Chapter 576: The Prisoner Chen Shi

Crowds of gloating shouts came from all directions, quite noisy. Chen Shi looked around and saw many similar cages nearby, some containing people—immortals, demons, and monsters alike—all like him, their transformations locked away, trapped within their cages.

"Quiet!"

A booming voice came from outside the cages. Chen Shi followed the sound and saw many Bixie clinging to the walls and pillars outside the prison cages. They had tiger heads and tiger bodies, dragon claws and dragon tails, measuring several zhang from head to tail, climbing the walls and pillars as if walking on flat ground.

The largest of them suddenly jumped down, landed on the ground, and paced slowly through the gloomy prison, speaking in human tongue with a grim tone: "Everyone locked in the Heavenly Prison is guilty. Not one is innocent. I can smell deep sin in your scents!"

It bumped against a cage, its voice rolling like thunder: "You overturned the Heavenly King's glazed cup, death sentence! You peeped at the palace maid bathing, death sentence! You stole immortal pills, death sentence! You, you, and you, all death sentences! There is no one innocent in this prison!"

It came before Chen Shi's cage, glanced at him, and said, "You, as a heavenly soldier, publicly killed a Regional Commander and attempted to seize power. A crime deserving a thousand deaths!"

Chen Shi quickly said, "I am innocent! Yin Fenglou and I had a fair duel..."

"Shut up!"

The Bixie snorted and barked, "Whether you're guilty or not, one sniff from my nose will tell! I smell the scent of sin on you!"

It sniffed hard, then showed a confused expression. It sniffed again, even more puzzled, then leaped onto the wall.

Other Bixie crawled along the wall and came to its side, asking, "Big Brother, what's wrong?"

"I smell the scent of sin on the prisoner Chen Shi, but I also smell the scent of sacred incense offerings."

The Bixie said, "This is somewhat strange. Perhaps he acted on behalf of some sacred deity, and that's why he killed the Regional Commander. Judging from the incense offerings I smell, this deity is no small matter... Who brought him here?"

A gaunt Bixie said, "The Commander of the Heavenly Soldiers' Geng Division at the West Heaven Expanse brought him. He said this heavenly soldier killed Regional Commander Yin Fenglou, wounded many heavenly soldiers, and caused a great uproar at the West Heaven Expanse, so he was sent to the Heavenly Prison to be executed as a warning to others. Big Brother, is there an injustice here?"

The Bixie sneered, "His sins are heinous, how could there be injustice? Besides, since ancient times, how many innocents have been sent to the Heavenly Prison? We only handle the incarceration. As long as they don't die in our cells before being taken to the Immortal Execution Platform, we can rest easy."

The other Bixie nodded in agreement.

"Let's not bother with Chen Shi. Give him his three meals a day without fail. Let him eat and drink as he pleases."

The Bixie said, "Once we've served him until his execution day, it's no longer our business. The only thing we need to guard against is someone trying to break him out of prison. If someone comes to rescue prisoners, we'll all pretend to be asleep and let the prisoner be taken. No need to get ourselves killed over it."

He paused, then said, "The power behind him might exceed what we can resist. Not worth losing our lives over this matter."

Chen Shi stood in his cage, trying to mobilize his own magical power. Every time he did, his shackles and cuffs emitted a faint glow, locking his upper, middle, and lower elixir fields with strange formations. The meridians in his body were also sealed by immortal Dao talismans, and even his Primordial Spirit was shackled. No magical power could be mobilized.

These were Soul-Locking Shackles and Immortal-Binding Chains, specially made by the Celestial Court to bind immortals. Once fitted on a person, there was no escape.

Chen Shi struggled for a moment but couldn't break free from the shackles and cuffs. He furrowed his brow slightly and thought to himself, "Am I really going to be trapped in the Heavenly Prison, waiting to be taken to the Immortal Execution Platform?"

Just as he thought this, a strange power suddenly surged from somewhere within his body. With two clinking sounds, the shackles and cuffs actually opened!

Not only that, but all the various seals and locks that had been binding his upper, middle, and lower elixir fields, his meridians, and his Primordial Spirit were now all released, allowing his magical power to flow freely without obstruction!

Chen Shi was stunned, staring blankly at his hands. He had done nothing at all, so why had the shackles opened?

He steadied himself and activated the Primordial Chaos Dao Scripture. His immortal essence flowed without any resistance.

When cultivators reached the Ascension stage, their cultivation began to transform from true essence to immortal essence, which was superior in quality and contained the mysteries of longevity.

Although Chen Shi's realm was only the Celestial Immortal Realm, his immortal essence cultivation was not inferior to that of an ordinary True Immortal.

"Strange, why did the shackles on my body open by themselves?"

Still somewhat puzzled, he walked to the edge of the cage. The cage had layers of seals that were invisible normally, but any attempt to escape would trigger these forbidden Dao patterns, locking the prisoner down. Even if a prisoner broke free of the shackles, they still couldn't escape the cage.

Chen Shi hesitated for a moment, then tentatively reached out his hand, quietly probing toward the edge of the cage.

"Buzz!"

Strand after strand of forbidden Dao patterns materialized, forming a dense net.

Chen Shi was astonished. His palm clearly touched and even passed through the net, yet the net showed no reaction at all!

"Is the Heavenly Prison this open?"

He hesitated for a moment, then boldly stepped through the net and came outside the cage. The net still showed no reaction whatsoever.

Outside, the Bixie was just talking about prison breaks and not worth losing their lives over. At that moment, one Bixie showed a shocked expression, poked him with its claw, and gestured downward with its chin, whispering, "Big Brother, what if there's no prison break, but the prisoner walks out of the Heavenly Prison on his own?"

The Bixie looked down and saw Chen Shi walking out of the Heavenly Prison. He hadn't tried to escape, but was standing there looking around.

The Bixie felt a chill in its heart: "A powerful being is secretly helping him undo the Heavenly Prison's seals! This is even more terrifying than a prison break!"

With that thought, it immediately sent a telepathic message to all the Bixie: "Feign sleep! No matter what sounds come from the Heavenly Prison, don't open your eyes!"

All the Bixie in the entire Heavenly Prison immediately closed their eyes and pretended to be asleep in unison.

"Hey! Warden! Someone has walked out of the Heavenly Prison!" a death-row prisoner in the cell next to Chen Shi shouted.

The Bixie all pretended to sleep, turning a deaf ear.

The death-row prisoners in other cells looked out and indeed saw the newly arrived death-row prisoner Chen Shi strolling about outside with a swagger. They immediately became indignant and shouted, "Warden! Someone's escaping! Come arrest him!" "Warden, are you blind? That thick-headed immortal has gotten out!" "Still pretending to sleep? Damn your ancestors!"

...

They cursed endlessly, but the Bixie all pretended not to hear, only hoping that Chen Shi would successfully escape quickly and leave this place of trouble without dragging them into it.

Chen Shi, however, stood there looking around, clearly unsure of the way out of the Heavenly Prison.

He looked in every direction, but no matter which way he turned, all he could see were spiraling upward passages, the walls of which were covered with dense rows of pigeonhole-like cages.

And as his feet moved, these passages and the arrangement of cages within them also shifted and changed, as if no matter where he went, no matter how fast he walked, he was always at the very center of the Heavenly Prison!

"This situation must be an ultimate form of spatial mastery! I suspect that no matter which cell in the Heavenly Prison one is in, the view is the same as mine. Every location is the center of the Heavenly Prison!"

Chen Shi's eyes flickered as he observed this wonder, thinking to himself, "When the Heaven-Earth Variation is refined to its ultimate limit, this must be how it manifests. Such an achievement far surpasses mine, and also far surpasses Fifth Uncle. Even if Fifth Uncle were thrown into the Heavenly Prison, he couldn't find his way out!"

He thought for a moment, then walked back into his cage.

"Big Brother, he's gone back!" a Bixie noticed Chen Shi and hastily reported.

"Back?"

The Bixie heard this and felt a headache coming on. He had been hoping Chen Shi would escape the Heavenly Prison. As long as Chen Shi escaped, whether he lived or died would no longer be their concern. But unexpectedly, Chen Shi didn't leave. Instead, he returned to his cage, apparently planning to stay here.

"What if someone comes to break him out..." he sighed inwardly.

Chen Shi couldn't stay put in the cell either. Sometimes he would come out of his cage and wander leisurely through the Heavenly Prison. Whenever this happened, the Bixie all played deaf, dumb, and blind, ignoring him completely, and turning a deaf ear to those prisoners shouting about someone escaping.

"Keep making noise and I'll whip you!" one Bixie, annoyed by the racket, threatened the death-row prisoners.

"He's a death-row prisoner too! Why don't you do anything when he escapes?" one death-row prisoner still refused to accept it.

Then the Bixie took up its whip and sent him rolling on the ground, his screams echoing through the Heavenly Prison.

After that, when Chen Shi came out for his strolls, no death-row prisoners shouted anymore. They must have been beaten into submission.

Chen Shi cultivated in the Heavenly Prison without any hindrance. In fact, thanks to the peace and quiet, he felt his cultivation was progressing faster than before, which delighted him.

"I just wonder how Black Pot is doing now."

One day, Chen Shi was leaning against a cell, asking the prisoner inside, "How did you get in here? I got in from a fight. I killed someone and was sentenced to the Immortal Execution Platform... Why aren't you saying anything?"

The fellow prisoner remained silent.

Chen Shi perked up and said, "Can you cultivate? I can cultivate now. My Primordial Chaos Dao Scripture has been refined quite well..."

"BOOM!"

The Heavenly Prison suddenly shook violently, startling the feigning Bixie. Forgetting about Chen Shi, they opened their eyes and looked around in alarm: "Has someone come to break prisoners out?"

Then came more booming sounds, but not from within the Heavenly Prison—they came from the space outside the prison, as if some giant was unleashing boundless power, destroying everything around!

Even the Heavenly Prison rocked violently, swaying back and forth. The death-row prisoners inside were tossed about, unable to keep their footing.

Wave after wave of terrifying tremors came, startling the Bixie into prostrating themselves, not daring to move. Even Chen Shi felt his normally lively immortal essence suddenly grow quiet, unable to be awakened no matter what.

"What kind of Dao technique is this?" he thought in horror.

At that moment, a crisp sound came from the heavens and the earth, audible even within the Heavenly Prison, as if something in the depths of their hearts had suddenly snapped.

Chen Shi felt a hollow emptiness in his chest, as if he had lost something precious. Many death-row prisoners in the Heavenly Prison, however, seemed touched in the softest place of their hearts. Quite a few vicious, heinous criminals actually burst into tears.

From outside the Heavenly Prison came deafening shouts, surging like a tide, a cacophony of noise so jumbled that no one could make out what was being said.

Chen Shi strained his ears but couldn't distinguish the words either, though he could hear the terror in the voices.

After a long while, the sounds gradually subsided, and the great booming ceased at some point as well.

Many Bixie continued guarding the Heavenly Prison, not daring to go out to investigate.

After another long while, someone escorted prisoners to the Heavenly Prison. The Bixie hurried over and asked, "Officer Pu, what happened outside? What's all this commotion about?"

The officer was responsible for capturing fugitives across the land. This time he had just entered the Celestial Court, delivering a death-row prisoner in exchange for some Immortal Spirit Liquid. He said, "The Celestial Court was attacked. Rumor has it that a great demon appeared nearby, took advantage of the Celestial Court's unpreparedness, sneaked in, and went on a killing spree. Quite a few immortals died."

Chen Shi also came forward, mingling among the Bixie, straining to listen.

The Bixie pretended not to notice him, but the officer had never seen Chen Shi before and gave him a few extra glances. Assuming he was a prison guard, he didn't pay it any mind and said, "This great demon made quite a scene. Not only did it kill many immortals, it even shook the Celestial Court itself. I heard that the Celestial Strategy, one of the Celestial Way's magic treasures, was also destroyed by that great demon."

At these words, all the Bixie were stunned. The leader of the Bixie asked in a trembling voice, "A Celestial Way magic treasure was destroyed?"

The officer said, "It wasn't the Celestial Way that was destroyed, but the Celestial Strategy that was destroyed."

The Bixie's expressions shifted uneasily. The Celestial Way magic treasures had always been symbols of the Celestial Court. These treasures possessed tremendous power, supremely strong and fierce. It was precisely because of these Celestial Way magic treasures that immortals and gods were kept from opposing each other.

Now that the Celestial Strategy had been destroyed, the balance between the two sides had been broken.

Chen Shi poked his head in, curious, and asked, "Who did it?"

Officer Pu looked at him, then at the Bixie. The Bixie remained silent. Officer Pu said, "The great demon, of course. Who else? Could it be one of those mighty Grand Gold Immortals?"

Chen Shi understood and said, "The timing of the great demon's appearance is too coincidental. So coincidental it seems deliberately arranged. Why didn't it go after those deities, but specifically targeted the Celestial Strategy?"

He suddenly remembered that when he achieved Dao Unification at the West Heaven Expanse, his consciousness had been summoned by the Celestial Strategy. The Celestial Strategy had almost forcibly made him "see" all of its Celestial Way Dao patterns!

The so-called "seeing" wasn't really seeing—the Celestial Strategy had imprinted these Celestial Way Dao patterns into his consciousness!

"Not long after the Celestial Strategy imprinted its Celestial Way Dao patterns on me, this happened. Could it be that the Celestial Strategy already foresaw that it would be destroyed by someone, and therefore planned ahead, transferring itself into my body?"

He blinked, holding his chin with his left hand, his right hand supporting his left elbow, pacing back and forth.

Officer Pu looked at him suspiciously, then suddenly whispered, "This man is a prisoner, isn't he?"

"Prisoner? What prisoner?"

All the Bixie looked bewildered, glancing around. "Where's any prisoner?"

Officer Pu had no idea what scheme these Bixie were up to, so he could only say, "Hurry up and process the prisoner handover so I can go to the Celestial Court offices to collect my reward."

The Bixie completed the handover with him, escorting the prisoner into the Heavenly Prison for confinement.

Officer Pu was about to head out when another person hurried over, smiling, "Gentlemen, a decree from the court! The suspect Chen Shi has been investigated and found innocent. He may be released!"