Chapter 141: The Heart of a Child

Since then, Emperor Xia learned that provoking the Dao Seeking Sect was the cause of the “One Hundred Thousand Year Curse.”

Those hidden in the shadows only knew that Yunzhi’s talent was high and she was extremely powerful, but they had no clear concept of her true strength. If they knew how strong Yunzhi was, they would realize how foolish their scheme of sowing discord was.

“Senior Sister, where are we going?” Lu Yang saw that after Senior Sister flew to the Dao Seeking Sect, she didn’t stop at Tianmen Peak but continued flying forward.

Lu Yang had never set foot in this area before. Below them were vast mountains and marshes, thousands of miles of barren land, and a yellow earth desert.

“Prison Peak.”

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had never heard of this place.

Senior Sister passed through these regions and landed on a gloomy peak. The mountain was entwined with giant chains, the other ends of which were wrapped around four mountains in the four cardinal directions. Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou’s hair stood on end, feeling that this was not a good place.

Lu Yang had studied a bit of Fengshui array formations. Fengshui emphasizes “flow,” meaning at least one direction—east, south, west, or north—must have a connection to the outside world, which represents vitality. However, Prison Peak was surrounded by mountains on all sides, blocking all life force. The clouds clinging to Prison Peak were like a lid, completely covering the area.

Prison Peak was a place for detaining and interrogating prisoners.

The three landed, and Yunzhi opened the array entrance. Carrying two souls of the Integration Stage, she entered from the foot of the mountain and went down, stopping after about five thousand meters.

The prisoners were all held beneath Prison Peak.

Upon arriving at Prison Peak, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou felt as if they were back in Buyi Town. They couldn’t harness even a sliver of spiritual energy. This wasn’t a spirit-nullifying array but a type of rule.

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou found nearly a hundred cages here. Most of them were empty, with only a dozen or so holding people. More accurately, they weren’t people but soul bodies, which were listless and dispirited under the suppression of the rules.

Some soul bodies salivated when they saw Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, these two little fellows, wanting to pounce and devour them. But upon seeing Senior Sister, they all became well-behaved.

Lu Yang thought there were too few people imprisoned here. The Yanzhou Commandery’s dungeon held more.

“All those imprisoned here are ancient Integration Stage cultivators. Be careful, both of you,” Yunzhi reminded them.

The two immediately shivered, no longer thinking there were too few. Good heavens, over a dozen Integration Stage cultivators locked up here?

“Senior Sister, aren’t you afraid they’ll escape?” Lu Yang asked quietly.

“Escape? You brat, you underestimate this old person too much.” A childish voice came. Lu Yang turned his head and saw a white-haired child. The child was short, only reaching his waist even on tiptoes.

“Grandmaster.”

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou were surprised. The white-haired child was actually Daoist Buyu’s master.

“Grandmaster,” both called out.

“Hehe, do you think I’m too small?”

“No, not at all.”

The white-haired child said in an old-fashioned manner, “You are still too young and lack experience. You don’t understand my state. This is a method of cultivation.”

Lu Yang quickly thought of a legend: “The ancients said, ‘Constant virtue does not depart, returning to infancy,’ and ‘The multitude are boisterous, as if enjoying a great feast, as if ascending a spring terrace. I alone am quiet and without sign, like an infant who has not yet laughed.’ Many great cultivators spend their entire lives pursuing the innocent heart, yet they never reach this realm. Deliberately pursuing it is no longer the thought of a child; how can one achieve a truly innocent heart?”

“Could it be that Grandmaster, you have already ‘returned to infancy,’ reaching the state of returning to simplicity, harmony with nature, and possessing an innocent heart?”

Meng Jingzhou was also very surprised. The innocent heart had always existed only in legends. None of the elders of the Meng family had ever reached such a state of mind. Unexpectedly, the Dao Seeking Sect had one?

The white-haired child smiled without speaking, nodding slightly, with an expression of a teachable student.

Yunzhi was a little puzzled: “The news I heard wasn’t like this.”

“My master said that Grandmaster, you were once very amorous in your youth, lingered in brothels, and delayed your cultivation. Later, you were stimulated by something, had a sudden realization, and decided to cultivate diligently. To show your resolve, you permanently fixed your body at the age of six, so you wouldn’t have to worry about your yang energy leaking.”

Lu Yang: “…”

Meng Jingzhou: “…”

Strictly speaking, this was indeed a method of cultivation.

They recalled that cultivators, upon reaching a certain realm, could control their appearance. So why did some cultivators like to maintain the appearance of young children or frail old people? Was it for the same reason as Grandmaster?

No, no, they shouldn’t think too much about such things. They quickly emptied their minds.

“In short, with this old man here, none of the Integration Stage cultivators imprisoned here can escape!” The white-haired child forcibly changed the subject. “Yun girl, you captured two more people?”

“Yes, I want to interrogate them.”

“Why not just search their souls directly?” the white-haired child suggested.

Yunzhi shook her head: “Soul searching will damage their sanity. Integration Stage souls are excellent materials for refining magical artifacts. If they lose their sanity, the artifact’s effectiveness will be greatly reduced.”

The two Integration Stage souls shivered. They weren’t told that the Dao Seeking Sect was a righteous sect. This wasn’t what they imagined a righteous sect to be like!

Yunzhi looked at the two Integration Stage cultivators in confusion, not understanding why they were afraid: “You caused so many people to die in fear, so isn’t it normal for you to receive the same treatment?”

Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you. Yunzhi thought these two had long understood this principle.

Yunzhi and the white-haired child each carried an Integration Stage soul and threw them into separate cages. Lu Yang followed Yunzhi, and Meng Jingzhou followed the white-haired child.

Yunzhi immediately began a session of severe torture, using various instruments of torture targeting soul bodies. The captive cried out in pain repeatedly, making Lu Yang’s eyes twitch. He hadn’t expected Senior Sister to be so ruthless.

Wait, it seemed Senior Sister had done the same when he first started cultivating?

Could it be that Senior Sister applied her experience in severe torture to teaching him cultivation?

Every time Immortal Buxiu saw Senior Sister use an instrument of torture, she shivered. She felt that joining the Dao Seeking Sect was truly a wise choice. The Dao Seeking Sect shouldn’t be so ruthless to its own people, right?

“Strange, why isn’t he confessing anything?” Yunzhi wondered. Grandmaster told her that following this procedure, the prisoner would surely reveal everything.

Lu Yang quietly asked from the side, “Senior Sister, you haven’t asked yet.”

Yunzhi let out an “oh,” picked up the first torture instrument, and prepared to go through the process again, scaring the other person into quickly saying, “No, no, no, I’ll confess, I’ll confess everything.”

“What era are you from?”

“From the 40,000th year of the Great Yu.”

“Have you heard of Immortal Buxiu, or Immortal Buxiu?”

“Never heard of them.”

“Hmm? Still lying?”

The person was almost scared to tears by Yunzhi’s cold expression: “I really haven’t heard of them. In our era, we only heard of immortals in the Western Buddhist Kingdom, immortals in the Southern Demon Domain, and suspected immortals in the Eastern Ocean and the Extreme North. I don’t even know the name of a single immortal.”

“If you are looking for Immortal Buxiu, you can go to the Extreme North. Perhaps the immortal was frozen, which would also count as immortal.”

Immortal Buxiu was so angry she wanted to roll up her sleeves and hit someone on the spot.

(End of this chapter)