Rejection and Observation

Having made up his mind, Xu Qian felt as if he had taken a calming pill. He cast aside the "thousand taels of gold" and the "prince's promise" entirely—these illusory, fleeting things were far less reliable than the few scraps of silver in his own pocket.

The next time he delivered food, he still wore that standard expression, eyes watching his nose, nose watching his heart. He walked to cell E-98, ladled out the paste, poured it in, his movements smooth and devoid of any trace of worldly concern.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, that low voice sounded again, more urgent than before, even carrying a hint of barely concealed irritation:

"Jailer! A letter! Just send it out, and you name the place. I can give you part of the gold first!"

Xu Qian's movements didn't pause in the slightest, as if his ears were stuffed with donkey hair and he heard nothing. He lifted his wooden bucket, turned, and walked away without a second's hesitation.

"You!" The voice in the cell carried a trace of anger, but it quickly suppressed itself, shifting into a deep, seductive tone: "Do you know who I am? If you can help me escape, I will repay you handsomely in the future! Wealth, glory, cultivation resources—all within easy reach!"

Xu Qian's steps remained steady, but inwardly he sneered: Who can't paint a pie? 'Repay you handsomely in the future'? First, make sure you live to see that 'future'! Cultivation resources? Can they compare to the fragrance of my Longevity Dao Fruit?

Seeing that temptation was ineffective, the voice fell silent for a moment. When it spoke again, it carried a cold threat:

"Ant! Don't bring ruin upon yourself! If you don't help now... one day, you will regret it bitterly!"

Hearing this, Xu Qian only grew more at ease. The other party starting to threaten him precisely showed that they had no real good options left and could only bluff. A person with true backing wouldn't be so outwardly fierce but inwardly weak.

He still turned a deaf ear, his figure quickly disappearing around the corner of the corridor.

For several consecutive meal deliveries, Xu Qian employed the same strategy—total disregard. No matter what the other said, whether promising mountains of gold or threatening to annihilate his entire clan, he treated it all as background noise, letting it in one ear and out the other, never giving any response.

He could even sense that, with each cold rejection, the resentment and agitation emanating from cell E-98 grew stronger and stronger. That faint purple noble aura, under the erosion and entanglement of dense Sha Qi and gray-black Death Qi, appeared increasingly dim and unstable.

That evening, after delivering dinner, Xu Qian prepared to leave as usual. Just as he passed cell E-98, his back to the heavy iron door, his heart stirred slightly. He silently activated his Qi Gazing Technique, like the most precise radar, sweeping a glance behind him.

This glance wasn't meant as a response, purely out of cautious observation.

Yet, what he saw made his heart jolt!

In the vision of the Qi Gazing Technique, cell E-98 was almost entirely shrouded in thick gray-black Death Qi! It represented injury, illness, despair, and the draining of life, as viscous as a swamp, nearly swallowing the faint purple noble aura at its center completely. Clearly, this fallen prince's physical and mental condition was deteriorating sharply, his situation dire.

But right in the midst of that suffocating gray-black Death Qi, deep within that stubbornly struggling faint purple noble aura, Xu Qian actually saw a trace... extremely weak, yet exceptionally pure, even carrying a hint of lively brilliance—a bright purple light, flickering faintly and stubbornly from the area of his brow's ancestral aperture, like a candle in the wind!

This bright purple was different from the surrounding faint purple representing nobility. It was purer, more restrained, as if it contained some kind of... vitality? Or perhaps some latent origin of fate?

Eh? Is this... life hidden within death? Or a final flicker before the end? Xu Qian was greatly surprised.

By all logic, with Death Qi spread to this extent, the person was basically not far from death. But that thread of bright purple vitality (or origin) was genuinely real, though weak, giving a feeling of extreme tenacity, hard to extinguish.

This contradictory sight left Xu Qian somewhat baffled.

Could it be that this prince's fate wasn't sealed? Was there some hidden turning point? Or was this just a stress response of some special constitution or technique in a desperate situation?

He couldn't be sure, but this discovery caused a subtle shift in his perception of cell E-98. This guy was probably more complicated than he had imagined.

Of course, this didn't change Xu Qian's decision. Whether the other was doomed to die or fated to survive, it wasn't something a lowly jailer like him could meddle in. No matter how miraculous that thread of bright purple vitality was, it couldn't offset the deadly risk of getting involved in a prince's power struggle.

Just look, just look. Xu Qian silently withdrew his Qi Gazing Technique and quickened his pace to leave this place of trouble.

He stored this discovery in his heart but took no action. He still delivered meals daily, still completely ignored any words from the other.

And cell E-98, after the initial days of temptation and threats, seemed to realize that Xu Qian was a tough, stinking bone that couldn't be gnawed, and gradually fell silent. No more sounds came out, only the ever-thickening Death Qi and that stubbornly flickering bright purple vitality silently telling the story within.