Chapter 106

Chapter 106: Little Mute

Seven Blood Pupils main city.

In the coastal area, the winter breeze blew gently through every corner of the streets.

This was different from the harsh and severe cold of the Red Plains. Here, the chill was difficult to detect initially. One would only notice it once it seeped deep into their bones and froze them from inside out.

By then, it would be too late to resist.

It was just like the Seven Blood Pupils mountain-foot disciples. Smiling faces hid cruelty beneath, like a needle hidden in cotton.

This was especially so for the Seventh Peak.

The disciples of the Seventh Peak seemed to be talented in this area. They were good at concealing themselves and could sacrifice their useless dignity for the sake of benefits. Xu Qing knew this deeply.

In this period of time, he had completely gotten used to the environment of the main city, and as his cultivation base improved, he gradually gained a firm foothold in Seven Blood Pupils. With his decisiveness and ruthless means, the dangers he encountered had decreased and his fame echoed.

However, his caution and vigilance had never decreased in the slightest.

Xu Qing knew very well that among the Qi Condensation disciples of the Seventh Peak, low-level disciples would often leave traces of killing each other. However, when they reached higher levels, especially the ninth or tenth level of Qi Condensation, most of them were extremely cunning.

They were good at concealing their thoughts and even better at bearing grievances. Once one of them locked on to prey, like a poisonous snake hiding in the dark, their prey would often die without even seeing the real enemy.

In fact, it wasn’t just these higher-level Qi Condensation disciples who were like this. Those cultivators who struggled their way out of the mountain foot and broke through into Foundation Establishment were even better in this area.

For example, the third highness…

As Xu Qing walked through the Seven Blood Pupils main city, his expression seemed calm, but his heart was full of vigilance. He continued to wear his disguise.

Xu Qing had been walking through the main city for most of the day, visiting all the crowded places and listening with full attention.

He was patiently searching for clues about the matter between the third highness and the merfolk race and whether things were really calm.

When night fell, Xu Qing still didn’t take off his disguise. In fact, even when he came here through the teleportation array, he hadn’t used his own identity token but rather an anonymous entry jade slip.

The anonymous entry jade slip was already a sort of business down in the Seven Blood Pupils main city. It was in extremely high demand, being the best choice for wanted criminals and others who needed to conceal their identities.

Of course, it was extremely expensive, but the benefits of the anonymous entry jade slip were too great to resist. Being able to hide one’s identity was an extremely attractive proposition for many cultivators.

Seven Blood Pupils turned a blind eye to this sort of thing. Although they would occasionally screen the slip-holders, they mostly ignored them. Of course, the premise for this was that the slip-holders didn’t cross Seven Blood Pupils’ bottom line.

Xu Qing had killed many wanted criminals and thus had several anonymous entry jade slips on him. That night, he found an open inn to stay in.

Just like that, three days passed quickly.

Over the past three days, Xu Qing had gone out to investigate many times, even spending spirit coins to purchase some information about the goings-on of Seven Blood Pupils. However, in the end, he didn’t find any clues.

Apparently, the matter with the merfolk race really had calmed down, and nothing had happened on the third highness’ end.

During this period of time, the most discussed topic among the Seven Blood Pupils disciples was the Seventh Peak’s upcoming great competition.

Xu Qing had heard many things about this matter over the past three days, and most of the information he’d bought also mentioned it.

It was clear that all of the disciples in Seven Blood Pupils were paying attention to this great competition.

As Xu Qing’s thoughts reached this point, a deep gaze appeared in his eyes.

The Seventh Peak’s great competition was held once every 30 years. The battlefield would often be somewhere outside, and the competition itself was extremely bloody and brutal.

For example, 30 years ago, the merfolk race’s island was chosen as the battlefield.

After that crushing competition, the merfolk race had become an ally of the human race.

This time, the selected battlefield was the home of a small alien race in the Western Reef Archipelago. This alien race was called the spiritnorth race. Members of this race were cruel and bloodthirsty, and the whole race worked as pirates.

They provided stolen resources to a number of larger alien races of the Forbidden Sea in exchange for protection.

The spiritnorth race were a huge threat to merchant ships, and some of the merchant ships of Seven Blood Pupils had been robbed by them recently.

Although they quickly returned the stolen goods, this incident still aroused the wrath of Seven Blood Pupils. The timing coincided with the Seventh Peak’s great competition, so Spiritnorth Island was designated as the battlefield.

The Seven Blood Pupils main city was paying great attention to this matter, and the Seventh Peak disciples were already raring to go. Everyone who was qualified to participate was making their preparations, and the price of cultivation resources in the port area had already increased by 20%.

The sect had also released the rules and qualifications to participate.

There were a total of thirteen departments in the Seventh Peak, and each department would select about 400 people. All in all, over 5,000 people would be entering the great competition.

For these thirteen departments, it wouldn’t be easy to select 400 people. This wasn’t because of anything like there being too few people.

In fact, each department had a huge number of disciples. Larger departments had thousands of disciples, and even the small ones had almost a thousand.

What made selecting 400 disciples so difficult was that there were too many people who wanted to participate.

The rewards for participating in the great competition were just too generous. Every time they killed a spiritnorth cultivator, they would receive 10,000 contribution points, and that was just the minimum. The higher the cultivation level of the one they killed, the more rewards they would get.

The identity token would automatically record their kills, and the final reward would be issued all at once after the great competition ended. Such wealth was enough to make all the disciples go crazy.

But the most shocking thing was the reward for the one who ranked first in this great competition.

The identity of a core disciple!

Compared to the countless mountain-foot disciples of the Seventh Peak, the core disciples who were allowed to wear light purple robes were all lofty and supremely noble.

As the captain had said back then, the sect wouldn’t care even if a hundred mountain-foot disciples died, but the death of a single core disciple was a huge deal.

Thus, it was completely understandable that the disciples were all going mad for the chance to participate.

However, Xu Qing didn’t care at all about the identity of a core disciple.

If it was back when he had just arrived at Seven Blood Pupils, the identity of a core disciple would have been extremely attractive to him. But now that he was already at the peak of Qi Condensation, Xu Qing’s priority was to break through to Foundation Establishment as soon as possible.

Moreover, Xu Qing felt that there was something deeper to this competition. The Spiritnorth Island that had been announced to the outside world seemed to be misdirection. In Xu Qing’s heart, he suspected that the true battlefield might be in the merfolk race’s territory.

Thus, Xu Qing continued to observe for a few more days while the other disciples were all making their preparations.

After confirming that nothing more had happened between the merfolk race and the third highness, Xu Qing removed his disguise and returned to his own identity. He remained on high alert for the next few days before his heart gradually settled down.

Fleeing Seven Blood Pupils was Xu Qing’s last resort, and he really didn’t want to leave, especially now that he wasn’t far from Foundation Establishment. Once he broke through, he would be able to receive five thousand spirit stones from the sect every month.

Soon, Xu Qing vigilantly returned to his usual life. A few days later, he received a message from the captain.

The final reward from the operation against Night Dove back then had finally been passed down.

Xu Qing had been appointed as the vice captain of the Homicide Department’s Black Division Team Six, and his salary had also increased from 3,000 to 6,000 contribution points a month.

“Xu Qing, you really have to thank me for this matter. If I hadn’t fought for you with all my might, you definitely wouldn’t have been promoted today.” Inside the Homicide Department, the captain was sitting down and looking at Xu Qing with a smile, eating an apple as always.

He looked Xu Qing up and down, obviously aware of the increase in Xu Qing’s cultivation. However, his smile remained the same, and he continued to eat the apple with relish.

“Thank you, captain.”

Xu Qing put a smile on his face as he thanked the captain. After coming to Seven Blood Pupils, he had gradually learned to control his expression, although it still looked a little unnatural.

“So don’t forget the 1,000 spirit stones you owe me.” The captain continued happily.

Xu Qing's smile froze.

“It’s 100, and I already paid you back!”

“Ah? You paid it back already? Oh, look at this memory of mine. Now that I think about it, you did indeed pay me back 100 spirit stones. Alright, alright, you still owe me 900.”

The captain smacked his forehead and sighed. Seeing that Xu Qing’s expression had turned unnatural and his right hand had instinctively crept over to his leather bag, the captain quickly blinked.

"Xu Qing, are you entering the great competition this time?"

Xu Qing didn't speak.

“Xu Qing, let me tell you something. Based on the sect’s usual conduct, the great competition this time… probably won’t be in the spiritnorth race!”

The captain looked a little excited. Taking out two oranges, he threw one to Xu Qing while peeling the other for himself.

Xu Qing caught the orange and glanced at the captain.

“I suspect it will be the island of a much larger alien race, and this alien race must be extremely rich, so the sect released a fake announcement as a smokescreen for the outside world. Recently, I’ve investigated several of the famous freaks in the other departments and found out that they all signed up in secret!”

The more the captain spoke, the more excited he became. His eyes seemed to be shining.

“These freaks have actually long saved up enough spirit stones to buy themselves Foundation Establishment Pills and can break through at any time. However, they’re actually suppressing their cultivation, clearly to wait for this opportunity. Think about it, those freaks are all like dogs who can sniff out all the slightest benefits. For them to give up on the sect’s income from reaching Foundation Establishment, their target is clearly even bigger. Thus, this time’s great competition should be an incredible opportunity to snatch cultivation resources.”

“You know, in the last great competition 30 years ago, many people made a huge amount of money. I heard that that girl, the second highness, managed to rise up thanks to that, and even some elders were jealous of the riches she plundered. Just counting Foundation Establishment Pills alone, she snatched eight of them!!”

“Plus, there are many people in the sect who’re close to breaking through but don’t have enough spirit stones. Recently, they’re all salivating at the thought of the great competition and preparing to accumulate spirit stones through it.”

“Aren’t you going to take this chance to make a fortune?” The captain looked at Xu Qing with a smile on his face.

Xu Qing still remained silent. His own analysis agreed with the captain’s about the true location of the great competition, and he already had a strong guess where exactly it would be.

“Come on, if you make a fortune this time, it’ll be enough to break through to Foundation Establishment.”

“Oh, there’s a newbie in the team, I’ll call him over for you to have a look.” The captain sent a voice transmission, and after a while, the sound of light footsteps came from outside the room.

Soon, the door opened, revealing the figure of a youth standing just outside.

This youth’s hair was a little messy, and his face was slightly dirty. Although he was wearing a gray Daoist robe, it was bulging out. Beneath the Daoist robe was a black coat made of dog hide.

The most striking thing about this youth was his pair of sharp and fierce eyes. It was as if the one standing at the door wasn’t a human, but a ferocious little wolfdog.

The baleful aura coming from his body was extremely dense, as if it could instantly erupt and swallow the enemy at any moment. As he opened the door and looked at the captain and Xu Qing, his smiling mouth… had no tongue.

He was a mute.

However, when his gaze landed on Xu Qing, the mute youth’s smile suddenly froze. His eyes widened, and looking at the shadow under Xu Qing, his expression changed drastically. It was as if he had seen the most terrifying existence in the world.

His body trembled violently, and his breathing turned into heavy panting. It was like a mortal meeting God.

The room instantly fell into dead silence!

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