Buying the inn

Zian Yi began using as much corpse Qi as was needed to extrapolate the Corpse Flame skill as much as possible.

After just a few minutes, he was done. The corpse flame skill now had nine stages.

He did not stop at just this. After completing his extrapolation and his knowledge could no longer allow him to extrapolate the skill any further, the option to upgrade the skill appeared.

He chose to upgrade. The battle axe glowed with a crimson light that covered the entire room.

A maid who had been passing through the hallway saw the light coming from the gaps on the door. She walked closer to try and figure out what was happening and this was when her mind went silent. She could not think about anything and her brain could not even maintain her body. She forgot how to breathe and fell on the wooden floor. She died a few seconds later. This crimson light was not meant for the eyes of the living.

Inside the room, the black skeleton sat on the bed with its battle axe across its legs.

[Corpse Qi: 199,000Units]

[Skills:Life Sense----4/4 /// Corpse Flame----9/9/// Faceless Wonder---2/2]

[Unknown Technique-----2/2 (Life Force Vision, Dark Blade.)]

He had upgraded the corpse flame skill to the ninth stage.

He could feel this flame moving about within his bones, especially his skull.

He still had a lot of corpse qi but not enough knowledge to extrapolate the skill. He had cultivated all his skills to their highest stage and he was now left with nothing to do. He needed knowledge more than ever.

He swung his axe around and it disappeared into his bones.

Above his left palm, he manifested the corpse flame to see if anything had changed. It had indeed changed greatly.

The flame was at least ten times as powerful as before and it could burn for longer periods. He had the feeling that if he set something on fire with this flame, it would burn until he decided to stop it.

He also understood that this flame could spread out to cover a larger area than before making it even more deadly to large groups.

Zian Yi observed the pitch-black flame until the first light.

He had to go out into this new city and seek out more knowledge to feed his hunger.

Before he could open the door, someone knocked on it with panic and fear clear in their actions.

Zian Yi calmly opened the door and outside, the first thing he saw was a panicked fat middle-aged man.

On the floor, a dead body lay partially covered with a white cloth. Zian Yi did not have any emotions but fortunately for him, his disguise skill( Faceless Wonder) was able to mimic all these expressions at the right time. On his face, a look of fear could be seen.

He even took a step away from the dead body.

"I finally understand why I felt my corpse qi slightly increase at night." thought Zian Yi as he continued his pretence.

A few minutes later, the city prefects came and took away the dead body. They asked Zian Yi a few questions all of which he was able to answer perfectly.

Many guests of the inn left the place after they found out about the dead maid. They did not want to be in a place where someone had just died. It was apparently bad luck.

This was not the case for Zian Yi.

It turned out that the fat middle-aged man was the proprietor of the inn and he was extremely touched that Zian Yi chose to stay even though he had been greatly scared of the corpse earlier.

Zian Yi, the young girl (Zian Rou) and Ting Huan all had breakfast in the dining down stares but the place was almost empty since most of the guests had left the inn as soon as the prefects cleared them.

Ting Huan spoke a lot but Zian Yi just ignored her. He did not know what this woman was running from but he did not care as long as she helped him hide his secret from the humans.

Ting Huan realized that Zian Yi was not in the talking mood so she concentrated her conversation on the young girl. Zian Rou had long ago been traumatized by Zian Yi's actions and even though Ting Huan was speaking to her, she answered any questions with yes or no and shook her head to reply to most of the questions. Zian Yi just sat at the table and watched as the two humans ate their food. He was an undead and had no need for for. The only things he hungered for were knowledge and power.

At this moment, he overheard a conversation from the next room over. It was the owner of the inn. He was talking to a man who seemed not to care for anything the inn proprietor had to say. All he cared about was getting his money.

It turned out that the man was a tax collector and he had come to the inn to do his job.

"I beg that you give me another month .This month has not been good for business and a maid has just died in the inn making business slow down greatly .Please have mercy on us ." begged the owner of the inn.

"If you do not pay your taxes today,I will have no choice but to hand your case over to the tax enforcers." the tax collector harshly replied to the pleas.

The inn owner was in a true bind but this was not enough to capture Zian Yi's attention for a long.

He ignored what was going on and waited for the two women to finish their breakfast. He needed to take them along on his tour of the city so that he would appear normal. No one would question a family man such as him too much.

When the two humans were done with their food, Zian Yi took them along.

The streets were bustling with people moving in all directions.

All the shops were busy and the place was filled with noise. Zian Yi took Ting Huan and Zian Rou to a clothing store and bought them new clothes. He also picked out a few clothes all chosen to make him blend in.

Their clothes had been worn out by their journey to the capital.

Zian Yi then walked around the city for a few minutes before going back to the inn.

He did not have to go to every corner of the city to get a general understanding of his environment.

"We have to sell the inn by end of day if we don not want to become poor ." said the owner. He was talking to a woman who was slightly older than he was. She was probably his wife.

When the owner of the inn saw Zian Yi return, he walked over and bowed.

"I am sorry to inconvineince you right now but we are selling the inn.You will need to move out as soon as possible ." said the man with his back bent and his hands clasped.

In his heart, he was praying that Zian Yi did not ask for a refund. Zian Yi had paid one hundred gold coins and there was no way he could tell them that the single night they had spent in the inn was worth this much money.

Zian Yi seemed not to have heard the man's words. His eyes flickered for a moment as though he was thinking about something very important.

"How much are you selling this place ?" he asked.

The owner of the inn, his wife and even Ting Rou were all shaken by his question.

It was clear that he wanted to buy the place.

"Twenty thousand gold coins "the man replied with his eyes darting around.

Twenty thousand gold coins was too much for this inn and he knew it.

The place had lost a lot of its value after the maid's mysterious death.

To the man's surprise, Zian Yi did not negotiate.He simply nodded his head in acceptance.

"Let us do it now ."

A few minutes later, Zian Yi had the deed to the inn and the middle-aged man had left the place with his wife. The man had neglected to inform Zian Yi that he would have to pay the taxes that were due but even if he had been informed, Zian Yi would still have chosen to buy the inn.

It was going to serve as his starting point to establish himself in the city.

The following day when the tax collector returned, Ting Huan had to deal with him as per Zian Yi's instructions.She dealt with the situation with ease. She knew how to speak to people and the fact that she was beautiful did not hurt.

She paid the taxes with the money Zian Yi had given her to deal with all the remaining problems.

He left everything to her and began looking for ways to get more knowledge and corpse qi.