill a certain number of people to leave the town. I'm not clear on the specifics for the tutor, but the requirements are likely similar."

"Do you know where the town chief is?"

"I've heard the town chief is in the government office. I've never seen him come out."

"How do you kill the town chief?"

"I don't know."

"What are the town chief's powers and abilities?"

"I don't know."

"Where is the ancestral hall?"

"The ancestral hall cannot be found during the day. It only appears at 'Hai Shi' (9-11 PM)," the waiter answered readily and honestly.

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had already made similar conjectures about the information the waiter provided, and it didn't differ much from what he said.

Having no more questions, Lu Yang acted. He stripped the waiter of his white clothes, then pierced his body with a sword, sending him to his demise.

As the master of a demonic sect, there was no reason to leave anyone alive.

"Good thing you stripped him beforehand, or the white clothes would have gotten dirty," Meng Jingzhou stretched. "Finally, I can get some peaceful sleep."

Lu Yang felt the same way. Their gains tonight were substantial, and there would be no more annoying knocking.

They searched the waiter's body and found the inn's rules, but since they had already figured out the rules, it was of no use.

"Our rules disappear after we read them once. If our memory wasn't good, we would have forgotten them long ago. They can keep their rules to ensure they don't forget. It seems people like the waiter are treated completely differently from us."

At 'Si Shi' (9-11 AM) on the third day, the watchman's gong woke them. Both yawned, feeling they had slept very well.

Hearing the waiter's cries for help and the various commotions from the previous night, the innkeeper decided to go upstairs in the morning to check on him.

When he saw the waiter's gruesome demise, he remained silent for a long time.

"Are these two really from the righteous path?"

As they left the inn, Lu Yang left a note for the innkeeper: "The white clothes work well. We'll borrow them for two more days."

Lu Yang didn't notice the hint of fear in the innkeeper's eyes as he looked at them.

And the tone of the note... it was remarkably similar to that of an overbearing demonic cultivator who never repays debts.

It was like, "This thing is good, let me use it. I'll give it back when I'm tired of it."

"It must be a misconception, right?"

Clearly, the innkeeper knew very little about the Dao Inquiry Sect.

For low-level cultivators like him, their knowledge of a behemoth like the Dao Inquiry Sect mostly came from rumors.

And rumors are often unreliable.

After leaving the inn, they found the pharmacy, where a pharmacy apprentice dressed in gray greeted them.

Seeing customers, the apprentice enthusiastically welcomed them: "Sirs, what do you need? Did you hear dog barks? Or did you encounter a black dog?"

"If you heard dog barks, I have ready-made medicine here."

The apprentice brought over a pot of bubbling red liquid: "This is made from cinnabar grass, ground into powder and boiled for ten hours. After drinking this medicine, you'll feel temporarily drowsy, and after a good sleep, the effects of the dog barks will disappear."

"If you encountered a black dog, then quickly come with me, or you'll soon be assimilated by it."

"There's a well in the pharmacy's backyard. You need to draw the water yourself. As long as you drink the well water you personally draw, you won't be assimilated by the black dog."

Meng Jingzhou started to say he wanted to see the owner, but Lu Yang stopped him.

Meng Jingzhou understood Lu Yang's intention: there was no need to explain to the apprentice. The apprentice was a stranger, and whatever he said was likely false.

The two sat calmly, remaining silent no matter how anxious the apprentice seemed or how much he claimed to be concerned for them.

After about half an hour, the apprentice went into the backyard, and only then did the pharmacy owner, dressed in white, appear.

"Sirs, have you encountered any difficulties, or do you have any questions?" The pharmacy owner was an old man with a kind face, making it easy to trust him and confide in him.

The two remembered the rules, which stated they couldn't speak to the pharmacy owner.

Lu Yang handed the pharmacy owner a note: "We heard dog barks. How should we deal with it?"

"You'll need two *qian* of Lucid Grass. Chew it with saliva, then use the crushed bits to plug your ears for a quarter of an hour, and the effect will be gone."

Lu Yang wrote again: "Give us four *qian* of Lucid Grass. Also, what if we encounter a black dog?"

"Encountering a black dog is troublesome. Those who encounter one will involuntarily bark like a dog, and once they make a sound, they will be assimilated by the black dog."

"There is a solution, though: sew your mouth shut with a needle and thread, leaving no gap. Keep it sewn for half an hour, and as long as you don't make any sound during that time, you won't be assimilated by the black dog."

Lu Yang listened intently and then wrote: "How do we leave the town?"

"Leaving the town? That's even more troublesome. I even think it's impossible."

"There's an ancestral hall in the town, and inside it is a half-naked Buddha statue with its eyes covered. If you take the statue out of the ancestral hall and smash it, an exit to the outside world will appear. However, this exit has bone-dissolving astral winds. The winds enter and exit through all seven orifices, and with each passage, the flesh melts away, leaving only a skeleton. One dies and their cultivation is lost; no one can resist it."

"This is the only way to leave the town."

The two's hearts sank. These rules clearly indicated that people were not meant to leave.

It made sense; ancient Body Integration stage cultivators hiding here would never let their presence be exposed.