Lying Low in the Divine Prison and Growing Stronger
Chen Du leaned against the cold stone wall, going over the three talents in his mind several times, and a smile slowly appeared on his lips.
[The Heaven's Way of Righteousness], [The Heaven's Way of Evil], [The Heaven's Way's Gifts ].
These three talents, when combined, form a complete cycle.
He doesn't need to guess the preferences of Heavenly Dao, because Heavenly Dao itself has no preferences.
Good and evil are merely rules, rules that this world uses to maintain its own operation.
He kills those who deserve to be killed and saves those who deserve to be saved; the White Qi naturally appears.
He did the opposite, and naturally, Black Qi came.
Whether it's White Qi or Black Qi, it's just evidence given by the Heavenly Dao.
With the credentials, he could exchange them for feedback from this world.
What White Qi can exchange, Black Qi can also exchange; they just produce different things, but ultimately, both can make him stronger.
In the Divine Prison Realm, the Heavenly Dao gives you proof.
You take the evidence to Heavenly Dao, Heavenly Dao rewards you. It's that simple.
For him, this was an incredible opportunity.
He was never one to be bound by the notions of good and evil.
In the Celestial Master Realm, he killed those who deserved to be killed and spared those who shouldn't have been spared.
In the Spirit Martial Realm, he ravaged the destiny of an entire dynasty.
On Blue Star, he had annihilated countless Extraterrestrial Races.
He only considers whether something should be done, not whether it is good or bad.
These three talents, in fact, gave him the greatest freedom.
Doing good deeds will earn you White Qi, while doing evil will earn you Black Qi; both can be exchanged for rewards.
In other words, as long as he keeps doing things in this world and keeps walking on the edge of good and evil, he can keep taking things out of the pocket of the Heavenly Dao.
He slowly exhaled, mentally reviewing the operation of the three talents.
Then he leaned against the stone wall to stand up and stretched his weak limbs.
The corridors of the Divine Prison remained dark and damp, with the sounds of chains dragging on the ground and low groans still echoing intermittently in the distance.
He glanced down at the bunch of brass keys and the wooden token at his waist, then lightly weighed them in his hand. Qin Dong, a jailer in the Divine Prison.
This identity came at just the right time.
This Divine Prison holds countless prisoners, including heinous criminals and unjustly wronged people.
And the scales between good and evil are now in his hands.
He slowly walked deeper into the corridor, the smile still lingering on his lips.
He was left to his own devices in this world.
Chen Du walked along the corridor and soon saw a half-closed stone house at the end, with warm yellow light shining through the crack in the door.
He pushed open the door and went inside. There was an old wooden table, two crooked chairs, and several bundles of rusty chains and a few spare oil lamps piled in the corner.
An old man with gray hair was sitting at the table, drinking alone with a plate of peanuts.
Hearing the door open, the old man raised his eyelids, his cloudy eyes rolled over him, and he grinned, revealing a few broken teeth.
"You're awake? You're lucky to be alive. You were burning up like a coal yesterday; I thought you were going to die here."
Chen Du retrieved this person from Qin Dong's memories.
The old jailer's surname was Zhou. He had been in this Divine Prison for decades and was one of the most senior jailers.
Nobody knew his full name, and nobody cared; everyone just called him Old Zhou.
Old Zhou poured him half a bowl of wine, pushed it towards him, took a sip himself, and then slowly said, "Young man, seeing that you're young and new here, let me tell you a few truths. This Divine Prison has existed for who knows how many years; going back further, it's probably even older than the founding of the Heavenly Dragon Divine Dynasty. The things inside are very deep."
He paused, then pointed to the ground beneath his feet, "What we're stepping on isn't just stone, it's an array, a dense array, layer upon layer, built up by countless generations of masters from ancient times to the present."
As long as we honestly follow the rules, don't cross boundaries, don't touch things recklessly, and don't ask unnecessary questions, we won't trigger any taboos. If something goes wrong, even a god can't save you.
Chen Du picked up the half-bowl of wine, but didn't drink it; he just listened.
Old Zhou picked up another peanut, popped it into his mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and lowered his voice. "None of the people locked up here are easy to mess with. Some of them can cause chaos in the outside world, shattering mountains with a single palm strike and severing rivers with a single sword strike. Some are involved in the outside world's affairs, and they have grudges against each other. If we small fry get involved with them, we'll be crushed to pieces."
He glanced at Chen Du as if looking at an ignorant child. "How long have you been here? Less than a month, right? Remember that prison guard surnamed Sun a few days ago? He just disappeared without a trace. When his body was carried out, it was covered in bruises, his eyes were wide open, and his mouth was agape, as if he had seen something he shouldn't have. The higher-ups investigated for two days, but then nothing came of it. Do you understand?"
Chen Du nodded; of course he understood.
The original Qin Dong served as a jailer in this Divine Prison for less than three months before dying under mysterious circumstances.
The water here was deeper than he had expected.
Even though those terrifying beings who were suppressed and imprisoned had their cultivation sealed and their physical bodies locked, the aura they left behind and their very existence were poison that ordinary people could not touch.
One wrong move and it's all over.
He picked up the wine bowl and took a sip.
The liquor was cheap and harsh on his throat, but he didn't even flinch.
He was thinking about something else. Old Zhou said that following the rules would prevent triggering taboos.
But who sets the rules? Is it the Divine Prison itself, or the Heavenly Dragon Divine Dynasty? If it's the Divine Prison itself, then what are its rules? If he wants to cultivate here and make those three talents work, he must find out.
What exactly separates the rules of the Divine Prison from the rules of Heavenly Dao?
He put down his wine bowl, smiled at Old Zhou, and said, "Uncle Zhou, I'll remember that."
Old Zhou nodded in satisfaction and poured him another half bowl of wine, as if he had finally found someone willing to listen to his ramblings.
Outside the window, the lights in the depths of the corridor flickered, and a low groan came from afar, like some forgotten being deep in the depths of a prison, turning over in a dream.
The next day, Chen Du followed Old Zhou and began his patrol of the first level of the Divine Prison.
The first floor is very large, so large that it doesn't resemble a dungeon but rather an underground city.
The corridors crisscrossed, and behind each iron bar was a separate cell, each large enough to accommodate a small courtyard.
The scene inside the prison cell was so captivating that even Chen Du, a man who had fought his way through countless worlds, couldn't help but take a second look.
Some prisoners were as large as small mountains, and even though they were bound by chains, they still exuded a suffocating sense of oppression.
A giant, jet-black python was coiled in the corner, its head lowered, its vertical pupils half-closed, and its tongue occasionally flicking out, gleaming with a ghostly purple light in the dim lamplight.
There was also a giant ape covered in bone spurs, sitting with its back against the stone wall, two iron chains passing through its shoulder blades, firmly nailing its upper body to the wall.
It had its head down, as if it were dozing, but with each breath, the air in the entire corridor trembled.
Chen Du silently sensed the auras of these prisoners, Sixth Realm... Seventh Realm, and there was more than one.
The first level of confinement already contains demons and villains of this level.
In the outside world, Martial Fighter at the Sixth Realm can take the head of a general amidst a vast army, while the Seventh Realm, the Vajra Realm, is known as a minor grandmaster, impervious to ordinary swords and blades, and immune to water and fire.
But in this Divine Prison, they were merely the lowest-ranking prisoners, weighed down by chains and formations, unable to even lift their heads.
Old Zhou walked ahead, rhythmically tapping the bars with his iron bar, producing a dull thud, as if reminding the prisoners to behave themselves.
Several prison guards of similar age followed behind, some yawning, others chatting quietly, already used to the menacing faces in the cells.
Chen Du mingled in the middle of the group, outwardly appearing just like everyone else, strolling lazily. But deep within his consciousness, the perception of [Become a Saint on the Spot] had already silently unfolded.
He could feel it; the entire first level, every inch of stone wall, every iron railing, every chain, was permeated with the residual power accumulated over millions of years.
The True Essence the prisoners shed during their struggles, the lingering effects of the array formations, and the Daoist intent left behind by the guards—all of these have settled deep within this dungeon, becoming so dense that they have almost solidified into a tangible substance.
His talent [The World as a Book] also trembled slightly. He could store all the remaining power here, transform it into Dao Resonance, and then condense it into a secret manual.
The three newly awakened talents—[Heaven's Way of Righteousness], [Heaven's Way of Evil], and [Heaven's Way's Gift]—made his gaze on the prisoners more scrutinizing.
This Divine Prison has eighteen levels. The first level is for prisoners at the Sixth Realm and Seventh Realms. What level of beings are imprisoned on the tenth and eighteenth levels?
Among those prisoners, who is the most heinous and who is wrongfully imprisoned? In this Divine Prison, whose existence is unclear even in its many years, the line between good and evil is probably even more blurred than outside.
But ambiguity doesn't mean non-existence. Heavenly Dao has its own rules, and he only needs to find that scale to benefit from it.
Chen Du withdrew his gaze and continued walking forward behind Old Zhou.
At the end of the corridor, in the shadows where the light didn't reach, a pair of golden vertical pupils slowly opened, staring at the patrolling group of prison guards, especially the youngest-looking, weakest-looking newcomer in the middle.
Chen Du didn't stop walking; he merely tilted his head slightly and met the gaze of those vertical pupils.
Then he continued walking forward, as if he hadn't seen anything.
It's just the first level, a good place to quietly develop. He'll take it slow.