Interrogation

When an organization grew massive, its bloated interior inevitably began to rot and turn sluggish. Compared to the Imperial Prison and the Heavenly Prison, which had stood for over a millennium, the structure of the Black Prison, barely several decades old, was remarkably simple. Placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Black Scale Guards, its highest officer was the Minister of Justice, beneath whom served jailers of three ranks: Heaven, Earth, and Mortal. Prisoners were categorized by danger level and social status from highest to lowest, divided among the three tiers of cells, and guarded by jailers of the corresponding rank. To prevent jailers from overseeing a single post for too long and being swayed or bribed by inmates, the Black Prison enforced a strict system of shift rotations and one-way information isolation. Every half-month, jailers rotated cells on duty. Every two months, the Minister of Justice would even activate the grand mechanism array encompassing the entire Black Prison, moving the cells to scramble and reorganize them. Naturally, the most crucial rule of all was the Black Prison's doctrine of "kings must not meet." Without explicit orders, jailers were strictly forbidden from any form of contact with prisoners. Any violation, once discovered, was punished by a fine of stipend at best, or the outright destruction of one's cultivation at worst. Conversely, even when contact was authorized under orders, the jailer would be placed on mandatory "administrative leave" lasting anywhere from a single season to half a year. It was also for this reason that when Xu Yuan arrived at the hub of the Earth-rank prison with the Minister of Justice's medallion, the one who came to receive him was not the speaking corpse from before, but a woman. The woman's face could hardly be called attractive, merely mediocre, but her physique was one in ten thousand. Burly—far too burly. Beneath her loose robes were knotted cords of muscle, her trapezius bulging high, so much so that Xu Yuan had to crane his neck just to look up at her. A martial apprentice. As he thought this, the burly woman finished inspecting the Minister of Justice's medallion and bowed respectfully to Xu Yuan. "Young Master, please follow me. Bauhinia Orchid is this way." The cells in the Black Prison were all codenamed after flowers, and Bauhinia Orchid was where Princess Orenli was held. Inside the Black Prison, torches provided all the illumination. Special building materials and an assortment of arrays shut out all Source Qi, leaving inscription lamps without the energy needed to function. Walking through the rather cramped corridor, the woman's hulking frame resembled a behemoth. The gust of wind stirred with each stride seemed capable of blowing out the torches hung on either wall. Trailing behind her, Xu Yuan tried using spiritual vision to probe this musclebound powerhouse's cultivation, but it turned out lower than expected. This Earth-rank jailer was merely at the Grandmaster Realm, whereas the prisoners kept in the Earth-rank prison were generally at the Origin Realm. Would that truly not cause problems? After a brief moment of thought, however, Xu Yuan felt relieved. The prisoners held in the Black Prison were all powerful, and the Chancellor's Manor could hardly spare experts of equal cultivation to be stationed here permanently. But as the guards, the Black Prison held an absolute advantage in terrain and coordination. The arrays and implements within the Black Prison, along with the strict discipline, ensured that even if a jailer's cultivation was weaker than an inmate's, they could still subdue them through sheer numbers and reinforcements. Before long, the burly woman stopped before a sealed cell door, turning to bow. "Young Master, we have arrived." Wearing a human-skin mask, Xu Yuan did not reveal his identity. Glancing at her, he said softly, "Give me the key, then withdraw." A flicker of hesitation crossed the burly woman's eyes. The young master before her had far too low a cultivation. Even with the suppression of various arrays and torture implements, someone in the Flesh Integration Realm appeared far too fragile before an Origin Realm expert. "Young Master, you are going to see the prisoner alone?" "This is the Minister of Justice's order." Xu Yuan's answer was plain and direct. Judging by the woman's build, she was clearly a grassroots powerhouse who had emerged from the Tian'an Martial Hall lineage. Such individuals tended to possess the highest loyalty to the Chancellor's Manor, so Xu Yuan had no desire to let his private conversation with Orenli affect her. The burly woman departed obediently, for within the Black Prison, the Minister of Justice's command was absolute, and the Black Prison token was treated as the Minister's personal presence. Creak— The iron door swung open, and the firelight from the corridor slowly filtered into the dark cell. As the door came to a halt, the dim light fell upon Orenli's slowly lifting, delicate face, casting half of it in brightness and half in shadow. Their gazes met in midair for an instant. Tap, tap... Soft footsteps echoed as Xu Yuan strolled into the cramped cell, his tone laced with a hint of mockery: "I heard from the jailer that Her Imperial Highness wished to commit suicide?" Orenli's paper-pale face appeared exceedingly frail. Her tongue lightly licked the blood at the corner of her lips. "You came faster than I imagined, Xu Changtian." Clunk. Xu Yuan casually pulled a chair out of his Sumeru ring, leaned against its back, crossed his legs, and said with a probing gaze: "Yet from what I know of you, you hardly seem like someone who would kill herself." Under the faint gleam of firelight from outside, Orenli's azure pupils flickered between light and dark, laced with sarcasm. "Don't speak as if you understand me so well." "If I didn't understand you, the one tied up here right now would be me, not you." Xu Yuan gave a faint smile and snapped his fingers. Amid a loud rattle of iron chains, the woman's body was yanked straight into the air by chains. Xu Yuan leaned back slightly, his eyes wandering over her figure with keen interest. "Orenli, don't put on an act in front of me either. I know your strength has already recovered. Isn't it uncomfortable hanging like that?" "..." A moment of silence. The four iron chains extending from the ceiling shattered in an instant, and her slender, graceful figure lightly landed on the ground. Orenli slowly straightened her posture, reaching a hand toward her chest as her fingertips sank into the softness. Without answering, the four fingers pressed around her heart suddenly pulled outward. With a soft squelch, four black rods blocking her Source Qi were effortlessly ripped out by her hand. Deprived of what plugged them, the wounds instantly gushed with blood, yet in the next breath, a shroud of white light covered them, swiftly healing the flesh until only four thumb-sized holes were left on her gown. Watching this unfold, Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes. "Shrinking your heart to find survival at death's door... I truly hadn't expected you to have a trick like that." Orenli casually tossed the black rods onto the floor, staring at the man seated in the wooden chair. "Since you knew, you still dare to come see me alone?" "Because everything you've done is entirely futile." Xu Yuan snorted with laughter, spreading his hands as he looked at the bloodstained, battle-torn imperial princess of Sien. "If you don't believe me, you can attack me right now with whatever art you consider your strongest. I promise not to move or resist. And if you can harm even a single hair on my head, I'll let you walk free. How about it?" "..." Orenli cast a cold glance toward the open iron door, remaining silent. Seeing this, Xu Yuan rose from the chair and chuckled. "Don't bother looking. I've already figured out your thought process from start to finish. "First, you tried wheedling information out of the jailer, only to discover that escaping this Black Prison entirely on your own was impossible. "So you turned your sights on me, because I am actually quite weak. "To escape, you had to manufacture a situation where I would interrogate you, then seize the opportunity to take me—a blood relative of the Prime Minister who is frail in strength yet noble in status—as your hostage." "..." Orenli remained silent. Xu Yuan stepped forward at an unhurried pace, raised his hand, and gently patted her bare, flawless white shoulder, whispering into her ear: "Orenli, we are the same kind of person. I understand what you're thinking all too well. "If you abandon your resistance right now and tell me all the information I want to know, I can promise you an honorable outcome."