Chapter 295: The Rules

Li Yunxin stopped talking and frowned, continuing to observe the scene.

He gradually discovered something strange.

For instance, although those demons looked fierce and evil, they hadn't actually harmed the woman—they had only torn down the door and then stood outside listening to her curses.

Furthermore, while the woman had cried pitifully during the day, she was shouting loudly now. But there wasn't as much fear and terror in her voice as Li Yunxin had imagined—it seemed more like anxious helplessness.

A threshold separated the two sides. The woman was inside the door, and the demons were outside.

Li Yunxin suddenly remembered something and turned to Wolf Daoist: "Are your demon cultivators unable to enter the house?"

In his former world, there was a legend—vampires could only enter a home if they were invited. Otherwise, a rule-like powerful force would prevent them from stepping foot inside a stranger's house.

Li Yunxin didn't know if Banyan City had a similar rule. If so, who enforced it?

He asked this almost subconsciously. To his surprise, a trace of shock appeared in Wolf Daoist's eyes, and after hesitating for a moment, he nodded: "...The Great King also knows about this?"

I'll be damned if I know. Li Yunxin was stunned; he hadn't expected there to actually be such a rule. He took two steps forward into the darkness under the tree to see the scene more clearly, then asked: "So, who enforces it?"

After a moment, he heard Wolf Daoist behind him utter a confused "Ah?"

Li Yunxin sighed slightly, thinking to himself that he didn't know if this Wolf Demon was stupid or if he was just too used to dealing with clever people like Old Daoist Liu.

He asked again: "I mean, for example, if they—or you—suddenly decided tonight that you absolutely had to barge into that house, what would happen?"

He saw that the dozen demons in front of the woman's door were clearly gnashing their teeth in hatred, seemingly wanting to rush in and do something terrible, yet not one of them dared to move—Li Yunxin felt they were clearly afraid of someone or something.

Could there be some powerful force or organization in Banyan City balancing these demons?

But Wolf Daoist quickly gave him an answer: "Then... they would reveal their True Form."

Li Yunxin was stunned and turned to face Wolf Daoist: "What do you mean?"

The Wolf Demon blinked: "Reveal their True Form—it means... ah, does the Great King really not know the rules in our Banyan City?"

Li Yunxin looked toward the woman's house. Seeing they were still in a standoff and the woman was still shouting, he ignored them for the moment. Instead, he walked over to Wolf Daoist and asked seriously: "Tell me about it in detail."

Logically, as the actual "Lord of the City," Wolf Daoist shouldn't have been a kind or gentle character, even if he wasn't exactly cruel. But now that he had encountered Li Yunxin—knowing his cultivation was far superior and having been given a precious sword as a "handle"—he found this guy extremely strange.

Wolf Daoist had attained the Dao for over a hundred years. This wasn't particularly long among demons and cultivators, but it was a very long life in the human world. Thus, he had seen many people and things. Looking at Li Yunxin now—

To call him a fierce enemy, he hadn't done anything wicked since coming to Banyan City.

To call him a harmless cultivator, he had seen him at Evil King's Trapped Sky Mountain, claiming he had killed the Evil King himself.

Wolf Daoist initially thought he was a demon, then later surmised he was a Human Cultivator. Because of this apprehensive and hesitant state of mind, he didn't dare act rashly. While Li Yunxin was questioning him to figure out Banyan City and the Sword Palace, the Wolf Demon was also trying to figure out Li Yunxin's background through their conversation.

Whether he was seeing what Li Yunxin wanted him to see or what he "misunderstood" was hard to say.

When Li Yunxin asked about the rules in Banyan City, Wolf Daoist originally wanted to brush it off, but he suddenly had an idea. He paused, glanced at the dozen demons in the deep night, and told Li Yunxin the truth.

"The Great King doesn't know—it's the same rule within the borders of our Yu Kingdom. This rule has a long story—it was established over a thousand years ago when the Yu Kingdom was first founded." Wolf Daoist, hidden in the shadow of the large tree and harboring his own little scheme, spoke in a quiet, steady tone. "It's that demons simply cannot walk into someone's home. For example, those dozen you see—if they really wanted to barge in, they would have to reveal their True Forms."

"But even if they reveal their True Forms, they are just demons in their original bodies; they still can't get in. If they force their way in—the moment they cross the door, their cultivation and Spiritual Wisdom are immediately stripped away, and they become ordinary wild beasts. They have to come back out to regain their cultivation and intellect. That's why you see the situation as it is now." Wolf Daoist watched Li Yunxin as he spoke. "This rule is the natural law of the Yu Kingdom's heaven and earth. As long as it is under the Yu Kingdom's rule, it is effective. Even outside demons must follow the local customs; there are no exceptions."

"So, you see them making a fuss, but the demons don't dare enter. And that woman doesn't dare come out. There's also this rule—once night falls and it's dark, if humans walk on the streets and are caught and eaten by demons, it doesn't count as a violation of the Sword Palace Law—this was established by our Palace Master."

Wolf Daoist said this and watched Li Yunxin closely—he wanted to use this to judge whether Li Yunxin was a demon cultivator or a Human Cultivator. If a demon cultivator knew this, they would ponder for a while whether this place was safe to stay. If a Human Cultivator knew, they might even be happy.

But he found that Li Yunxin had no reaction—after hearing his words, he suddenly fell silent as if a massive problem had appeared in his mind.

Wolf Daoist waited for a while—a full fifteen minutes. Seeing Li Yunxin was still silent, he finally couldn't help asking: "...What is the Great King thinking?"

Li Yunxin looked up at him in the dark, frowning slightly: "You call this... a rule?"

Wolf Daoist was stunned, not expecting him to ask such a thing, and said: "Ah... natural law, naturally it's a rule!"

"Have you never wondered who established this rule?"

Wolf Daoist was stunned again. Then he looked at Li Yunxin strangely: "A rule is a rule... naturally it has existed since the beginning? It was probably established by Heaven and Earth?"

Li Yunxin shook his head and stopped talking.

He realized he shouldn't be discussing this problem with a Wolf Demon—talking to Old Daoist Liu would probably be better. This Wolf Demon had a typical "thinking mode of this era"—for many things, he didn't seek a deep understanding.

In his original era, people knew a great deal of knowledge and learning. They were raised from a young age to think "why" and seek the fundamental reasons behind phenomena. Because they had received a systematic, solid education, they knew that the operation and development of all things in heaven and earth had internal mechanisms—it couldn't be explained away by a simple "it's just how it is."

For example, this Wolf Demon only knew how to cultivate; he wouldn't think about why wild beasts could develop Spiritual Wisdom or why they could cultivate—it had been that way since ancient times, so he was used to it.

The people of this world had the same mindset. They didn't seek deep understanding for many things, lacking the motivation to ponder the underlying causes—as long as they had experience passed down through generations and knew "how to do it," that was enough.

Thus, the Wolf Demon felt that a "rule" was a "rule," and it naturally existed because it was there—even if the rule seemed strange.

However, for Li Yunxin, he knew that although many things in this world were different from his previous one, the basic patterns were roughly the same.

For example, if he used a Talisman to create a handful of salt—although it sounded miraculous, if one seriously studied the Path of Painting and knew the principles behind it, one would realize the process was quite perfect and logical. The only difference from his world was... some basic laws had changed.

But if a cultivator from this world went to his former world and saw a person get into a metal box, twist something, press something, and the box started running, they would find it equally miraculous if they didn't know the principles.

Therefore, he knew that many things in this world also operated according to certain laws. Once he knew all the laws, he could explain many seemingly miraculous phenomena based on common sense. But the problem was... he couldn't seem to explain this matter.

—In the Yu Kingdom, if a demon cultivator ran into a home, they would become a beast without Spiritual Wisdom, and if they ran out, they became a demon cultivator again?

This kind of "rule" seemed too miraculous even for this world; it was more like a story made up by the ignorant masses based on their own imagination. Li Yunxin tried to explain this using some principles of cultivation and Formations he knew, but ultimately realized it was simply unexplainable.

This rule made no sense.

It was as if in his original world, someone told him, "In this city, as long as you clap your hands, you can fly"—it completely transcended his understanding of the rules of that world.

Li Yunxin let out a light breath, a bold inference forming in his mind.

Perhaps this rule didn't come from "Heaven and Earth," but from people.

As for what kind of person...

A similar question had been hidden in his heart for a very long time—the Traveling Palace and the Dragon Palace.

When he first heard of this from Liu Ling, he was very surprised. Because the Traveling Palace and Dragon Palace also exceeded his understanding of the rules of this world. It was as if someone had forcefully embedded a set of such things into this world, looking strange and abrupt. Of course, this "strange abruptness" could only be felt by himself.

Because it was very much like...

The "home-building" or "base-building" from his former world.

Li Yunxin stood in silence under the old tree for a while, then let out a soft breath. He had a deduction, but he wasn't very sure. There was another thing in this city that "people of this era are used to but he finds eerie."

He planned to link the two together.