Chapter 146: Innocent Heart

From then on, the Emperor of Xia knew that crossing the Wendao Sect was what truly fulfilled the "one-hundred-thousand-year curse."

Those lurking in the shadows merely believed Yun Zhi to be exceptionally gifted and remarkably strong, yet they possessed no clear concept of her "strength."

Had they known just how strong Yun Zhi was, they would have realized how utterly foolish this scheme of alienation truly was.

"Eldest Senior Sister, where exactly are we heading?" Lu Yang asked, noticing that after flying into the Wendao Sect, she did not halt at Heaven's Gate Peak but continued onward.

Lu Yang had never set foot here before; below them lay vast mountains and great marshes, thousands of miles of barren red earth, and loess deserts.

"Prison Peak."

Neither Lu Yang nor Meng Jingzhou had ever heard of this place.

The Eldest Senior Sister traversed these regions and descended upon a bleak, sinister summit, which was bound tightly by colossal chains, their other ends anchored to four peaks in the four cardinal directions; the hair on the two young men's necks stood on end, feeling that this was no pleasant place.

Lu Yang had studied a bit of feng shui arrays; feng shui emphasized "flow," requiring at least one of the four cardinal directions to connect with the outside world as a conduit for vitality, yet this Prison Peak was ringed by mountains on all sides, choking off all life, while the clouds pressing tight against the peak resembled a lid, sealing the area completely.

Prison Peak was a place designated for the confinement and interrogation of criminals.

The trio touched down, and Yun Zhi opened the entrance to the array; gripping the two souls of the Integration Stage, she entered from the foot of the mountain and ventured all the way down, stopping only after descending roughly five thousand meters.

The prisoners were all locked deep beneath Prison Peak.

Upon arriving at Prison Peak, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou felt as though they had returned to Buyi Town, completely unable to muster even a shred of spiritual essence; this was not an essence-repressing array, but rather a rule.

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou discovered nearly a hundred cages here, most of which stood empty, with only a dozen or so holding occupants.

To be precise, those confined were not living men but soul bodies; under the suppression of the rule, these spirits appeared withered, listless, and thoroughly drained of vitality.

Seeing two young lads like Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, a few souls began to salivate, longing to lunge forward and devour them, but the moment they caught sight of the Eldest Senior Sister, they instantly grew docile.

Lu Yang thought to himself that the number of captives here was far too meager; even the dungeon of Yanjiang County held more prisoners than this.

"Those imprisoned here are all ancient Integration Stage experts, so mind yourselves," Yun Zhi cautioned them.

The two of them shuddered instantly, no longer thinking the numbers small.

Good heavens, more than a dozen Integration Stage masters were locked up here?

"Eldest Senior Sister, aren't you afraid they might escape?" Lu Yang asked in a low whisper.

"Escape? You boy, you look down on this old man far too much," a tender voice drifted over, prompting Lu Yang to turn his head back at the sound, only to spot a white-haired child, so small that he barely reached Lu Yang's waist even when standing on tiptoe.

"Grandmaster."

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou were astonished; the white-haired child was actually the master of Daoist Buyu.

"Grandmaster," both of them greeted.

"Hehe, do you think I am too small?"

"Not at all, not at all."

The white-haired child spoke with a pompous, old-mannered air: "You two are still too young, lacking experience, and do not comprehend my state; this is a form of cultivation."

Lu Yang quickly recalled a legend: "As the ancients said, 'Constant virtue never departs, returning to the state of an infant,' and 'The multitude are joyously feasting, as if celebrating a great sacrifice, or ascending a tower in spring; I alone am tranquil and unmoving, like an infant who has not yet smiled.'"

"Many great cultivators spend their entire lives pursuing a heart of pure innocence, yet they never manage to attain that realm. A deliberate pursuit is no longer the thought of a child; how then could one achieve a true heart of pure innocence?"

"Could it be that you, Grandmaster, have already 'returned to the state of an infant,' reaching the realm of returning to simplicity, the unity of heaven and man, and possessing the mindset of pure innocence?"

Meng Jingzhou was equally astounded; a heart of pure innocence had always existed only in legends, and not a single elder of the Meng family had ever achieved such a state of mind, yet to think there was one right here in the Wendao Sect?

The white-haired child smiled without speaking, nodding gently with an expression that seemed to say they were promising youths.

Locating her target, Yun Zhi looked somewhat puzzled: "That is not quite the information I received."

"Master said that in your youth, Grandmaster, you were utterly dissolute, frequenting brothels and neglecting your cultivation; later, for reasons unknown, you received a profound shock, woke up to your senses, and resolved to cultivate diligently, fixing your body forever at the age of six to show your resolve, so you would never have to worry about leaking your primal yang essence."

Lu Yang: "..."

Meng Jingzhou: "..."

Strictly speaking, this was indeed a form of cultivation.

The two recalled that once cultivators reached a certain realm, they could control their appearance; could the reason why some cultivators preferred to maintain the look of a young child or a fading elder be the same as their Grandmaster's?

No, no, no, such matters were best left unpondered; the two quickly emptied their minds.

"In any case, with this old man here, not a single Integration Stage master locked up in this place can ever dream of escaping!" The white-haired child forcibly changed the subject, "Girl Yun, did you capture two more people?"

"Yes, I intend to interrogate them."

"Why not just perform a soul search?" the white-haired child suggested.

Yun Zhi shook her head: "A soul search would destroy their consciousness; the souls of the Integration Stage are excellent materials for refining Dharma treasures, and without their consciousness, the effectiveness of the treasures would be greatly compromised."

The two Integration Stage souls shuddered in unison; had they not agreed that the Wendao Sect was a righteous and reputable orthodox sect? This was entirely different from the righteous sect they had envisioned!

Yun Zhi looked at the two Integration Stage souls with confusion, unable to comprehend why they were afraid: "You allowed so many people to die in terror, so isn't it only natural that you receive the same treatment?"

Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you; Yun Zhi had assumed these two had long understood this principle.

Yun Zhi and the white-haired child each hauled an Integration Stage soul and tossed them into cages; Lu Yang followed Yun Zhi, while Meng Jingzhou followed the white-haired child.

Yun Zhi went straight to work with severe torture, employing all manner of implements designed specifically for soul bodies in succession; the captive shrieked in agony repeatedly, causing Lu Yang's eyelids to twitch wildly, never expecting his Eldest Senior Sister to be so ruthless.

Wait a moment, it seemed that when he first began his cultivation, Eldest Senior Sister had treated him in much the same way?

Could it be that Eldest Senior Sister had applied her experience in severe torture directly to guiding his cultivation?

The Immortal Fairy shuddered every time she watched the Eldest Senior Sister employ a torture device; she felt that joining the Wendao Sect was truly a wise decision on her part.

Surely the Wendao Sect wouldn't be this ruthless to its own people, right?

"Strange, why hasn't he confessed anything?" Yun Zhi wondered; her Grandmaster had told her that following such a procedure would undoubtedly make a prisoner reveal everything.

Standing to the side, Lu Yang whispered softly, "Eldest Senior Sister, you haven't asked him anything yet."

Yun Zhi let out an "oh," picking up the first torture implement to begin the procedure all over again, which terrified the captive into screaming out hastily, "Don't, don't, don't! I'll talk, I'll confess everything!"

"What era are you from?"

"The forty-thousandth year of the Great Yu Dynasty."

"Have you ever heard of the Immortal Cultivator or the Immortal Fairy?"

"Never heard of them."

"Hmm? Still lying?"

The man was nearly driven to tears by Yun Zhi's cold, indifferent expression: "I truly have never heard of them; in our era, we only heard that there were immortals in the western Buddhist kingdoms, immortals in the southern demon realms, and suspected immortals in the eastern oceans and the extreme north; I do not know a single immortal's name."

"If you are looking for the Immortal Cultivator, you might want to check the extreme north; perhaps an immortal was frozen solid there, which could count as a form of immortality."

The Immortal Fairy was so infuriated that she wanted to roll up her sleeves and beat him on the spot.

(End of Chapter)