Chapter 103: Song Fuyao

The next day, as soon as Lu Yang arrived at the Imperial Prison, he heard a commotion coming from the entrance.

There were shouting voices, the clinking of chains, and even occasional furious curses.

Lu Yang paused for a moment.

Having worked in the Imperial Prison for several years, he had encountered all kinds of prisoners. Some cried, some begged, some threatened the guards, and others remained silent throughout their detention.

However, the noise coming from the entrance seemed unusually lively.

Curious, he walked over to take a look.

What greeted him was a young woman being dragged forward by two female prison guards.

She appeared to be around eighteen years old. Her hands and feet were bound by black iron chains, and the two guards were holding her arms from either side.

Despite this, she struggled with astonishing determination, twisting her body and kicking whenever she found an opportunity.

Her curses were even more astonishing.

"Let go of this old lady! You two shameless dogs! Just wait until I get out of here, I’ll make you regret being born!"

The two female guards seemed to have grown accustomed to her behavior. They continued dragging her forward without paying much attention to her threats.

Her curses, however, showed no sign of stopping.

In fact, they seemed to become increasingly creative as time passed.

Lu Yang stood there silently.

"..."

Throughout the years, he had encountered arrogant young masters, ruthless cultivators, treacherous elders, and people who could curse their enemies for an entire day without repeating themselves.

Yet, for some reason, this young woman managed to give him a completely different impression.

Her vocabulary was truly eye opening, causing even Lu Yang to feel a chill in his heart.

He suddenly understood why the two female guards looked so exhausted.

At that moment, the guards finally noticed him, their eyes immediately lighting up.

"Brother Lu!"

One of them called out as if she had just encountered a savior.

"You’re here at the perfect time! This prisoner has been assigned to Guard Leader Sun’s lane. We’ll leave her to you!"

Before Lu Yang could respond, the other guard had already stepped forward and placed a bundle of records into his hands.

Without hesitation, she handed him the chains binding the young woman’s hands and feet.

The movements were so smooth that Lu Yang barely had time to react.

By the time he understood what was happening, the two female guards had already taken several steps backward.

"Wait a moment..."

Lu Yang looked at them, but before he could complete his sentence, the two women smiled at him with expressions that seemed unusually sincere.

"Thank you for your hard work!"

With those words, they turned around and left hurriedly.

Lu Yang stood there, motionless.

He lowered his head and looked at the records in his hands before glancing at the chains.

Finally, he slowly turned his head towards the young woman.

She was staring at him as well.

Her face was beautiful, with delicate features and a pair of bright eyes. However, the expression she wore at that moment was so cold that it seemed capable of freezing the surrounding air.

Their gazes met, and for a brief moment, neither of them spoke.

Then the young woman’s face flushed red with rage.

"You dog official! So you people have finally sent someone else to bully me!"

Lu Yang felt a headache coming on.

He hadn’t even done anything, yet for some reason, he had already become the object of her hatred.

"Miss, please calm down." He couldn’t help but speak up.

"Calm down? You want this old lady to calm down?!"

The young woman struggled violently against her chains.

"Let me go! If you have the ability, remove these chains and fight me fairly! What kind of people are you, bullying someone whose hands and feet are bound?"

Lu Yang glanced at the chains. They were made of black iron and were specially designed to restrain cultivators.

Most ordinary middle stage Body Tempering cultivators would find it nearly impossible to break them through brute force alone.

Considering that her cultivation was only around the middle stages of Body Tempering Realm from what he could infer through her strength, there was no need to worry about her breaking free.

"Come along."

Lu Yang grasped the chain and began walking.

The young man immediately resisted.

"You! Let go of me!"

Lu Yang continued walking, turning a deaf ear to her curses.

"Dog official! I’m talking to you! You hear me?!"

Lu Yang still did not respond, picking his ear with a pinky finger nonchalantly.

After several more steps, the young woman finally realized that her threats were accomplishing nothing.

Her expression darkened as she began cursing again.

Lu Yang listened without changing his expression.

He had no intention of paying attention to this woman.

When dealing with certain people, responding to every provocation only gave them more opportunities to continue.

Sometimes, the best approach was simply to ignore them.

Eventually, he brought the young woman to the detention area assigned to Old Sun’s group.

The journey was not particularly long, although the young woman’s curses made it feel considerably longer than it actually was.

When they arrived at her cell, Lu Yang opened the door and gestured for her to enter.

She glared at him resentfully.

"I’ll remember this!"

Lu Yang nodded.

"That would be for the best. If you forget where your cell is, you’ll have trouble finding it again."

The young woman froze, staring at him in disbelief before her face turned red once more, veins throbbing on her forehead.

"You!"

Lu Yang did not wait for her to finish.

He guided her inside, secured the cell door, and checked the lock before stepping back.

The iron bars closed between them, only then did he finally feel that the matter had been settled, at least for the moment.

Song Fuyao stood inside the cell, glaring at him with enough intensity to make it seem as though she wanted to burn a hole through his body.

Lu Yang ignored her expression and unfolded the records he had received earlier.

He had nearly forgotten that he still needed to learn why she was imprisoned.

After all, prisoners were not assigned to the Imperial Prison without a reason.

Even if their tempers were unpleasant, their cases still had to be handled according to the rules.

He began reading calmly.

’Song Fuyao, female, approximately eighteen years old, at the Fifth Stage of Body Tempering Realm.’

Lu Yang paused briefly at the last entry.

So her cultivation really is the same as the one I display publicly.

He continued reading.

According to the records, Song Fuyao had been interfering with government affairs in several counties of a neighboring province for the past five years.

Her activities had repeatedly attracted the attention of local officials, and on several occasions, she had even been detained and imprisoned.

However, she had managed to escape from the local prisons more than once.

The records did not explain every detail of these incidents, but they made one thing clear: the local authorities found her very difficult to handle.

Eventually, an official who had encountered her in the past spotted her near the Imperial Capital.

Recognizing her, he arranged for her detention and transfer to the Imperial Prison.

Given her cultivation and previous escapes, the authorities had apparently decided that keeping her in an ordinary county yamen or even the various yamens of the Imperial City was no longer appropriate.