After putting the treasures away, Zhou Qing looked back at the black-robed man and said, "I also need to look through your memories."
"Impossible!"
At Zhou Qing's words, the black-robed man immediately bristled like a hedgehog.
"Don't get worked up." Zhou Qing's expression remained calm in the face of his resistance. "Think carefully about who has the upper hand right now."
As he delivered his threat, Zhou Qing used Heartforce to bewitch the black-robed man.
Fourth-stage Heartforce was terrifying. As soon as the black-robed man came under its influence, his expression froze, and a fierce struggle began in his mind.
A moment later, he slowly said, "Fine."
Although he didn't want anyone to know the sordid things in his memories, the black-robed man compromised for the sake of freedom.
Seeing that his method had worked, Zhou Qing nodded inwardly.
Anyone who had held out so long in the Chaos Prison had a decent Dao heart, but faced with his fourth-stage Heartforce, the man still had to submit obediently.
Of course, using bewitchment to influence someone wasn't particularly difficult, but if Zhou Qing wanted to enslave the black-robed man, that would be a different matter.
First, the black-robed man was a first-class Celestial Immortal, and the strength of his soul and truesoul was equivalent to that of a Third-Tier True Immortal of the Three Realms.
Second, as mentioned before, the black-robed man had endured several chaos cycles in the World Prison, so his Dao heart was quite strong.
With those two factors combined, even Zhou Qing couldn't enslave him easily.
Unless he followed the Heart God General's example and spent a long time gradually infiltrating him, in which case the chances of enslaving him would be much higher.
But that held no value for Zhou Qing. It would be a sheer waste of time.
With the black-robed man's consent, Zhou Qing began sending his Heartforce into the man's Celestial Immortal golden core to examine his memories.
As soon as he began, his expression became extraordinarily colorful.
Good grief...
Zhou Qing finally understood why the man had been so resistant to having his soul searched.
The black-robed man was named Gongsun Bai, the eldest son of Ancestor God Tianxing's third son. Ancestor God Tianxing had doted on him from birth.
Later, when he cultivated to the Void stage, Ancestor God Tianxing had even paid an enormous price to enlist a Chaos Immortal's help in making Gongsun Bai a first-class Celestial Immortal.
Doted on so much, Gongsun Bai naturally grew up fearing neither heaven nor earth, stirring up trouble wherever he went.
But thanks to his grandfather's status as an Ancestor God, Gongsun Bai never ran into any serious trouble, no matter how much trouble he caused.
Until that incident...
Gongsun Bai got involved with his stepmother!
Perhaps because he had lost his mother as a child, Gongsun Bai developed special feelings for his stepmother, and so a forbidden love began.
They kept the affair well hidden, until Gongsun Bai's younger brother learned of it.
Already jealous of the favor their grandfather showed his elder brother, the younger brother went straight to their father and told him everything.
Their father flew into a rage when he learned of it and immediately used his connections to have Gongsun Bai locked in the World Prison.
Although Ancestor God Tianxing doted on his grandson, he couldn't ignore what had happened to his son, so he let Gongsun Bai's father lock him in the World Prison.
However, before Gongsun Bai entered the World Prison, Ancestor God Tianxing's heart softened, and he sent him an enormous supply of immortal pills.
That was also how Gongsun Bai had managed to hold on until now.
After being locked in the World Prison, Gongsun Bai had thought his father was merely angry for the moment, and that once his anger subsided, his grandfather would come and take him out.
But who could have expected that several chaos cycles would pass without anyone coming to release him?
Poor fellow.
That was Zhou Qing's thought after seeing Gongsun Bai's life story.
Although what the man had done was somewhat immoral, being locked up for several chaos cycles was an utterly undeserved calamity.
Zhou Qing remembered that after Ancestor God Tianxing's death, his family's forces had descended into complete chaos. He therefore suspected no one had remembered Gongsun Bai, the family member locked in the World Prison.
Unlucky kid.
Zhou Qing said nothing more. After tossing him a bottle of immortal pills, he left to find the next prisoner.
Gongsun Bai breathed a sigh of relief.
What he had feared most was that the jailer would mock him after learning the shameful things he had done.
Now it seemed he had worried too much.
Looking at the bottle of immortal pills Zhou Qing had tossed him, Gongsun Bai couldn't help marveling.
This new jailer was an honest, kindhearted man!
After leaving, Zhou Qing continued looting the prisoners in the World Prison.
For safety's sake, he first set his sights on prisoners at the Empyrean God and first-class Celestial Immortal levels.
With eighteen clones and his terrifying Heartforce bewitchment technique, he looted them at a rapid pace.
Even when he encountered a few whose Dao hearts were exceptionally steadfast and who were completely unaffected by his Heartforce techniques, Zhou Qing subdued them by force. Those Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals couldn't stir up any waves.
Although these Empyrean Gods and first-class Celestial Immortals were equivalent in power to Empyrean Gods and True Immortals of the Three Realms, their levels of understanding fell far short of their counterparts in the Three Realms.
Even the least accomplished Empyrean Gods and True Immortals of the Three Realms had comprehended a Grand Dao, while not one of these imprisoned Empyrean Gods and first-class Celestial Immortals had mastered one.
The reason was that although a first-class Celestial Immortal's magic power and soul were comparable to those of a Third-Tier True Immortal of the Three Realms, they were still a Celestial Immortal at their core.
If they could master a Grand Dao, they wouldn't remain at the Celestial Immortal level at all; they would break straight through to become a First-Tier True Immortal.
Much the same applied to the Fiendgod Body Refining Path.
The Nine Directions Chaos Kingdom was different. Because a World God had been born there, most of the Fiendgod Body Refining techniques circulating within its borders were more complete.
If the chance of an Empyrean God of the Three Realms breaking through to become a True God was one, then an Empyrean God of the Nine Directions Chaos Kingdom had a chance of ten or even a hundred.
Thus, as a rule, once an Empyrean God of the Nine Directions Chaos Kingdom mastered a Grand Dao, they would break straight through to become a True God.
For those reasons, Zhou Qing had encountered no resistance that threatened him while looting the prisoners and examining their memories.
Before long, however, he found an exception.
"Hand over your treasures."
Zhou Qing spoke to the green-robed elder beside a lake in the distance.
"You're the new jailer?"
Zhou Qing's blunt words left the green-robed elder momentarily stunned.
Then, with a look of disdain, he said, "The Nine Directions Chaos Kingdom must have run out of people, to make a Third-Tier True Immortal its jailer."
Zhou Qing's expression remained calm at the green-robed elder's words.
Over the past ten years, he had swept through more than five hundred prisoners, and plenty of them had liked to spout trash talk just like this elder.
But under his influence, every last one of them had ended up weeping bitterly and repenting to him.
"I'll say it again. Hand over your treasures."
The green-robed elder couldn't help sneering. "You want my treasures? If you've got the skill, come and take them!"
Before the elder had finished speaking, Zhou Qing turned into an afterimage and charged at him.
Sky Rend Claw!
In an instant, the blow, comparable to an attack from a top-tier Empyrean God, landed on the green-robed elder's divine body.
But the green-robed elder stood as firm as a rock, rather than being sent flying as Zhou Qing had imagined.
Hm?
Puzzled, Zhou Qing probed with his Heartforce and soon discovered something unusual around the green-robed elder.
Countless grains of extremely fine sand surrounded the elder, forming a shield that had blocked Zhou Qing's attack.
But that wasn't the main point. Zhou Qing also discovered a layer of Primordial Power condensed on the grains of sand.
If his senses weren't mistaken, it was at least third-stage Primordial Power.
Zhou Qing couldn't help taking an interest in the green-robed elder.
Besides him, there was actually another Empyrean God or Celestial Immortal in the World Prison who had comprehended Primordial Power to the third stage.
Although the green-robed elder had blocked Zhou Qing's attack, he was inwardly shocked.
He had realized that although both possessed third-stage Primordial Power, he had only just reached the third stage, while Zhou Qing had already gained a profound understanding of it.
Seeing that an ordinary attack couldn't breach the green-robed elder's defenses, Zhou Qing immediately unleashed Darkworld Descent.
Boom!
With a tremendous crash, a vast, boundless world appeared out of thin air and slammed into the green-robed elder.
Feeling the mountain-like weight bearing down on him, the green-robed elder's expression changed drastically.
Suppressed by this world, his strength immediately fell by thirty percent.
That wasn't all. Zhou Qing then used a Heartforce illusion on the green-robed elder.
Under the illusion's influence, the elder felt dizzy and lightheaded, and his strength fell by another fifty percent.
Then, with his mind affected by Zhou Qing's Dark World and illusion, the grains of sand surrounding him slipped out of his control and fell to the ground.
Just then!
Zhou Qing struck at once.
Sky Rend Claw!
Hit by the blow, comparable to an attack from a top-tier Empyrean God, the green-robed elder was sent flying, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.
Looking at the green-robed elder, who was barely clinging to life, Zhou Qing couldn't help shaking his head.
The Ki Refining Path really was lacking when it came to staying alive.
But Zhou Qing soon noticed that although the green-robed elder had been beaten to the brink of death, the defiance in his eyes hadn't diminished in the slightest. He showed no sign of yielding.
Seeing this, Zhou Qing immediately followed up with a short string of Heartforce bewitchment techniques. Under their influence, the green-robed elder's will to live slowly gained the upper hand.
"Stop..."
The green-robed elder's voice was weak.
"I submit."