Longevity Dao Fruit

Bailiff's headcloth.

Dark blue short tunic.

Black trousers.

A large white circle on his chest bore the character "Prison."

Zhou Yi examined this outfit, still unwilling to believe that he had become a prison guard in the Fengyang Kingdom's Heavenly Prison after waking from a single night's sleep.

Last night, he had been eating hotpot, holding a girl, and singing love songs. Then, all of a sudden, he had transmigrated!

The prison cells were dim and gloomy, thick with the stench of rot. Behind the iron bars, the shadowy forms of prisoners huddled together, letting out faint, intermittent groans.

Everything reminded Zhou Yi that this was not a dream.

"Before transmigrating, it was 996. After transmigrating, it's still 996. Wasn't this damn transmigration for nothing?!"

Zhou Yi rubbed his temples to ease the agonizing headache brought on by the flood of memories. He had already gained a rough understanding of his origins.

Same name, same surname. His father had been a Heavenly Prison guard and had unfortunately died of a wind-cold illness last year. A few months later, his mother had wasted away in grief and passed on as well.

The household registration of prison guards was inherited generation after generation. By custom, Zhou Yi had been recruited into the Heavenly Prison. Yet because he had been frail and sickly from birth, with no martial cultivation, he could only be responsible for delivering meals to prisoners.

The Heavenly Prison was directly controlled by the imperial court and held political offenders and serious criminals. There were not many prisoners overall, so the work was fairly easy.

Zhou Yi stretched and moved his limbs. Just a few simple radio calisthenics movements triggered a string of coughs, and his chest convulsed with searing pain.

"Cough, cough, cough! This body is far too weak. No wonder it died so young..."

Fear suddenly welled up in Zhou Yi's heart. According to his memories, he had been born prematurely, frail and sickly since birth. Reaching his current age had already drained all the silver in the family.

Yet no matter how many nourishing medicinal broths he drank, they could not cure his congenital defects!

"This opening is telling me to die a second time!"

Zhou Yi carefully searched through his memories, and his heart sank all the way to the bottom.

Heavenly Prison guards might seem to belong to a lowly household and a lowly profession, but because the prisoners they held were no ordinary people, the position was exceedingly lucrative.

Father Zhou had served in the prison for over twenty years. Not only had he bought a residence in Shenjing, but he had also pulled strings to invite an imperial physician from the palace to personally diagnose Zhou Yi and prescribe medicine. Even so, it had all come to nothing.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yi had only one final method left. He gathered his courage and called out softly.

"System!"

There was no response.

"Golden finger?"

"Grandpa?"

"System Daddy?"

Zhou Yi called out several times with heartfelt affection, but there was still no response—not even a single ding.

Suddenly.

Golden light burst forth in Zhou Yi's mind, revealing a perfectly round golden pill.

"What is this thing?"

Before his words had even faded, scene after scene appeared before Zhou Yi's eyes—magnificent, resplendent, terrifying, horrifying!

Colossal beasts ran wild across the wasteland, opening their mouths to spew flames that filled the heavens.

A palace of bones stood atop a mountain thousands of zhang high, while figures half-human and half-ghost rode roiling demonic clouds.

Monsters with wolf heads and serpent bodies summoned wind and rain, while winged strangers commanded lightning.

The vault of heaven slowly opened a golden eye, gazing coldly and without feeling upon the mortal world. Countless violet divine bolts crashed down, reducing everything within a thousand li to ash.

Immortals wielded flying swords, tearing open cracks in the void with a single strike.

Demonic beings sat cross-legged in pools of blood, skulls and bones bobbing up and down around them.

A hundred-zhang giant god, a nine-dragon war chariot, a white tiger howling at the heavens, a black tortoise overturning the seas...

Vast, ethereal immortal music began to hum as the hazy images gradually faded away.

At this moment.

The golden pill in his mind had already withdrawn its divine radiance. Like an ordinary golden bead, it slowly floated and spun within his Spirit Soul, and a thread of information entered Zhou Yi's Spirit Soul.

Longevity Dao Fruit!

"Dao Fruit!"

"Wasn't this the Longevity Dao Fruit I obtained by reaching the highest level in that cultivation game I played in my previous life?"

Before transmigrating, Zhou Yi had been obsessed with a cultivation simulation game. After grinding day and night for half a year, he had finally reached max level. Once he passed the Ninefold Heavenly Tribulation, he could choose a Dao Fruit.

Because Zhou Yi had been a completely free-to-play player, he had no choice in the end but to take the one and only free Longevity Dao Fruit.

Dao Fruit: Longevity

Attributes: After reaching adulthood, no further growth; endless lifespan; Eternal youth.

The free Dao Fruit came with no additional stats or attributes!

"So my golden finger is the game? Load game? Open game? Game panel? Dìchǒu Studio?"

Zhou Yi tried calling out several more times. Once he confirmed that none of the game's other attributes had come with him, he could only shrug helplessly.

"So, I'm Eternal youth now?"

"Unfortunately, Eternal youth doesn't mean immortality. It only means I won't age and my lifespan is endless. I can still be injured or fall ill, suffer all kinds of accidents, and be killed by others."

Zhou Yi moved his arms and legs. He found that his weakness and pain had vanished. His breathing was long and even, and his limbs were strong and powerful.

"My congenital weakness is gone. It must have been affected by the Longevity Dao Fruit."

"If I'd known I would transmigrate, I should have spent ten 648s and whaled for the best Dao Fruit talent! Still, while other Dao Fruits increase talents and attributes, none of them grant immortality and Eternal youth..."

Zhou Yi pondered carefully for a moment and realized that reality was different from the game. The Longevity Dao Fruit was instead the best possible choice.

Because reality had limits on lifespan, even with other high-grade attribute and talent Dao Fruits, one would still have to cultivate for immortality and Eternal youth. Along the way, magical battles and bloody slaughter would be unavoidable.

Weapons were ominous, war was perilous—nine deaths for every one chance at life!

On the other hand, with the Longevity Dao Fruit, all he needed to do was be cautious, make few enemies, and cultivate steadily. After tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years, he could still become an immortal patriarch.

Zhou Yi recalled the terrifying scenes of the Cultivation World, where moving mountains and filling seas was commonplace, and tearing apart the void was as easy as lifting a hand.

Even with the aid of a high-grade Dao Fruit, who knew how much desperate struggle between life and death it would take to cultivate to immortality?

Celestial Buddhas, Gods, and Demons were no benevolent seniors. If they discovered that Zhou Yi's cultivation speed was beyond the ordinary—or if certain people nearing the end of their lifespan needed a heavenly genius as a furnace vessel—

They might just cast aside all shame, search his soul, seize his body, and steal his Dao Fruit!

Dao Fruits were the ultimate goal of cultivation. Without the arts to protect one's Dao, it was like a child carrying gold through a busy market.

"Am I, Zhou Yi, the sort of man who loves fighting and ruthless contention?"

Zhou Yi made up his mind to quietly lie low until he was invincible beneath the heavens, then venture out into the world and live freely.

The Heavenly Prison truly was an excellent place. Geographically speaking, it was located in Ningde Ward of the capital. To the west lay the capital's main gate, while the Court of Judicial Review stood right beside it to the east. The imperial palace was only two wards away.

Several thousand Imperial Guards protected it under strict security, and he could flee the city at any time. It was simply the safest place in the Fengyang Kingdom.

Even if a cataclysmic dynasty change occurred, those people would attack the imperial palace. The new dynasty's emperor would not release serious criminals to plague his own realm and people.

He enjoyed emperor-level defenses without being trapped within the palace.

"Perfect! First, I'll set a small goal: live in the Heavenly Prison for a few hundred years!"

Carrying a food bucket, Zhou Yi came to the door of every cell and ladled out a scoop of thin porridge made from who knew what.

Hearing the sound, the prisoners climbed off their straw mats. A grimy black hand rummaged through the coarse porcelain bowl. There were only a few grains of rough rice and several rotten vegetable leaves, and with a clatter, the bowl was overturned.

"This official is the Vice Minister of Rites! How dare you make me eat such pig slop?"

This one had arrived not long ago and had yet to shed the pride of his former status!

The other prisoners were much more sensible. "Young brother, give me another scoop. This isn't enough to fill me up!"

Following humanitarian principles, Zhou Yi checked the cell number plate, scooped up a ladleful of thick porridge from the bottom of the bucket for the prisoner, and reminded him.

"It'll be the end of the month soon. Remember to have your family send over the meal money."

"Another month already!"

The prisoner sighed, lifted the bowl and slurped it clean. After letting out a satisfied burp, he returned to his straw mat to sit in meditation and contemplation.