Inner City

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Inner City
Type	Fortified urban district / No Fog Zone
Location	Central Tuyue, surrounded by more than eighty Outer City towns 54
Ruling class	Primal Blood Aristocrats, direct descendants of the Mist Men 54 114
Major powers	The Three Greats; Three Sects and Six Clans; Rain Palace; Supervision Department 55 100 119
Status	Active
First Appearance	Chapter 4

Background / History

The Inner City was carved out of a world once permanently shrouded in mist. After a human fused with the Insect Scripture and became the first Mist Man, Mist Men cleared territories and established human settlements. The Inner City was ultimately built to preserve Primal Blood rule: when a Mist Man dies, its descendants' Primal Blood degenerates and their aristocratic status is lost 113 114.

Its population was expanded on a massive scale to select candidates for the Calling, a lower-grade ritual modeled on imitation Mist Men. Those who undergo the Calling share part of the pressure Mist Men bear in resisting the Mist 114.

The city is protected from the surrounding mist by an immense force that creates a vast spherical hollow around it. The Outer City exists within the limited strip of territory left outside this protected area 47.

Geography & Layout

The Inner City is enclosed by a smooth, seemingly monolithic white stone wall several hundred meters high, with its upper reaches disappearing into the clouds 4. South Ninth Gate is one of its entrances: a ten-meter-tall white arch marked with black crystals, whose main doors are left open because unauthorized entrants cannot safely remain inside for long 54.

Area	Description
Outer Ring Belt	The most densely populated and least harmful region; it includes districts such as Xuanya, which had a recorded population of about four million fifteen years earlier 55 114.
Middle Ring	A residential tier between the outer ring and Moon Tower core; ordinary residents remain ground-bound here as well 56.
Moon Tower District	Core residential zone centered on Moon Towers more than a thousand stories high, linked by internal passageways containing shops, streets, gardens, and homes 56.
Core district	A hazardous area of colossal illuminated pillars and white flowers. Long-term residence is restricted to the Undying Clan because of radiation 148.
Sealing fortresses	Guarded installations that contain anomalies, ruins, and other dangers traced and classified by the Primal Blood 114.

The city is divided into nine districts, each containing nine towns. Districts closer to the core inflict greater harm on ordinary people and have smaller populations 55 114.

Population & Society

More than ninety percent of Tuyue's population is concentrated in the Inner City, where production is sufficient for self-sufficiency 23. Its streets reveal a sharp class divide: laborers hurry through tightly packed building districts, while aristocratic residents travel leisurely with pets, carriages, or attendants 55.

Most residents are human. Pure-blood humans hold supremacy under Tuyue's Primal Blood Aristocrats, while nonhuman peoples such as Lion People and Xi Clan Lizard People are largely confined to trade and specialized work; those venturing too far inward risk capture and enslavement 55.

Curio Street

Curio Street is a market where different races trade monster materials, clan goods, handicrafts, and protective talismans. Lion People may be hired as preachers, while Xi Clan ascetics arrive with merchant caravans to purchase supplies 55.

Moon Towers

Moon Towers are the domain of the city's most important residents. Primal Blood Aristocrats live at their peaks, while commoners in the outer and middle rings generally cannot enter their upper levels or use their Moth Cars 56 57.

Blood Creek, located at the top of Moon Tower, is supplied by blood drawn from a captured fog dragon 148.

Governance & Power Structure

• Mist Men — The foundational power behind human settlement and No Fog Zones; their limited lifespans make the preservation of Primal Blood politically essential 54 114.
• Primal Blood Aristocrats — Direct Mist Man descendants and Tuyue's true rulers. They maintain the No Fog Zones and reside largely in the Moon Tower core 54 57.
• Chosen — Servants closer to Primal Blood than ordinary martial artists 54.
• The Three Greats — Major Inner City powers that control Outer City Jade Talismans and can use their influence to arrange disappearances or eliminate targets 55.
• Three Sects and Six Clans — Elite martial factions whose experts are a major danger even within the Inner City 55.
• Rain Palace — Holds theoretical power to remotely deactivate Tuyue Jade Talismans, giving it control over life and death in the Outer City 100.
• Supervision Department — An Inner City investigative body whose officers and Black Armor Army soldiers possess formidable martial ability 119 120.

Residency & Entry

Method	Requirements / consequences
Temporary permit	Allows limited entry; Mingde's permits allowed Lin Hui and himself to remain for one shichen, after which their bodies would suffer harm 55.
Selection by a major power	Being chosen by one of the Three Great powers is a route into the city 38.
Property purchase	Outer City residents may buy an empty Inner City house and proof of identity, but this does not remove the continuing Feather Blood requirement 38 45.
Official service	Residents may take an official post in an outlying town and seek transfer inward 38.
Feather Blood	A bloodline extract and practical threshold for lasting residency. Residents must continually inject it to maintain their bloodline concentration; even Inner Strength Realm martial artists are not exempt 45.
Inner City slots	Some Inner City families can offer limited annual placements for children regardless of aptitude, with training provided if they fail to become Evokers 80.

A dose of Feather Blood costs roughly 500,000 to 800,000 cash, and attaining residency through injections may require ten to twenty doses or more. The bloodline concentration declines over time, creating a permanent financial burden for most residents 45.

Those unable to afford Feather Blood risk being eliminated and expelled to the so-called Black District—the Outer City—where their survival is no longer protected 56.

Economy & Resources

The Inner City has high-yield farmland, no nighttime mist, developed service and entertainment industries, and access to Wanfu Meat; its residents generally do not face hunger 23. Goods from outside are processed before sale inside, often becoming ordinary or inferior products despite their external origin 45.

• Feather Blood — Essential residency resource and inherited bloodline extract 45.
• Wanfu Meat — Distributed among the population; its purpose is unclear, though it helps sustain the city's residents 139.
• Inner City medicines — The great clans possess powerful resources such as Wonder Talisman Pills, which can accelerate cultivation and reaction speed severalfold 121.
• Moth Cars — Large flying vehicles used by upper-class residents, especially in Moon Tower districts 56.
• Blood-for-blood trade — Certain black-market items, including a sky-blue short sword and Void Eye pendant, can only be exchanged for blood 100.

Relationship with the Outer City

The Inner City treats the Outer City as an abandoned buffer zone against fog-zone erosion and nighttime mist. Its population is used to observe reactions to the mist and, when needed, as living test subjects for Inner City organizations 23 55.

The Three Greats can remotely control Jade Talismans issued to Outer City residents. Although ordinary people are generally not worth personally targeting, the system enables Inner City authorities to act against selected individuals without direct intervention 55 100.

Outer City resources and people are routinely drawn inward:

• Merchant caravans transport goods between the cities under Inner City-issued Jade Talismans 23.
• Valuable Mist Zone materials are sent to the Inner City, while short-lived leftovers are processed and sold in the Outer City 143.
• Powerful Inner City factions can crush Outer City industries or demand a share of their profits 80.
• The Three Greats have issued residency qualifications, central-ring residences, Feather Blood currency, and divine arts as rewards for high-value targets 141.

Security & Dangers

The Inner City is an absolute No Fog Zone and is safer than the Outer City in daily life, but status and power determine safety. Summoned individuals possess immunity for killing, while Primal Blood Aristocrats and elite sect-and-clan experts remain dangerous to provoke 55.

Residents who fail to meet noble demands can gradually lose their value, be eliminated, and be driven out. The city also faces dangers from contained anomalies, bandits, pollution, fortress breaches, and creatures emerging from the Mist 55 99 114 174.

The core district adds further dangers:

• Moon Towers emit a Void Field that temporary authorization can only resist for a limited period 149.
• Radiation restricts long-term habitation to the Undying Clan 148.
• The city wall has suffered breaches severe enough to require forced labor from Outer City residents for repairs 174.

Story Role / Major Arcs

• Early mystery — The Inner City is initially presented as a seemingly safe refuge behind a monumental white wall, attracting Outer City residents during the Door-Breaking Ghost crisis 4 23.
• First exploration — Mingde brings Lin Hui through South Ninth Gate, exposing the city's scale, class divisions, nonhuman trade, Feather Blood economy, and exploitation of the Outer City 54 55 56.
• Investigation and access — Lin Hui returns repeatedly through the outer ring, trades in Inner City markets, learns of Rain Palace's Jade Talisman authority, and encounters the Supervision Department 100 119.
• Moon Tower journey — Disguised as Four Faces, Lin Hui travels toward the core district and learns of its Void Field, radiation, Undying guards, and Blood Creek 147 148 149.
• Escalating instability — The city becomes increasingly affected by factional conflict, escaped Mist Zone threats, and damage to its outer defenses 127 139 174.