Chapter 28: Scarlet Punishmen (1/2)

Chapter 28: Scarlet Punishment

North of Northface City lay an extremely tall, continuous mountain range.

To the north of the mountain range was a boundless prairie. That place was the dwelling place for large numbers of Vicious Beasts, and to the south were the human kingdoms.

The mountain range was the boundary between man and beast. Every so often, large numbers of Vicious Beasts would trespass over the boundary, invading man’s territory. These were known as the beast tides.

The organized resistance of humankind had been battling for a thousand years. The blood that had been spilt there had dyed the entire mountain range a deep scarlet, and so it became known as the Scarlet Mountain Range.

Although the beast tide was not occurring at that moment, many vicious beasts still dwelt in the Scarlet Mountain Range.

Thus, this place was one of the battlegrounds between humans and beasts along this border, although it was one of the smallest ones.

Every year, many martial artists and Origin Qi scholars would gather to hunt Vicious Beasts for the purpose of harvesting resources, and – most importantly – awakening one’s bloodline power.

This was a place of intense competition, and no two parties could coexist.. Every year, large numbers of martial artists or Origin Qi Scholars would all die in the Scarlet Mountain Range.

Scarlet Punishment was when the clan would throw offenders into the Scarlet Mountain Range, forcing them to live there for a certain period of time to cancel out their offenses. The duration was decided based on the severity of the offense. This period of time was equivalent to a prison sentence — the difference being that even while the duration was much shorter, the level of danger was extremely high. One wrong move could turn the prison sentence into a death sentence..

For Su Chen to voluntarily bring up Scarlet Punishment truly shocked everyone present.

To volunteer for such a punishment, how seriously did he take this matter?

Even more, Su Chen was only a martial artist in the ninth layer of Body Tempering, not even an Origin Qi Scholar. And yet he still dared to go to the Scarlet Mountain Range?

There, Vicious Beasts ran rampant. Any one of them could torture Su Chen to death.

According to the Su Clan’s rules, if a disciple voluntarily brought up Scarlet Punishment, it was not proper to refuse them.

That was because while this was a punishment, choosing to go there also symbolized one’s bravery. Even more, it represented the determination of mankind to resist the beast race.

“Absolutely not!” Tang Hongrui began to yell piercingly.

Su Changche also knitted his eyebrows: “Why do you want to go there?”

Su Chen replied, “I want to obtain the bloodline of the cloud bat. Only in this way will I have any hope of competing in the Hidden Dragon Institute’s qualifying exams next year.”

Cloud bats were a type of Vicious Beast. This Vicious Beast’s innate vision was extremely poor, yet it could use echolocation with pinpoint accuracy. If he could obtain the cloud bat’s bloodline and control a location-determining Origin Skill, it would enable even a “blind” man like him to do battle.

Of course, Su Chen was making things up. But this explanation was more than sufficient to fool everyone else.

His true reason was actually very simple. He needed to get stronger!

The information Gu Qingluo had divulged gave Su Chen a great sense of urgency. In the future, perhaps there would be opponents whose strength greatly surpassed his wildest imaginations. As for himself, his loss of sight had cost him a whole three years. In those three years, he had to fully focus his efforts on just maintaining his right to participate in the Hidden Dragon Institute’s qualifying exam, to speak nothing of performing well. The elevation of opponents, however, was more than enough to cause a right to participate to only remain a right to participate.

If Su Chen didn’t want to miss the day of “battling to enter the Hidden Dragon Institute,” he would have to continue striving.

The Scarlet Mountain Range was the best decision.

That place had its dangers, but it also had many opportunities!

He had decided when he left the Lin Clan to go to the Scarlet Mountain Range. The matter with Su Yue had only given him an excuse to do so. To get an opportunity to go to the Scarlet Mountain Range and give his enemy a beating, how was this not worth it?

But to everyone else who heard this words, they were all shaken by Su Chen’s attitude of never giving up.

Hidden Dragon Institute?

A blind person actually still wanted to compete in the exam for the top school in the entire Long Sang Country, the Hidden Dragon Institute?

What kind of ambition was this!

Even Su Changche couldn’t help but say, “Is the Hidden Dragon Institute that important to you?”

Su Chen tilted his head, then replied, “No. Actually, it isn’t that important to me.”

“What?” Everyone felt muddle-headed.

What did he mean?

“It is only another goal,” Su Chen replied. “A goal that constantly pushes me forward, one that makes me unwilling to give up. This is just like how I believe that old beggar’s words, how I trust that my eyes will definitely recover. Humans always need goals, need hope, in order to keep fighting. My belief that my eyes will recover is my hope, and the Hidden Dragon Institute is a goal that I set for myself so that I won’t give up.

Upon speaking to here, Su Chen paused, then said, “I just don’t want to stop here.”

The cloud bat was fake, but what he said at this moment was genuine.

The Hidden Dragon Institute wasn’t actually something so important that Su Chen couldn’t abandon it.

However, because he had this goal, Su Chen had the motivation and strength to persevere.