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The death prison lay deep beneath the outskirts of Spirit City, its entrance hidden inside a desolate stone forest.
As the heavy stone gate slowly opened, a cold, damp stench of mold and blood rushed out. Tang Yuehua instinctively covered her nose, her brows knitting tightly.
"Why is this place so… run-down?" she couldn't help whispering.
Given Spirit City's current prosperity, even a jail should be a bright, clean, high-tech facility packed with soul-engineered devices.
Yet the gloomy passage before her, lit by flickering torches, looked like the most primitive, oppressive dungeon of decades past.
The last time she'd come to see Bai Chenxiang, she'd only been in the outer guardroom; she'd never set foot here.
Ning Fengzhi, leading the way, gave a wry chuckle. "Madam Yuehua, this really is an old prison left from the Spirit Hall days. After the Spirit Empire was founded the city expanded several times, but this dungeon… was never touched."
"Why not?" Tang Yuehua asked, puzzled.
"Because… it wasn't needed." Ning Fengzhi's voice dropped. "In those years, under Her Majesty—Empress Bibi Dong—blood rained every day."
"Thousands died daily for every reason imaginable. Resist the Empire? Die. Embezzle? Die. Fail in duty? Die… Her methods were swift; criminals were never tried, merely executed."
"So there was no need to keep prisoners. They were all dead."
Tang Yuehua's heart pounded; she glanced instinctively at Xuan Ming beside her.
"Later the killings lessened, but the Empire's might was already feared. Add the new laws and widespread soul-engineered tech—crime became rare. The occasional fool was dealt with on the spot. Thus this dungeon stayed abandoned… until Clear Sky Sect was brought back in chains."
As they spoke they traversed the long passage and reached the area where Clear Sky Sect disciples were held.
There was none of the expected security—no guard every three paces, no sentinel every five.
Even the rusty iron bars looked frail, as if a slight push could break them.
"They're just left like this? What if they escape?" Tang Yuehua exclaimed.
After all, these were once elites of the world's top Sect; even in defeat many were Spirit Emperor or Spirit Saint experts.
"Escape?"
Ning Fengzhi shook his head, pointing at the hollow-eyed, ashen prisoners. "They wouldn't dare."
"From day one the warden set a rule: anyone who steps outside his cell is flayed alive, and every other person still inside—collective punishment, all executed."
"A total extermination scheme," Ning Fengzhi sighed. "Whoever flees becomes the sinner who wiped out the whole Sect. Thus no one dares try; if anyone even thinks of it, the rest pin him down."
A chill of sorrow ran through Tang Yuehua.
Once-proud Clear Sky Sect had fallen so far that even the will to resist or flee had been ground to dust.
"We're here."
Ning Fengzhi stopped at the largest cell.
Through the bars they could see it packed with people.
Most wore rags and looked haggard, yet the moment they spotted Tang Yuehua their dead eyes blazed with disbelief.
"Yue… Yuehua?!"
"It's Aunt Yuehua! She's come to save us!"
"Young Miss! It really is Young Miss!"
The cell erupted in commotion, cries and shouts merging into one.
Xuan Ming halted, not entering further.
"Go on. I'll wait outside. Some words I'm not meant to hear, and I don't want to."
Tang Yuehua gave him a grateful look, nodded firmly, and hurried to the gate.
Watching her disappear inside, Xuan Ming turned and casually leaned against the damp stone wall.
"By the way… how is Shrek Academy?" he suddenly asked.
Ning Fengzhi blinked, surprised that Xuan Ming still cared about a name long vanished from history.
Collecting his thoughts he answered, "Shrek Academy… no longer exists."
"After the Heaven Dou Imperial Family announced surrender and voluntarily merged into the Spirit Empire, every faction that had relied on the royals—or simply switched sides—attacked all old powers linked to Heaven Dou to prove loyalty."
"Shrek Academy, bearing the Heaven Dou royal title, was the first target."
"Soon the institute was forced to disband; teachers and students scattered, their whereabouts unknown."
Xuan Ming nodded, unsurprised.
When a wall collapses, everyone gives it a push—an eternal truth.
"What of Flender and the others?"
"From what I've learned, Headmaster Flender… left for the Sun Moon Continent with Liu Erlong not long ago," Ning Fengzhi replied. "Perhaps to them this Douluo Continent has become a land of heartbreak; leaving is a kind of release."
"Better gone," Xuan Ming said flatly. "And those students? Apart from Tang San, who got himself thrown into this death prison, where are the rest?"
Ning Fengzhi pondered. "Oscar—the food system Spirit Master—left Heaven Dou City when the two Empires went to war and vanished. Recently, however, scouts in Vast Sea City reported a strange food system Spirit Master nicknamed Uncle Big Sausage who supplies seafaring adventurers. He seems to have reached Spirit Saint level."
"Spirit Saint… not bad," Xuan Ming judged.
"As for Ma Hongjun…" Ning Fengzhi's expression turned odd. "That Fatty surprised everyone."
"Years ago he followed Tang San to Sea God Island. There he underwent some trial of the Sea God; his cultivation soared and the flaw of his Evil Fire Phoenix Spirit was cured, turning him into… well, a rather handsome young man."
Xuan Ming raised a brow. "Oh? That dead Fatty had such perseverance? Rare."
"But when Tang San and the rest left Sea God Island over Yu Xiaogang's matter, Ma Hongjun went with them to the Sun Moon Continent. Once there he didn't join their troubles; he vanished instead."
"Given his talent and current state, he's at least a Spirit Douluo, maybe even touching the threshold of Titled Douluo. Presumably he's thriving in some corner of the Sun Moon Continent."
Xuan Ming nodded; the outcome didn't surprise him.
Back then, for Liu Erlong's sake, he'd given Flender a bit of ten thousand year profound ice marrow. Used regularly it could suppress Ma Hongjun's evil fire, but the boy had to Cultivate desperately—once the marrow ran out he'd die.
Since Ma Hongjun was still alive, he must have cultivated frantically.
"And Dai Mubai?" Xuan Ming asked.
Ning Fengzhi shook his head. "Dai Mubai… is dead."
"Dead?"
"Yes, many years ago," Ning Fengzhi sighed. "He died in Star Luo Empire's war of succession."
"When the Spirit Empire's armies pressed in, the Star Luo court was thrown into turmoil. Dai Weisi—Dai Mubai's elder brother—staged a coup to prove loyalty to the Empire."
"In that coup Dai Mubai, his rival, was beheaded by Dai Weisi himself."
"Today Dai Weisi, as the representative of those who surrendered, is appointed governor of Star Luo Province, administering that region."
Xuan Ming was silent a moment. "Winner takes all; that too is fate."