Chapter 80: East-West Inn (Part 3): Then I’ll Take the Male Protagonist’s Place First

This shout dispersed the room’s atmosphere entirely. Shang Shan abruptly jumped up, her gaze vigilant. “What’s going on!”

Mu Qian Tan replied unhurriedly, as if she had anticipated it. “Go take a look.”

In a few steps, she leaped to the window. Shang Shan pushed open the window panels and looked down.

After that shout, quite a few people had already gathered on both sides of the main street. A quick scan showed they were the inn’s attendants and a few scattered guests. They had just gotten out of bed, hastily pulling on their clothes. Some had grave expressions, while others craned their necks to peer into the crowd, whispering among themselves in fear.

A few people in the front held torches, illuminating the center of the street. A burly man lay sprawled on the ground with his limbs spread out, motionless. Shang Shan exclaimed in shock, “It looks like someone really died.”

A murder case appearing in the middle of the night was shocking enough, but right after her surprise, she noticed something even more astonishing. The girl standing by the corpse, waving her hands and explaining to everyone how she had discovered the body while holding a pink frog in her arms, was actually Tan Que!

Shang Shan couldn’t stand still anymore. Joy and shock filled her heart as she hurriedly rushed out the door. “I’m going down, Master!”

She dashed downstairs nimbly. The commotion had caused both inns to light up, brightening the area. More and more people emerged from their rooms to join the arguing crowd, breaking through the darkness.

Shang Shan flew out the inn door, circled around the crowd, and pushed through shoulders. “Excuse me!”

Finally squeezing to the very center, she emerged from the crowd and waved her hand. “Tan Que!”

Tan Que was pointing at the corpse on the ground, explaining something with heated words and constant cursing. Suddenly hearing someone call her name—and the voice sounded familiar—she froze for a moment before quickly turning her head. When she saw who it was, her features lit up, and she grinned widely. “Shang Shan!”

It had been over half a year since they last met, and reuniting in a place like this was truly laughable and tearful. Though she had a bellyful of words to say, now wasn’t the time for catching up. Shang Shan asked, “What happened?”

Tan Que was about to explain when someone shoved her, nearly making her lose her balance. Shang Shan quickly steadied her with swift reflexes and looked toward the person behind her. It turned out the two groups from the East-West Inn were arguing more and more fiercely, even seeming ready to come to blows. She spoke up to stop them. “Stop arguing first! See if he can still be saved!”

The corpse lay right in the middle of the street, pressed against the dividing line between the two inns, so no one knew which side he belonged to. They usually bickered over flowers and plants, but with something like this, both sides lost all reason and refused to yield an inch. They just wanted to push the blame away first, lest it tarnish their own inn’s reputation.

Her words fell on deaf ears, naturally ignored by everyone.

Shang Shan had no choice but to check the man on the ground herself. She touched the back of the man’s neck with her palm—ice-cold and stiff, with no pulse. Carefully flipping his face over revealed a bluish-black visage, a purplish-red tongue protruding from his teeth, and bulging eyes. Under the torchlight, he looked like a malevolent ghost that had just leaped out, utterly terrifying.

No matter how she checked, he was dead beyond saving. He had died alone in a strange place, his death grim and pathetic, face covered in dust. Yet no one was willing to even help lift him up; they only shoved responsibility around. Shang Shan sighed softly. “So pitiful…”

With the deceased’s face now flipped upward, the few people standing closest jumped back in fright at the sight, retreating a few steps. The torchlight flickered, and even the clamor quieted for a moment as the crowd fell silent.

Then, murmurs arose.

“Who is that?”

“Go take a look.”

“Why should I look?”

“You’re closer anyway….”

Under the West Lane Guest signboard, Mu Qian Tan leaned against the door frame outside the center of the commotion, bored. She asked, “Where’s the male protagonist? Still not here?”

Li Biyuan was puzzled too. ‘Yeah, they’ve been arguing for so long. He should have shown up by now? Why don’t you look for him?’

When chaos erupted at the East-West Inn, the male protagonist was supposed to appear like a pillar of stability to calm the quarrel, find the murderer, and—since they shared the same destination—team up with the female protagonist to head to Pot City together.

By all rights, he should have appeared by now, but there wasn’t even a sign of him.

He wouldn’t have not come at all, would he?

Or was he hiding?

Mu Qian Tan glanced into the crowd but didn’t spot him. She closed her eyes and released her spiritual power, scanning the vicinity for any powerful cultivators. She only detected some third-rate loose cultivators and a few feeble demons.

Another scan turned up nothing.

It was basically confirmed: the male protagonist wasn’t here.

She slowly opened her eyes, recalling their unhappy parting in East City last time.

In the original book, after the male protagonist returned to the Taihang Feng Clan with the silver snake fierce corpse, he questioned his father about using the demon seal again—an evil artifact that harmed both others and themselves. In rage, his father punished him harshly and locked him up, only releasing him six months later.

Afterward, the male protagonist reflected deeply in pain. To stop his father from continuing to wreak havoc with the demon seal, he temporarily gave up searching for his mother and sister, bowed his head to the family, and sought to regain control of the Feng Family’s lifeline to prevent it from sliding further into evil.

But evidently, his father refused. Instead, he laid out three conditions for the male protagonist: fulfill all of them to even have the right to reenter the family home.

As for inheriting the clan, even as the most qualified young master, he would have to earn the position of clan head through his own abilities.

Still harboring hope for his father and not wanting to involve other immortal sects, the male protagonist didn’t spread word of the demon seal reemerging in the world. Instead, he agreed to those three demands.

The first one was to overthrow the lord of Pot City.

That was why the female protagonist, who had come to watch the performance, would meet the male protagonist here.

But now, the male protagonist hadn’t come.

The reason was likely that conversation after tearing off the facade right before parting in East City last time—it must have shaken Jiang Yuanqi quite a bit. Stimulated, he had deviated from the original plot path.

The storyline had strayed from expectations, developing into the unknown. Cold sweat dripped down Li Biyuan’s back. ‘If he doesn’t come here, where will he go?’

Mu Qian Tan pondered too, replying aloud, “What’s the rush? It’s a great female protagonist novel. As long as the female protagonist is here, it’s fine.”

Li Biyuan said, ‘But the male protagonist is still a protagonist. He’s pretty important. How can we not worry?’

Mu Qian Tan didn’t respond.

‘What if… the male protagonist never shows up again?’ Li Biyuan started overthinking, anxious and flustered. ‘Then what about the female protagonist? Does she have to go solo? Oh god, could this be why she goes berserk and unleashes Sky-Splitting later on?’

Mu Qian Tan was speechless. ‘…Are you looking down on the male protagonist or the female protagonist?’

Li Biyuan clutched her head and wailed. ‘Sister Tan, Sister Tan, I told you not to be too harsh on the male protagonist. You were harsh, threatened him, even revealed you’re a fake Yao’e Immortal—that planted so many hidden dangers. Now he’s out of control. What are we going to do?’

“Don’t overthink it. Shang Shan isn’t stupid enough to go mad over a man.” Mu Qian Tan stepped out the door and approached the crowd. “Deal with this mess first, then figure out how to handle him.”

Li Biyuan said, ‘Aren’t you afraid he’ll cause trouble for you?’

“No choice then,” Mu Qian Tan chuckled lightly. “If he gets too much in the way, we’ll just have to kill him. Mission comes first, right?”

An ice crystal epiphyllum bloomed from her palm and shattered above the crowd’s heads with a crisp, deafening sound. Everyone looked up to see ice flowers drifting down, refracting the moonlight in a soft, eerie chill. When they looked down again, a black-clad woman stood by the corpse. She was slender and tall, with a cold expression and an air of ethereal lightness all over her.

Shang Shan looked up. “Mas… Immortal, come take a look at this person.”

The surrounding crowd gasped again, murmuring that an immortal had actually appeared.

Tan Que squatted down with the frog in her arms, leaning close to Shang Shan and whispering, “Isn’t this….”

Shang Shan whispered back, “Yeah, it’s….”

Mu Qian Tan flicked her skirt and knelt on one knee. With two fingers, she pulled open the male corpse’s collar, revealing a pair of purple-black handprints on his pale neck. This man had been strangled to death.

The murmurs grew louder instantly. From the back of the crowd, an attendant furrowed his brows and quietly slipped back into the inn.

Mu Qian Tan released the collar. Li Biyuan said, ‘You want to temporarily take the male protagonist’s place? Good idea, good idea. For now, that’s all we can do. So first, gently advise everyone not to….’

“Quiet.” Mu Qian Tan’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was icy cold. Her gaze swept darkly over the crowd. “There are no other shops nearby. Everyone here is from these inns, so the murderer has to be one of us. Gather everyone first—let him slip away in the chaos? What’s with all the arguing? Use your eyes.”

Li Biyuan: ‘…Fair enough.’

Suddenly scolded outright, the crowd gradually sobered up. They hurriedly pushed and shoved, calling out all the guests from both inns to stand downstairs together.

Just then, a brocade-robed man pushed through the crowd. His face was deathly pale, extremely anxious. Upon seeing the corpse on the ground, his legs gave out, and he knelt, howling, “Who did it! Who killed my foster father!”

Tan Que grabbed his arm. “What did you say? This is Boss Hu?”

Shang Shan asked, “You know him?”

Tan Que said, “I came with him, but he always wore a mask, so I didn’t know what he looked like. We’re all from the same troupe—how could something happen to him?”

After some explanation, the whole story came clear.

Ever since the Flying Dragon Stronghold incident was resolved last year, Tan Que had nothing to do in her free time and liked taking the Lingdang Princess traveling mountains and rivers. Passing through a certain town, she encountered a demon circus troupe performing tricks with demons—monkeys swallowing swords, parrots driving carts, tigers jumping through fire hoops, and so on.

She found it fascinating and watched obsessively, squatting at the spot every day without fail. She was reluctant to see the Monster Play Troupe leave. Coincidentally, Lingdang knew a few tricks too, so she insisted on joining the troupe and traveled with them to Pot City for performances.

When she first joined, it was Hu Sheng, the troupe leader known as Boss Hu, who recruited her. As the leader, Hu Sheng didn’t train the demons himself but was skilled in face-changing arts. He often wore a soft mask on his face and dressed in gorgeous multicolored brocade robes. He was kind and generous, frequently giving treats to the troupe members.

Tan Que hadn’t been there long and only knew of him. She’d seen him face-to-face a few times during performances but wasn’t familiar with him otherwise. With his face drastically altered now and only wearing underclothes, she hadn’t recognized him right away.

The one calling Hu Sheng his foster father was the troupe’s second-in-command, Hu Zhong. A thumb-thick iron chain was tied around his wrist, at the end of which was tethered a black fur monkey the size of an infant, wearing a colorful feathered hat and looking quite young.

With so many people around and no one having seen such a pet before, everyone stared curiously, clicking their tongues now and then. The fur monkey, startled and anxious, bared two rows of teeth, plucked out its own black fur, gripped the chain, and twisted its head while shrieking nonstop.

A few more people arrived from the back of the crowd, all from the Monster Play Troupe. Each had a small demon by their side, huddling fearfully into their owners’ arms amid the throng. Leading them was a sallow-faced youth of fifteen or sixteen, with dry and frizzy hair pinned up with a hairpin. His frame was gaunt like dry wood, as if he’d been ill for a long time. He was Hu Sheng’s biological son, Hu Xinsu.

Seeing the demons, the crowd automatically parted. They walked through unimpeded. Hu Xinsu took in the scene on the ground, his already dismal face turning even ashen. His feet wobbled unsteadily, making one worry he might faint the next moment. But he steadied himself and called out in a trembling voice, “Dad.”

The foster son Hu Zhong stood up, grabbed Tan Que’s wrist, and asked miserably, “What happened? Did you find him? Did you see who the murderer was?”

The black fur monkey was yanked by his sudden movement, the iron chain pulling taut. Her neck twisted awkwardly, her deep black eyes reflecting the increasingly bright clusters of torchlight.