Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 56: A New Recruit in the Violent Crimes Division

The bone was bright red, shaped like a hook, palm-sized, and glittered with a strange light. Upon examining it closely, one would see that the surface had a complex set of natural markings on it. The markings seemed to absorb spirit power from the surroundings automatically, causing wind to swirl around Zhang San’s palm as he held it out.

“An immortal bone from a winged fish?” the Captain said, taking another bite of pear. “Put that thing in your dharmaboat spell formation and it’ll provide a big boost to your speed. Not bad at all!” Squatting down next to Zhang San, he smiled, nudged him with his shoulder and continued, “What are you being so generous for today, you little punk?”

“How else could I welcome Junior Brother Xu Qing?” Zhang San answered innocently.

Xu Qing didn’t accept the gift, but instead looked at the Captain for an indication of what to do. He had the feeling that Zhang San wasn’t doing this for Xu Qing himself, but rather, for the Captain.

Seeing Xu Qing’s reaction, the Captain smiled. “Take it. He’s giving it to you in the hopes that you won’t come around here arresting people very often.”

Hearing this, Xu Qing turned back to Zhang San, who looked back with his silly smile.

Xu Qing nodded, took the fish bone and examined it curiously, then put it in his sack.

Then, imitating the Captain, he squatted down, though he kept a bit of distance between himself and the other two. [1]

Seeing this, Zhang San’s smile widened.

“Anything unusual going on lately, Zhang San?” the Captain asked. Having finished eating the pear, he pulled a peach out and took a bite.

Xu Qing looked intently at Zhang San, waiting to hear his answer.

Instead of answering immediately, Zhang San produced a pipe, took a puff, and then tapped it on the ground. Ash tumbled out, forming into the image of a face, along with a line of characters.

“There’s a new face over by the south docks,” he said.

The Captain looked thoughtfully at the ashes on the ground, then clasped Zhang San’s shoulder and smiled at Xu Qing. “You can head home, little Junior Brother. You’re off duty now. Don’t be late tomorrow morning.”

Xu Qing could tell that the two men wanted to talk in private, so he nodded, clasped hands to both men, then turned and left. The orange light of the setting sun shone on his gray daoist robe as he departed.

When he was gone, the Captain smiled. “What do you think of the new recruit? You really are acting more generously than usual today.”

“Where did you find him? The first thing the brat did was look at my throat. How could I not be generous with someone like that?”𝐞𝗻𝐨𝘃𝗹.𝐜𝐨𝗺

The Captain laughed heartily.

“What are you laughing for?” Zhang San said, rubbing his neck awkwardly. “What kind of person do you think makes it a habit of going around studying throats?”

“The kind of person who slits them,” the Captain said. He finished his peach, produced a second peach, and took a bite. “The little punk is good looking, but he has a very strong baleful aura. He tried to hide it, but I can still sense it. And then there are his eyes….”

Zhang San’s expression was now somber as he puffed his pipe.

“Did you notice that?” the Captain went on. “They’re the eyes of someone who seeks revenge over the smallest grievance. I bet he has his own set of principles, and won’t think twice to kill anyone who violates them…. A person like him will work out great for you as long as you treat him well. Treat him badly, and you’ll get bit. He’s killed a lot of people. I get a sense of danger just looking at him. If I met him out on the open sea, I’d be very careful not to provoke him. I don’t want to die, after all.”

Zhang San looked at the Captain. “This new junior brother is indeed very interesting.”

The Captain eyed Xu Qing as he made his way off into the distance, looking pleased at Zhang San’s final assessment.

Zhang San sighed helplessly, and reminded himself that the Captain was a real freak who always had numerous tricks up his sleeve.

As the Captain and Zhang San chatted, Xu Qing reached the far end of the harbor. The sky was starting to get dark, and the streets were emptying. Most shops were closed. Eventually, Xu Qing reached his berth, but he didn’t immediately take out his dharmaboat. First, he looked around carefully.

Someone had come hoping to kill him yesterday, so he wanted to check the area thoroughly. He even sprinkled some poison powder onto the water. When he was satisfied it was safe, he put his dharmaboat onto the water and stepped on board.

Only after the defensive shield was up did he truly feel safe.

With that, he sat down cross-legged. However, instead of starting his cultivation routine, he mentally reviewed the events of the day. He had a hard time getting a read on the Captain. But based on their conversation, Xu Qing’s intuition was telling him the man was sincere. Meanwhile, he got the feeling Zhang San was hiding something. And it seemed like he feared Xu Qing.

Then Xu Qing thought back to the gray-robed disciple who had been robbed of merit points, crippled, and then had to look up in despair as he was wiped out of existence.

Everything he had seen and heard only reinforced his realization that this capital city was a brutal place for disciples. Nothing was as simple as it seemed, and you couldn’t ever trust what you saw on the surface.

If you took either the Captain or Zhang San and dropped them into a scavenger basecamp, they could toy with the scavengers with ease, and probably massacre them in the blink of an eye. In fact, as far as Xu Qing was concerned, Seven Blood Eyes as a whole was like a forbidden region. And because of that, he had to focus on getting stronger through cultivation.

That was especially true when he thought back to that young man in the pale violet daoist robe. He had such a noble status that everyone around him bowed in deference. It really reinforced Xu Qing’s perception of how important social hierarchy was here.

He had seen that kind of thing from the time he was young, and he knew how it worked.

In his caution, he hadn’t asked the Captain for details about the person who gave Xu Qing his identity medallion to begin with. If that person wanted to show his face, he would. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t. Xu Qing wasn’t going to dig for details.

I really doubt it has anything to do with Grandmaster Bai. Closing his eyes, he started his cultivation routine.

Two hours later, when it was dark outside, Xu Qing opened his eyes. He looked hesitant.

His cultivation speed was much slower than the day before, and he had a good idea why.

If he likened himself to a vessel, then yesterday, he had been almost completely empty. Because of that, it hadn’t taken much effort to absorb lots of spirit power. But now the vessel was much fuller. Therefore, he needed to improve his absorption ability in order to attract spirit power.

Looking down, he performed an incantation gesture with his right hand, then waved his finger at the deck off to the side.

Immediately, glittering light arose from gleaming lines, as a spell formation appeared.

As the spell formation began to operate, the spirit power on the outside of the boat stirred in his direction. This was why practicing cultivation on a dharmaboat led to quicker advancement.

After all, it was a ‘spirit convergence’ formation.

I need to improve the boat’s power source.

The jade slip with information about the dharmaboat indicated that one couldn’t just focus on upgrading the boat with better materials. You also had to upgrade the power source.

The power source was the core of the dharmaboat, like its heart. It determined how much power the boat had, and there was virtually no limit to how much it could be upgraded. It was also the most expensive aspect of upgrading.

All Seventh Peak disciples’ dharmaboats started out with a single spirit convergence formation, which could slowly absorb surrounding spirit power and store it for backup use. If a disciple wasn’t satisfied, they could feed spirit stones into the formation to make it stronger and improve the level of power. In addition to that, the hearts of certain large mutant beasts could be used as power sources. The greater the power in the heart, the greater the power of the formation. At the same time, the speed and other general properties of the boat would receive a boost. Without making the proper internal adjustments, it didn’t matter what the external configuration was, it couldn’t be fully utilized.

With these thoughts in mind, Xu Qing gritted his teeth, took out ten spirit stones, and put them onto the formation. A moment later, the spirit stones disappeared, and Xu Qing felt the dharmaboat shudder.

Brilliant shafts of light shot out of the spell formation, and the dharmaboat became like a vortex as dense spirit power rushed toward it from all directions.

Xu Qing immediately began his cultivation, and this time, progressed much more quickly. Around the time the sun rose, Xu Qing’s eyes snapped open, and violet light spilled out of them.

“Seaforming Scripture. Sixth level!”

He took a deep breath as he sensed the 180-meter spirit sea within him. It was only thirty meters larger than before, but that small increase provided profound benefits. He had a much greater spirit power capacity, and even better, had access to many more transformations than before. He was also stronger.

At this rate, it won’t take long before my Seaforming Scripture is at the same level as my Sea and Mountain Incantation. Xu Qing was pleased with the speed of his progress, but sighed at the resources he’d been forced to spend.

Over the course of the night, he had completely wiped out his collection of spirit stones.

Given that it was morning, Xu Qing straightened out his robe, then debarked his dharmaboat and headed to the Violent Crimes Division for his second day of work. His assignment was mandatory, but he got a salary. According to the information in his identity medallion, his remuneration was 3,000 merit points per month.

Because of that, he was taking it seriously. Not long after sunrise, he arrived at the Violent Crimes Division and went straight to the Celestial Bureau. There, he saw the Captain as well as some of the other Unit Six constables.

There were about twenty people in the unit, including both men and women. Everyone had their own look, but they all had extraordinary cultivation base fluctuations. As they looked at Xu Qing, most had cold expressions, and the majority seemed cautious of him.

Not being very sociable himself, Xu Qing stepped off to the side and waited quietly. The Captain casually ate an apple as he said, “Our mission today is to go out and look for members of Night Dove.

“Don’t spend all your time focusing on the bounty list. I know the bounties are enticing, but right now our focus should be on Night Dove. If you uncover any clues, don’t beat the grass and startle the snake. Come back here and report the matter. The division will arrange for a comprehensive investigation. Now, get to work!”

The constables of Unit Six dispersed. This time, the Captain didn’t take Xu Qing with him. Instead, he gave him a jade slip with a bounty list, then sent him off on his own. Xu Qing had no problem with this arrangement. Before long, he was out of the Violent Crimes Division, patrolling through the city while simultaneously examining the bounty list.

Since he wasn’t sure of the best route to patrol, he did the same as they’d done the day before, and headed toward the Port District. He kept his guard up, and took off his Violent Crimes Division badge. Most of the time, he kept to the shadows and other locations where he wouldn’t attract notice.

As he looked at the bustling crowds and busy shops, he came to an even deeper understanding of how prosperous this city was.

At a certain point, he noticed a vendor selling candied fruit on a stick. Thinking back to when he was young and always wanted to have candied fruit, he stepped over to buy a skewer. After inspecting them to make sure they were safe, he bought one and continued on his way. [2]

After studying the bounty list, he realized why the Captain had reminded Unit Six not to focus too much on bounty hunting. The bounties for capturing such criminals started at ten spirit stones and went up into the hundreds.

Several hours later, as noon approached, he was still working on his skewer of candied fruit when he suddenly stopped walking and looked down the crowded street.

Threading her way skillfully through the crowd was a slender, good-looking young woman in a coarse garment. As Xu Qing watched, she picked the pockets of two passersby. She seemed very confident in her skills, and even smiled smugly as she placed the stolen goods in her own sack.

Her smile lasted until she spotted Xu Qing looking at her from down the street, his face completely expressionless. Face flushing with embarrassment, she was about to walk away when she realized that Xu Qing was walking straight toward her.

She looked cautious, and obviously didn’t recognize Xu Qing, but could tell that she was in danger, and quickly backed up to melt into the crowd.

Xu Qing, meanwhile, had already recognized her.

This woman was the same one who had tried to get her pursuers to shift attention to him on the street the other night. That was Xu Qing’s first night in the city, and also the first time he killed someone here.

Xu Qing quickly finished the last piece of candied fruit and then suddenly threw the bamboo skewer, which shot like a bolt of lightning toward the woman.

When the woman saw how fast he was, her face fell. She had no time to react, and no chance to disappear into the crowd. The bamboo skewer pierced the woman’s right foot, and with a thump, she fell to the ground. She screamed, but the passersby didn’t want to get involved and quickly fled.

At the same time, Xu Qing’s cold voice reached the trembling young woman’s ears.

“Scream again, and I’ll rip your jaw off your face.”

As it turned out, Xu Qing had a good memory, and was also skilled at imitating others….

1. I’m sure most people reading this novel are familiar with the “Asian squat,” but for any who aren’t familiar, this is the kind of thing you will see everywhere in places like China, Chinatown, and other Asian countries. It’s extremely common for people to squat down to rest, smoke, chat, etc. It looks like this. ☜

2. Candied fruit on a stick is a very common street food snack in China. The most common fruit is hawthorn, which looks like small red apples, but other fruits are used as well, from strawberry to kiwi to orange. Here’s what they look like. ☜