Return to the Black Prison

Although Xu Yuan had spoken in jest, there was a grain of truth in his words. Even though he rarely stepped outside these days, he still needed an immense amount of silver. The showdown with his father on New Year's Eve had placed laying plans for the Sword Sect firmly on the agenda. That endeavor would be extraordinarily costly. Not only that, but his plan to use Li Junqing to plot in Dongying also required a steady supply of funds and provisions. Back when he served as Li Qingyan's personal guard in the Northern Border, Xu Yuan had seen the logistical ledgers of the Beifeng Army with his own eyes. In peacetime, the wages and spiritual food for an elite battalion of five thousand men alone cost roughly three to four hundred thousand taels of silver a month. In wartime, once military merit bounties and the wear and tear on spiritual blades and war engines were factored in, the miscellaneous expenses easily started at seven hundred thousand taels. Thanks to the unique environment of the Silent Crypt, Xiao Bai's subterranean remnants were less like Great Yan's conventional forces and more like a religious army forged of zealots. As long as they were fed, a token sum for wages was enough. The problem, however, was that this army had only men and no equipment. Armor, spiritual blades, and every variety of weaponry would have to be forged anew with silver. Xu Yuan had considered asking his old man to handle it. At a time when widespread turmoil was on the verge of erupting, suddenly gaining such a force of battle-ready troops was an offer the man had no reason to refuse. The trouble was that once the troops were outfitted by the Prime Minister's Manor, they would no longer be his to deploy at will. He had to find the silver himself. Of course, Xu Yuan could also dump the mess onto Li Junqing. After all, Li Junqing was the one seeking to borrow troops, so it was only reasonable that he provide the equipment. Yet doing so would make it easy for Li Junqing to manipulate and corrupt the borrowed force. While the loyalty of a fanatic religious army was beyond doubt, even zealots could not resist someone who consistently provided their daily bread. It would be best to maintain a steady flow of funds and provisions to the borrowed troops—it did not have to be lavish, but it needed to sustain the army's basic operations. Either task was a bottomless pit that demanded mountains of wealth and grain, and Xu Yuan had no stable source of income. Naturally, his thoughts turned toward his Fourth Sister. He had raised eight million taels for her by selling cultivation methods; surely it was perfectly reasonable for him to divert a few million to other matters? Unfortunately, Dora-A-Yao gave Xu Yuan no such chance. The moment Fourth Sister heard he wanted to touch her research funds, she dropped into a lightspeed knee-slide right before him, blurted out, "Third Brother, I'll wait for you below!" and vanished like a puff of smoke. She had used array artifacts, moving at a speed not a bit inferior to a Grandmaster. Watching that graceful figure vanish in an instant, Xu Yuan frowned as a realization struck him. That girl seemed to have been going easy on him all along. If they actually fought, he probably could not even beat his Fourth Sister. Hiss... After Xu Xinyao left, Ran Qingmo accepted Xu Yuan's invitation after all. Stepping across the accumulated snow in the inner courtyard, she followed him through a secret chamber and down a hidden passage leading toward the Black Prison. Staring into the seemingly endless pitch-black corridor, their gentle footsteps echoed softly. After walking side by side for a good distance, Xu Yuan felt the presence of the girl beside him. Glancing around at the ink-dark surroundings, he whispered as if muttering to himself, "Ran Qingmo, don't you think it's a bit dark in here?" "Hm?" Ran Qingmo let out a soft hum. "What's wrong?" "In a place this dark, don't you want to hold my hand?" "Xu Yuan, my cultivation is higher than yours." "......" A momentary silence fell. Xu Yuan's expression did not change in the slightest as he reached out directly to take Ran Qingmo's hand. "I mean I can't see the way very well." Ran Qingmo pulled her jade hand back to evade him, looking at him with suspicion. "But you've already reached Body Integration." Seeing that, Xu Yuan reached directly toward Ran Qingmo's slender waist, his voice laden with sincerity. "It's a limitation of my cultivation method. You're a Grandmaster, yet aren't you just as incapable of lighting a fire?" "But you can light a fire." Ran Qingmo stepped back, slipping past Xu Yuan's groping hand. After a brief pause, she added in a small voice, "If you can't see clearly, wouldn't it be fine if you just lit a fire for light right now?" "......" Xu Yuan fell silent. He was in trouble. He suddenly understood how that old man Ran Jianli had felt earlier. What made it even more hopeless was that even if he wanted to be forceful, the disparity in their cultivation ensured he could not lay a finger on this Big Ice Block. Just as he was brooding in frustration, Xu Yuan felt the hand he was pulling back caught by a cool, delicate little hand. Xu Yuan looked up instinctively, meeting the girl's calm, serene gaze. "If you want to hold my hand, you can just say so, Xu Yuan." "......" Xu Yuan. "......." "......." "......." "The Black Prison was built deep underground, quite a distance from the surface. We probably have to walk a while longer," Xu Yuan said softly as he held the Big Ice Block's cool, supple jade hand and walked downward. "Once we're down there, remember to activate that temporary soul key Xu Changge gave you." "Mm, okay." Ran Qingmo followed closely behind him, giving a quiet nod. The staircase spiraled downward. The stone walls on either side bore no torches, and before long, the two entered a rather spacious stone chamber. All six sides of the chamber were smooth and even, save for a spherical ring carved into the floor, resembling a circular platform. Leading Ran Qingmo to the center of the circle, Xu Yuan said softly, "We're at the entrance. Activate the soul key now; once the array verifies your identity, we can go down." "Okay." Hearing that, Ran Qingmo immediately used her intent-soul to activate the soul key in her grasp. The next instant, A rumbling vibration rang out without warning, and the circular platform beneath their feet began to descend slowly. Feeling the tremor all around them, Ran Qingmo glanced about with faint curiosity and asked in a low voice, "Xu Yuan, this circular platform doesn't seem to be driven by an array?" Amidst the heavy grinding of turning gears, Xu Yuan smiled and explained, "Right. All the building materials in the Black Prison possess spirit-nullifying properties, so ordinary arrays naturally can't be carved onto them. The array is merely the trigger; the platform itself is raised and lowered by gear mechanisms." At this point, Xu Yuan paused, adding a warning, "By the way, remember not to bring out any Source Crystals down there. With the monsters locked up in the Black Prison, even the slightest wisp of Source Qi could stir up chaos." "Oh, okay," Ran Qingmo replied. The Black Prison was an enormous subterranean complex. Though it was far from matching the Silent Crypt, it was still buried very deep beneath the earth to avoid detection by the powerful figures in Di'an. The lift accelerated from a crawl to a rapid descent, taking a full quarter of an hour before gently slowing to a halt. Once it came to a complete stop, a deep, cramped passageway opened before Xu Yuan and Ran Qingmo. Stepping into it, torches mounted on the walls provided faint illumination, casting their shadows in flickering, indistinct silhouettes. After walking several dozen paces, an antique wooden door quietly appeared at a fork in the path. This was the entrance connecting to the inner courtyard of the manor, and also the end of the Black Prison, where the living quarters of the Minister of Justice of the Black Prison were located. It was the very same weathered room Xu Yuan had visited before. Just as he was hesitating over whether to bring Ran Qingmo inside to greet Qing, the wooden door was pushed open from within. A tall figure draped in black robes stepped out slowly. Xu Yuan was about to speak when the corner of his eye twitched involuntarily. Out of the corner of his vision, he saw the Big Ice Block beside him drawing her ink sword... The air inside the cramped corridor instantly froze. The moment she saw the black-robed figure, Ran Qingmo felt a bone-chilling, biting killing intent wash over her. The razor-sharp tension lasted for only an instant before Xu Yuan belatedly sensed the murderous aura filling the air. Sweeping his spiritual vision across in a flash, he immediately understood. Qing was glaring at the hands he and Ran Qingmo were holding. Single dogs were just like that—they couldn't stand seeing people flaunt their affection, let alone the fact that Qing was inherently mentally unstable. Xu Yuan sighed inwardly. Moreover, Qing had probably mistaken him for someone else. Waving a hand in front of Qing, Xu Yuan whispered a reminder, "Hey, hey, hey, look closer. While I might look a bit like him, don't go mistaking me for my father in his youth." "......" The moment the words left his mouth, the killing intent vanished completely. Shrouded beneath her black robes, Qing looked away. A sweet, lovely voice drifted out faintly, laced with disgust and distaste, as though she were staring at a bringer of plague. "Xu Changtian, why are you here again?" Xu Yuan didn't mind her tone in the slightest. "You came out just in time," he said softly. "I want to go to the Heaven-tier prison to see someone." "You have a soul key. Can't you just go yourself?" With that, Qing took a step back, intending to retreat into her room. Seeing this, Xu Yuan hastily called out, "I need to go to the Silver Willow Orchid cell. That place requires either your soul key or Lou Ji's." "Silver Willow Orchid?" Qing halted in her tracks, her gaze beneath the black robes turning sharp and probing. "What are you going there for?" "My father told me to take care of an errand there today," Xu Yuan said after a brief pause, fabricating an excuse on the spot. In any case, Qing would never go verify it with his father. Hearing that, Qing's eyes flickered beneath her black cowl, and she murmured softly, "That makes sense. Today seems to be the first day of the New Year. Follow me." With that, she turned to lead the way. Seeing Qing's matter-of-fact reaction, Xu Yuan was momentarily taken aback. "Huh? What does the first day of the New Year have to do with it?" Qing's sharp gaze swept back instantly, carrying a faint touch of amusement. "Xu Changtian, others might not know, but I am the Minister of Justice of the Black Prison. I know full well what identity the prisoner in the Silver Willow Orchid cell holds. What are you playing dumb in front of me for?"