Disguise and Substitution

The next day.

Zhou Yi came to the Heavenly Prison to check in.

The main gate had yet to be repaired. Pools of black-red blood stained the ground and walls, sticky beneath one's shoes.

Warden Zheng had died at the hands of the intruders last night. Naturally, the official post exchange he had previously promised Niu Xiaowei no longer counted. But there was no need for it to count anyway, because Niu Xiaowei had also died in last night's chaos.

"The Heavenly Prison usually had no incidents. But when something happened, it was earth-shattering. I'll have to pay respects to quite a few people these days."

Zhou Yi entered the prison. It was empty, with only a handful of prisoners remaining.

He had heard that the prison-breaking experts had tried to take prisoners with them, including quite a few high-ranking officials of the former dynasty. The Black Armor Army lying in ambush outside had charged a few times and killed the intruders along with their hostages.

"This job just got much easier."

Carrying the food bucket, Zhou Yi knocked on the bars. "Lao Bai, why didn't you take the chance to escape yesterday?"

This prisoner surnamed Bai was rather interesting. He was extraordinarily handsome. Put him in white robes, hand him a folding fan, and he could stand there and enchant countless female heroes of the martial world.

No one knew exactly what crime he had committed. There was no record in the case files. The Court of the Imperial Clan had simply thrown him directly into the Heavenly Prison.

"I'm innocent right now. Wouldn't escaping make me a real criminal?"

Lao Bai heartily finished his soup and looked at how much remained in the bucket. "Give it all to me. Saves you the trouble of carrying it back."

Zhou Yi set the food bucket inside the cell and feigned surprise. "From the sound of it, if you wanted to leave, you really could?"

"I'd been thinking about it the day before yesterday, but yesterday scared the wits out of me. I'd better obediently endure three to five years." Recalling what he had seen last night, Lao Bai could not help but tremble with lingering fear.

The martial world had always said that the Thief Saint's martial arts were first-rate, but his lightness skill was peerless beneath heaven. His speed could surpass even an Innate Grandmaster. Though Lao Bai never said so aloud, he had surely taken great pride in it.

Only after seeing flying swords kill people yesterday, after seeing top experts slice through lives like cutting melons and vegetables, did he realize he had been gazing at the sky from the bottom of a well.

Why would an Innate Grandmaster need to race you? A flying sword flashed past, and a person became two halves.

"What did you see that frightened you so badly?"

Zhou Yi was quite curious. Along the way, he had spoken with the surviving prison guards, but they had been vague and evasive regarding the great battle within the Heavenly Prison.

Not a single prison guard who had been on duty inside the Heavenly Prison last night had survived!

Top experts had tempered their bodies inside and out until they were perfectly rounded and unified. On a battlefield, they were foes fit for ten thousand men, capable of smashing through armies and breaking formations. Even the encirclement of the Black Armor Army might not hold them, or Li Wu would not have needed to act personally.

Lao Bai repeatedly shook his head. "Can't say it. Can't say it!"

"Want a drink?"

Zhou Yi removed a wineskin from his waist. Once he uncorked it, the fragrance of wine filled the air.

"Pear Blossom White, aged ten years!"

Lao Bai's nose twitched, and he immediately identified both the wine and its age. What child of the martial world did not love drink? He had been locked up for more than two years, and his mouth had long since faded enough to hatch a bird.

The scent of wine hooked him at once. Saliva began to flow uncontrollably, and his throat bobbed despite himself.

"I drink first!"

Lao Bai knew exactly how black-hearted the prison guard before him was. Zhou Yi had swindled quite a few martial world experts in the A-class cells.

Martial world experts lived free and easy outside. They would casually pull out an ingot of silver to settle a bill, but such money was either stolen, robbed, or otherwise ill-gotten wealth. Spending it felt good, but they had no savings.

Once they entered the Heavenly Prison, no one sent them money for food, so they could only drink slop every day.

When they truly could not bear it anymore, they would make deals with Zhou Yi. A unique acupoint-sealing technique for two chicken legs, a secret formula for a jar of wine, even a few martial world secrets for several steamed buns.

Yet Zhou Yi did not play by the rules. If he liked someone, it was fine. But for those he disliked, the chicken legs came spoiled and the water was mixed with wine.

"I've always followed the rules. Every one of those fellows I dealt with had committed crimes too vile to forgive." Zhou Yi passed the wineskin through the bars and offered a defense for himself.

"Sounds nice. Then what about the Jiangnan Hero?"

Lao Bai took a mouthful of wine and let out a satisfied breath. Then he began to savor it sip by sip, afraid that if he drained it in one gulp, he would not taste a thing.

"That bastard played the righteous hero on the surface, while secretly running a business in abducting children and mutilating them. Such utterly conscience-shattering evil—was it not fitting that his five viscera split open and his six bowels shattered, leaving him alive with nothing but a sack of skin?"

Zhou Yi took a pill from his robes. It was bright red, streaked with black patterns. After examining it for a moment, he carefully put it away again.

"The Miao Brothers' gu insects truly are mysterious and wondrous. They could let someone live even after their five viscera and six bowels had been shattered!"

Lao Bai took several more drinks, suppressing the fear in his heart. Then he asked mysteriously, "Do you believe in the art of flying swords?"

"I do!"

Zhou Yi thought to himself, I've even seen an immortal split open the void with a single sword.

"..."

Lao Bai had intended to shock him, only to have Zhou Yi block him halfway through his words.

Zhou Yi's gaze turned deep and distant. "Let me guess. General Li used a flying sword technique last night and effortlessly killed the people breaking into the prison?"

"..."

Lao Bai was quick-witted as well, and he swiftly changed the subject. "Do you know who was killed? Lingxu Zhenren of Heaven One Temple, Kongming Chanshi of Golden Light Temple, and Bai Wuchang, chief of One Cave of Ghosts!"

"They were all dead men. I had no interest in hearing about their glorious pasts."

Zhou Yi was in an excellent mood. His previous speculation about spirit-root talent had not led to a dead end after all. Innate Grandmasters could already employ methods similar to controlling artifacts.

Lao Bai was so stifled he could not speak. He handed back the empty wineskin and prepared to lie down on the straw mat to rest.

From last night until now, whenever he closed his eyes, he saw flying swords killing people. He could not sleep at all.

Zhou Yi said, "Since you roam the martial world, don't trust everyone, and don't be so indignant at the injustice of the world. If you had truly let that bastard go, dying ten times would not have redeemed his sins."

"How did you know?"

Lao Bai was a first-rate expert and occupied a cell by himself. The Jiangnan Hero was in the cell next door.

Zhou Yi said, "No matter how secretive you two were, perhaps you could hide it from the guards' inspections, but could you hide it from the prisoners in this prison? Someone traded your conversation to me for a chicken leg."

"..."

Lao Bai suddenly no longer wanted to serve time. Perhaps agreeing to the princess's marriage proposal would have been less stifling than this.

Zhou Yi continued, "That counts as saving your life, doesn't it? I heard your lightness skill is good. Can you teach me?"

"I'm sleepy!"

Lao Bai turned over, presenting his back to Zhou Yi.

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

The new warden had originally overseen the capital yamen's jail. A pie had fallen from the sky, and he took over the Heavenly Prison.

The unspoken rules of prisons throughout Fengyang Kingdom were largely the same. It was simply easier and more profitable to rake in silver at the Heavenly Prison.

By now, the prison guards had grown familiar with one another, and the Heavenly Prison had returned to its former state.

"Morning, Old Zhou!"

Feng Qiao, the prison guard on watch at the entrance, greeted his senior. These days, few had served at the Heavenly Prison longer than Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi greeted him with a smile. "You were the one who slipped away early yesterday. Were you afraid I'd make you settle the bill?"

"I have a fierce wife at home. I had no choice!"

Feng Qiao repeatedly cupped his hands. He had originally been the head jailer of Wannian County in the capital region, and he was still unaccustomed to being transferred to Shenjing.

At the most expensive brothels in Wannian County, a night cost no more than one or two taels. But at Spring Breeze Pavilion, merely touching a girl's hand cost ten taels of silver. Even if it were inlaid with gold, it would not be worth that much!

Zhou Yi laughed. "Since even the captain went, it should be charged to the prison's account. We can't let ourselves suffer too great a loss."

Feng Qiao immediately regretted it. He had planned to get the details this morning, then go home and boast about it, pretending he had enjoyed himself at Spring Breeze Pavilion.

"There will be chances in the future."

Zhou Yi chatted with his colleagues along the way as he carried his bucket to deliver food.

B-Class Cell Seven.

The prisoner had only recently been locked up. He was an official from the Ministry of Personnel who had committed the crime of selling offices.

His hair was grizzled, and his body was gaunt.

At his age, once he entered the Heavenly Prison, he would not last a year or half a year.

When the prisoner saw Zhou Yi pour out the food, he struggled to rise. He coughed violently several times, slowly shuffled over, picked up the bowl, and began to eat in small bites.

Every movement made him seem like an old man on the verge of death.

A gleam flashed through Zhou Yi's eyes. Having mastered the art of disguise, he had already discovered several flaws.

The expression on the man's face was far too stiff. Even if he deliberately feigned a dying breath, it was impossible for his skin not to move at all.

There were subtle differences between the color of his neck and his hands. Especially the black mud stuck to his hands: first, it had been applied too deliberately; second, it had not seeped into his skin at all.

Besides, an old man this weak held the bowl in his hands far too steadily...

Zhou Yi silently departed. Finally, he arrived at Lao Bai's cell and took out a wineskin from his robes.

Lao Bai uncorked it and sniffed. "Pear Blossom White again. This wine is too fierce. It is far inferior to Hall-Illuminating Red and Jade Dew Spring, whose lingering charm runs deep and long."

"A friend from long ago loved Pear Blossom White most. I got used to drinking it, so I could not be bothered to change tastes."

Zhou Yi tried hard to recall Wei Chang. He only remembered a burly man with broad forehead and wide face. The finer details of his appearance had already blurred.

"Tsk, tsk. A black-hearted fellow like you actually had friends?"

Over the past half year, Lao Bai and Zhou Yi had grown familiar. Lao Bai no longer had so many reservations when speaking.

Zhou Yi did not wish to recall the past. His lifespan was endless, and he would accumulate countless pasts in the future. Even Lao Bai before him might become one of them. So he had to learn to seal them away in dust, or forget them.

"Yesterday, while practicing the Drifting Reeds Step, there were several turns I just couldn't get right..."

Lao Bai pondered for a moment before saying, "The lightness skills of the world generally fall into only two categories: nimble shifting and turning within a small area, and long-distance rushing over great distances. The Drifting Reeds Step belongs to the former..."

He explained the cultivation essentials of the Drifting Reeds Step in detail, imparting his knowledge and resolving Zhou Yi's doubts until the wine in the wineskin was finished.

Before leaving, Zhou Yi asked, "Should I bring Hall-Illuminating Red or Jade Dew Spring tomorrow?"

Lao Bai said, "Pear Blossom White again. I've gotten used to drinking it, so I can't be bothered to change tastes."

Zhou Yi froze slightly, then crouched down again. "I'll find a jar of hundred-year Pear Blossom White. Help me do something."

Lao Bai nodded. "That sounds great. Back then, I wouldn't drink anything but fine wine aged a hundred years!"

Zhou Yi smiled. "You won't even ask what it is? If it's murder, arson, robbery, or looting, you'll do it too?"

"You may be black-hearted, but you are a man with principles."

Lao Bai said, "Besides, if it really is evil, I can just freeload on the fine wine and refuse to do it. What can you do to me?"

"The prisoner in B-Class Cell Seven seemed to have been replaced last night..."

Zhou Yi explained the prisoner's background and the flaws left behind after the disguise.

"Interesting, interesting! How could I possibly be left out of something this interesting?"

Lao Bai's eyes lit up as he listened. He had long been bored out of his mind in the Heavenly Prison. "Rest assured. So long as he makes a move, he absolutely will not escape my eyes."

"Be careful. That person is very likely an expert."

Zhou Yi repeatedly cautioned him. He was only to keep watch; even if that man escaped, he was not to pursue him.

"Don't worry! I'm an old hand in the martial world. Do you think I don't know safety comes first?"

Several days later.

Zhou Yi came to the prison to deliver food.

Lao Bai beckoned with a grin and transmitted his voice through inner force. "That bastard finally made a move last night."

"What did he do?"

Zhou Yi had learned more than a dozen lightness skills from Lao Bai, including several supreme inheritances. Returning a peach for a plum, he had taught him Azure Sky King's secret voice-transmission technique.

"He went to A-Class Cell One. He searched for half the night, then came back."

Excitement appeared on Lao Bai's face. Who did not know that half a year ago, that cell had held a Martial Grandmaster?