Chapter 47

Chapter 47: Seven Blood Pupils

In August, the end of summer[1].

Although the scorching sun high in the sky still ceaselessly cast forth heat into the wind, causing a warm breeze to pervade the earth, as the seasons changed, this warmth would inevitably come to an end.

In the end, the sun could only hang in the sky and look helplessly at the earth, awaiting the arrival of the swan geese, the return of the blackbirds, and the appearance of the white dew of autumn[2].

Unlike the people living on land, the sun’s position in the sky allowed it to clearly see an island surrounded by the Sea of Endlessness as it waited.

Yes, the entire continent of South Phoenix was actually just an island.

It was shaped like a slanted oval, and its interior was blocked by a vast mountain range that looked like a coiled dragon, stretching from north to south and splitting the continent into east and west.

This mountain range was called the Truth Mountain Range.

The western part of the mountain range occupied a full 70% of the entire South Phoenix continent. It was the largest forbidden area in all of South Phoenix, known as Phoenix Forbidden[3].

Dark jungle filled the area, and ancient ruins could be found everywhere. It was surrounded by mist all year round, and there were countless mutated beasts and eerie existences. Furthermore, the heterogeneity was extremely dense.

As for the remaining 30% of the South Phoenix continent to the east of the mountain range, that was where humans lived.

And here, there was an extremely special location. At the northernmost part of the Truth Mountain Range, there was a place that bordered the sea.

This place was connected to Phoenix Forbidden in the west, the human race’s domain in the east, the Sea of Endlessness in the north, and the Truth Mountain Range that spread to the other end of the continent in the south.

This kind of location made it the largest port in the entire South Phoenix continent. Every day, an endless stream of cargo ships arrived and left. Some came from other surrounding islands on business, and some came from… Ancient Hope Mainland.

Since it was such a special and important strategic location, ordinary forces obviously couldn’t establish themselves there. This was the entrance to Seven Blood Pupils.

Looking from a distance, the port city was split into seven large districts, and the port was only one of them. The city formed by these seven districts was astonishingly huge and could be considered a majestic fortress[4].

This was the main city of Seven Blood Pupils.

Next to the city were seven peaks located at the northern end of the Truth Mountain Range. Each of the peaks had a hundred-meter-tall giant statue of an eye. The statues were all different colors, but all of them were gave off sharp auras like the edge of a blade.

Whether it was day or night, a huge array that covered the whole area glowed with dazzling light.

These seven giant eyes were like the pupils of some enormous beast as they coldly stared at the ground beneath. Everyone who saw them would be shocked by their ice-cold gaze.

This was also the origin of the name “Seven Blood Pupils”.

These seven peaks, together with the main city where the port was, made up the whole of the Seven Blood Pupils.

Among the peaks, the seventh peak near the main city and the first peak in the distance were the tallest, standing there like two giants that deterred any of the thieves and criminals of South Phoenix, as well as the numerous small forces.

After all, even in the 30% of the South Phoenix continent that was hospitable to the human race, there was still great danger.

The wilderness was filled with heterogeneity, and all kinds of mutated beasts and desperate criminals lurked there.

Although the mutated beasts in the wilderness weren’t as ferocious as those in a forbidden area, for the vast majority of humans, leaving the city and encountering one was a life-and-death crisis. Furthermore, they might also have to face those criminals… in the wilderness with no law and order, such a meeting might leave them better off dead.

Therefore, the chance to live in a city was something most humans dreamed of.

And the main city of Seven Blood Pupils was well-known throughout South Phoenix. Not only was it prosperous, it also had the Seven Blood Pupils formation that could greatly reduce the amount of heterogeneity in the city and allow people to live longer than they would outside.

Thus, being able to enter Seven Blood Pupils was many people’s greatest dream.

Countless people were eager to come here, and countless people didn’t want to leave after arriving. They all wanted to pursue their dreams here, but… the rules of the Seven Blood Pupils main city were extremely strict.

It was like an invisible whip lashing at everyone who arrived.

The name of this whip was… survival of the fittest.

At this moment, in the central area of the Seven Blood Pupils main city, three huge teleportation array constantly gave off light.

They were arranged in a triangular formation and people constantly appeared in an endless stream.

Among them, in the third teleportation array, the figure of a young man appeared from inside in a flash of light.

The young man was wearing a dark fur-lined jacket and a pair of baggy pants. The bottom of his pant legs were tied with straw rope and filled with blood. His hair was messy, and his face was also dirty.

But his star-like eyes were extremely bright.

As soon as he appeared, he heard the hustle and bustle and the sound of distant waves. The hot and humid wind blew over his body, making him feel sticky.

All of this turned into a strong sense of peculiarity that rose up in the young man’s body and mind.

The young man was Xu Qing, who had come from Antler City via teleportation.

“I’m here...”

Xu Qing felt a bit of pain in his head in the wake of the teleportation. Rubbing the center of his brows, he didn’t stay in the teleportation array for too long and quickly walked out before raising his head and looking around.

Everything here was very orderly.

A large number of black-armored guards patrolled around. Outside each teleportation array, there was a long queue of people, containing men and women carrying all kinds of packages, as well as entire convoys.

These were all people who had arrived via teleportation. Each of them revealed an intense desire to live in the city, and given the high teleportation fee, the anticipation in their expressions only grew stronger.

After glancing around, Xu Qing withdrew his gaze, following the crowd and walking towards the outside world.

The teleportation array here was different from that of Antler City – before leaving, you had to go through an inspection. As he waited in the inspection queue, Xu Qing raised his head and looked around. From here, he could see the pitch-black sea in the distance.

At the other end of the city was a mountain range, and under the setting sun, he could see seven peaks that were extremely prominent and the seven statues of giant eyes that were even more so. The fluctuations rolling off of them seemed to connect to the sky, making the sky above the seven peaks swirl like a vortex.

Inside the vortex, there seemed to be some huge beast hidden in the clouds. As it wandered around in the clouds, a few feathers and horns would inadvertently be exposed, revealing a sense of divinity that shocked all directions.

Xu Qing was astonished as he looked on.

But soon, the person in front of him finished being inspected and was given a jade slip before leaving. When his turn came, Xu Qing took a deep breath and retracted his gaze.

“Show your travel pass, and tell us why you came here.” There was a table in front of Xu Qing with a man and a woman sitting behind it.

The man was very handsome and wore a gray Daoist robe. At the moment, his eyes were shut, as if he were taking a nap, but the spiritual energy fluctuations on his body were extremely strong.

The woman was also wearing a gray Daoist robe. She seemed to be quite young, only about eighteen or nineteen years old, with fair skin and a delicate face.

Her eyes were lively, shining like stars. It seemed like you could get lost in them.

The woman was the one who spoke to Xu Qing.

She raised her head and cast a glance at Xu Qing, not paying any attention to the dirt on his face.

Clearly, she had seen too many scavengers like Xu Qing arrive here. As she spoke, she took out a jade slip, as if waiting to record his answer.

Xu Qing sensed the spiritual energy fluctuations coming from the woman’s body. She didn’t seem too strong, but for some reason, there was a clear sense of danger coming from her.

But Xu Qing felt that if it was a matter of life and death, he would definitely be able to kill her. He calmly took the Seven Blood Pupils token out from his leather bag and handed it over.

“Huh?” There was a hint of surprise the woman’s eyes as she received the token and looked it over. When she handed it back to Xu Qing, her expression was no longer indifferent, and she gave him a deep look.

"It turns out that you’re joining the sect. I wish you a happy stay in Seven Blood Pupils..."

Her words were a bit strange. Xu Qing took the token back and glanced at the jade slip in the woman’s hand.

“Only ordinary people need the jade slip. As a token holder, you already have the qualification to enter the city. Remember, you should complete the sect entrance exam as soon as possible and quickly adapt to life in Seven Blood Pupils...”

After the woman finished speaking, she ignored Xu Qing.

With a thoughtful look on his face, Xu Qing left the inspection area. He noticed that the people queuing up behind him all looked at him enviously.

This made Xu Qing lower his head and take a deep look at the token in his hand.

After he left, the man taking a nap next to the woman opened his eyes and smiled.

“Since when were you so nice, not only wishing this newbie luck but even going out of your way to give him reminders?”

“His token’s from my Seventh Peak. Although it’s just a white one, it’s hard to tell who he’ll be in the future. Well-wishes and reminders don’t cost any contribution points, and if he rises up in the future, I’ll more or less have formed some positive karma.”

The woman opened her mouth lightly before calling the next person over for inspection.

“What kind of future can he even have? That kid’s obviously just a scavenger, and his token is only a white one. I don’t think highly of his chances. He might not even be able to pass the entrance exam and become a proper disciple in the first place. Even if he does, he still has to hand over 30 spirit coins a day and even spend his money on expensive cultivation resources. I bet that after two months, he’ll either be expelled from the city, or – bang – he’ll be dead.”

The man raised his hand and clenched his fist before opening it quickly, gesturing an explosion.

Their conversation was very quiet, and Xu Qing was already too far away to hear them.

He left the teleportation area and quickly entered the city.

As he entered, waves of emotion slowly stirred in Xu Qing’s heart.

What greeted his vision was unprecedented opulence and prosperity.

Under the afterglow of the setting sun, any random building here was as magnificent as the city lord’s mansion in the city where he used to live.

Bluish-gray bricks and green plants could be seen everywhere, giving a sense of abnormal tidiness.

An endless stream of people hustled and bustled around the city. Everyone’s clothes were very clean, and they mostly wore silk or satin with hemp clothing being very rare. However, their expressions were cold and they moved as if they were in a hurry.

Right now, the sun was setting and dusk was approaching. Lights could be seen in the thousands of houses on either side of the street. Under the illumination of all these lights, the world seemed to be no different from day, aside from the fact that the houses were all silent.

In the distance, there was a small river, and a veiled woman in a Daoist robe sat on a small boat, throwing pills into the river. Countless fish swarmed the boat, jumping out of the water from time to time and causing ripples when they landed back down.

There were also a few young men on the riverbank, and they jumped into the river one by one to fight with the fish over the pills. It was a bizarre scene.

All of this gave Xu Qing a sense of unfamiliarity, but also wariness.

He felt that this city was different from the scavenger camp, and also different from the slums where he used to live.

But it was also the same…

As he walked through the city streets, Xu Qing constantly smelled a familiar scent.

This scent was very faint. If Xu Qing wasn’t used to the slums and scavenger camp, it would be difficult to sense it.

It was the smell of blood. It was the same as in the slums and scavenger camp.

After a while, Xu Qing took a deep look at the city, and his heart became even more vigilant.

Lost in thought, he walked along the streets. However, he didn’t walk in the middle of the street, but in the shadows at the edge. This was a habit of his.

Currently, he was planning to find an inn to rest in. The smell of blood out here made him not want to stay out on the street.

As for the source of the bloody smell, Xu Qing didn’t care to find out. All he wanted to do right now was complete the entrance exam as soon as possible and become an official Seven Blood Pupils disciple in order to make the Vajra Sect think twice.

But by the time dusk fell and the setting sun began to dim, Xu Qing still hadn’t found a suitable place. Suddenly, he looked around, and his gaze gradually sharpened.

As the sky darkened, the whole city became silent, and the crowds of people still on the streets started to hurry.

Light still shone in the windows of the thousands of houses, but the door of each house was closed, and inside was deathly silent.

Just like the houses, the shops were also silent. A few were still open, but there were no customers.

Finally, when the last ray of sunlight disappeared, the entire street was completely deserted.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and quickly walked forward in the dark, looking for an inn.

After a stick of incense’s worth of time passed, Xu Qing finally saw an open inn in the distance. He was about to head over, but suddenly, he turned his head.

Far away, in the dark and empty street, a figure was fleeing at high speed. Seven or eight burly men chased after them with sneers on their faces.

"Want to run? Let me see where you can run to!"

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone so gusty, even daring to steal our contribution points!”

Xu Qing looked over coldly. The one fleeing was a woman who seemed to be injured. She staggered a little as she ran, and her hair was disheveled, barely revealing a pretty face with a fierce expression.

Xu Qing withdrew his gaze. This matter had nothing to do with him, so he ignored the woman and walked toward the open inn.

But at that moment, the fleeing woman saw Xu Qing. Her eyes flickered slightly, and she suddenly called out in a loud voice.

“You’ve already got the contribution points, what are you still waiting for? Run away!”

A cold glow flashed through Xu Qing’s eyes as he looked at the woman. To his eyes, her plan was quite shoddy.

When Xu Qing’s gaze swept over her, the woman couldn’t help but tremble as if her whole body was dunked in cold water. Her pupils contracted, her heart beat wildly, and cold sweat poured down her back. The sense of crisis at that moment was even greater than being hunted down by the people behind her.

She secretly felt that something was wrong, but she couldn’t just take back the words she just said. All she could do was grit her teeth and quickly escape in a different direction.

[1] “End of summer” here is 处暑 (chushu), which refers the Chinese solar term at the end of August. Literally translated, it’s “End of Heat”. More info

[2] “White dew of autumn” here is 白露 (bailu), which is the solar term that comes right after chushu. Literally translates to "White Dew". More info

[3] This sounds kind of awkward but there's a reason I had to TL it this way.

[4] Literally says it could be considered a 雄城 (xiongcheng), or “majestic city”. The term comes from the Art of War and means… I don’t know, I just GTL'd the Baidu page, but it seems to imply a difficult to attack city, so I chose to translate it as fortress because “the city could be considered a majestic city” just sounds dumb.

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