Everyone Is Scheming
Outside Buyi Town, five powerful cultivators at the Body Integration Realm are engaged in battle, which has been ongoing for five days.
The four ancient Body Integration Realm controlled their domains to prevent the aftershocks of the battle from leaking out. The Silent Daoist opened his domain, unleashing a fierce attack.
"Damn it, how did we run into the most difficult sword cultivator to deal with!" One of the Body Integration Realm frowned. Throughout history, sword cultivators have been the most powerful attackers. This was their first time dealing with a contemporary Body Integration Realm, and they encountered a sword cultivator. Their luck had hit rock bottom.
All four of them were at the Integrated Body Late Stage or Integrated Body Peak Stage, making their lineup incredibly powerful and their teamwork seamless. They had never encountered an opponent in the Body Integration Realm. However, when facing the Silent Daoist, they could not gain the slightest advantage, and the slightest carelessness could even lead to their demise.
This is certainly partly due to their adherence to the rules of Buyi Town and their failure to fully awaken from their long slumber; even so, it demonstrates the terror of the Silent Daoist.
"Even in our time, sword cultivators at the Body Integration Realm didn't have this level of skill!" Another Body Integration Realm spat out a mouthful of Essence Blood, his aura fluctuating wildly. He had just been accidentally stabbed by a sword and needed to focus on recovering from his injury.
"Fortunately, there are four of us and only one of him. A prolonged battle is to our advantage. If we can drag this out for another ten days, I refuse to believe he'll still be so energetic!"
"Is Buyi Town alright? If someone exploits the rules and finds a legitimate way to leave Buyi Town, we'll face the backlash."
The way the Silent Daoist broke through the rules of Cloth-Clad Town with Sword Qi is clearly not within the scope of "reasonableness".
"What's there to be afraid of? Fifth Brother is the town mayor. Even though he's a possessed person, he's not someone two little guys can handle."
"That's true." Thinking that the fifth brother was in Buyi Town, the four of them felt relieved and slowly began to fight the Silent Daoist.
Upon hearing this, the Silent Daoist became somewhat worried about Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.
"I told them to stay put in Buyi Town, they should listen to me, right?"
Thinking of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou in Buyi Town, the Silent Daoist felt that the two should be obedient and good children, slowly fighting against the four people.
Xiaoyun is definitely worried about me taking Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou away. Given time, she will come looking for me.
"One sword transforms into ten thousand swords!" The Silent Daoist shouted, as if he were about to unleash his full power and finish the battle quickly, startling the four of them.
The technique of transforming one sword into ten thousand swords was famous in High Antiquity times, so they naturally knew about it.
The Silent Daoist raised his sword high, its golden Sword Qi as dazzling as the sun. With a flick of his sword, ten thousand separate swords appeared, all of them solid, making it impossible to distinguish the real from the fake.
The multitude of swords pressed down like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing down; their power was unimaginable.
"Be careful, they're going to fight back with all their might!" one of them warned.
The Silent Daoist changed his sword technique again. "Man and sword become one!"
His figure completely disappeared, merging with the sword.
There were tens of thousands of swords here, and the four of them had no idea that the Silent Daoist had merged with that sword; they couldn't find it anywhere.
The four of them were so frustrated they felt like vomiting blood; they had never heard of such a way of stalling for time!
"You have the nerve to call yourself a sword cultivator!"
[Rules of the Yamen Runners in Buyi Town]
[Article 1: Those wearing black clothes are government officials; once they put them on, they cannot take them off.]
[Rule #2: You can call anyone you want, and the person you call will have their neck broken]
[Article 3: There are only fifty yamen runners and one town head in the government office. If you see anyone else, please ignore them.]
[Article 4: From 9 PM to 7 AM, you must remain at the government office.]
[Article 5: Your only food is meat buns; you will die if you don't eat for three days]
[Article Six: The town mayor has only one head and two arms]
[Article 7: If you feel dizzy, lightheaded, or have black hair growing on your arms, and do not recover within an hour, ignore Article 4 and go to the ancestral hall immediately.]
[Article 8: You will not see the town mayor between 9 PM and 7 AM. If you do see him, firmly believe it is an illusion.]
[Article 9: If one hundred people's necks are broken because of you, you may choose to leave or not leave Buyi Town. If you leave Buyi Town, you will lose all your memories of Buyi Town.]
[Article 10: You must obey the mayor's orders, provided you do not violate the above rules.]
[Article 11: In the center of the town stands a 300-year-old locust tree. From 9 PM to 7 AM, the locust tree will transform into an ancestral hall.]
"We finally know the location of the ancestral hall." Meng Jingzhou laughed. Originally, the two of them had planned to do something more to find out the location of the ancestral hall, but now it was simple, which was a completely unexpected joy.
Lu Yang was focused on something else, since they had gone to great lengths to obtain the [Rules of the Buyi Town Yamen] in order to find out the town mayor's whereabouts.
"This is a bit tricky. The rules say that [from Hai Shi to Chen Shi, you must stay at the government office], [you will not see the town mayor from Hai Shi to Chen Shi, and if you do see him, believe it is an illusion], which means that the town mayor is not at the government office from Hai Shi to Chen Shi."
If you don't know the location of the town mayor, you might run into him when you go to the ancestral hall.
"We can't easily confront the mayor. The mayor's abilities shouldn't be limited to just one thing, and we don't know how much power he has."
"Try to avoid him."
Suddenly, Lu Yang seemed to notice something. "Did you notice that from 9 PM to 1 AM, the town mayor is not in the government office, and the thatched huts and inns are safe during this time? The only dangerous place left is the street!"
"What's on the streets? Monsters! And the mayor might very well be the monster!"
Meng Jingzhou frowned. "But look, the rules also say [the mayor only has one head and two arms], is that what the monster looks like?"
Lu Yang nodded. "Do you remember the dark figure outside the window that we encountered on the first night? It was two stories tall, and its upper body looked like a person's. This doesn't conflict with the rules."
"The rules don't describe what the lower body should look like!"
Meng Jingzhou made a decision. "We won't return to the inn at Hai Shi (9-11 PM). We'll just stand by the big locust tree. Once it turns into an ancestral hall, we'll rush in, smash the Buddha statues, throw the jade pendant in, and then split into two groups to quickly return to the inn."
By splitting into two groups, even if one person encounters a monster, the other will be safe, ensuring that at least one of them is safe.
"Monsters might not dare to eat us. Our lives are connected to the Soul Lamp. If we die, the Soul Lamp will go out, and all those people from the sect will come. These Nascent Soul Body Integration Realm will definitely die!" Lu Yang seemed to be speaking to Meng Jingzhou, but in reality, he was speaking to the all-knowing town mayor.
The two arrived at the big locust tree in the center of the town, and time passed by, minute by minute.
"The hour of Hai has arrived—" Accompanied by the night watchman's shout and the sound of gongs, the space where the big locust tree was located gradually distorted and transformed into an old wooden ancestral hall, with the words "[Rules of the Ancestral Hall of Buyi Town]" written on the outside.
The two were extremely nervous, and instinctively reached for the jade pendant at their waists, their expressions changing drastically.
"The jade pendant has disappeared!" the two shouted at the same time.
At this moment, a deep voice came from the ancestral hall. "Heh, you two ignorant children, you managed to find a piece of paper with the [Rules of the Buyi Town Yamen] written on it in the chaos, so why can't I order the yamen runners to steal your jade pendant in the chaos?"
Rule 10 of the Buyi Town Government Regulations: [You must obey the town mayor's orders, provided you do not violate the above rules.]