The inn stood beside a river. Its storefront looked fairly clean. Perhaps because ghosts now roamed the wilderness and few outsiders came through, there weren't many people entering or leaving the inn, and it felt rather deserted.
Zheng Que walked inside and found the main hall empty. Behind the counter stood a cultivator dressed like a shopkeeper, his aura at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer. He was bent over, working an abacus.
Noticing someone had entered, the shopkeeper looked up at Zheng Que and asked, "Fellow Daoist, are you here for a meal or a room?"
Zheng Que glanced around the place. "A room. How much does it cost?"
The shopkeeper smiled. "For mortals, a room costs two hundred copper coins a day. But since you're one of us, I can give you a twenty percent discount."
Zheng Que nodded slightly. As long as he didn't have to pay in Spirit Stones, it was fine. He took a piece of silver from the money Xu Houde had given him and handed it over.
The shopkeeper accepted it without weighing it, then took out a copper key and gave it to Zheng Que. "Second floor, fifth room on the west side."
Zheng Que took the key and went straight upstairs.
The second floor was very quiet. Most of the rooms seemed to be empty, with no one living in them. He found the fifth room on the west side, unlocked the door with the copper key, and went inside.
Creak.
He closed the door behind him and looked around the room. It was on the second floor, facing away from the sun. Just inside the entrance stood a coarse gauze screen. The room contained a bed, a footstool, a table, and a chair. A rack in the corner held a washbasin