Having made up his mind, Xu Qian felt as though he'd swallowed a calming pill. He tossed the "one thousand taels of gold" and the "Prince's promise" to the back of his mind. Such things were like flowers reflected in a mirror, the moon's shadow in water—nowhere near as solid as the few bits of silver in his own pocket.
The next time he brought food, he wore the same picture-perfect expression, eyes lowered and mind composed. He stopped in front of Cell E-98, scooped up the gruel, and poured it out in one smooth motion, without a hint of fuss.
Just as he was about to turn around, the low voice spoke again, more urgently than before, with a trace of anxiety that was hard to detect:
"Jailer! The letter! Just get it out, and you can choose the place. I can give you some of the gold in advance!"
Xu Qian didn't pause for even an instant, as if his ears were stuffed with donkey hair and he couldn't hear a thing. He picked up the wooden bucket and walked away, without a second's hesitation.
"You!" Anger edged into the voice from inside the cell, but it quickly subsided, giving way to a deep, coaxing tone. "Do you know who I am? If you help me escape, I'll reward you handsomely one day! Wealth and glory, cultivation resources—all will be yours for the taking!"
Xu Qian's footsteps remained steady, though he sneered inwardly. Anyone can make empty promises. A reward one day? First make sure you live to see that day. Cultivation resources? Could they be as good as my Longevity Dao Fruit?
When bribery failed, the voice fell silent for a moment. When it spoke again, a chill threat had crept into it:
"You insignificant ant! Don't bring ruin upon yourself! If you refuse to help me now, one day... you'll regret it beyond measure!"
Hearing that, Xu Qian felt even more at ease. The other man had resorted to threats, which only proved he didn't have any better options. He was relying on bluster. Someone who truly had the upper hand wouldn't be so fierce on the outside and weak within.
Xu Qian continued to ignore him, and soon disappeared around the bend in the passage.
On his next several food deliveries, Xu Qian stuck to the same strategy: total disregard. No matter what the other man said, whether he promised mountains of gold and silver or threatened to exterminate Xu Qian's entire family, Xu Qian treated it all as background noise, letting it go in one ear and out the other without giving him so much as a reply.
He could even feel the resentment and agitation radiating from Cell E-98 growing stronger with each cold refusal. The faint purple aura of nobility was being eroded and tangled up in the dense Killing Intent and gray-black Death Qi, growing dimmer and more unstable by the day.
After delivering dinner one day, Xu Qian prepared to leave as usual. As he passed Cell E-98, with his back to the heavy iron door, he felt a slight stir in his heart. His Qi Gazing Technique, which had been quietly running all along, swept a glance behind him like a precision radar.
That glance wasn't meant as a response. He was simply being cautious, taking a look.
But what he saw made his heart jolt!
In the vision of the Qi Gazing Technique, Cell E-98 was almost entirely shrouded in dense gray-black Death Qi! It represented injury, despair, and life ebbing away; viscous as a swamp, it seemed poised to swallow the faint purple aura of nobility at its center. Clearly, the fallen Prince's physical and mental state was deteriorating rapidly. His situation was dire.
Yet deep within that stubbornly struggling aura of faint purple, right in the center of the suffocating gray-black Death Qi, Xu Qian saw a thread of... extremely faint, yet remarkably pure, bright purple light. It even seemed to hold a trace of liveliness. From the position of the brow chakra, it flickered like a candle in the wind, weak but determined!
This bright purple was different from the faint purple aura of nobility around it. It was purer, more restrained, as if it held... a spark of life? Or perhaps the hidden essence of some destined fate?
Huh? Is this... life hidden in death? Or a final flicker before the end? Xu Qian was startled.
By all common sense, when Death Qi spread to this extent, death was all but certain. And yet this spark of bright purple vitality—or perhaps essence—was real. Though faint, it had a tenacity that seemed impossible to extinguish.
The contradictory sight left Xu Qian at a loss.
Was the Prince not fated to die? Did he have some hidden chance of turning things around? Or was this merely the desperate reaction of a special constitution or cultivation technique?
Xu Qian couldn't be sure, but this discovery changed how he viewed Cell E-98, ever so slightly. The man was probably more complicated than he'd imagined.
Of course, it didn't change Xu Qian's decision. Whether the other man was certain to die or not fated to die, he was no one a small-time jailer could afford to get mixed up with. No matter how miraculous that spark of bright purple vitality was, it couldn't cancel out the lethal risks of getting caught up in a struggle between princes.
Just look. That's all. Xu Qian silently withdrew his Qi Gazing Technique and quickened his pace, leaving this place of trouble behind.
He kept the discovery to himself but took no action. He continued delivering food every day, and continued to ignore everything the other man said.
After the first few days of bribery and threats, Cell E-98 seemed to realize Xu Qian was a tough, rotten bone that was impossible to chew through. Gradually, it fell silent. No more voice came from inside, only the increasingly heavy Death Qi and that stubbornly flickering spark of bright purple vitality, silently telling of what was happening within.
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