Chapter Thirty-Five: The Midnight Knock

  Luo Siqi had known that the Shadow City was a small town used by the Night God Sect to trade with the outside world. In her heart, even if the Shadow City wasn't as prosperous and bustling as the Flowing Gold City, it shouldn't be as lifeless as what she saw now.

  However, the merchant with the surname Ma seemed to be used to all of this and naturally led everyone into the city. After entering the city, Luosiqi only discovered that the Shadow City was not as ghostly as it looked from the outside. She could still see people on the streets, but they were all in a hurry, their faces expressionless like ice sculptures. Everyone entered an inn found by Old Man Ma, and the inn's owner and servants served them mechanically, opening rooms and collecting money without any warmth or hospitality that merchants should have.

  All of this Luosi could accept, but what she couldn't accept was that when she asked the boss if he had heard where Lingxian grass was sold, the boss acted as if he hadn't heard her at all. This made Luosi really not want to stay in this store anymore. It was Ma Boss who kindly told her: "The residents of Yinyu City, no matter who they are, are all like this. They only do what they should do and don't ask about anything else. So if you want to inquire about Lingxian grass, you have to go to a place that specializes in selling information. Asking the inn boss is useless!"

  So Luosi asked Old Master Ma in the City of Yin where to go to get news about the Ling Xian Cao, and Old Master Ma smiled mysteriously at her, saying: "This kind of place can't be found by searching, it's only possible for it to appear automatically at midnight!"

  Luosi was puzzled, but looking at Old Master Ma's expression didn't seem like he was lying either. Moreover, after rushing for a day, she was also tired, so she ate dinner and closed the door to rest.

  She didn't quite believe in what Old Master Ma said about the place where Ling Xian Cao could be found, that it would appear at midnight. In her opinion, if that place really did exist, she would only be able to find it in her dreams, alone in her room at midnight.

  Because she was tired, she fell asleep in a daze and didn't know how long she had slept. Suddenly, she heard someone lightly knocking on her door outside. She was startled awake in an instant, and her sleepiness disappeared completely. She clutched the quilt tightly, hoping that the knocking sound would stop automatically. Unfortunately, the knocking sound repeated over and over again like a precise clock, persistent and unrelenting.

  The longer she listened, the more afraid Luosi became. She timidly asked, "Who's outside?" The knocking sound outside suddenly stopped, and this responsive reaction made Luosi even more frightened. Then she heard a voice that surprised her but also brought some joy. What made her joyful was the content of the voice, which asked her, "Sir, are you looking for the location of the Lingxian grass?" This voice belonged to the innkeeper who had pretended not to hear her question in the evening.

  Luosi couldn't understand why the boss, who had pretended not to hear her when she asked him earlier, was now knocking on her door in the middle of the night. She recalled what Old Horse Boss told her about a place that would appear at midnight with information, and how she had been puzzled by it then. Now, this inn boss was proactively seeking her out, whispering through the door that he could provide news about the Ling Xian Cao, but what was his true intention?

  Luosi was eager to figure out why all this was happening, but everything that happened was really strange. Even if she could hear the sound of the inn owner outside, she still didn't dare open the door. At this midnight hour when people were quiet, she didn't even dare leave her bed to go to the door and talk to the person outside through the door. She only dared to ask timidly in her bed: "Do you know where it is?"

  The voice outside didn't answer directly, he just said: "Sir, please open the door first."

  Lucy really wanted to know the whereabouts of the Ling Xian Cao, but she was still more afraid that after opening the door, she would suddenly encounter a monster. It's well known that people's imagination, especially Lucy's as a young girl at this late hour, is extremely rich. The person outside waited for a while and didn't see Lucy showing any intention of opening the door, so they said: "Forget it then!" After that, there was no more sound.

  Luosi suddenly became anxious, although she felt that this matter was too strange, but now she couldn't care about it anymore. She was afraid that because of her temporary fear, she would forever cut off the clue to finding the Ling Xian Cao.

  But just then, a sudden voice came from outside: "Who's there sneaking around!" Rosalie could hear that the voice was Chen Xing's. The door suddenly lit up, and a slap sounded, Rosalie quickly went to open the door, she saw a black shadow rushing out on the stairs, Chen Xing was chasing after it, this inn's attitude was the same as the entire city of Yinyu, that is, even in the middle of the night, the inn's door was not closed, from the lobby to the outside of the inn, the doors were all open, fearless.

  Luosi followed Chen Xing out, the black shadow in front ran east after leaving the inn, Chen Xing closely pursued behind, Luosi chased after him, due to physical strength, the figure of the black shadow became more and more blurred, she almost couldn't see Chen Xing's figure later on.

  She had heard the sound outside the door earlier, which seemed to be the voice of the innkeeper. Chen Xing should have been careful since entering the city of Yin, and it was unknown what method he used to monitor Luo Siqi's door, or perhaps his hearing was extremely good, because he lived next to Luo Siqi and also heard the unusual sound outside her door.

  The owner of the inn, having come to find Luosi Qi, was naturally willing to provide or trade information about Ling Xian Cao with her. However, as soon as he was discovered by Chen Xing, he ran away quickly, so fast that even Chen Xing, a powerful high priest, almost lost him.

  Chen Xing didn't lose him, with Chen Xing's strength, if he really wanted to catch up with someone, that person would be very hard to escape. But when Luosiqi panted and stood beside Chen Xing, Chen Xing had already given up chasing after the black shadow!

  He didn't give up because he was tired, and at this moment, he and Luosiqi were standing in the place where the black shadow had just escaped. The place where the black shadow had escaped wasn't a deep courtyard or a gloomy graveyard, but rather... a well.

  Tonight's moon is very round, and the ground illuminated by the moonlight isn't particularly dark. However, the two people standing beside the well both hesitated. Luosiqi understood why Chenxing didn't pursue it further. In Yinyu City, everything seemed so strange. They had only been there for one night, and their understanding of the place was still based on rumors they had heard from outsiders before arriving. Although Malao seemed to be easy-going, after arriving in Yinyu City, he appeared to only give them some cryptic hints, but didn't want to directly tell them about the various strange events and taboos in Yinyu City.

  The owner of the inn came to knock on Rosalie's door in the middle of the night to tell her something that she had been completely ignored when she asked about it in the evening, which should be considered a strange thing. What about the taboo? The sudden appearance and chase of Chen Xing drove him into this well, although the ground under the moonlight was not particularly dark, but the well had an unfathomable darkness. Chen Xing said that when he chased to the edge of the well, he almost caught up with the black shadow, but the black shadow unexpectedly jumped into the well without making any splash!

  Luosi leaned her head slightly towards the well mouth, and below was pitch black. The well might be hiding some information about Ling Xian Cao, but if things went on like this, it would really make her feel uneasy!