Hall of Sinners

The Immortal Fairy had been observing Bai Ye for two nights now, and she was certain that this little girl had something to do with the Moon Laurel Tree Ancestor—most likely some sliver of the Ancestor's consciousness or the like. Presumably she came from the moon laurel tree that Immortal Ying Tian had planted; four hundred thousand years was ample time for a spiritual intelligence to awaken. Take Immortal Suiyue, for instance—even before ever becoming an immortal, they would often split off an avatar to act on their behalf. It all works on the same principle. But Bai Ye was by no means as simple as just the Moon Laurel Tree Ancestor; it was only that the Immortal Fairy hadn't yet worked out what was really going on. "Little Yang just isn't clever enough—still needs this immortal to fret over everything." The Immortal Fairy shook her head, pleased with herself. Lu Yang truly couldn't get by without this brain of his. "Then again, this little girl bears no ill will toward Little Yang, so there's nothing for this immortal to worry about there. But that being so... do I even need to concern myself with what Bai Ye really is?" The Immortal Fairy leaned back against her throne forged of ice and snow and pondered for a while, only to soon drift off to sleep, utterly drained by the mental exertion. Lu Yang felt he'd been shown just about all there was to see of the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace, yet he couldn't shake the sense that he was missing someplace—that the tour wasn't quite complete. A hollow emptiness settled in his chest. "Oh, right—Junior Sister Lan, does your side have a place like the Prison Peak?" Lu Yang had just remembered: he still hadn't visited the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace's own prison. "Huh?" "Senior Brother, you want to go to the Hall of Sinners?" The Moon Laurel Immortal Palace held the authority to enforce the law, so naturally it had something akin to the Prison Peak—the Hall of Sinners. Lan Ting hadn't expected Senior Brother Lu Yang to be so interested in the Hall of Sinners. She'd felt such a place wasn't suitable for him, and so had deliberately left it off their tour. "Just to broaden my horizons a little." Lu Yang said with a chuckle. He was curious what the prisons of the other immortal sects looked like. The Hall of Sinners was no forbidden ground, either; the palace disciples could come and go as they pleased. Lan Ting led Lu Yang to a rather squat little palace, so small it scarcely looked like a place for holding prisoners. As they stepped inside, the candles on either side sensed someone entering and flared to life with a sudden whoosh, illuminating the passage at the far end. "The prisoners are all down below," Lan Ting said, pointing to the passage that led underground. The passage was deathly quiet, with only the echoes of their two sets of footsteps. As those footsteps sounded, the candles lining the underground passage lit up as well. Seeing how intently Lu Yang was watching the candles, Lan Ting explained with a smile. "It's like this: the Hall of Sinners used to keep its candles burning all the time. I felt it wasted a lot of candles, so I designed an array. The candles normally stay extinguished, and the moment they sense any sound, the array kindles them alight. Very convenient." "And because I saved the sect so many candles, I even earned a thousand contribution points for it." "It really is a fine design," Lu Yang said with a nod. He hadn't expected the array to be Lan Ting's own creation—he ought to have known she had a talent for this sort of thing. After all, it was Lan Ting who had first proposed the concept of the Automatic Skewering Array. "Did you file for a patent?" "No—it seemed like too much of a hassle." Unlike the Dao Seeking Sect, which had a well-established patent-application process, the half-secluded Moon Laurel Immortal Palace had no interest in patents at all. Lu Yang offered his advice. "You'd best file for one. If I've got the timing right, solar lamps that replace candles should be appearing about now, while sound-controlled solar lamps shouldn't be out yet. Lock down the patent on this array of yours, and you ought to make a tidy sum of spirit stones." "The solar lamps that the Solar Energy Technology Development Chamber of Commerce is putting out, Senior Brother?" Not long ago, when Lan Ting had gone out on a mission, she'd heard a little about this newly risen chamber of commerce; they even ran advertisements through the Dream Bubble quite often. "So they've got a production line up and running? Looks like they moved fast." Lu Yang murmured to himself, then said, "Yes, that's the one—the solar lamp." "A newly emerging industry like this holds plenty of opportunities—a good chance to make a profit. We cultivators mustn't let spirit stones cloud our minds, yet our cultivation can't do without them, either. With a patent in hand and spirit stones rolling in without end, your cultivation in the days ahead will be a great deal easier." "All right." Lan Ting had been largely indifferent about patents, but since this was something Senior Brother Lu Yang had suggested, then it certainly had to be done. Junior Sister Tao, you don't get this kind of special treatment, do you? While they talked, the two reached the end of the passage and came upon the gatekeeper, clad in a single black robe. The gatekeeper kept her head lowered, scribbling away at something or other. "This is Elder Molan." "This junior, Lu Yang, pays his respects to Elder Molan," Lu Yang said with a bow. Seeing someone approach, Elder Molan hurriedly covered up what she was writing. "So you're Daoist Buyu's little disciple. What crime did you commit to get yourself locked up in here?" "Huh?" Seeing Lu Yang's confusion, Elder Molan grew confused as well. "Haven't you gone and followed in your master's footsteps—causing trouble out in the world and getting caught and dragged back to our palace?" Lan Ting hurried to explain that Lu Yang was here to tour the palace, that he was nothing like Daoist Buyu. "Then I misjudged the situation. I assumed it was a tradition passed down in your sect." Bound by her duties, Elder Molan rarely left the Hall of Sinners and knew little of the latest developments. "Master himself has been to the Hall of Sinners before?" Lu Yang asked cautiously. He hadn't imagined his master had been to more places than he'd assumed—even somewhere as out-of-the-way as the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace. Elder Molan gave a cold snort. "Is there any immortal sect's Hall of Sinners he hasn't been to?" "If you want to have a look around inside, just have Lan here take you. It isn't her first time here, and she knows the place well. I won't be going in." Elder Molan disliked conversation, and had no fondness for moving about, either; a quiet setting like the Hall of Sinners suited her best. Elder Molan watched the two receding figures, her eyes turning faintly cold. "They shouldn't have seen what I was writing. If they did... then they can't be allowed to live!" Elder Molan lowered her head and went on writing: Divine Lord Chenguang swept an arm around Chu Xian'er's slender waist. Gazing up at the hosts of gods and buddhas besieging them from every corner of the heavens, he stood unmoving, resolute as a carved statue... Taking the token Elder Molan had given them, the two passed through the grand array and entered the true Hall of Sinners. "Our Hall of Sinners serves the same purpose as your Prison Peak—both are for holding prisoners arrested out in the field. The prisoners kept in our Hall of Sinners range from Foundation Establishment stage at the very lowest to Body Integration stage at the very highest." Mentioning that the Hall of Sinners held a Body Integration stage criminal, Lan Ting sounded a little smug. The palace's disciples topped out at Body Integration stage themselves; to capture a Body Integration stage criminal alive while out on a mission—one could well imagine just how hard a feat that was. Take the Emotionless Cult elder they'd just brought in. Had the three of them—Lu Yang, Man Gu, and herself—not been present, capturing him alive would likely have been impossible. Lu Yang thought it over. It seemed the prisoners held in their Prison Peak were all Body Integration stage at the very least, and the one with the highest cultivation base was the immortal Guan Shanhai. Dao Seeking Sect disciples also arrested criminals while out on missions, except that any they caught below Body Integration stage were handed straight over to the local yamen—no need to drag them all the way back to the Prison Peak. The Prison Peak had only so many cells to go around, so they had to be used sparingly. Lu Yang noticed that each cell had the prisoner's name, crime, and remaining sentence posted at its door. The one with the shortest term was in for theft and would be released in just a few more days. The palace didn't segregate its prisoners by sex when holding them—otherwise Daoist Buyu would never have been let in, either. The Prison Peak had similar placards too, listing each prisoner's name and crime. The only difference was that they didn't note the sentence. The Prison Peak's inmates were either murderers or would-be rebels—where would any remaining sentence come from for the likes of them? They might as well settle in and stay locked up in the Prison Peak for the rest of their days.