Lu Yang went through the prisoners’ crimes in the Hall of Sinners one by one, and soon one caught his interest: “Attempted body seizure?”
This was a fairly rare charge. Usually body seizure was already completed—after all, when a high-stage cultivator seized the body of a low-stage cultivator, the weaker one had no power to resist. How could an attempt fail?
Lu Yang saw that the imprisoned body-seizure convict’s cultivation was not low either: he was at late Soul Formation.
Lan Ting explained, “This man had bad luck. He tried to seize the body of a cultivator named Kong Hao.”
Lu Yang’s expression turned strange. Of course he knew Kong Hao. At the Dao Seeking Sect’s 120,000th anniversary celebration, he had even exchanged blows with Kong Hao using the identity of Young Cult Master Lu.
He had also reported Kong Hao for borrowing the power of a fierce beast within his body during the competition...
“Originally, Kong Hao’s cultivation was inferior to his, so there shouldn’t have been any surprises. But who would have thought that Kong Hao’s spiritual space housed two Taowu at the Tribulation Transcendence stage?”
“...Two?” Lu Yang was puzzled. He remembered Kong Hao only had one Taowu. Could that Taowu have become pregnant?
That didn’t seem right either. The other one couldn’t have been born already at the Tribulation Transcendence stage.
“Yes, with two Taowu at the Tribulation Transcendence stage inside Kong Hao’s body, the body seizure naturally failed.”
Lu Yang noticed that another nearby convict had also attempted body seizure.
“What’s the story with this one?”
“This person tried to seize the body of a fellow cultivator named Long Huo. Originally, there was a gap in cultivation between them, so it should have succeeded. According to this man’s confession, just as the seizure was about to succeed, Long Huo shouted something like ‘I can’t lose’—meaningless words, really—then made a breakthrough on the spot. His spiritual power surged along with it, causing the convict’s seizure to fail.”
“A senior sister happened to pass by and brought the convict back. According to his confession, after the successful seizure he had planned to use many natural treasures to nourish the body. Those count as stolen goods and can corroborate his crime. The strange thing is that when that senior sister went to the location the convict had confessed to search for the stolen goods, she found nothing. No one knows who took them.”
Lu Yang also remembered Long Huo. At the Dao Seeking Sect’s 120,000th anniversary celebration, he had been set as Old Meng’s opponent and had been beaten into a spinning lantern by Old Meng.
“Fellow Daoist Lu Yang, I never expected us to meet here.” A prisoner in one of the cells called out to Lu Yang.
“Xue Shilou, why are you here?” Lu Yang was surprised. He hadn’t expected to see an acquaintance in the Hall of Sinners.
It was indeed Xue Shilou, who came from the Far North and was said to possess some Snow Emperor bloodline. Lu Yang had beaten him down, then let his second personality take over, watched the first and second personalities fuse, and seen him get back up again and again.
Lu Yang looked at the crime posted by the door—illegal border crossing.
No need to ask. He must have entered Great Xia without going through entry procedures.
Thinking about it made sense. The Moon Laurel Immortal Palace was at the northernmost edge of Great Xia, and beyond it lay the Far North. It would be easy for people to cross the border illegally there. Before meeting Xue Shilou, Lu Yang had already seen several prisoners convicted of illegal border crossing.
Besides that, there were also people imprisoned for stealing moon laurel trees.
Xue Shilou spoke resentfully, regretting his earlier actions: “I never thought the vigilance at each checkpoint in Great Xia would differ so much. I got careless!”
Great Xia’s northern border was very long, and the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace could not possibly oversee all of it.
Presumably, when Xue Shilou entered Great Xia, he had done so through an area not under the palace’s jurisdiction. When leaving, by sheer coincidence, he had entered an area under the palace’s jurisdiction.
Moreover, cultivators from the Far North were accustomed to acting alone and rarely communicated. Information traveled slowly there, so naturally no one had informed Xue Shilou that entry and exit from Great Xia required proper procedures.
“Fellow Daoist Lu Yang, me too.” The person imprisoned next door called out to Lu Yang.
Lu Yang turned his head and stared blankly for two seconds, but finally failed to remember who this person was.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Xuanyuan Tianhen!”
Lu Yang thought carefully. If he had heard such a distinctive name before, he definitely would have remembered it, so he truly did not know this person.
To avoid awkwardness, Lu Yang specially asked the Immortal Fairy, “Fairy, do you know this person?”
The Immortal Fairy thought seriously for a moment. “That name sounds like something Immortal Ying Tian would come up with.”
Lu Yang confirmed that he really did not know this person.
“I’m Xue Shilou’s senior brother. The two of us attended the Grand Sword Inquiry Ceremony together!” Xuanyuan Tianhen hurriedly added.
This time Lu Yang did recall something. Back when he dueled Xue Shilou, it seemed there had been a person claiming to be Xue Shilou’s senior brother, shouting nonstop from below the stage, saying things like “Junior Brother Xue has fainted, this is bad” and “His combat power will surge.”
Lu Yang suddenly understood. So both senior brother and junior brother had been caught for illegal border crossing. That was good—at least he had company.
“Fellow Daoist Lu Yang, as a disciple of an immortal sect, could you speak with the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace and release the two of us? We promise we won’t do it again!” Xuanyuan Tianhen pleaded.
Seeing Lu Yang hesitate, Xuanyuan Tianhen quickly added, “Fellow Daoist Lu Yang, don’t worry. If we can leave the palace, we will definitely offer you a generous gift!”
Hearing this, Lu Yang finally made up his mind. He turned to Lan Ting and said, “You heard that. They want to offer bribes and use connections. Add whatever sentence your palace sees fit.”
Originally, he had still been considering whether Xuanyuan Tianhen’s behavior counted as offering a bribe. Now he was certain—it was bribery.
“Don’t worry, Senior Brother. Our palace has always acted fairly.”
As they spoke, Xue Shilou’s whole body suddenly became feverishly hot, and he rolled on the ground without stopping, giving Lu Yang a fright. Lu Yang wanted to step forward to help, but Lan Ting held him back.
“This is his bloodline awakening gradually. Don’t disturb him.”
Looking at Xue Shilou writhing on the ground in pain, Lan Ting sighed and explained what had happened:
“Not long after Xue Shilou was locked up here, he suddenly fell into a coma and wouldn’t wake up. From time to time he vomited blood, and his body became extremely weak. He looked like he might die at any moment. Elder Molan thought he was trying to extort our palace.”
“To be safe, Elder Molan invited Elder Zhou Yulu, who is skilled in medicine, to examine him. After the examination, they found that he possessed the Snow Emperor bloodline. However, his body was too frail to withstand the gradually awakening Snow Emperor bloodline. If left alone, he would certainly die.”
“Our palace’s Hall of Sinners is a proper official Imperial Prison, not some private jail set up somewhere. If someone died inside, word would get out and it would inevitably sound bad, easily causing misunderstandings. With no other choice, we could only suppress the gradually awakening Snow Emperor bloodline while tempering his body so the bloodline could awaken step by step.”
Thinking of how the palace had helped Xue Shilou awaken his bloodline and consumed many natural treasures, Lan Ting felt heartache for her own sect.
“His current condition is a normal reaction to bloodline awakening. There’s no need to do anything. After he shouts a couple of times, he’ll be fine.”
Lu Yang’s eyes twitched. Compared to this, the Hall of Sinners seemed far more proper than their Prison Peak.
Their Prison Peak only used cruel torture on prisoners, or else refined their bodies and souls.
Help with healing or treating illness? That didn’t exist.
But then again, Prison Peak would never encounter a situation like Xue Shilou’s. The prisoners there were all at the Body Integration stage. Wasn’t it a bit too late for a Body Integration cultivator to encounter some fortunate encounter like bloodline awakening?
Chapter 1018