TM CH45

Chapter 45 Prison in the Sea (5)

The three of them ran toward the exit with all their strength. As they burst through the stone door behind the waterfall, a loud rumble echoed from beneath the ground. It was followed by continuous booming noises that made the ground shake violently.

Rong Qi stared at the entrance, momentarily speechless.

The prison was destroyed. There would likely be no more clues about the Tianyuan Manual.

“Big brother! You finally made it out!” Fang Ruoyao’s joyful voice came from behind. The three of them turned to see her running straight toward them. “Brother Gu, I knew you’d be fine!”

Rong Qi’s lips twitched. He was just about to roll his eyes, but Fang Ruoyao suddenly turned to look at him.

He frowned and gave her a once-over.

Fang Ruoyao spoke timidly, “D-demon… you’re alright too?”

That’s right. Sorry to disappoint you.

Rong Qi sneered and opened his mouth.

Fang Ruoyao: “That’s great! You’re all alive!”

Rong Qi: “……”

Fang Lian coughed lightly from the side.

Fang Ruoyao then threw herself at her older brother’s side again, grabbing his arm with unconcealed joy in her eyes.

Fang Lian said, “After the tremors stopped, we cleared the rubble and returned to the cave. Inside, we found the entrance to a mountain path.”

The path led straight through the mountain’s belly and brought them directly to the entrance of the prison.

Their arrival was slightly delayed because they had to clear the rubble first.

Gu Yunxing said, “The freak is dead. From now on, we won’t have to hide around the island anymore.”

Rong Qi narrowed his eyes. “Where’s Yan Fan?”

Fang Ruoyao: “Oh, him? He went hunting in the mountains.”

Rong Qi let the matter drop. He stared in the direction of the stone door, his expression unreadable.

“That freak didn’t return to the prison because he was chasing us.” Severely injured and on the verge of death, that freak actually chose to return to the pit of bones deep underground, as if he had already chosen his final resting place.

Rong Qi turned to Gu Yunxing. “Was he conscious at the end?”

Gu Yunxing didn’t know. All he could offer was a sigh.

The group sat together in the distant clearing, discussing the events they had witnessed in the prison.

“A cultivation method that can drain a person’s internal energy to the point of death… it’s somewhat similar to Ying Sect’s secret technique called Shadow Devour, which allows one to absorb their opponent’s power and use it for themselves. In a short time, it can elevate someone to the level of a master.” Fang Lian said seriously. “The reason the Ying Sect is shunned by the righteous path is because this technique is too sinister.”

Gu Yunxing: “That explains it. His martial arts is so exceptional. It’s likely he absorbed the internal energy of several masters in the dungeon.”

Rong Qi: “A monster like that would be unwelcome even in the demonic sects.”

It wasn’t hard to imagine that once he had grown stronger, he would have caused widespread fear. Whether it was Tang Feijia’s mechanical modifications, the Poison Maiden’s deadly venom, or Qi Yange… They likely all participated in the attempts to hunt him down, but each effort had failed.

“So…” Fang Ruoyao’s voice broke through, her eyes red. “Father is also down there, isn’t he?”

Fang Lian looked at his sister, seeing the sorrow in her expression, and sighed. When their father had gone missing, she was still a naive child. Although she claimed not to care after growing up, every time something upset her, she would stare blankly at the rattle he had left behind. But there were some things he needed to tell her.

Fang Lian spoke in a heavy tone. “I saw Father’s remains in the dungeon.”

Fang Ruoyao’s eyes widened in shock. “W-what?”

Fang Lian then slowly recounted his experience in the prison.

Like Gu Yunxing and Rong Qi, he had descended the long flight of stairs, saw a half-closed stone door, and then saw the corpses of Fang family disciples everywhere.

“As soon as I entered, I saw a cell. You two must have been inside too. There were signs of forced entry at the lock,” Fang Lian said with a bitter smile. “My father was born with an extra toe. Others might not recognize it, but I knew right away. The skeleton that had been sitting there in meditation was indeed Father.”

Fang Lian hadn’t expected that in his lifetime he would still be able to find his father’s remains. His eyes were filled with mixed emotions. “At first, I thought he had simply gone missing, forgotten to return home. Now, I see the truth. It’s like waking from a dream.”

Fang Ruoyao didn’t speak. She simply lowered her head and wiped away her tears.

Gu Yunxing and Rong Qi exchanged complex glances. Neither had expected that they had already encountered Fang Yuanqing at the very beginning of their time in the dungeon.

Fang Lian took out a piece of cloth from his chest. “I found Father’s will among his pillows.”

Gu Yunxing took the cloth, recognizing the handwriting. It matched exactly with the one from the Criminal Record. The cloth contained Fang Yuanqing’s blood-written will, which recorded his final days on the island.

The two quickly skimmed through it, and after reading the contents, they realized that their previous assumptions had been wrong. However, Fang Yuanqing’s internal cultivation indeed had problems.

Although his self-created Tianyuan Manual was powerful, it had no method for clearing blockages. The more he practiced, the more he felt an overwhelming inner force in his meridians that he couldn’t dissipate. Whenever it flared up, the internal energy would roam wildly, almost driving him insane.

After returning from the Tianji Sect, he had traveled to the East Sea, intending to meditate and find a solution.

As for the prisoners in the dungeon who died from exhaustion of their internal energy, Fang Yuanqing hadn’t initially paid much attention. But when he finally emerged from his seclusion, he found the prison had turned into a living hell.

Rong Qi was stunned. “Did he find a way to improve the Tianyuan Manual?”

Fang Lian nodded. “Father spent the first half of his life focused on revenge, then he pursued the pinnacle of martial arts, repeatedly seeking out others for sparring. It wasn’t until the backlash from his internal cultivation that he decided to stop.”

Rong Qi was confused. “If he was striving for the highest level, why didn’t he focus on improving his technique first, instead of rushing to spar with others?“

Fang Lian: “Father often said that unless you’ve seen the strengths of others, you can’t recognize your own weaknesses. Only by witnessing the martial arts skills of others could he find a true breakthrough. Otherwise, it would just be like reinventing the wheel.”

Rong Qi, who also held a deep respect for martial arts, found it hard to imagine himself in Fang Yuanqing’s shoes.

Fang Lian sighed. “After his battle with Aunt Gu, Father gained many insights, which made him more eager to enter seclusion. After bidding farewell to Mother, he went alone to the East Sea. There, he meditated for a month in the Xixin Prison and finally discovered a way to improve the Tianyuan Manual.”

In his youth, he had gained his martial arts insights from ancient texts. Years later, in just a month, he perfected his technique. Fang Yuanqing was truly a genius in the jianghu.

The blood-written text was powerful, with Fang Yuanqing’s strokes full of vigor. When he wrote about the breakthrough, his writing reflected a sense of exhilaration.

However, those present were all solemn.

Gu Yunxing: “But he encountered Shadow Devour.”

“That’s right,” Fang Lian said in a low voice. “A disciple of the Ying Sect named Zhang Xuan had absorbed the internal energy of most of the demonic sect masters in the prison. Such a technique that violates both human and demonic principles rarely allows one to reach this level. But the existence of the prison created a monster.”

The prison became Zhang Xuan’s hunting ground. He played with the prisoners at will, sealing off the entire dungeon, trapping even the Fang family disciples inside.

In the final days, Qi Yange led the remaining masters in a joint extermination. That battle was a bloody one, with corpses scattered across the dungeon. Both the Fang family disciples and the demons from the demonic sects paid a heavy price.

Fang Yuanqing gradually realized that a monster like Zhang Xuan could not be allowed to exist in the world. So, he saved the few remaining survivors from the demonic sect.

Fang Lian slowly read aloud the last line of the blood-written text.

“I deeply feel the weight of my sins. I am powerless to destroy the evil. I can only practice the old Tianyuan Manual once more, using my body as a medium to lead it into qi deviation.”

Rong Qi said coldly, “It’s not a bad plan.”

Cultivating the flawed Tianyuan Manual to its peak, and then luring Zhang Xuan to absorb that tyrannical qi into his body using the Shadow Devour technique.

From then on, the stronger Zhang Xuan became, the deeper the backlash would be. As the qi flowed through his body, the pain would become unbearable, driving him to madness.

Rong Qi recalled the words Qi Yange had carved into the stone wall and sighed. “The remaining experts from the demonic sects tried once more to hunt him down, but they failed again. In the dungeon, Zhang Xuan was the only one left alive. He himself became insane, losing all rational thought.”

The group fell into silence. None of them had expected such a thrilling history to have unfolded on this deserted island. Had they not ended up here because of the shipwreck, perhaps all of this would have remained an unsolved mystery, lost to the vast sea, never to be known.

After a long while, Fang Lian took his sister Fang Ruoyao to the waterfall and knelt before the direction of the dungeon, bowing three times.

Rong Qi sat beside Gu Yunxing, gazing at Fang Ruoyao’s trembling back as she sobbed quietly. He murmured softly, “Such a person, living for revenge, obsessed with martial arts, yet he had to get involved in the mortal world, marrying and having children.”

Gu Yunxing shot him an unexpected glance.

Rong Qi: “If I were Fang Yuanqing, I wouldn’t drag others into it. I’d live and die by my own hand.”

Gu Yunxing: “I heard from Shuhuai that his parents were deeply in love and extremely devoted to each other, overcoming many obstacles to be together.”

Rong Qi sneered. “Since he couldn’t be by her side for everything, it seems this Madam Fang doesn’t hold much importance to him.”

Gu Yunxing’s gaze flickered slightly, as though something stirred within him.

Rong Qi: “Fang Yuanqing’s life was extraordinary. On the contrary, it’s the prisoners from the demonic sects who were even more pitiful.”

Gu Yunxing assumed he was lamenting the fate of the demonic sect experts. “If they knew their end, I wonder if they’d regret turning to evil?“

But Rong Qi wasn’t speaking about that. He sighed softly. “The Poison Maiden was driven mad by love, and Qi Yange killed his master out of anger. They each had their reasons for turning to evil.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “But as for me, I have no reason at all. I was already a bloodthirsty demon from the start.”

Gu Yunxing looked at him. “You can still make a different choice.”

Rong Qi avoided his gaze. “…No, there’s no choice.”

Gu Yunxing frowned. “Of course, you do. No one’s life is set in stone. There are countless paths you could take…” He forced Rong Qi to look at him, his tone serious. “I can also be your path.”

Rong Qi stared at him, his voice calm. “But I don’t like being subordinate to anyone. Zou Yuchuan is not good enough, neither are Xu Yan and Shen Qi, and even you… are not good enough.”

What he wanted was to be the master of Lihuo Palace, standing above everyone else, living for no one, and never having to answer to anyone.

“Gu Yunxing, even if Tianji Sect accepts me, I could never get used to it.” Rong Qi looked at him and suddenly smiled, a smile that was almost pure. “So, after leaving the island, let’s just go our separate ways.”

The freak was dead, and there was no longer any threat on the island. They could focus solely on building another boat. Leaving the island was just a matter of time.

The two fell into silence.