Black Shop

The carriage traveled slowly along the official road, which was in disrepair and full of potholes. The old horse walked on the bumpy road as if it were flat ground, and the two people in the carriage did not feel the slightest bump.

"We've arrived in the desolate state." Lu Yang unfolded the map, which had a glowing spot representing them. This was a Law Treasure that could roughly show their location, an essential Law Treasure for any journey.

"It's getting late, let's find a place to rest nearby." Meng Jingzhou saw that it was getting dark and they had arrived in Huangzhou, so there was no need to rush.

"Hey, look, there's an inn here, we can stay there!" Meng Jingzhou saw an inn not far away, its signboard rickety and the name illegible, indicating the inn's questionable condition.

Lu Yang looked at the inn with suspicion; it was gloomy and eerie, as if a sudden gust of wind could blow it down.

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

The two men and one horse arrived at the inn. The entrance was wide open, but the inside was dark and empty, as if it had been abandoned for a long time.

The two finally saw the name of the inn clearly—Qingming Inn.

"This name doesn't sound very auspicious. Is this place closed down or still open?" Meng Jingzhou muttered, striding inside and shouting, "Is anyone here? We're here to stay!"

No one responded.

Meng Jingzhou called out again, "Is anyone here? We're looking for a place to stay!"

Then there was a dull thud on the counter, like the sound of a corpse hitting the ground.

"Who's yelling like that? Don't they even know the rules of the hotel?" A man wearing a white paper hat grumbled as he crawled out from behind the counter, staring at Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou with an unfriendly expression.

"Check in, give me two of the best rooms!" Meng Jingzhou always only stays in the best places.

"You two, checking into the inn?" The man in the white paper hat looked at the two of them in surprise, then craned his neck to look behind them, only to find that no one was following them.

"Go away, go away, what are you doing causing trouble? This is not a place for you. Go find somewhere else to stay." The man in the white paper hat impatiently shooed the two away.

Meng Jingzhou was puzzled; he had stayed at so many inns, and this was the first time he had encountered one that wouldn't let him stay.

"Is your hotel fully booked?"

"There are still half empty rooms."

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

The man in the white paper hat, seeing that the two men truly didn't know the rules, was about to explain when he heard a commotion upstairs.

Step--step--step--

The sound of synchronized footsteps echoed from the rooftop, so precise it was unsettling.

A Daoist priest in a Daoist robe descended from the second floor, followed by a group of people wrapped in black cloth, silent and appearing particularly terrifying in the darkness.

The sheer number of people wrapped in black cloth made Lu Yang and his companion wonder if so many rooms upstairs could accommodate so many people, especially after the man in the white paper hat mentioned that half the rooms were empty.

Could it be that more than ten people are living in the same room?

How are we supposed to live like this? Are we supposed to sleep standing up against the wall?

"Young man, leave. This is the worst Qingming Inn I've ever stayed in." The Daoist-robed cultivator tossed a string of copper coins to the man in the white paper hat. The coins were unlike anything the two had ever seen before, and they emanated faint Law Power, suggesting they had some special properties.

The man in the white paper hat chuckled but didn't respond; as long as he could make money, that was all that mattered.

Lu Yang was puzzled. It was already dark; why leave the store now?

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou were both startled when they saw the face of the person wrapped in black cloth.

The people wrapped in black cloth had lifeless eyes; some had mud and grass covering their mouths and noses; some were disfigured, as if they had been hit by something; and some looked old and thin, with only a layer of skin remaining.

"Those who drowned, those who were crushed to death, those who died of old age... these are all dead people!"

"Corpse-driving technique?!"

No wonder they checked out of the hotel as soon as night fell; they rested during the day and worked as corpse handlers at night—that's what the book says.

The two never expected that they would encounter the infamous Corpse-driving technique as soon as they entered the desolate state.

The man in the white paper hat pocketed the copper coins, then glared at the two men. "This is the Corpse Inn, a place for corpse-drivers to rest. The rooms are for the dead. If you're not bothered by it, you can stay here."

Their eyes twitched; living in a room with a dead person was somewhat unsettling.

"That person just now could use the Corpse Driving Technique. Was he from the Corpse Driving Sect?" Lu Yang asked again. If he was from the Corpse Driving Sect, they could have a chat with him.

The man in the white paper hat shook his head. "You two must be from out of town. I told you our Qingming Inn is part of a chain in Huangzhou. How could any living person know our name and still come to stay?"

"We are from Yunzhou."

The man in white suddenly realized, "The Central Plains, no wonder! I heard that the Ask Dao Sect, one of the Five Great Immortal Sects, is located there. As a result, the entire Yunzhou is incredibly powerful, with convenient transportation, a developed economy, and countless powerful figures."

He corrected their misunderstanding. "The art of corpse driving is not limited to the Corpse Driving Sect. Many Rogue Cultivator in the folk know the art of corpse driving, but they are far less serious than those of the Corpse Driving Sect."

"In our desolate state, whether they are Rogue Cultivator, they are all collectively called Corpse Driving Masters. The transactions between them are not Spirit Stone, but large copper coins."

The man in the white paper hat waved a string of copper coins in his hand. "This is it."

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

Upon leaving Qingming Inn, Lu Yang noticed a sign lying on its side at the entrance. Out of kindness, he helped the innkeeper up.

The sign read, "Due to adjustments in business strategy, our store has now moved to a location 20 li east of Baiquan Town. We apologize for any inconvenience."

The date on the document is five years ago.

"What!"

The two looked up abruptly, staring in astonishment at the Qingming Inn before them, a chill running through them.

The real Qingming Inn has moved away, so who did they just see?

They rushed into the shop, but it was empty; the man in the white paper hat was nowhere to be seen.

"Was that a person or a ghost just now?"

The two were shocked. They hadn't noticed anything unusual about the man in the white paper hat at all. He hadn't even reacted to Meng Jingzhou, who possessed Pure Yang Body. Just how high must his cultivation be? Was he a Ghost King?

"Superior!"

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

"Damn it, he got away!"

The leader, with a full beard, was quite displeased to find no man in a white paper hat in the inn.

"Excuse me, sir, what's going on?" Lu Yang asked politely.

The bearded constable, seeing that Lu Yang and his companion had just come out of the inn, knew they weren't suspicious people and explained:

"This Qingming Inn had been abandoned for five years, but during those five years, people kept saying they had stayed there and thought it was haunted. They reported it to us, and after a secret investigation and verification of testimonies, we finally figured out the reason."

"A man wearing a white paper hat impersonated the shopkeeper, pretending to run a shop here, and let the corpse-drivers stay here to make money."

"Since corpses don't discriminate when staying at inns, it's understandable that the environment might be a bit poor. Later, one of the corpse transporters couldn't stand it anymore and felt that the environment of this Qingming Inn was too bad, so he complained to the main branch of the Qingming Inn. The main branch of the Qingming Inn was even more surprised and said that the inn had already closed down, which is how the case came to light."

"After we found out the truth, we planned to lie in wait and catch the man in the white paper hat, but unexpectedly, he got away!"

Lu Yang: "..."

Would your desolate state really do something like this just to make money?

The second update will be around 11 PM.