Immortal Martial World, Human Lives as Cheap as Grass

Back in the relatively "peaceful" surroundings of Zone D, Xu Qian felt as though he had taken a stroll through the gates of hell and returned. His calves were still trembling faintly beyond his control. The fatal venomous spit from Block C and Zhou Kang's stunning slash kept replaying in his mind, impossible to shake off.

Zhou Kang, meanwhile, had returned to his usual foul-mouthed self, as if he had merely swatted a buzzing fly to death. He led Xu Qian into the equally shabby Stone Room where the guards rested, dropped his backside onto a creaking broken wooden chair, grabbed the coarse pottery tea bowl on the table, and gulped down several mouthfuls of cold, cheap tea.

"What? Still haven't gotten over it?" Zhou Kang glanced at Xu Qian's still-pale face, then slammed the tea bowl heavily onto the table with a clang.

Xu Qian forced out a smile uglier than a sob. "Captain Zhou, what... what exactly was that thing just now? And that slash of yours..."

"A thing? Just some unlucky bastard who went berserk while training and got mixed up with something unclean. Half man, half demon now." Zhou Kang spoke as casually as if he were commenting on the pleasant weather. "As for that slash? It was nothing, just a crude application of Internal Force. Once you later... ah, forget it. Why am I telling you this?"

Halfway through, he seemed to decide that discussing martial arts with a "muggle" like Xu Qian was like playing the lute to a cow, so he swallowed the rest of his words. Instead, he tapped the tabletop with his fingers, producing a steady thud-thud, his expression turning grave.

"Kid, I took you to Block C today so you could open your eyes and understand what kind of place this is. Don't think Zone D is safe just because it only holds stray cats and dogs. The waters in this Heavenly Prison run deep! There are some rules you need to carve into your bones!"

Xu Qian immediately straightened his back and put on an attentive, teachable expression. "Captain Zhou, go ahead. I'm listening."

"First." Zhou Kang raised one rough finger. "You are absolutely forbidden from approaching any cells beyond Block C without me or someone higher up leading you! Especially Block B and Block A. That place..." He paused, and a flicker of apprehension crossed his face, one even he did not seem to notice. "...isn't somewhere people like us can wander around. You won't even know how you died."

Xu Qian nodded hard, silently committing it to memory. Block A— even Zhou Kang spoke of it in hushed terms.

"Second, when delivering meals or cleaning, don't let your eyes wander! Some prisoners will think you're provoking them, or trying to memorize their face, just because you looked at them once. Then they'll mark it down in their hearts!" Zhou Kang raised another finger. "Especially those who look half dead, or are especially quiet. The more they're like that, the more careful you need to be! Who the hell knows what rotten scheme they're brewing inside!"

"Take the one in Cell Seven of Block C," Zhou Kang said, lowering his voice. "There's this dry, skinny old man locked up in there. He crouches in the corner meditating all day and doesn't even fart. Don't you dare think he's easy to mess with! Half a year ago, some blind fool looked at him twice while delivering food, then even sneered. Guess what happened?"

Xu Qian held his breath.

"That night, the guy's whole body rotted away in the dormitory. He wailed all night long, and by morning, all that was left was a puddle of pus and blood and a skeleton!" Zhou Kang's voice carried a chilling coldness. "Investigate? Investigate my ass! The higher-ups came, took one look, and said he'd been hit by some kind of Wicked Curse Technique, killed from afar! In the end, they could only classify it as an 'accidental exposure to Sha Toxin' and hastily close the case."

A curse killing from afar?!

Xu Qian felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head! This was already beyond the realm of martial arts. This was practically sorcery! This world had not only martial cultivation, but also such bizarre and unfathomable evil arts?

A human life, gone so lightly just because someone had looked twice? Without even a proper explanation?

Seeing Xu Qian's face turn deathly pale at once, Zhou Kang seemed quite pleased with the intimidating effect. He snorted and piled on, "What does that count for? Yesterday! Just yesterday afternoon! There was a new kid like you, probably stuffed in here through some family connections. High and mighty, thinking the Heavenly Prison was no big deal."

Zhou Kang's tone was laced with mockery and indifference. "He went to deliver something to a prisoner in Block B. Probably the prisoner said something unpleasant, and the kid, hot-blooded and young, talked back. He even spat into the cell."

Xu Qian's heart rose to his throat.

"At the time, everything looked fine. That prisoner didn't say another word. But when they called roll that night, the kid was gone." Zhou Kang spoke in a flat tone, yet every word sent chills down the spine. "They searched everywhere and couldn't find him. No sign of him alive, no corpse in death. It was as if he had evaporated into thin air. In the end, they found only a few crooked words written in blood on the wall of his dormitory—'Those with cheap mouths shall eternally descend into Avici.'"

"..."

A deathly silence fell over the duty Stone Room. Only the occasional crackle of the pine-resin torch burning could be heard.

Xu Qian felt as though an invisible hand had clamped around his throat, making it hard to breathe. He could almost see that newcomer, about his own age, vanishing completely from this world amid boundless terror and agony.