Blind Spot
Chapter 450 - 411 Quling Mansion 1

Chapter 450: 411 Quling Mansion 1

In the Infinite Black Sea.

Yserine and her teacher Miman had just stepped through the teleportation portal into the Black Sea when they spotted the massive King of the Death Angels, pacing back and forth near the entrance of Midlane.

Both of them held their breath, stunned and unsure of what to do next.

The black, boundless liquid of the Black Sea surged and flowed endlessly past them.

Miman stared at the aimlessly wandering King of the Death Angels. From their vantage point, the creature’s size was indeed massive, but compared to the vastness of Midlane, it was still much smaller, merely one-tenth the size of the great vortex of Midlane.

However...

It must be noted that the volume of Midlane is at least tens of times that of the real Earth-Moon.

From this perspective... the size of this Death Angel King was essentially larger than the entire Earth-Moon...

"Teacher... what do we do now? Could my brother be trapped inside forever?" Yserine was beginning to despair, with such a huge creature blocking the entrance and such a formidable blind spot in existence. Even in the bestiary recorded by her teacher, this one could rank at the Second Level.

The elite predator of the Black Sea.

To such existences, they were probably no more than dust.

"Something’s not right..." Miman observed the King of the Death Angels closely.

"The condition of the King of the Death Angels seems different from what we expected... I need more time to deduce carefully. We can only keep a very long distance and observe. If we get close and it detects us... we will not be able to escape either."

His eyes flickered with red light, and although he was strong, he was helpless in the face of such an unreasonable, terrifying existence.

"Perhaps there are other exits inside Midlane. Now, we can only hope that my brother finds some clues inside," said Yserine helplessly.

"You should be glad, at least the last status transmission from the teleportation portal that your brother carried destroyed itself while he was in good condition. Don’t worry, he’s not as fragile as you think," Miman comforted her.

"...Thank you, Teacher..." Yserine nodded. At this point, there was nothing else she could do but comfort herself.

*

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*

Shaoyin Country.

Quling Mansion.

After a day’s long journey, Li Chengyi, carrying his transfer orders, finally arrived at Quling Mansion, one of the nine governor’s mansions in the capital of Shaoyin Country.

After crossing the vast Black Soil Plains and the terrain gradually rising, Li Chengyi finally reached the governor’s city that administered Cangshi County—Quling—after a day of continuous travel.

At the edge of the broad Black Soil Plains, the black soil gradually transformed into grey-black rocks.

The ground extended out, forming an immense black cliff that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Below the cliff, there was an endless dark blue sea.

The Falling Star, also known as the Night Sea.

Legend has it that this sea was formed from a huge crater created by the pulling of heavenly stars.

Quling Mansion was situated right on the edge of the cliff, and just a bit further, you would be facing the raging, boundless sea.

From a distance, the entire city appeared as a cluster of black castles, with fortresses of various sizes crammed together, surrounded by a high wall of black stone.

From afar, it looked like a bundle of firewood forcibly tied together.

The sticks of firewood were the crowded black fortresses.

Quling Mansion only had one side open for entry and exit, featuring several gates.

Li Chengyi followed the official road towards the city. The road he was on connected to the second gate of the city.

At this moment, the city gate was bustling with merchant caravans and wagons constantly coming and going. There were also quite a few solitary martial artists like him, most of them moving at a great speed, passing by in a flash.

There was no one guarding or charging at the gate; the city gates were wide open, welcoming any visitors to enter.

Li Chengyi was initially a little uncomfortable, but upon reflection, it made sense.

The powerhouses within the city were numerous and formidable, rendering the need for city walls insignificant.

Looking at the two lists, it was very likely that there were Imprint powerhouses within the city, that is, Blood Essence Martial Artists who had merged with the True Seal.

As for True Qi Martial Arts, although there was also a method to merge with the True Seal, the difficulty was much higher than that for Blood Essence Martial Artists.

In True Qi Martial Arts, merging with the True Seal was basically a culmination, a theoretical realm at the pinnacle of the technique, extremely rare in number.

But among Blood Essence Martial Artists, this was a real group that existed in reality, with their numbers far exceeding the former.

Li Chengyi could easily distinguish from afar which were martial artists and which were civilians.

The method was simple: just look at the speed of movement of those people at the city gate.

The ones that passed by in a flash, frequently moving in and out quickly, were definitely martial artists.

This group mostly traveled alone, came and went freely; a single leap could cover more than ten meters. Some happily walked through the city gates, while others, on a whim, would leap down from various parts of the city wall, shooting away in the blink of an eye, disappearing without a trace.

And those who moved slowly, obediently using the official road through the city gate, were mostly civilians and merchants.

Among these people, even if there were martial artists, their abilities would not be high. At least, the powerful ones would not be willing to escort merchandise.

These two groups were distinctly separate, the former fast, the latter slow.

Occasionally, a few martial artists would spar just outside the city, their clashes thunderous and lively, often drawing a crowd of onlookers who cheered them on.

Li Chengyi fished out the silver command token from his bosom, deciding to adapt to local customs. With a leap, he was shrouded in white light True Qi, and in the blink of an eye, he rushed towards the mansion city.

The ten-plus meter high black walls were easily cleared with a light leap, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Inside the city lay a sea of grey-black residential rooftops, floating like countless tiles, instilling a sense of anxiety typical of agoraphobia.

Among the residences, from time to time, massive fortresses would rise up from the ground.

These fortresses varied in shape; some were cylindrical, some mushroom-shaped, while others were traditional gigantic buildings with flying eaves and towers with pointed roofs.

But all these fortresses shared one common characteristic: their surfaces looked as if they had melted, and their contour patterns were somewhat blurred, all painted in black.

Atop the fortresses, shadows could be seen leaping in and out.

Li Chengyi’s figure landed, lightly falling into the gaps between the houses below.

These very gaps were the various streets of the mansion city.

The pedestrians here were clearly different from those in Cangshi County.

Many were dressed in ornate and neat clothing, with many of them followed by servants and guards.

At a glance, there were many robust martial artists on the streets.

Also, there were many beautiful women strolling along the streets, most of them wearing revealing clothes, and some daring ones wore only a tube top and ultra-short leather pants as they naturally walked by the roadside.

From their demeanor and the casual looks of the people around them, it was evident that such attire was quite common here.

Li Chengyi, wrapped up tight in his all-encompassing attire—wearing black garments underneath and a white robe on top—was not an uncommon sight, but such people were few and far between, and at first glance, it was obvious that they were outsiders looking around curiously.

As he walked along the road, he came across small metal signs at every street corner, guiding the way for newcomers.

Following these direction signs, Li Chengyi easily navigated through the complex web-like streets and arrived at the front of an immense fortress deep within.

This fortress was unlike the others; it was built on top of a gigantic rock carved into the shape of a black withered tree.

The fortress stood tens of meters above the ground, and from afar, it looked as if it had grown out of the top of a withered giant tree.

The style was traditional, with flying eaves, painted walls, and pointed roof pavilions, but its four rectangular walls resembled four giant black guillotine blades.

The roof was covered with a weird mass of black and red, like a pile of eyeballs.

Li Chengyi didn’t know what it was.

From a distance, he felt an indescribable sense of malignancy rushing towards him.

’This must be the place,’ he thought as he looked up at the entrance to the fortress.

There was a black stone staircase on the trunk of the black tree, winding upwards, leading directly to the entrance at the top.

At the foot of the staircase, a stone stele was buried deep in the ground, with only its top exposed.

It read: Quling Mansion Office.

There were no guards, and it seemed guards were not needed. Looking at the passersby nearby made it clear.

Everyone who came a bit close to this place, including martial artists, would involuntarily avert their gaze and briskly walk by, taking a detour.

Li Chengyi stood by a grocery store, observing the stone stele for a while, but he never saw anyone coming in or going out.

He looked around and found this street particularly deserted.

On his side, he could see twenty or so shops in one look, but only four had their doors open, and most of them were small groceries and restaurants.

There weren’t many patrons either.

He frowned and casually chose a restaurant, checking the sign at the entrance.

’Xu’s Red Shrimp Noodles’

At the door, he glanced at the red shrimp noodles that two customers inside were eating.

In a grey ceramic bowl lay steaming hot soup with white noodles mixed with chopped green onions, lard, garlic leaves, minced meat, vegetables, and two fist-sized blood-red shrimps.

Steaming hot, the aroma was tantalizing and smelled delicious.

Li Chengyi gazed at the mustached owner busy washing vegetables in the back of the shop and stepped forward.

Thud.

He looked at the price and placed two large coins on the counter.

"Give me a bowl of the fully-loaded wide noodles," he said.

"Alright, please wait a moment, honored guest," the owner replied cheerily, wiping the sweat from his brow with the grey cloth on his shoulder and quickly grabbing the dry noodles to prepare them for the pot.

"Owner, I didn’t see anyone entering or leaving that government office across the street. It’s my first time in Quling, and it seems that the government offices here are a bit different from other places," Li Chengyi remarked as he casually sat down at a table near the stove.

"From your accent, I can tell you’re not from the mansion city. As you’ve seen, everything is expensive here, and not many people can afford to stay. The powerful and rich are everywhere," the owner, who looked to be in his forties, said as he stirred the noodles, inadvertently revealing a rhythm and melody that to Li Chengyi’s surprise, showed a streak of True Qi flowing through his arms.

Is this guy a martial artist?

"As for the office across the street, since you’re not from around here, you wouldn’t know, but here in Quling Mansion, as one of Shaoyin Country’s nine mansion cities, we also have our unique features. That Yin Tree Sky Gather Pavilion is the biggest peculiarity of the mansion city. Lucky for you that you didn’t rush in blindly and decided to ask around first; otherwise, if you had entered directly, you would have definitely faced hardship," the owner explained with a smile.

"Oh? How so?" Li Chengyi asked with surprise.

"Heh, don’t let the Yin Tree Sky Gather Pavilion’s appearance as a mere fortress fool you; in reality, it’s alive," the owner said, lowering his voice, "The master of the mansion city, Real Person Yin Yue, has transformed it into a vast war weapon using various secret arts. Once you enter the mansion city, under the watch of the Yin Tree Sky Gather Pavilion, any slight sign of rebellion or unusual behavior will be seen by those Yin Eyes, and then... being watched by all the Yin Eyes at once can lead to something utterly terrifying..."

He explained with an air of mystery.

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