Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 466 - 417 Pure Prison

Chapter 466: Chapter 417 Pure Prison
In the gloomy and cold dungeon of Xingzhou City, Xing Pengyue, with Jianquan Monk by his side, was walking through the corridor, introducing the felons imprisoned in the cells on both sides.
"Wei Liangcai was a scholar from Xingzhou, nearly forty years old, who lived with his brother and sister-in-law. After failing the imperial examinations multiple times, he overheard his sister-in-law gossiping about him with a neighbor. Enraged and humiliated, he poisoned his brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and niece. He then set fire to his neighbor’s house, murdering all five of them. When the government officials captured him, he was about to take an incendiary device and was preparing to attack the State School."
Xing Pengyue pointed to a middle-aged scholar in the corner of a cell who was stroking his beard while reading and said softly, "Could he enter the Hell Path?"
Jianquan Monk glanced at the scholar and shook his head. "Not enough."
"What about this one?"
Xing Pengyue turned toward another cell. "Feng Tunan, a river bandit who often disguised himself as a boatman to ferry passengers at the crossing. When the boat was halfway across the river, he would stop in the middle and ask the passengers if they wanted ’board-chopped noodles’ or ’wonton noodles.’ The former meant being chopped up one by one and thrown into the water; the latter meant stripping naked and jumping into the river to commit suicide. He made a fortune from threats and extortion, murdering at least scores, if not hundreds, of people."
Jianquan Monk glanced at the dazed prisoner cowering in a corner of the cell—one leg crippled, his body reeking—and shook his head. "Not enough."
"What about this one?"
Xing Pengyue, as if reciting from a familiar inventory, introduced each prisoner in turn: a gang leader who ran gambling dens, lent money at exorbitant rates, and frequently sent thugs to harass debtors to death; a brothel madam who forced respectable women into prostitution and delighted in torturing her servants.
It was only in the deepest part of the prison that Jianquan Monk reluctantly chose a prisoner who seemed most likely to belong to the Hell Path—an evil official named Ji Ruida, who exploited and oppressed the common people. Jianquan Monk had Xing Pengyue lead men to surround Ji Ruida’s cell and set up traps.
The setup was actually quite simple: everyone changed into prisoner’s clothes and hid in the adjacent, stuffy, foul-smelling, and mosquito-infested cells, silently awaiting the arrival of Shixing Monk.
I never imagined I’d actually end up in a dungeon one day.
Li Ang sat on a straw bed, looking quizzically at the filthy prison clothes he was wearing. He casually pinched and killed a flea hopping around in the seams.
SNAP.
Sitting opposite him, He Fanshuang slapped at the buzzing mosquitoes in the air. She too had put on prison attire, her hair a disheveled mess, making it impossible to discern her gender. Having visited He Fanshuang’s home on many occasions, Li Ang knew the girl had a mild obsession with cleanliness and absolutely detested their current surroundings—the goosebumps on the back of her hands were proof enough.
"Cough cough, there’s no need for you to stay and keep me company." Li Ang coughed lightly and said softly, "Shixing Monk is a Candle Cloud Cultivator; the main forces combating him are Master Jianquan, Commander Gongsun, and Master Xiong. We’re just here as backup; we don’t need to exert ourselves too much."
Li Ang himself had to stay and observe the hunt for Shixing Monk. Firstly, due to his title in Yu Country, it was his inescapable duty. Secondly, he had been present when Shixing Monk previously escaped. Considering the current situation, it was difficult to claim he had no connection to it.
"Who said anything about accompanying you?" Beneath her messy hair, He Fanshuang’s gaze remained cool. "First, it’s the duty of Academic Palace students to protect Yu Country’s citizens. Second, watching Candle Cloud Realm Cultivators risk their lives in battle will greatly benefit my promotion to the Cloud Patrol Realm."
Having said this, she reached out to swat at the mosquitoes again, hitting empty air.
"Has your myopia worsened again?" Li Ang couldn’t help but tease. "I’ve told you, stop reading in bed at night. If you continue like this, with myopia of several hundred degrees, without your glasses, you won’t be able to tell men from women within ten meters, and you won’t be able to distinguish people from vehicles within twenty meters."
"You two here, flirting and whispering sweet nothings?" Sui Yi, who was in the same cell, grumbled, scratching her itchy scalp and dusting off her prison uniform. "How long has it been since these clothes were washed? The Xingzhou dungeon is likely abusing prisoners. Hm? Wait a minute."
She suddenly paused, examined the prison uniform she was wearing, and mused thoughtfully, "Could this be the legendary ’pure prison style,’ the ’jail trend fashion’?"
Senior Sister, where did you learn these terms?
Li Ang’s eye twitched, feeling that if Sui Yi had been born in an Otherworld, she would definitely have been a trendsetter in the online world, a connoisseur of bad memes.
Suddenly, from the deepest part of the prison, came the clear sound of knocking on the wooden bars of a cell door.
All the garrison personnel disguised as prisoners stiffened at once; this was the prearranged signal, indicating that Shixing Monk’s arrival was imminent.
The idle chatter disappeared in an instant.
Li Ang pretended to lean his head against the wall, eyes narrowed, watching the entrance to the dungeon.
He Fanshuang silently reached under the mattress, gripping her sword hilt.
SSSS—
Like the hiss of falling sand, a black mass flowed in from beneath the wooden door at the dungeon entrance. The thing had no substance, like a patch of shadow. It slid up the wall, clinging to the ceiling above the corridor.
Everyone involuntarily held their breath, using the flickering candlelight on either side of the corridor to gaze at the ceiling.
The shadow slithered and writhed, making its way to the deepest part of the prison, effortlessly slipping through the gap in the cell door and arriving silently above Ji Ruida’s head.
Ji Ruida had long since been drugged and was lying on his bed, snoring heavily, completely oblivious to what was happening outside.
WHOOSH—
The shadow fell from the ceiling, landing beside Ji Ruida’s bed, and re-formed into a vaguely human shape.
Aren’t they going to make a move yet...?
Due to the angle, Li Ang couldn’t see the specific movements of the shadowy figure, but he could see Gongsun Changyi, Xiong Tuohai, and Jianquan Monk in the cell next to Ji Ruida’s, still sitting on their beds, as motionless as old monks in deep meditation.
The human-shaped shadow pulled up Ji Ruida. Its right hand formed the Nianhua Buddha Seal, pressing heavily on Ji Ruida’s forehead.
OMMM—
An invisible ripple spread throughout the entire dungeon. From beneath the floor tiles, within the walls, and above the ceiling—from all directions—came a seemingly ethereal yet holy Buddhist chant.
Ji Ruida’s eyes suddenly snapped open. The script of the Diamond Sutra surfaced on his skin, and he opened his mouth in a silent, agonizing scream. A misty white fog drifted from his mouth, flowing into the forehead of the human-shaped shadow and forming a sort of bridge.
Now! Gongsun Changyi’s eyes snapped open, and he slammed a palm against the wall before him.
The thick wall, built of bluestone bricks, crumbled as easily as a sandcastle. Xiong Tuohai, the Temple Master of Haotian Taoist Temple in Luoyang, then thrust out a finger. Lightning crackled and spread from his fingertip, surging through the breach Gongsun Changyi had created in the wall and striking towards the human-shaped shadow.
The figure abruptly realized it had been ambushed. However, it was still unwilling to release Ji Ruida, who symbolized the Hell Path, and tried to pull him along in a hasty retreat.
However, it had just taken a single step when the Sealing Demon Array, previously laid out by the garrison, activated beneath its feet, immobilizing it on the spot.