"Patriarch, we've come to visit you!" Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou called out with smiles, looking at Daoist Xiantian sitting cross-legged on the ground.
The lamplight cast the two young men's shadows tall and imposing against the wall.
Daoist Xiantian stared dumbfoundedly at the pair walking in with bedding under their arms.
Didn't we part ways just half an hour ago? How did you two manage to move into the exact same cell as me so fast?
Daoist Buyu was deeply moved, touched that his dear disciple was so worried about his life behind bars that he had deliberately run over to stay with him.
"This place is actually quite good for your cultivation," Daoist Buyu said earnestly. "The prison's formations can suppress spiritual energy, but your cultivation is high and your foundations are rock-solid, so it can't suppress you entirely. Cultivating in prison is like a martial artist training with heavy weights. If you can adapt to this environment, it will be of immense benefit to your future cultivation."
"There's really such a perk?" Lu Yang was delighted. Good deeds truly brought good rewards.
"Your master isn't wrong about this," Immortal Fairy chimed in.
At that moment, Lu Yang's spiritual space had undergone a drastic transformation. A row of thick prison bars split the space in two, with Lu Yang on one side and Immortal Fairy on the other.
As the First-in-Command, Immortal Fairy was exceedingly loyal, adhering firmly to the principle of sharing both joy and hardship. She had locked herself in a cell as well, even donning a tattered, drafty prison uniform to suffer alongside Lu Yang.
"Wait a second, Fairy, isn't your living situation a bit too comfortable?"
Lu Yang looked at his own side: dry straw strewn over the floor, ragged clothes for a pillow, and manacles and shackles around his wrists and ankles.
On Immortal Fairy's side, by contrast, stood a plush, expensive bed, a wardrobe filled with clothes, and a tea table complete with chairs and a teapot. Hanging on the wall was a painting she had made of a chicken pecking at worms on the ground—titled *Dragon and Phoenix Competing*.
Coupled with the prison uniform she wore, she looked every bit like a privileged inmate who had checked into the Imperial Prison to enjoy life.
Lu Yang, on the other hand, looked like the powerless prisoner bullied by the jailer.
"This Immortal's body is delicate. How could I sleep on dry straw?"
"Shoo, shoo, go cultivate! This Immortal went out of her way to suppress your divine sense, too, so that when you cultivate, you can train your divine sense at the same time."
After wearing the manacles and shackles, Lu Yang indeed felt that wielding his divine sense was no longer as effortless as before.
Back in reality, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou sat cross-legged, meditating and cultivating according to Daoist Buyu's instructions.
Meanwhile, to temper their Dao hearts, Daoist Buyu kept chattering with Daoist Xiantian to distract them.
Fortunately, the two were extraordinarily gifted and entered deep meditation swiftly, completely undisturbed by Daoist Buyu.
In the blink of an eye, five days passed. Both Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou could feel a modest growth in their cultivation, and they believed that once free of the grand formation's suppression, their control over spiritual energy would advance to another level.
Watching them open their mouths wide to inhale the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, Daoist Buyu found the sight fascinating.
"Is this the legendary innate divine ability of the Taotie Clan, Heaven-Swallowing Earth-Devouring?"
"This is far more efficient than a Spirit Gathering Formation, and you can cultivate anytime, anywhere."
Clan Head Jin wore an odd expression. Was the Taotie Clan's Heaven-Swallowing Earth-Devouring really like this? Why was it completely different from what he had seen before?
Just as Daoist Buyu was about to chat more with Daoist Xiantian, his expression suddenly shifted.
With a tremendous boom, the roof of the prison cell was flipped open like the lid of a box. The prisoners looked up into the pitch-black night sky and at the figure hovering beneath it, radiating a terrifying aura.
"Not good, enemy attack!" The head jailer's face twisted in shock. Bellowing loudly, he sprang to high alert, took up his halberd, flew into the air, and glared fixedly at the figure.
As if not even noticing the Nascent Soul stage jailer, the silhouette swept cold eyes over the prisoners.
Nearby residents lit oil lamps and peered fearfully through their paper windows at the silhouette, debating whether to hide inside or flee for their lives.
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou broke from their meditative state and looked up at the figure.
Unable to sense the other party's cultivation—that meant a Body Integration cultivator!
"Where are the people of the Emotionless Cult?" the figure demanded coldly.
A prison break!
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou were stunned. They hadn't expected the Emotionless Cult to be bold enough to attempt a jailbreak.
The captured members of the Emotionless Cult were held deep within the dungeon, far away from where Lu Yang and his companions were locked up.
Followers of the Emotionless Cult were major felons, and those seeking to join also possessed criminal records, so the Ye City yamen guarded them with utmost vigilance.
Yet no matter how strictly guarded, they couldn't withstand a Body Integration cultivator breaking them out!
"Insolent scoundrel, taste this! Thousand Halberds Dance!"
The head jailer roared with fury, brandishing his halberd. The snowy-bright blade gleamed piercingly in the night sky, resembling a second beam of moonlight.
The Thousand Halberds Dance was an art of the Martial Dance Dao, conceived under a moonlit night. When used after dark, its power doubled!
The silhouette didn't spare the jailer a glance. Casually raising a hand, he caught the moon-bright halberd. No matter how much force the jailer exerted, he couldn't budge the weapon half an inch.
"Boring."
With a flick of his wrist, he flung the jailer and halberd away, then extended a finger and fired a beam of black light meant to pierce the jailer through!
*Whoosh—*
A strange gust of wind swept in from nowhere and blew the black beam into nothingness.
"Who's there?!"
The figure's gaze hardened. High above, an imposing Qiongqi had appeared. Its eyes flashed with bloodthirsty red light, and every breath it exhaled carried frigid chill and baleful qi, radiating ancient and terrifying power.
"I'm from the Nine Nether Cult!!" Clan Head Jin bellowed. Like a Buddhist Lion's Roar, the shout shook the heavens and fractured the surrounding space.
"The Nine Nether Cult has a Body Integration stage Qiongqi?" The figure frowned in deep confusion.
Clan Head Jin's eyes burned bright as he stared at the intruder. According to his big brother, capturing this person would be a tremendous merit!
"Looks like you knew I was bored out of my mind in this cell and came specially to bring me some entertainment!" Clan Head Jin didn't take the figure seriously at all. Unlike the Dijiang Clan, who were celebrated for singing and dancing, the Qiongqi Clan had been renowned for combat prowess since antiquity!
A massive tiger paw swiped down, instantly filling the air with the howling scream of tearing wind. The figure's eyes turned razor-sharp. Tapping his feet, his form drifted like a phantom through the gale, easily slipping past the strike.
"The Qiongqi Clan is nothing special," the figure sneered. Suddenly, as if noticing something, he looked down at his chest. Three claw marks had appeared without him realizing, bleeding profusely.
"Is this all the Emotionless Cult has got? No wonder you're all so eager to be cuckolded!" Clan Head Jin roared with laughter and pounced on the figure once more.
As if stung by Clan Head Jin's words, or perhaps reminded of some foul memory, endless dark energy surged from the figure's sleeves, transforming into spectral ghosts.
"Ghost necromancy?" Clan Head Jin chuckled, baring snowy-white tiger fangs. A gentle beat of his wings churned the surrounding currents of air, making the phantom shades tremble as if on the verge of breaking free of control.
"It seems our Qiongqi Clan rarely makes a move these days, so much so that the world has forgotten our clan's *chang* ghost art!"
Hearing the *chang* ghost art mentioned, Lu Yang's eyelid twitched. He recalled that the reason he had originally joined the Immortal Cult was to eradicate a tiger demon who commanded the *chang* ghost art.
"Wait, the Emotionless Cult shouldn't be coming to rescue anyone," Daoist Buyu muttered with a frown. According to his understanding of the Emotionless Cult, saving their own offered them zero benefit.
Besides, Great Xia was a land of crouching tigers and hidden dragons. A city might appear to lack powerful masters, but who knew what expert was living in seclusion here? Just take the current situation—forget rescuing anyone, this intruder was about to get dragged down himself.
Daoist Buyu spread out his divine sense, scanning for anything abnormal across Ye City. Suddenly, his expression stiffened, and he transformed into a streak of sword light, shooting straight toward the City Lord's Estate.
"Not good! Something's happening at the City Lord's Estate!"
Chapter 895