Cutting Corners and Lining Pockets

Behind the seventh cell, the rustic table and shabby chair still sat in place. Yu Xian took a seat upon the chair and simply closed his eyes, beginning to recall the contents of the Everlasting Silence Prison-Suppressing Art. To his surprise, while leaving it alone was fine, the moment he thought of the technique, countless pieces of knowledge seemed to bore into his brain at once. The general outline, which had previously consisted of individual characters he recognized but combined into an incomprehensible whole, suddenly became exceedingly easy to grasp. It was as though a teacher were constantly chattering the key points of knowledge right into his ear. *Stop, stop, stop...* Realizing what was happening a beat too late, Yu Xian tried to call a halt to the nagging, but it wouldn't stop at all. Furthermore, his brain refused to obey his commands, continuously replaying the contents of the Everlasting Silence Prison-Suppressing Art again and again. It was just like insomnia—even though he desperately wanted to sleep, his brain was bursting with excitement, countless whimsical ideas welling up in endless succession. "Fine. If I can't resist, I might as well study diligently." Yu Xian sighed inwardly, feeling as though he had returned to practicing boxing in the sea of flowers, where nothing had been under his own control. Fortunately, practicing boxing in the sea of flowers had accustomed him to the feeling of having his body hijacked. Only this time, it wasn't his body being hijacked, but his brain. It was only ten days anyway—no big deal. Yu Xian felt that by toughing it out, he could easily endure these brief ten days. *"The Everlasting Silence Prison-Suppressing Art draws upon the power of the Everlasting Silence Space to construct an Avici prison, imprisoning criminals and making them atone for their crimes for eternity."* *"The power of the Everlasting Silence Space is supremely evil and supremely still. Therefore, it requires the power of supreme benevolence and supreme movement to temper it before it can be accommodated within the body to forge Prison-Suppressing Cornerstones, suppressing all villains across the myriad heavens and worlds."* *"What is supreme benevolence? What is supreme movement?"* *"Supreme benevolence is love; supreme movement is the heart's stirrings."* ... ... Yu Xian felt that something was amiss with time. He clearly felt as if a whole day had passed, but his Super Brain was counting down the seconds, and the very next second had not even begun. The instant the doubt arose in him, he naturally understood what 'supreme movement is the heart's stirrings' meant. What could be faster and yet more drawn out than the stirring of the heart? *I'm doomed.* Yu Xian realized that while ten days were indeed ten days, the subjective time his mind had to experience was far beyond ten days; it was measured by the number of times his heart stirred. In a single second, his heart could stir hundreds of millions of times, which was equivalent to hundreds of millions of years. *I'm done studying.* *I quit!* Yu Xian held on for another perceived day, feeling like his brain was about to break once again. Practicing boxing in the sea of flowers had been painful enough, but his current ordeal was even more agonizing. His conscious intellect knew full well that only a single second was passing, yet his subjective perception felt it to be unimaginably protracted. This jarring discrepancy made him feel as though his body was being torn in two, with one half pulling right and the other pulling left. Yet whether he studied or not was beyond his say. Knowledge continued to pour into his brain, forcibly churning his brain matter, and then using that brain matter to inscribe profound, weighty characters imbued with deep mysteries into his very cells. The Everlasting Silence Prison-Suppressing Art slowly circulated as he learned, and his body steadily absorbed the power within the Land of Glory. In the blink of an eye, a day passed. Yu Xian felt as though he had lived through hundreds of millions of years. Though he knew it was merely his perception, he genuinely felt as though he had endured an eternity. "Huh?!" Suddenly, he discovered a brick inside his body. It was a very peculiar brick, seemingly possessing the power to suppress all forces in the world. *This is a Prison-Suppressing Cornerstone!* Enlightenment dawned upon Yu Xian. He had actually condensed a Prison-Suppressing Cornerstone with such ease. The reason his heart stirred so fast and his thoughts raced at such a speed was precisely because a heart of supreme movement was needed to stir the 'brick mortar' of supreme stillness, which was then cast into cornerstones one by one. His thoughts couldn't slow down in the slightest. The power of supreme stillness would instantly freeze his body and soul, leaving him permanently motionless right where he was. Next, Yu Xian split his focus into ten thousand threads and carefully studied the Prison-Suppressing Cornerstone. Since he was forced to learn whether he wanted to or not, he naturally came to understand how to forge the Everlasting Silence Prison Tower and how to construct cells within it. However, during the forging process, he still retained a certain degree of autonomy. For example, he cut corners by shrinking every single cell, which originally would have been the size of a room, down to the size of a restroom. They were meant for prisoners anyway—what was wrong with making them a little smaller? As for the space he saved, he used it to build a room for himself. It was perfectly reasonable for an administrator to have a break room, even if his room happened to be rather large. If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't shrink the prisoners' cells any further, he would have loved to compress them to the size of coffins. Floor after floor, the Everlasting Silence Prison Tower rose. Yu Xian acted like an unscrupulous contractor, cutting corners on every tier and lining his pockets on every level. Consequently, his personal quarters transformed from a single floor into a colossal multi-story loft. A staircase led straight up through the floors, level upon level, with each floor boasting an extravagantly vast expanse. With something to keep him occupied, time no longer felt so agonizingly long. Yu Xian settled his mind and devoted all his attention to designing his own room, casually slapping together the prisoners' cells with minimal effort. In any case, the nature of the Everlasting Silence Prison Tower had already been determined: once any prisoner entered a cell within the tower, they could abandon all hope of escaping. The power of supreme stillness would immobilize them, rendering them forever incapable of resisting the tower's master. "A pity I can't put in windows." Yu Xian polished the stairs on every floor until they were smooth and rounded, meticulously buffed every single brick in his own quarters, and used his authority to make subtle adjustments to the color of each brick. After what felt like an immense amount of time, ten days finally passed. "It's finally over." Yu Xian found that the voice in his head had ceased, and he had successfully mastered the Everlasting Silence Prison-Suppressing Art. When he opened his eyes, he was stunned. He was no longer in the Land of Glory; instead, he stood on the island leading to it, and the golden gates were nowhere to be seen. "It can't be..." Yu Xian hurriedly sank his consciousness into his body, instantly discovering that his Everlasting Silence Prison Tower already had 'tenants.' Cell 001. Luomo was well aware that Yu Xian harbored immense wariness toward him. Yet that hardly mattered. As long as Yu Xian needed something from him in the future, Luomo would always find an opportunity to send information to the outside world. As long as the legacy of the Myriad Demons Sect still existed out there, he would eventually have a chance to break free. He firmly believed that no prison possessed a flawless defense; an inability to escape was merely due to a lack of understanding and familiarity. Just as he was calculating how to exploit Yu Xian, the surrounding space suddenly shifted. Before he could rejoice, the entire cell abruptly shrank. What had been a reasonably spacious cell shrank in the blink of an eye to the size of a tiny restroom. He couldn't even spread his arms, and to stand up, he had to hunch over. "..." Sitting inside the tiny cell, Luomo froze completely. Yet he was far from the most miserable 'tenant.' In Cell 002, the Dark Gate Dragonman Ao Hai possessed such a burly physique that he couldn't even stand up. The width of his shoulders was practically identical to the width of the cell, leaving him crammed inside like a packed parcel, entirely unable to move. And yet... Ao Hai wasn't the most pitiful prisoner either. Behind them were inmates of even greater stature. Those prisoners had been forcibly compressed down to the size of the room, their bodies contorted directly into the shape of the cells.