Heavenly Prison

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Heavenly Prison (天牢)
Alias(es)	Imperial prison 1 2 3
Type	Imperial detention facility and anomaly-containment site 1 5
Location	Skywave City, Azure Province, Great Yan Kingdom 1 3
Affiliation	Great Yan court 3
Warden	Lu Qingshan, a Fifth Realm cultivator 5 15 49
Structure	Eight levels: one aboveground and seven underground 2
Status	Partially collapsed during a riot; subsequently stabilized and resumed operations 9 21
First Appearance	Ye Wuyou seeks employment as a jailer 1

Background / History

Skywave City and the imperial capital are the only places in Great Yan with a Heavenly Prison. Unlike ordinary government jails, the institution does not handle petty thieves. Its first level houses influential detainees whose cases are difficult to judge but who cannot be released, while the lower levels hold dangerous cultivated criminals 1.

According to Wang Fugui, the prison also arrests people whom provincial officials cannot—or dare not—arrest. Its work includes politically sensitive nobles, members of cultivation sects opposed by the court, and matters involving demons near the border. Wang invokes the warden’s relationship with the emperor when explaining this exceptional authority, without specifying that relationship 3.

Prison Disaster

A Black Bear Fiend entered custody after disguising itself as a badly injured, lower-tier demon. Captured by Grade B Squad Five, it carried the Heaven-Turning Mirror, which scrambled the prison’s floor order: entering one level could lead to another. This prevented reinforcements from reaching the affected areas promptly 9 22.

During the riot, the normally open entrance gate slammed shut and the prison began collapsing. Ye Wuyou was sent toward the second level but instead became trapped on the eighth with Lu Caiwei. Four days later, searchers had recovered everyone they could find on levels one through seven; those still missing were believed to be beyond the entrance only the warden could open. The collapse was severe, but the foundations remained intact 3 5 9.

Zhao Changhe reported seventeen dead or wounded and eight missing when Lu Qingshan returned from a delayed trip to the capital. Before entering the eighth level, Lu ordered executions of detainees from several factions, including the Zhang and Lin families, the Sword Sect, and Miaoyin Mountain. His arrival caused the rampaging anomalies to retreat into their cells. He found Lu Caiwei alive despite her extinguished life lamp, then struck down Ye Wuyou after the latter challenged him 15.

Recovery and Fugitive Hunts

Many prisoners escaped, especially from the lower levels where the riot began. Although conditions inside the prison stabilized, depleted staffing forced jailers into recapture work. Grade D personnel, previously excluded from missions, became eligible to take assignments 21.

Grade B Squad Five was demoted to Grade C after the bear incident. Although the squad was said not to be at fault, the deaths and serious injuries damaged its reputation and made recruiting replacements difficult 22.

Layout and Access

Area	Occupants / Purpose	Access and Features
First level	High officials, dignitaries, and wealthy local magnates awaiting resolution of difficult cases	Aboveground; Ye Wuyou’s initial work area. Contains the main hall used during the disaster investigation 1 2 9
Second level	Dangerous criminals, including cultivators	Reached through a guarded stone doorway. Grade D jailers normally go no deeper; a temporary mission office is later established here 1 2 21
Third–seventh levels	Part of the prison’s deeper detention areas	Searchers could enter these levels after the disaster; exact floor-by-floor populations are not specified 9
Eighth level	Anomalies, also called remnants of the Great Dao	Normally accessible only to the warden; sealed by an array neither Ye Wuyou nor Lu Caiwei could open 3 5
Deepest part	A Divine Path Pillar	Identified by Lu Qingshan as the location of Great Yan’s second pillar 50

• Entrance: An enormous, weathered bluestone gate hangs over the normally open entrance. Ye Wuyou estimates its weight at at least a thousand jin 1.
• Corridors: Long, narrow passages are lit by candles but remain gloomy; cells line both sides of the first-level corridor 1.
• Lower-level doorway: The stone door leading downward has a mechanism beside it and a jailer stationed at the entrance 1.
• Eighth-level seal: Strange symbols and patterns form the containment array. Its sealed doorway remains undamaged even after the prison collapses 5 15.

Anomaly Containment

Cells and Environmental Hazards

• Protective cages: Anomaly cages form self-contained spaces that block other anomalies and erosion. Xia Anmeng therefore advises occupying a cage as a means of surviving the eighth level 8.
• Soul erosion: Exposure weakens Xia Anmeng’s remnant soul and nearly wears away Lu Caiwei’s soul. Temporary protection can delay the damage but does not provide a lasting escape solution 7 8 10.
• Spatial looping: An anomaly traps the passage in a repeating route. Ye Wuyou recognizes the loop after roughly fifteen minutes of walking brings him back to the same location 8.
• Concealed occupants: Six nearby cages initially appear empty to Ye Wuyou. Once the illusion breaks, he sees beings that include a legless man, a white jelly-like figure, and a child 3.
• Limits of destruction: Xia Anmeng explains that anomalies can be killed but not eradicated; a destroyed anomaly eventually reappears elsewhere. Each has a single supernatural ability that cannot be resisted, making containment distinct from permanent elimination 8.

Documented Occupants

Anomaly	Appearance / Activity
Legless Man	Appears as a naked man without legs. Ye Wuyou later forces it to kneel; its shadow legs disappear, and a woman in its cage regains hers 3 14
White jelly-like anomaly	Changes between a gelatinous figure, a tiny white being, and a sheet of skin. Controls dead jailers and repeatedly confronts the trapped survivors 3 4 6 8
Child	Seen curled inside a cage; described as having milky-white eyes 3
Blue, many-armed anomaly	Crushes and swallows Ye Wuyou before he defeats and devours it. It later manifests through him as “Ghost” and spectral hands 14 18 29
Mute Woman	Voluntarily kneels before Ye Wuyou after he subdues the Legless Man 14

Administration and Personnel

Jailer Grades

Grade	Documented Duties / Privileges
Ungraded intern	Ye Wuyou’s initial status; assigned only to the first level except during emergencies 1 2
Grade D	Normally guards entrances and performs miscellaneous duties; usually goes no farther than the second level. Gains mission eligibility after the disaster 2 21
Grade C	Eligible for field missions under normal rules; Grade C jailers help escort the captured bear 2 21
Grade B	Includes squad captain Lu Caiwei. Jailers leave behind a life soul used in life lamps to monitor survival 9
Grade A	Senior experts, including Zhao Changhe; the prison employs several experts of this grade 15 21
Warden	Commands the prison, orders executions, and alone can normally enter the eighth level 5 15

Notable Personnel

• Lu Qingshan — Warden; opens the eighth-level seal and possesses knowledge of the Uncanny and Divine Path Arts 15 49 50.
• Zhao Changhe — Grade A official and Fifth Realm martial cultivator; leads the disaster investigation and later supervises Ye Wuyou’s training 9 17 20.
• Wang Fugui / Uncle Wang — Grade D jailer with over thirty years of service; inducts Ye Wuyou and warns him against dangerous recapture work 1 21.
• Lu Caiwei — Third Realm sword cultivator and Grade B Squad Five captain; trapped on the eighth level during the riot 5 9.
• Ye Wuyou — Specially recruited intern who survives the eighth level and returns as a First Realm, Grade D jailer 1 17 21.
• Lin Qingqing, Xu Fang, and Bai Changzai — Second Realm members of the demoted Squad Five, specializing in formations, body cultivation, and talismans respectively 22 23.

Employment and Field Operations

Employment Conditions

• Pay and schedule: Ye Wuyou’s initial position pays three taels of silver per month, with two days on and two days off 1 2.
• Benefits: Double overtime pay, three meals provided, indoor work, and no age-based dismissal 2.
• Cultivation access: Employment gives Ye Wuyou access to the Great River Qi-Driving Art, which supports cultivation through the Third Realm 2.

Missions and Rewards

• Assignment office: After the riot, a temporary service window and mission board operate on the second level; roughly ninety percent of posted assignments concern fugitives 21.
• Team requirements: Posted recruitment notices call for at least four members. Squads seek complementary specialties, with physicians frequently requested 21.
• Compensation: Missions provide money, cultivation resources, and contribution points exchangeable for pills, methods, medicinal ingredients, and weapons 21.

Mission	Grade	Listed Reward
Capture Wavebreaker Blade Shen Cang, a Fourth Realm fugitive	B	Ten taels of gold, three Jade Realm Pills, one mystic-grade cultivation method, and 300 contribution points 21
Slay the fugitive fifth-tier Black Bear Spirit	A	1,000 contribution points 21
Capture the injured third-tier Qingqiu Demon Fox	C	Reward includes four jade soul flowers 21

Tracking and Communication

• Retained auras: The prison preserves a trace of every admitted prisoner’s aura for supernatural tracking 23.
• Tracking bells: Mission teams receive bells containing a target’s aura. Lin Qingqing’s bell both locates the Qingqiu Demon Fox and displays its recorded history 23 25.
• Emergency beacons: Crimson signal smoke serves as an internal distress signal. Teams can answer with their own beacon to indicate that help is coming 25 26.
• Temporary sealing: A prison tracking bell is later judged barely suitable for temporarily containing the uncanny eyeball from the Thousand Illusions Purple-Gold Bell; it ultimately shatters 41 45.

Divine Path Pillar

• Location: One of Great Yan’s two Divine Path Pillars stands in the deepest part of the Heavenly Prison; the other is in the capital 50.
• Purpose: The pillars preserve fragments of knowledge from a previous era, including Divine Path Arts 50.
• Relevance to Ye Wuyou: Lu Qingshan proposes that using such an art could make Ye’s Uncanny bear its cost, weakening the entity and balancing its encroachment on his body 50.
• Unrevealed art: When asked what the local pillar teaches, Lu responds by asking whether Ye can accept that another version of himself exists in the world 50.