novelraw Chapter 99
Chapter 99
Chapter 99
Under a gray, hazy sky, a figure sprinted wildly across the brown plain, moving away from the town’s buildings.
His body was slightly bowed, surrounded by a wild wind. White robes fluttered as he glided close to the ground, crossing over thirty meters in a single instant before tapping the earth to launch into the next leap.
Lin Hui had descended the cliff ten minutes earlier.
He did not follow the planned route into the residential area, instead choosing a deserted direction and running at full speed. Large clusters of buildings were quickly left behind. The dense housing soon became sparse until it disappeared completely, leaving only the bare, brown plain. Occasionally, strange, claw-like, leafless vines arched from the earth, spreading wantonly across the surface.
He ran for an unknown distance until the sky was nearly dark. Only then did Lin Hui slow down and retrieve the mobile sealed cloak he had prepared. He had never stayed in the Inner City until nightfall, so he had come fully equipped, intending to use the gear should he encounter the true dangers of the night.
After another ten minutes of wild running, air currents began to permeate the surroundings. Turbulence formed patches of strong natural wind, whipping the leafless vines back and forth.
Lin Hui checked his bearings and slowed further. The wind around him grew stronger as the plain ahead gradually sloped upward.
He looked forward.
In the distance, a long, tedious black city wall completely blocked the path. Its surface was marred by hard scars and scratches, resembling a slender black caterpillar crawling across the plain.
As he drew closer, Lin Hui could clearly see black-armored guards patrolling the wall. Clad in heavy black full-body armor, they held double-edged steel sabers, short spears, or long lances, pacing atop the five- or six-meter-high ramparts.
Below the wall, several scantily clad young women were bent over, searching for something.
Lin Hui slowed to a walk and moved forward slowly.
Whoosh—
As he approached, the whistling of air currents grew distinct—the strong natural wind of the area. Lin Hui’s robes tugged and fluttered incessantly. He narrowed his eyes, restraining his Internal Force's manipulation of the surrounding airflow, and walked to the left along the black wall.
The wall blocked his path, and it was clearly guarded. He intended to detour to see if he could bypass this place and continue onward.
But five minutes later...
Beneath the black wall, Lin Hui looked at the few sparse, white-haired old men scavenging ahead, his expression turning grave. The length of this wall was far greater than he had imagined.
He glanced up at a squad of black-armored guards passing by on the wall with torches, calmed his emotions, and approached the two nearest scavengers to ask about the situation.
One was a withered old man with white hair, wearing only a pair of gray shorts that left his shriveled body completely exposed. He wore tattered brown leather boots and carried a large snakeskin sack.
The other was a middle-aged woman around forty. Her face was haggard, her eyes deep-set, and her pupils were a bright, unsettling blood-red. The woman followed behind the old man with a dull expression, constantly muttering unknown words.
"Hello, may I ask, what is this place?" Lin Hui approached against the strong wind, stopping five meters away, and asked loudly.
"@& #!" Hearing the noise, the old man looked up vigilantly, stopping his scavenging. He spouted a string of strange gibberish.
"Hello, can you speak the Tuyue language?" Lin Hui was stunned. To think he would encounter people in the Tuyue Inner City who didn't speak the official language?
"..." The old man paused, spoke again, and this time managed a few difficult phrases. "Stranger. Stay. Away! Keep. Distance!"
"Okay, can you tell me what this place is?" Lin Hui repeated his question word by word.
"I warn you! Go away! This... way... attract... will guards!!"
The old man’s voice gradually rose, becoming shrill. He grew agitated, his hands gesturing wildly.
Although the word order was broken, Lin Hui understood. He noticed that as the old man's voice grew louder, the black-armored guards on the wall nearby stopped and looked over. They began to unsling the steel-strong bows from their backs, aiming in their direction.
"Go away! Go away!!" The old man’s screams became increasingly piercing.
"I have no ill intentions..." Lin Hui tried to gesture that he was harmless, but the old man had already begun to mime attacking motions, making communication impossible. Lin Hui was forced to retreat to widen the distance.
"Stranger, scavengers can't communicate. Don't waste your energy."
At that moment, an articulate male voice came from behind. The voice carried a faint hissing sound of air currents, sounding somewhat strange. But regardless of the timbre, it was at least the first sentence of standard Tuyue language Lin Hui had heard here.
He took a few more steps back and turned to the source of the sound.
On the brown plain, a tall man was approaching. Like the others, he had blood-red eyes. He was shirtless, carrying a curved saber and a round shield on his back.
The man’s hair was tied in a high ponytail. A rough, large gold ring hung from one ear, and his lips and nose were pierced with smaller gold rings. There was an unknown blue-black tattoo on his forehead. Combined with the contours of his strong gray-black muscles and the scars scattered across his upper body, an aura of the unknown and exotic hit Lin Hui in the face.
Ugh...
Lin Hui subconsciously held his breath. The exotic smell was overpowering. As the man approached, a strong body odor—like a mix of rotten eggs and onions—drifted over with the wind.
"Hello, stranger. Want a plump bean pod?"
The stranger stopped three meters away, revealing a friendly smile. He took out a shiny, semi-transparent bean pod from his waist pouch and waved it. "It's very tasty. Refreshes the mind."
"Who are you? What is this place? Thanks, but we aren't familiar enough to exchange food yet. No need," Lin Hui said straightforwardly.
"I am a wandering martial artist. You can call me An Bo. That's the Taisu name I gave myself," the red-eyed martial artist replied with a smile. "Also, this is the Gate of Purgatory, a fortress in the Outer Ring. It's an important sealing ground. Why did you come here? This isn't a good place."
Gate of Purgatory?
Lin Hui’s heart skipped a beat, instantly associating it with the word 'Purgatory' that had appeared on his Blood Seal.
"Sealing ground? What does that mean?"
"You don't know?" The red-eyed martial artist was surprised. "Legend has it that this land was originally the site of a gate to purgatory. Endless purgatory breath leaked out every moment, polluting the surroundings. Later, the Mistborn came here, sealed the Gate of Purgatory, built the sealing fortress, and established the mist-free zone. That's how the massive Inner City within the mist-free zone was opened up."
"...There’s actually a place like this in the seal?" Lin Hui couldn't suppress his surprise.
"It's normal. There are many such unknown rift fortresses in the Inner City. You can see one every so often in the Outer Ring. There are dozens of them, big and small. Not just the Gate of Purgatory, but also the Gate of Extreme Cold, the Gate of Destruction, the Sin Domain Fortress, and so on. They are all guarded and suppressed by large numbers of the Black Army dispatched by the Mistborn," the red-eyed martial artist explained. "Ordinary people don't usually come near these places. If you aren't careful, you might run into those crazy scavengers. They aren't really scavenging; they've been affected by the leaking pollution breath and wander around in a delirium, instinctively trying to find and absorb the minute traces of leaked pollution."
"...An Bo, was it? Thanks for the explanation. You mean this is a fortress sealing some kind of dangerous gate?" Lin Hui asked.
"Yes. Where are you from? How did you get here without knowing even basic common sense?" An Bo asked in confusion.
"I'm from the Outer City. This is my first time entering the Inner City," Lin Hui replied truthfully.
"Outer City?! That's at least several hundred kilometers from here, right? How did you get here?" An Bo was astonished.
"I'm pretty fast. I just kept running and ended up here."
"...Then your speed is truly impressive." An Bo tossed a plump bean pod into his mouth and chewed with satisfaction. The thing seemed to be like chewing gum; it could be chewed repeatedly, emitting a fresh scent similar to mint.
"Let's go. Don't stay in one spot for too long, or you'll attract the attention of the Black Army. Are you a Called One or a martial artist?" An Bo took the lead and walked in another direction.
"And you?" Lin Hui asked back.
"I am a martial artist. Your classification here is based on Internal Force realms, but our race is different. We are born with awakened physical strength. These powers are our talents and can resist various dangers," An Bo replied.
"I'm just a rookie who recently broke through to the Internal Force Realm. Very weak," Lin Hui replied.
"What does 'rookie' mean?"
"It refers to a bird that can be easily caught and cooked as a dish. It's a metaphor for being very weak and new."
"That's actually a pretty good metaphor."
The two walked along the city wall. Soon, guided by An Bo, a cluster of simple, haphazard wooden huts appeared ahead, hugging the wall.
These wooden huts formed a circle. In the open space inside, many people were sitting on the ground, setting up small stalls to sell things.
"This is a temporary black market where good stuff from inside the fortress flows out. It's also the main reason people like us travel so far to come here," An Bo introduced.
"Black market?"
"Yeah. There are at least a thousand Black Army soldiers stationed in the fortress. These soldiers are human too; they have needs. Someone always secretly disposes of materials from the strange creatures they've killed to sell for money. Although the law ostensibly forbids the trading of polluted materials, the profits are too big to resist," An Bo whispered.
"It seems it's much the same everywhere." Lin Hui found it quite novel. He had wondered what the Inner City would be like and what he might encounter, but he had never expected a place like a sealed fortress to exist.
Walking one after the other, they soon entered. Someone immediately came up to whisper with An Bo. It was clear he was a regular here; he responded casually with a few words, patted the man on the shoulder, and then led Lin Hui further inside.
Broken cloths—some round, some square—were spread out on the ground, filled with a messy assortment of materials. Most of these were shells, limbs, hair, and equipment from certain creatures.
"Huh?" Lin Hui suddenly stopped. At a stall, he saw a sky-blue short sword that looked like crystal.
The hilt of the short sword was styled like intertwined black vines, and the blade was clear and smooth, glowing with a faint fluorescence.
"Want it? Fifteen Blood a piece. A Malice Cavalry's sidearm. This thing isn't easy to find. Usually, when a Malice Cavalry dies, all their items turn to ash along with them. This had to be preserved using special methods." The stall owner was a short man draped in a heavy gray cloak, his voice raspy.