Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 132: Danger Lurking in All Corners

By the time the two stirred awake, the first rays of dawn had already peeked through the clouds, leaving them some time until 9am.

“I was scared out of my wits yesterday!” Meng Jingzhou’s heart was still reeling as memories of the previous night flowed into his mind.

Lu Yang appeared more calm. “Let’s familiarize ourselves with the rules first. Once we grasp the rules, we won’t be scared anymore.”

Meng Jingzhou nodded.

The two corroborated the twenty-one rules with each other to ensure there were no discrepancies in their memories before they were finally relieved.

“What time is it now?”

Just then, a gong sounded outside, and the night watchman announced, “It is now 9am. The hour of the snake[1] is upon us.”

The two hurried downstairs.

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On the first floor, the two traveling merchants were lashing out at the innkeeper with a saddle in hand, “We left our horse in the stable in the backyard yesterday. Why is there only a saddle left today?!”

Lu Yang recalled the colossal monster they had encountered last night. Perhaps it had eaten the horse. We didn’t hear any neighing sounds last night, which suggests that the horse didn’t even have the chance to retaliate. What a terrifying monster.

Not bothering with the traveling merchants, the two ran out of the inn.

The Everlasting Immortal Fairy reminded, “These two traveling merchants carry a heavy aura of balefulness and are entangled with grievous souls. They aren’t simple merchants.”

Lu Yang nodded in acknowledgment.

Wafts of fragrant aroma drifted through the street as a restaurant opened, their freshly steamed meals arousing people’s appetites. Strangely, the restaurant was empty, with only a bamboo steamer[2] which had a sign that read “Meat Baozi.”[3]

The townsfolk of Buyi Town, who wore brown coarse hemp garments, were already accustomed to this sight. They collected their breakfast and sat down to eat, completely avoiding the meat baozi.

The two followed suit, savoring three shaobing and one bowl of soy milk.

Lu Yang noticed that the people ate very quickly, and some walked while eating, seeming very anxious.

Suddenly, a commotion could be heard from the other side of the street. A bunch of people fled, and those who had been eating abandoned their meals and ran off.

“Let’s run too!” Lu Yang grabbed a shaobing and took off.

Upon reaching the end of the street, they turned around to see what had just happened.

A group of people clad in black were approaching. There were several dozen of them, and each had sabers strapped to their waist.

“Hey, you there! Stop!” One of the people in black bellowed at someone fleeing. The person instinctively turned their head, and it spun a full three hundred sixty degrees—their neck was now drooping.

The person in black burst into laughter. He sat down at the restaurant’s entrance, lifted the lid of the bamboo steamer, and picked up a meat baozi, gobbling it up with grease dripping from his mouth.

Right then, the head of the person who died lifted and twisted itself back into place before leisurely walking away as if they had forgotten everything that just transpired.

Lu Yang analyzed, “It’s the yamen bailiffs. The rules state that we can’t eat meat baozi, yet they can. That means that the rules they need to follow are different from ours. What’s more, although there is a variety of breakfast, all the yamen bailiffs chose the meat baozi, which implies that it’s the only thing they can eat. The rules also state that we mustn’t turn our heads. It looks like it’s because turning our heads can twist our necks broken!”

Exchanging glances with each other, the two decided to leave, trying to keep a distance from the yamen bailiffs as much as possible.

“Humans at birth, they’re intrinsically kind. Similar in nature, but habits differ...”[4] As they passed by the private school, they could hear voices of people reading out loud, as if a group of adults were reciting the Three-Character Classic.

However, Lu Yang remembered one of the rules. The private school has been abandoned for many years. There is no private school teacher in town; the only sounds coming from the private school will only be of dogs barking, not students reading.

This definitely doesn’t make sense.

They scooted off but were stopped by a person clad in gray. “I haven’t seen you two before. Did you come from somewhere else?”

<Rule 9: The person wearing gray clothes is the private school teacher. If you meet the private school teacher, you must pretend that you did not hear whatever they said.>

<Rule 10: Do not make eye contact with the private school teacher; if you do, you will turn into a black dog.>

The two of them swiftly reacted; they lowered their heads and walked ahead, avoiding the private school teacher’s eyes and ignoring what he was saying.

The private school teacher was relentless, speaking alongside them, “You two are dressed very well. I assume you are cultivators? Don’t tell me you believe the rules written on the white paper? Not everything on the white paper is true. Some parts are misleading. In fact, the person who set the rules here means no malice. He just wants to protect himself and has no choice but to resort to this last tactic. Upon learning of your arrival, His Excellency specially instructed me to aid you both.

“I have a way to leave the town, but the price is that you will lose all your memories of the town. As long as you recite the Three-Character Classic in the private school for three days, you can leave the town! I’m not lying to you. Listen to the voices inside the private school. Several people have already left the town with my assistance yesterday.”

Suddenly, the private school teacher dashed in front of them and bent down to meet Lu Yang’s eyes.

Lu Yang closed his eyes in time and walked forward. Just before he squeezed his eyes shut, he noticed that the lower half of the other party’s face had no skin and was instead exposed with red muscles—a truly horrifying sight.

Seeing that the two were not paying him any attention and lowering their heads as they walked away, the private school teacher could only give up and shouted from behind them, “You only have this one chance to leave the town. You will regret not accepting my help!”

The Everlasting Immortal Fairy spoke inside the mental space, “Lu Yang, don’t believe him. Only a part of what he said is true.”

“A part of it?” Lu Yang was surprised; he thought the other party was only spouting lies.

“He does have a way to let people leave the town, not in a ‘human’ form but rather as a ‘black dog.’ I saw him releasing several black dogs last night. Before he encountered the both of you, someone had made eye contact with him. That person ended up with a splitting headache and bloodshot eyes as black hair began growing on their arms. Then, they walked into the private school.”

A chill ran down Lu Yang’s spine. The private school teacher’s abilities are extremely tricky to deal with.

“Let’s go to the tailor store.” An idea had hit Lu Yang, and he needed to verify it.

The two visited all the tailor stores in Buyi Town, but none sold black, white, and gray clothes or fabric.

They also realized another problem as they wandered through the town. “Where is the ancestral hall?”

The rules state that the ancestral hall is safe, yet they also mention that there is a monster in there. Such contradictory statements definitely hint that this place is anything but simple.

Even after searching around, they still didn’t find the ancestral hall. The sky was already getting dark, and it was nearing 9pm, so they had to return to the inn.

~~~

“Welcome back, dear guests! Our inn is very safe. You don’t have to be so tense. I will protect the both of you,” the cheery waiter greeted them at the inn’s entrance. His eyes were completely black with no whites, as if he could see things beyond what ordinary people could see.

The two’s hair bristled. This is the voice that accompanied the knocking in the hallway last night!

It was him!

“Waiter, it’s not time yet. Go back to your room!” The innkeeper chased the waiter away.

The waiter stared fixedly at the innkeeper, locking eyes for a while before he left reluctantly.

Lu Yang noticed that the waiter had gone to the third floor—in other words, the Heaven-Grade Rooms.

1. I didn’t state this directly in previous chapters and converted it to contemporary time format to make it easier to understand, but ancient Chinese kept track of time in intervals of two hours, and they named each of these periods after a zodiac animal, but not with the common name. ☜

2. Zhenglong or bamboo steamer is a must as Chinese are fans of steaming. ☜

3. Baozi is ubiquitous in Chinese cuisine. They are steamed buns with various types of filling, including meat, vegetables, sweet paste, and more. The flour used to make baozi can also be different. Baozi also comes in various sizes, shapes, and colors. ☜

4. This is a very famous quote in Confucianism from the Sanzijing or Three-Character Classic where it states that human nature is inherently good. I had to tweak the translation to make it fit three words each. ☜