Chapter 52: Colleagues
The sun sank, and dusk approached. The light shining on the small mountain path gradually grew dimmer.
Xu Qing had his brocade box slung over his shoulder as he continued to contemplate what the round-faced cultivator had told him. He already felt he understood the basics of Seven Blood Eyes.
The capital city seemed like an orderly place, but was actually filled with hidden dangers. That was especially true at night, when vicious people came out in droves. Some people, in order to improve their chances of survival, were willing to bare their teeth to anyone who got too close. That wasn’t the wrong choice to make.
Xu Qing didn’t want to become mincemeat himself, so he decided he needed to find a dark corner somewhere to put the brocade box in his bag of holding without anyone being able to see the bag. He started walking more quickly. Before long, he was at the foot of the mountain, where he saw two people in gray daoist robes.
They were none other than Zhou Qingpeng and Xu Xiaohui.
Xu Xiaohui was pretty, and though her gray robe covered most of her figure, it was still possible to see some of her curves. Somehow, the gray robe made her even more alluring. Zhou Qingpeng had been handsome to begin with. With the gray robe, he seemed very elegant. And that made Xu Xiaohui even more starry-eyed. Although, it was hard to say if she was starry-eyed over Zhou Qingpeng, or over his dharmaboat.
Seeing Xu Qing approaching, Zhou Qingpeng laughed heartily and walked over to him.
“Xu Qing, you’re finally down. I’ve been waiting for you.”
Xu Qing’s facial expression was the same as ever, but inside, he put his guard up. Instead of walking to meet Zhou Qingpeng, he kept his eyes on the young man’s throat, and simultaneously shifted his right hand to the opening of his sack, so he could pull out his iron skewer if necessary.
“We’re both from the Seventh Peak now,” Zhou Qingpeng said, “and we joined the sect together. Since neither of us are very familiar with this place, I was thinking we should stick together as best we can. That way, if either of us run into trouble, we’ll already have a friend we can call on. A connection.” He seemed very sincere as he then clasped hands to Xu Qing.
Xu Qing relaxed a bit. He had to admit that what Zhou Qingpeng said made sense. So he nodded.
Zhou Qingpeng smiled and said a few more things. Seeing that Xu Qing wasn’t inclined to be talkative, he stepped away to send a voice message with his identity medallion. Then he left with Xu Xiaohui.
After watching them disappear into the distance, Xu Qing looked down at his own identity medallion.
It can send voice messages?
Examining the medallion curiously, he sent some spirit power into it, and instantly saw a host of information.
Curious, he walked along while simultaneously continuing to study the medallion.
Once back in the city, he found a quiet alley where he put the brocade box in his bag of holding. He didn’t change into the daoist robe, but rather, kept on his dirty old jerkin. During the daytime, when the city was neat and orderly, being a scavenger would make him stick out. But at nighttime, it would make it easier to blend in. And he figured it might also help him avoid any bothersome confrontations. After all, scavengers were generally poor, so anyone who targeted him wouldn’t be someone strong, and by extension, it meant he could handle them easily.
He also spent some time to make sure he knew all the functions of the identity medallion, for instance, how to send messages. His personal information was also stored in the medallion, including his work assignment.
I work in the Violent Crimes Division?
Although he wasn’t sure what that job involved, just based on the name… it seemed dangerous.
According to the information, he needed to check in for work the next day. The medallion also told him the berth number for his black-canopied boat.
The sect automatically assigned berths to disciples with dharmaboats, and would extract a monthly fee for the spot. It costs 30,000 merit points per month, or thirty spirit stones. If you didn’t pay the fee, you lost your spot.
Celestial #33 in Harbor 79?
Xu Qing looked in the direction of the water, then started moving cautiously through the night, doing his best to stay out of sight.
Eventually, dusk passed, and it was night. Most people in the city had closed and locked their doors for the night. During the day, the city was loud and bustling. Right now, it was very quiet.
As Xu Qing hurried along cloaked in darkness, he witnessed some of the dangers inherent to night in this city.
He saw people being robbed. He saw deadly fighting. He saw people fleeing for their lives. He saw the miserable result when fleeing people ran out of places to run.
Hidden in the darkness, he ignored all of that and kept moving, like a specter through the night.
Along the way, he spotted some gambling halls and brothels. They were well-lit, and offered a glimpse into another prosperous side to the city. Perhaps because Xu Qing was being so cautious and stealthy, he didn’t run into any trouble. But occasionally, he sensed people watching him. The gazes were cold and full of ill intent, but when they noticed he was dressed as a scavenger, most of them just ignored him.
He raced through the city for two hours until he reached the Port District. There were over a hundred harbors, and he needed to find number 79 in the violet part.
Just as he was about to head out to find his harbor, he shrank back into the darkness of an alley and looked down the street.
At first, he could only hear footsteps. But shortly after, a group of cultivators in gray daoist robes appeared, moving along at top speed. They seemed somber and desolate, and radiated cold, sinister auras. Some of them stayed in the middle of the road, others inspected the surrounding buildings. Each of them had a badge on their robe, with the word Violent Crimes inscribed on it in the color of blood. Xu Qing observed these Seventh Peak disciples with narrowed eyes, noting their spirit power fluctuations and baleful aura.
Are these Violent Crimes Division constables?
They soon reached Xu Qing’s hiding spot. There were quite a few people in this group, and they were all paying close attention to their surroundings. There was no way he could run away without them noticing.
And thus, it didn’t take long before a young man with graceful, phoenix-like eyes spotted him and walked toward him. [1]
As he neared, his baleful aura reached Xu Qing. Xu Qing tensed at the sense of incredible danger. Even before the young man was close, his mere presence turned everything in the alley as cold as ice. Only someone who had done a lot of killing would have a baleful aura like this.
Xu Qing knew that if he bolted, the young man would definitely attack him. Therefore, he stood in place unmoving, though he did put his hand close to the black iron skewer.
“Identity medallion!” the young man said, looking Xu Qing up and down. His gaze lingered on Xu Qing’s right hand.
A few other disciples approached, surrounding Xu Qing. They all had icy expressions; it was obvious that if he did anything wrong, they would attack him instantly.
Noticing that they were looking at his right hand, he told himself that he really did need to work on his habits. Looking around, he carefully got his identity medallion out and handed it over..
The young man looked at it, and his cold expression softened. Sounding surprised, he said, “Guess what, boys? He’s a new recruit from the Seventh Peak, also assigned to the Violent Crimes Division! Alright, calm down everyone. You’re going to scare our young friend to death before he even reports in for duty.”
Most of the auras shrank back, although a few of the surrounding constables still kept their eyes on Xu Qing.
So they really are from the Violent Crimes Division.
Xu Qing sensed the energy fluctuations that had been locked onto him fade away. However, the young man with the phoenix-like eyes continued to examine him as he returned his identity medallion.
“You’re a funny one, young friend. Get going. This place isn’t safe at night.”
Xu Qing nodded, took his identity medallion, and was about to walk off when a piercing, bloodcurdling scream rang out from a short distance away.
Xu Qing turned to look in that direction, his expression serious. Off in the distance, near a tall building, a shadowy figure stumbled out onto the air itself, coughing blood. This person’s spirit power fluctuations were in chaos, but they were obviously in the Foundation Establishment level.
Pursuing him was a middle-aged man in a violet daoist robe, his expression threatening without being angry, and his spirit power fluctuations so intense that they were like a raging fire compared to the other man. Whistling through the air toward the first man, the fellow in the violet robe produced a long spear that he thrust forward viciously.
The air itself seemed to split, and a shockwave rolled out in all directions. Meanwhile, the spear erupted into flames, which formed a fire dragon that shot toward the fleeing, shadowy figure.
It was a dazzling sight.
The fire dragon moved with incredible speed, causing a piercing sound to ring out. When it hit the shadowy figure’s torso, it pierced through him with a thump, then continued onward to slam into the street below. As it did, it sent a blast of wind in all directions. The shadowy figure had been killed with ruthless efficiency!
Xu Qing was shaken by the scene. From what he could sense, the shadowy figure that had just been killed was probably on the same level as Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior.
His spear had been incomparably strong. Xu Qing knew that if he had to fight someone like that, he would surely be killed.
The surrounding constables from the Violent Crimes Division looked very excited.
“It’s the division director!”
“Let’s go!”
Ignoring Xu Qing, they raced over to the scene of the fight.
Even after they were gone, Xu Qing still felt his mind reeling from watching that spear attack. Then he took a deep breath, and his eyes shone with anticipation.
I wonder when I’ll be able to do something like that?
With one last glance in the direction the violet-robed man had disappeared to, Xu Qing turned and walked away.
Sensing that it wasn’t a calm night, he hurried on his way. It took about an hour for him to find the horseshoe-shaped Harbor 79.
The Port District was different from the city proper. It was very dark, and though there were patrolling guards, they seemed unusually vigilant. Furthermore, they avoided anyone they saw. Clearly, their vigilance came because they were worried about getting hurt. They avoided Xu Qing as well.
Seeing this, Xu Qing’s understanding of the level of danger in Seven Blood Eyes increased.
Nearing his assigned harbor, Xu Qing felt the humidity in the sea breeze, and could see the lapping waves.
There were other boats docked there, but they maintained distance from each other. Most were roughly the same size, although there were a variety of designs. However, examining them closely for a moment, Xu Qing realized that most of them resembled his own black-canopied boat. There were over two hundred of them.
That said, Harbor 79 was so big that the current set of boats docked there only took up about twenty percent of the entire available space. Some of the boats had lamps burning, but most were still and silent. He didn’t see any disciples around. Apparently, everyone put their guard up when night fell.
Xu Qing sensed that the spirit power was strong here, but so was the mutagen. Apparently, it came in from the sea. The water was so dark that it was impossible to see the seafloor. That alone would make people uneasy. Who could possibly tell what dangers lurked down there? Glancing at the water, Xu Qing felt his hair standing on end, the same as it often had back in the forbidden regions.
Practicing cultivation here will lead to fast progress. Every moment of cultivation is like working on a grindstone….
With that, he hurried toward Celestial #33.
It was an out-of-the-way spot, without many other boats nearby.
After arriving, Xu Qing looked around the area, and after making sure he was alone, took out the brocade box, then the bottle. When he opened it, the little boat inside flew out to rest on the water. There was a loud thump, and then water rippled as the boat expanded until it was nine meters long.
It was pitch black, its planks covered with magical symbols that emanated a black glow, as well as extraordinary spirit power fluctuations. The black canopy seemed to be made of the hide of some sort of mutant beast. The scales on the hide were clearly visible.
It seemed very sturdy. There was a figurehead on the prow of the boat, depicting a large crocodile head, its gaping mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. It looked vicious, and radiated an air of brutality. From a distance, his little boat actually looked like a crocodile floating on the water.
1. Have you ever wondered what these “phoenix-like” eyes look like? Basically they’re slender with an upturned end. Here is the example picture taken from Baidu wiki. ☜