"By the way, leader, last time you left without paying for the meal. Are you still owing or should we settle it now?" Man Gu asked before leaving.
Lu Yang quickly interrupted Man Gu, "Shut up! As someone from the demonic path, it's only natural to eat for free. Do you really think the leader is the kind of nice guy who pays for meals?"
Meng Jingzhou chimed in, "Exactly! The leader said he was treating us, not that he was paying the bill. How can you not tell the difference?"
Chu, the leader, could only stay silent.
He had to admit that when it came to squeezing people for money, he wasn't as good as these three.
He gritted his teeth to suppress the urge to hit someone and tossed a gold ingot to Man Gu, "No need for change. You three hurry up and leave!"
Man Gu looked confused. He was just asking for money, so why did Lu and Meng sound like they were defending him, but also helping the leader?
By the time the three of them left, it was already late at night. Lu Yang gazed up at the dazzling starry sky and sighed.
"Who would have thought that the stars in the sky are fake? Unexpected, really unexpected."
Meng Jingzhou scratched his head, "Isn't it a bit predictable? My grandpa has always told me that he can get me whatever I want, even a star from the sky. When I was about seven or eight, I pointed to a star and said I wanted that one."
"My grandpa then went to the universe and came back with a tiny speck the size of a fingernail, saying that was a star, and coincidentally, a star disappeared from the sky."
"I argued with my grandpa, saying stars should be huge, bigger than our yard, not this small. He just smiled mysteriously and said stars are this small."
"And then what happened?" Lu Yang asked, intrigued.
"Then? Then people from the Ministry of Justice came, apparently a high-ranking official, saying my grandpa was stealing natural resources and demanded he return the star. My grandpa gave back the speck, and a star appeared in the night sky again."
"At that moment, I felt something was off, but I couldn't figure it out. Over time, I forgot about it. Now that I think about it, what I held in my hand was really a star."
"Truly impressive for someone from the Meng family, your childhood experiences are so different from ours." Lu Yang shook his head, thinking about what he did as a child.
He remembered that before he crossed over, he used to recite ancient poems, like "The high tower is a hundred feet tall, I can reach for the stars. I dare not speak loudly, for fear of startling the people above."
He could only reach for stars in poems, while Meng Jingzhou could actually reach for them. That’s the difference.
Recently, Lu Yang had considered writing a novel to make some money, something like "The Wandering Earth." But in this world, it probably wouldn't be a planetary engine pushing the Earth, but a powerful cultivator doing the pushing.
The three of them didn’t dwell on the stars and the continent anymore; such matters were too distant for them. With their current skills, they couldn't even move big stones, let alone stars.
"Let’s get some rest. Tomorrow we’ll visit our fellow disciples locked up in prison."
The three of them yawned. Once they reached the Foundation Establishment stage, they could meditate instead of sleep, and it had the same effect, but they preferred actual sleep.
Meditation? That was for the Golden Core stage.
Early the next morning, Lu Yang found Captain Wei and explained his purpose. Captain Wei quickly approved the request, allowing Lu Yang to visit the prison.
As soon as he stepped into the prison, Lu Yang felt his spiritual energy was like it was trapped. He couldn't mobilize it at all, and his body felt sluggish.
"This is the spiritual suppression array that Captain Wei mentioned?" Lu Yang was surprised. He didn’t expect the array to be as powerful as Captain Wei said.
When Captain Wei gave Lu Yang the approval, he mentioned to pay attention to the spiritual suppression array, which specifically targets cultivators. Within the array, a cultivator's abilities are restricted, and they can't use any spells. This is to prevent cultivators from breaking out of prison.
The prison's spiritual suppression array was very advanced; even Golden Core cultivators would be restricted, with no exceptions.
When Lu Yang arrived, it happened to be the shift change for the guards.
The day shift guard was yawning, tears in his eyes, looking dazed as if he hadn’t woken up.
The night shift guard was about to get off work and was in a good mood. He joked, "Old Zhou, you’re usually so alert. Why do you look so tired today? Did you do something you shouldn’t have last night?"
Old Zhou opened his mouth wide and let out a big yawn before saying, "I don’t know what’s going on lately. I just can’t wake up. Getting up in the morning is hard. It’s not just me; my wife is the same. I even splashed my face with water when I got here, but I’m still sleepy."
The night shift guard laughed, "You must have done something last night and didn’t sleep well. Look at me, I’m not tired at all."
Old Zhou rolled his eyes, "You’re a cultivator; it’s different for you."
The night shift guard waved his hand dismissively, "I’m just at the first layer of Qi training. Who knows if I’ll ever reach the second layer? I’m hardly a real cultivator."
In the prison, the day shift guards were ordinary people, while the night shift guards were cultivators at the first layer of Qi training. The Qi training cultivators ensured they wouldn’t be tired at night and wouldn’t slack off.
Cultivators didn’t want to be suppressed by the spiritual suppression array, just like ordinary people, but having only Qi training cultivators guard the prison clearly wasn’t enough. So, there were hidden sentinels outside the prison, also cultivators.
After the shift change, Lu Yang approached Old Zhou with his approval.
Old Zhou glanced at Lu Yang, searched him, and found he only had a lunch box. He let him go.
...
Chi Xulong, known for his ruthless reputation among the rogue cultivators in nearby counties, believed that after joining the demonic sect, he would achieve great things, carve out a territory, and become a local overlord.
Even being stuck in prison couldn’t change his ambitions.
Since he was in prison, he decided to become the prison bully!
The first obstacle in front of him was that he couldn’t intimidate others.
He was trapped in a cage that even Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn’t break, and he didn’t even have a weapon. The person next door was relentless with his words, either cursing or mocking, which made Chi Xulong grind his teeth in anger.
At that moment, his cellmate Shen Jinyi came up with an idea. He held a small stone in his mouth and spat it out, and it flew out like a bullet with incredible force. It was clear how powerful it was when it hit someone.
Shen Jinyi, being an assassin, was skilled at using various objects as hidden weapons.
"We’re brothers in hardship, so we need to work together now!" Shen Jinyi said loyally. "If you learn this trick, you’ll be invincible in the prison. Let’s dominate this place together!"
Chi Xulong was greatly encouraged and worked hard to learn how to shoot stone projectiles with his mouth.
Unfortunately, Chi Xulong didn’t have the talent. He was just strong but couldn’t master it.
"You need to hold your breath and then spit it out quickly!" Shen Jinyi was demonstrating, trying to teach Chi Xulong.
"I know, it’s just a quick spit," Chi Xulong said, a bit impatient.
"No, no, you’re not puffing your cheeks out enough. Like this."
"Like this?"
Lu Yang stood outside the prison, watching Chi Xulong and Shen Jinyi making funny faces at each other, wondering if he should say something to remind them. The scene was easily misunderstood.
First, let me record this with the crystal ball.
(End of Chapter)