Journey to the End of the Night-Chapter 1260 - 819: Mud Wine

Sure enough, I found eight crystals embedded in the ground surrounding Beiliao Town.

Baili An’s heart gradually sank. That pig demon only possessed seventh-rank cultivation — how could it have the intelligence to use the power of the crystals to set up a barrier, trapping everyone in the town?

His gaze gradually became more intense.

Or perhaps... someone was secretly helping the pig demon with the abductions? But what is the purpose?

In this situation, there’s no hope of going to the Xijian Sect to seek help; we might be trapped in this small town for a lifetime.

Baili An felt helpless inside and decided to lead his horse towards the tavern, thinking he might as well rest and gather his strength before coming up with a countermeasure.

While leading the horse, Baili An suddenly remembered something and changed direction towards the street selling snacks and food.

When Baili An returned to the tavern, the moon was already out, illuminating the sky full of stars.

In the sparsely populated tavern on the first floor, only three green-robed youths sat in the hall, drinking wine and eating supper.

Baili An naturally recognized two of them, for they were just now the Young Palace Master of the Moon Accompanying Palace, Zhao Baixun, and his junior Tie Yun.

Beside them sat a similarly clad, fat youth whose thick and short neck had nearly disappeared due to his obesity, his round head reminiscent of a small watermelon, and whose body was oversized with short limbs, appearing rather comical.

This must be one of the trio from the Moon Accompanying Sect mentioned by the little servant, whose presence faintly exuded third-rank cultivation.

However, he seemed in low spirits, picking at his food with a pale face.

Seeing his condition, Zhao Baixun, the eldest among them, scolded: "Look at you, eating so much every day and growing as useless as a pig. You even got motion sickness from riding a horse, bedridden for ten whole days.

Not to mention eliminating the pig demon, we have to take care of you instead, what a useless waste!"

The pudgy youth shrank his neck, seemingly afraid of Zhao Baixun, not daring to retort.

Getting angrier, Zhao Baixun continued, adding that the dishes on the table, perhaps maliciously prepared by the little servant, were either sour, like rotten scrambled eggs, or the meat cooked to resemble that of a zombie.

No oil nor salt, hard as iron, and chewing them felt like one’s jaw was about to dislocate.

In short, not a single dish was satisfactorily prepared.

He remembered that until today, the food had not been this way.

In his depressed mood, just as the little servant brought over a jug of wine, Zhao Baixun, frustrated from the day’s grievances, aimed to drown his sorrows, throwing his chopsticks onto the table and taking a huge gulp.

The next moment, he spat it all out.

His eyes widened at the wine jug in hand, wondering what kind of terrible wine this was! No hint of wine flavor, only a mouthful of泥沙.

Furiously, he slammed the jug on the ground, shattering it, and grabbed the collar of the little servant aggressively: "You **** with me!"

The little servant allowed Zhao Baixun to grab him, smiling without fear.

He dryly said, "You are a noble Immortal, how dare a mere mortal like me trick you? It’s just that no one who enters our small town can go out for supplies, hence the fine wines are dwindling, unable to match the hospitality from previous days."

Zhao Baixun snarled in a laugh: "Do you take me for a fool! The dishes may pass, but your ’wine’ is clearly just泥巴 and water!"

The little servant spread his hands helplessly: "仙长 indeed misunderstood me, this is our Beiliao Town’s famous泥儿酒, it’s just that you’re unaccustomed to drinking it."

Zhao Baixun clenched his fist until it cracked.

The little servant pretended to be scared: "仙长 intends to bully us mortals?"

Tie Yun saw this and genuinely feared his hot-tempered senior might strike the little servant dead, and quickly pulled Zhao Baixun aside: "Senior, why get angry with a mortal."

He tugged at Zhao Baixun’s sleeve, somewhat gloatingly: "Senior, look, that kid has returned quietly."

Startled, Zhao Baixun’s attention was effectively drawn away.

When he saw Baili An silently standing at the door, he grinned wickedly, released the little servant, and straightened his disheveled collar.

A mocking voice laughed: "See, it’s not that I’m the hypocrite, some people are the real hypocrites. They said they’d pass on a message to the Xijian Sect for you, yet here they are, back already. What’s the meaning of this?"

The waiter quickly went up to him, but there was no reproach on his face, because he had keenly noticed Baili An’s bleeding hand. With concern, he asked, "Young lord, what happened? Did you encounter mountain bandits?"

Zhao Baixun sneered, "Mountain bandits? Don’t forget, he, like me, is a cultivator. How could ordinary mountain bandits harm him? This might be some sort of ploy."

Baili An reassured the waiter: "Don’t worry, I didn’t encounter any bandits. It’s just... I have some bad news I must share with you."

The waiter’s face turned pale, then he forced a smile and said, "Please, young master, go on."

Baili An said, "When I left the town earlier, I discovered that the town is trapped by a barrier set up by the pig demon. Now... not only the townsfolk but even we outsiders cannot leave the barrier."

The waiter was distraught: "How could this happen? How could this happen? My Cuihua... my Cuihua... won’t be able to return..."

Zhao Baixun sneered, "A barrier? What a grandiose excuse."

Baili An said calmly, "Since I promised to go to the Xijian Sect for reinforcements, why would I go back on my word? If you don’t believe me, you can go see for yourself at the edge of town."

Seeing his genuine demeanor, the three people’s expressions gradually became grim.

Baili An continued, "Originally, you all had an opportunity to leave and seek help from the powerful of the Xijian Sect, but you didn’t.

You startled the snake and lost the chance. The roles of hunter and prey have reversed, and now we’re all trapped in this town. And now you can’t consider escaping if you can’t defeat the pig demon."

Baili An voiced Zhao Baixun’s thoughts. He had originally planned to escape if they couldn’t defeat the pig demon. With their level of cultivation, they could escape without issue, but now...

His expression was extremely ugly, anxiety and fear spreading inside him. He feigned calmness and said, "Hmph, don’t forget, you’re trapped here too."

He said nothing more and, holding onto a sliver of hope, ordered the other two, "Come with me to the town’s edge and take a look."

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

The three of them hurriedly left.

Baili An looked at the despairing face of the waiter and comforted him, "Don’t worry, we have four cultivators among us. We’ll find a way to deal with the pig demon. It’s not yet a dead end."

Baili An had a Spirit Stone for teleportation but didn’t dare to use it recklessly because it was his first time using such a thing.

Being within the barrier, he wasn’t sure if the Spirit Stone would work. If it didn’t, he might miss the best opportunity to use it.

After some comforting words, the waiter’s complexion improved significantly.

But he was still quite aware that not all among them were united. The three claiming to be from the Moon Accompanying Palace didn’t care about others’ lives.

Focusing only on their interests, he found the noticeably weaker young lord to be more trustworthy.

He was worried that those three might secretly harm the young lord.

Uneasy, he said, "You should be wary of those three; they’re not good people."

Baili An smiled and nodded: "Thank you, I understand."

"Then I won’t disturb your rest. You seem quite tired today. Get some rest early; your room is still reserved, and inside there’s healing medicine and bandages for your hand injury."

"Okay... Oh, right, by the way, may I ask which room that lady is staying in during the day?" Baili An asked.

The waiter broke into a knowing smile upon hearing the question and lowered his voice, "Just in the room next to yours on the right."

Amazing coincidence, Baili An smiled slightly and headed upstairs to her room.

The waiter, very accustomed, went to the inn entrance to ready his horse.

Arriving at the door, Baili An was about to knock when he heard the melodious voice of a girl call from inside.

"Come in, the door’s not locked."