Chapter 393: Black Shop

The carriage ambled slowly along the main road. The road, long neglected, was full of potholes. Yet, the old horse navigated the uneven path as if it were flat ground, and the two occupants of the carriage felt no jolting whatsoever.

"We've reached Barren State," Lu Yang said, spreading out a map. A glowing spot on the map indicated their approximate location, a magical artifact essential for any journey.

"It's getting late. Let's find somewhere nearby to rest," Meng Jingzhou suggested, noting the approaching dusk and their arrival in Barren State. There was no need to rush.

"Hey, look! There's an inn over there. We can stay there!" Meng Jingzhou exclaimed, pointing to an inn in the distance. Its sign was dilapidated, the name unreadable, and the overall quality seemed dubious.

Lu Yang eyed the inn suspiciously. It looked eerie, as if a strong gust of wind could easily blow it down.

"It'll have to do. It's better than spending the night in the carriage," Lu Yang reasoned with himself.

The two men and their horse arrived at the inn's entrance. The front door was wide open, revealing a dark, empty interior that looked abandoned for a long time.

They finally made out the inn's name: Qingming Inn.

"That's not a very auspicious name," Meng Jingzhou muttered. He strode inside and called out loudly, "Anyone here? We'd like to check in!"

There was no reply.

Meng Jingzhou called out again: "Is anyone here? We're looking for a room!"

Suddenly, a dull thud, like a body hitting the counter, echoed from behind the front desk.

"Who's making all that noise? Don't you know the rules for checking in?" a man wearing a white paper hat grumbled.

He emerged from behind the counter, glowering at Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.

"We'd like to check in. Two of your best rooms, please!" Meng Jingzhou always opted for the best accommodations.

"You two? Checking in?" The man in the white paper hat looked surprised, then craned his neck to peer behind them, noticing they weren't accompanied by anyone else.

"Go on, go on, don't cause trouble. This isn't the place for you. Find somewhere else to stay," the man in the white paper hat impatiently shooed them away.

Meng Jingzhou was puzzled. In all his travels, he'd never been refused a room at an inn before.

"Are your rooms fully booked?"

"Half the rooms are still empty."

"Then why won't you let us stay?"

The man in the white paper hat realized they genuinely didn't understand the rules. Just as he was about to explain, he heard movement from upstairs.

Thump—thump—thump—

A series of eerily synchronized footsteps descended from the upper floor, their regularity unsettling.

A Daoist monk descended from the second floor, followed by a group of silent figures wrapped in black cloth, appearing particularly eerie in the dim light.

The sheer number of people wrapped in black cloth made Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou wonder if there were enough rooms upstairs to accommodate them all, especially since the man in the white paper hat had just said half the rooms were empty.

Could more than a dozen people be staying in a single room?

How would that even work? Would they sleep standing against the walls?

"Here, young man, we're checking out. This is the worst Qingming Inn I've ever stayed in," the Daoist monk said, tossing a string of copper coins to the man in the white paper hat. The coins were of an unfamiliar design, faintly pulsing with spiritual energy, suggesting a special purpose.

The man in the white paper hat grinned, offering no reply, content simply to have made a profit.

Lu Yang was puzzled. It was already dark; why were they leaving now?

When Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou finally got a clear look at the people wrapped in black cloth, they gasped in unison.

The figures had vacant eyes. Some had dirt and straw in their mouths and noses, others were disfigured as if struck by something, and some were gaunt and aged, reduced to skin and bones.

"Drowned, crushed, old... these are all corpses!"

"Corpse Herding Art?!"

No wonder they were checking out just as night fell. Resting during the day and herding corpses at night – that's what the books described.

They hadn't expected to encounter the renowned Corpse Herding Art so soon after entering Barren State.

The man in the white paper hat put away the coins and gave them a sidelong glance. "This is an inn for the deceased, a resting place for corpse herders. The rooms are for dead bodies. If you don't mind, you can stay here."

Their eyes twitched. Staying in rooms meant for the dead was a bit too much to handle.

"Was that man a practitioner of Corpse Herding Art? Is he from the Corpse Herding Sect?" Lu Yang asked again. If so, they could potentially have a chat with him.

The man in the white paper hat shook his head. "You two must be outsiders, right? I was wondering how any living person in Barren State would know the name of our Qingming Inn, let alone try to check in. Our inn chain is well-known here."

"We're from Cloud State."

The man in the white paper hat suddenly understood. "Ah, a major central state. No wonder. I hear that one of the Five Great Immortal Sects, the Dao-Seeking Sect, is there, making Cloud State incredibly prosperous, with convenient transportation, a thriving economy, and a multitude of powerful cultivators."

He corrected their misconception: "Corpse Herding Art isn't exclusive to the Corpse Herding Sect. Many rogue cultivators in the civilian world also practice it, though their methods are far less formal than those of the sect."

"In our Barren State, both rogue corpse herders and Corpse Herding Sect disciples are collectively known as 'corpse herders.' Their transactions aren't made with spirit stones, but with large copper magic coins."

The man in the white paper hat jingled a string of copper coins in his hand. "Like these."

The two men thanked the man in the white paper hat and decided to find another inn.

As they left Qingming Inn, Lu Yang noticed a sign lying face down by the entrance. Out of goodwill, he picked it up and propped it upright.

The sign read: "Due to a change in business strategy, this establishment has relocated twenty li east of Baiquan Town. We apologize for any inconvenience."

The date on the sign was five years ago.

"What?!"

They abruptly looked up, staring at the Qingming Inn before them in stunned disbelief, a chill rising in their hearts.

If the real Qingming Inn had moved, then who had they just seen?

They rushed back into the inn. It was empty; there was no sign of the man in the white paper hat.

"Was that a person or a ghost?"

The two were terrified. They hadn't noticed anything unusual about the man in the white paper hat from the very beginning. Even with Meng Jingzhou's Pure Yang Body, the man had shown no reaction. How powerful must he be? A ghost king?

A decisive voice gave an order, and a group of cultivators dressed as constables surged out from all directions, rushing into the inn.

"Damn it, he got away!"

The leader, a man with a full beard, looked displeased when he saw no sign of the man in the white paper hat in the inn.

"Brother, what's going on here?" Lu Yang politely inquired.

Seeing that Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had just emerged from the inn, the bearded constable knew they weren't suspects and explained:

"This Qingming Inn has been abandoned for five years. But for the past five years, people have consistently claimed to have stayed here, thinking it was haunted and reporting it to us. After discreet investigation and cross-referencing testimonies, we finally understood the cause."

"A man wearing a white paper hat was impersonating the innkeeper, pretending to operate the establishment, and letting corpse herders stay here to earn money."

"Since corpses don't complain about their accommodations, a poor environment was understandable. However, eventually, some corpse herders couldn't tolerate it anymore, finding this Qingming Inn's conditions too terrible. They complained to the Qingming Inn's main branch, which was even more astonished, stating that this particular inn had closed down long ago. That's when the case came to light."

"After uncovering the truth, we planned to lie in wait and apprehend the man in the white paper hat. But unexpectedly, he got away!"

Lu Yang: "..."

"Can people in your Barren State really do such things just for money?"