The Ministry of Justice, temporary prison.
It was called a prison, but it was really just a pitch-black little room.
The room had no windows on any side. Only a skylight had been cut into the rafters, letting a single shaft of sunlight pour in. It was the only light source in the room, and under it, the furnishings were barely visible. The place was otherwise empty. Wave-shaped traces of literary qi marked the walls, but there were none of the cruel, horrifying torture devices one might have imagined. Chancellor Liu was bound to a wooden frame, her bloodied head drooping low. If not for the faint rise and fall of her chest, one might have mistaken her for a corpse.
"Mm—"
Chancellor Liu frowned in discomfort.
She cracked her eyes open. She was alone in the little room.
There was something unnerving about the place. Just being inside made her feel ill. Her breathing sped up beyond her control, and she thought she could hear the rush of blood coursing through her veins. But when she focused on listening, the sound vanished as though it had been an illusion.
She grimaced, trying to sense the literary qi in her Dantian.
Though Shen Tang hadn't used her Full Effort when she struck, Chancellor Liu had no sturdy physique like a Martial Gall Warrior. She couldn't withstand that kind of force. In a single exchange, the literary qi in her meridians had fallen into chaos, surging wildly out of control, with some even reversing course.
On top of that, her internal organs had been injured, compounding her wounds.
The Ministry of Justice's methods in Kang were indeed well-known, and their sealing technique was unusual. She couldn't sense her literary qi or Dantian at all. After several attempts, she gave up. She