Chapter 27: The World Prison

The value of the Tao Wu Eighteen Divine Demons was comparable to the other six great techniques. But Ji Ning, using a bottle of Chaos Liquid, had cultivated to the second layer, causing a qualitative transformation in himself.

"There's still some left." Ji Ning waved his hand, and the black bottle flew into his palm. Drops of Chaos Liquid were clearly visible inside. "A full bottle has ninety-nine drops, and twenty-two remain. According to the warden Xi Fu, previous wardens usually used up almost an entire bottle. It seems I'm still slightly weaker than the wardens of the past."

The stronger one's strength, the more Chaos Liquid was needed to cultivate the second layer of the Tao Wu Eighteen Divine Demons.

Because the first layer came at the cost of reduced strength, splitting into eighteen avatars.

The second layer consumed Chaos Liquid to raise the eighteen avatars to the original true body's strength. Naturally, the stronger one was, the more Chaos Liquid was required. For True Gods and Dao Ancestors, their bodies, the Pure Yang Golden Core within, and even their souls were far more powerful than Ji Ning's.

Thus, they needed far more Chaos Liquid.

This was also recorded in detail in the technique.

All previous wardens had been able to fully penetrate the 'stone tablet' before becoming wardens. Ji Ning had barely succeeded with great difficulty. His strength was very close to that of previous wardens. Those wardens... clearly had not reached the level of True Gods or Dao Ancestors.

"World Prison?"

The other seventeen avatars remained seated, pondering the other six great techniques.

One avatar stood up and walked directly toward the spatial gate.

...

Whoosh.

As soon as he entered the spatial gate, the world shifted.

Within a vast world, atop a mountain peak ten thousand miles high, a white-robed youth emerged from nothingness.

"So this is the World Prison?" Ji Ning looked around. The boundless world was dim and dark, without sun, moon, or stars. Countless divine runes, like writhing dragons and snakes, covered the sky. These golden runes and the sky itself emitted a faint light, keeping this land in perpetual twilight for endless ages.

"Open."

Standing atop the ten-thousand-mile peak, Ji Ning willed it.

Boom.

His heartforce instantly spread in all directions. In this place holding many prisoners, Ji Ning dared not release his divine sense, fearing an attack. In comparison, collisions of heartforce were much safer.

In an instant, his heartforce covered an area at least three times the size of the Great Xia world.

...

"Hm?"

An old man, filthy and leaning against a stone wall, had shackles on his legs. The shackles emitted a mysterious fluctuation. Because of these shackles, he had been imprisoned here for over ten chaos cycles.

"Heartforce?"

"It seems a new warden has arrived. Wardens are always little fellows. This one's heartforce isn't weak." The dirty old man looked up, green light flickering in his eyes. Instantly, a vast and powerful wave of heartforce enveloped the surrounding thousand-mile region, engulfing all of Ji Ning's heartforce that had intruded there.

...

"This little fellow is truly overconfident. The wardens sent by that old thief Jiufang are getting more and more careless. Didn't he warn these little ones? Still... his heartforce is much stronger than the previous warden's." A wild dog lying on the ground, its skin torn and black bones exposed, drooped its eyelids.

The surrounding thousand-mile region suddenly darkened, and the space trembled.

...

On the mountaintop, Ji Ning's face turned pale. He gritted his teeth and said, "Sever!"

He forcibly abandoned part of his released heartforce, as if expending it in archery, completely severing the connection.

"How terrifying."

"This, this, this..."

Only after severing the connection did Ji Ning feel a lingering fear.

"The area my heartforce covered is probably just a tiny part of the World Prison. The most terrifying were that old man and that wild dog." Ji Ning swallowed. "The old man should be at the Dao Ancestor level, and the wild dog at the Ancestral God level. The old man's heartforce was only at the fourth stage, but his technique was far superior to mine. He almost lured me into an illusion. Fortunately, we were both at the fourth stage, and I forcibly severed the connection."

"That wild dog's divine ability was terrifying—it seemed to devour my heartforce in one gulp."

Ji Ning immediately understood.

Those two were not to be trifled with.

"In the area I covered, there are also eighteen True Gods, thirty-two Pure Yang True Immortals, seventy-one Celestial Gods, and ninety-six Celestial Immortals." Ji Ning calculated.

The auras of the True Gods were as powerful as ever.

The Pure Yang True Immortals also made Ji Ning feel threatened.

"Celestial Gods and Celestial Immortals should be manageable." Ji Ning thought. "Hmm, I'll start with a Celestial Immortal—the weakest—and extract more secrets from them."

Those two wardens were mere puppets, knowing nothing of cultivation methods.

But the prisoners here did.

...

Whoosh.

Ji Ning sat in the Void Boat, which turned into a streak of light, flying swiftly through the dim World Prison. He deliberately avoided the thousand-mile radius around each prisoner, as complex formations and restrictions surrounded them, suppressing their abilities and preventing them from acting beyond those bounds.

In the World Prison, one could not tear through space or teleport; one could only fly slowly.

It took the two wardens over a hundred and twenty thousand years just to inspect every prisoner in the World Prison. This showed how vast it was, and also how slow those puppets were. Puppet bodies absorbed external energy to survive long-term, so their flight speed was absurdly slow. With a Void Boat like Ji Ning's, one could travel much faster.

After half a day of flight.

"Here." Ji Ning put away the Void Boat and descended into a canyon.

"That Celestial Immortal is ahead."

Walking through the canyon, Ji Ning covered hundreds of miles with each step, soon reaching the edge of the formation restrictions.

The hazy formation restrictions, like a giant dome, prevented prisoners from leaving. But they only affected prisoners; Ji Ning and the two wardens could pass through freely.

"Whoosh." Ji Ning stepped inside, and the formation did not harm him.

Ji Ning released his heartforce again, covering this area.

...

A young man in tattered clothes sat cross-legged. Black shackles bound his feet, with chains extending into the distance, their ends disappearing into the void, as if emerging from nothingness. These black shackles were terrifying—once put on, they could never be removed.

Not even an Ancestral God could remove them.

Though the black shackles appeared to bind his legs, they actually bound his soul and truesoul.

Suddenly, faint footsteps sounded in the distance.

"Hm?" The tattered young man opened his eyes groggily.

Too long.

He had been here for far too long, so long that his dharma robe had begun to wear out. He could have maintained it with a little divine power, but in this World Prison, one could absorb no energy and had to rely on what one had.

He had committed a great crime, and his sect could not save him. His master had given him many elixirs to help him survive longer in the World Prison: "Liangqiu, your master cannot save you. You must conserve these elixirs. In the World Prison, you rely on divine power to live. Once your divine power and elixirs are exhausted, you will die. Only by living long enough can there be hope of release. Your master will help you, will find a way to save you. You must hold on, don't commit suicide, hold on."

"Finally, someone's come."

"It's been too long." Hope shone in the young man's eyes. "Could they be releasing me?"

It was this will to live that had allowed him to endure over three chaos cycles. He conserved every bit of divine power. Fortunately, his master had given him many elixirs, but most were now consumed. He estimated he could last another chaos cycle at most.

"Hm?" The young man looked at the approaching white-robed youth. "His aura... a True Immortal? No... why is it so... weak?"

...

Ji Ning looked at the young man, who was almost skeletal. His features were human, but he was emaciated. From his heartforce scan, all the prisoners seemed extremely thin, like mortals starving to death—no, even starved mortals weren't this thin.

That Ancestral God in the form of a wild dog was so starved its skin had split, revealing black bones.

"You're the new warden." The young man looked at him. "A Celestial Immortal like me, and a warden comes to see me. Are you here to release me?"

"Release you?" Ji Ning was startled.

"Why don't you have a command token? Without one, you can't unlock the Heavenly Shackles." The young man shook his head.

Ji Ning shook his head. "I can't release you." Even an Ancestral God couldn't break those chains; how could he?

The young man was shocked.

He stared at Ji Ning in surprise. "You, you... you're not from the Jiufang Chaos Kingdom! Who are you, and how did you enter the World Prison? What happened to the Jiufang Chaos Kingdom?"

"I'm the warden sent by the kingdom lord." Ji Ning looked at him.

"Don't deny it." The young man shook his head. "If you were from our Jiufang Chaos Kingdom, sent by the kingdom lord himself, you'd know that unlocking the chains requires the kingdom lord to send an Ancestral God or Ancestral Immortal. Even with a command token, you couldn't unlock the Heavenly Shackles. But when I asked if you had a token, you showed no doubt at all."

Ji Ning was taken aback.

He hadn't slipped up in front of the two puppets, but the moment he spoke with an intelligent Celestial Immortal, his cover was blown.

Still, Ji Ning wasn't flustered.

When he first entered, he had worried about exposure. But after talking with Xi Fu, he learned that the 'stone tablet' was a special treasure, similar to the Water Mansion, containing many formations and restrictions. He was now its master. The two puppets were mere laborers, not weak, but they could never leave the tablet.

And he could leave the tablet with a single thought.

Ji Ning wasn't worried about danger.

"Why did you suspect me? Why test me?" Ji Ning asked.

"I ask you, what happened to the Jiufang Chaos Kingdom?" The young man asked urgently.