Prison Peak was quiet year-round. Even when there was noise, it was only the wailing of prisoners.
The prisoners' wails were usually brief. After screaming a few times, they would confess everything; those who stayed stubborn and refused to talk were refined directly into artifact spirits.
Today was different from usual. This prisoner was exceptionally loud, screaming for half an hour without showing any sign of stopping.
With his high cultivation, his continuous wailing did not even make his voice hoarse.
"So what should we do?"
Lu Yang, the Immortal Fairy, and Eldest Senior Sister all watched the still-wailing Imperial Preceptor with helpless expressions.
Eldest Senior Sister had even found him too noisy and set up a soundproofing array around him so he could scream inside without disturbing anyone outside.
All at once, silence returned.
Lu Yang shook his head with great regret. It hadn't been easy to capture a key figure of Great Yu, but who could have expected the man to be such a tough nut to crack—preferring to plunge into a horrific curse rather than reveal a shred of information.
Yun Zhi had tried many ways to lift the curse, but none worked on the Imperial Preceptor.
Lifting one of the Seven Calamities and Eight Sufferings would only require a minor spell from Yun Zhi, but on the Imperial Preceptor, it was not just one; it was all of the Seven Calamities and Eight Sufferings combined, along with a restriction that his cultivation could never advance in life and his soul would scatter upon death.
This was an unprecedented grand curse, one that even the Imperial Preceptor, who wielded a rudimentary Karma Dao fruit, could not undo himself.
"Fairy, how about you give him a rudimentary Dao fruit and let him detonate himself a hundred times or so to clear the curse, and then take it back?"
The possessor of a complete Dao fruit had absolute control over its rudimentary Dao fruits, able to bestow and reclaim them at will.
The Immortal Fairy shook her head, rejecting Lu Yang's suggestion. "Won't work. He already has a rudimentary Dao fruit in his body, and a person cannot possess two rudimentary Dao fruits at the same time.
"Besides, even if he didn't have the rudimentary Karma Dao fruit inside him, I still couldn't give him one.
"A rudimentary Dao fruit isn't a set of clothes that you can put on whenever you feel like it and swap out when you don't.
"A rudimentary Dao fruit represents a rule. The prerequisite to possessing one is having a certain degree of comprehension of that rule. This fool knows nothing of this immortal's rudimentary Immortal Dao fruit. If I just gave it to him, his soul wouldn't be able to withstand its power and would scatter into nothing."
The Imperial Preceptor's repeated performances made the Immortal Fairy doubt whether his brain worked properly at all; she suspected he had just blundered his way into becoming a half-immortal.
"Wait a minute, Fairy. I don't understand the Immortal Dao fruit either, do I? So how could you give me a rudimentary Immortal Dao fruit?" Lu Yang recalled how the Immortal Fairy spent all her days clamoring to force a rudimentary Immortal Dao fruit onto him.
The Immortal Fairy looked at Lu Yang in astonishment. "Second-in-Command, what are you talking about? Under this immortal's long-term teachings and subtle, constant influence, your comprehension of the Immortal Dao fruit is far beyond that of the Third-in-Command."
Lu Yang: "..."
When did that happen? Why didn't I know about it?
"Did you think I made you the Second-in-Command just because we're close? How could that be? This immortal is fair and just. The rankings in the Immortal Lineage are based purely on strength!"
Hearing a chance for promotion, the Third-in-Command hurried over. "Don't worry, First-in-Command! I will definitely devote myself to comprehending the Immortal Dao fruit and strive to become the Second-in-Command!"
The Immortal Fairy gave the Third-in-Command a look of disgust and snapped impatiently, "Shoo, shoo, shoo! Why are you butting in? If you dare become the Second-in-Command, this immortal will strip you of your rudimentary Dao fruit."
The Third-in-Command cast an envious glance at Lu Yang and slunk away dejectedly.
"Could the power of national destiny lift the curse?" Lu Yang remembered that their cult's Holy Son, Meng Jingzhou, had been harmed by a scoundrel and fell into a curse preventing him from touching women, which was ultimately lifted with the aid of the power of national destiny.
Eldest Senior Sister nodded. "That is indeed an option."
She hooked her index finger, and the Imperial Preceptor, who was writhing in pain on the ground, began writhing while floating in midair.
"I will make a trip to the Imperial Palace. Wait for me here at Prison Peak."
If she was going to use the power of national destiny, it was naturally most convenient to go straight to its source.
Leaving those words behind, Eldest Senior Sister set off for the Imperial Palace.
The prisoners held on Prison Peak were all heinous, wicked individuals. Anyone timid would have their legs shaking just standing here.
Lu Yang felt no fear whatsoever. Both the old-timers and the newcomers on Prison Peak recognized him.
The newcomers had been captured by him, and the old-timers had watched him haul those newcomers in.
If anyone was afraid, it was the prisoners of Prison Peak who feared Lu Yang.
The prisoners on Prison Peak were whispering among themselves, terrified that Lu Yang might overhear.
The prisoners only had their souls left, and both their dharmic powers and divine senses were sealed. To talk without Lu Yang noticing, they had developed their own method.
The cells on Prison Peak were refined from refined stone ores, specifically designed to seal souls and completely indestructible.
The prisoners spoke directly against the iron bars, transmitting sound through their vibrations, which they then perceived with their keen souls.
"Good heavens, did you see the battle just now? A half-immortal powerhouse attacked Lu Yang, and Lu Yang didn't even strike back—yet the man just collapsed on the spot!"
"This Lu Yang is unfathomable. He looks like he's only in the Golden Core stage, but his true strength is definitely far beyond that."
"Haven't you noticed? Ever since this guy named Lu Yang joined the Dao Seeking Sect, Prison Peak has grown more and more crowded. At first it was only Body Integration stage cultivators, then Tribulation Transcendence stage cultivators, and now they've even caught a half-immortal. Is that something someone in the Golden Core stage could pull off?"
"I've never seen a half-immortal in my entire life. Who would've thought I'd see one here?"
"Is this the struggle of the Golden Age? Even someone as mighty as a half-immortal ends up a prisoner."
The more the prisoners discussed, the more alarmed they became. They concluded that Lu Yang was unfathomably deep and must never be offended under any circumstances.
Lu Yang had no idea what this bunch of vicious convicts was talking about. Taking advantage of Eldest Senior Sister's absence, he quickly resumed discussing high-level topics with the Immortal Fairy.
"Fairy, since an immortal needs to sever karmic ties to take another step forward, doesn't having a rudimentary Karma Dao fruit like the Imperial Preceptor give a huge advantage?"
"It's not that an immortal needs to sever karma to take another step forward; it's that Immortal Ying Tian and the others believed one must sever karma to advance further," the Immortal Fairy emphasized.
"Fine, Immortal Ying Tian and the others thought so. But if the Imperial Preceptor formed a rudimentary Karma Dao fruit, and then took it a step further to form a full Karma Dao fruit, wouldn't he be able to sever karma at will and become an existence above immortals?"
The Immortal Fairy shook her head. "That's not how it works. From the moment the Imperial Preceptor condensed the rudimentary Karma Dao fruit, he formed countless intricate ties with the very concept of 'karma.' Forming a full Karma Dao fruit would only bind him more tightly to that concept, merging him with it completely.
"Once he merges with the concept of 'karma,' how could he sever it?
"He probably heard somewhere that immortals place great importance on karma, which was why he tried to condense a rudimentary Karma Dao fruit. Little did he know that he was taking the wrong path—the most elementary mistake of all.
"There are no shortcuts to becoming an immortal. Trying to take clever shortcuts is impossible.
"Then again, even if there might truly be a realm above immortal, none of the five of us ever took it to heart."
"Why?"
"Because there was no need! We were already immortals with boundless lifespans and unmatched might. Life was great, so why bother pursuing a higher realm?"
Lu Yang thought what the Fairy said made a lot of sense.
Chapter 506