Staying Alive Cautiously in the Celestial Realm and Becoming the Strongest

Chapter 635: Chapter 635 Long Years in Prison (Part 2)
 

Underground prison, there is no sun or moon.

This Yongle Dungeon spans nine levels, imprisoning not only tens of thousands of prisoners.

But also a large number of prison guards like Wang Chen.

At 5 a.m., he instantly woke up from a deep sleep.

The dungeon was filled with Yin Sha Energy, mixed with nature’s spiritual energy, creating a unique environmental atmosphere.@@novelbin@@

Cultivators found it easy to become exhausted in this setting and required longer periods of sleep than usual to regain their best mental state, hence the guards worked in day and night shifts.

Last night Wang Chen wasn’t on the night shift, so he had a long sleep.

After getting up and washing, Wang Chen left his quarters and went to the Supervisory Hall of Bing Six District to report in.

He received his duty badge and a serving of Immortal Food.

The duty badge served as the work pass for the prison guards, which needed to be claimed each shift and returned at the end; it was not to be taken outside.

Immortal Food was the daily ration for the prison guards, similar to the military rations of Wang Chen’s previous life, specifically packaged, nutritionally rich but indescribably in taste.

Many prison guards complained that even dogs wouldn’t eat this Immortal Food!

But Immortal Food contained an abundance of Spiritual Power and the essence of Qi-Blood, which was beneficial for those who worked long-term in the dungeons.

Thus, despite grumbling, everyone still ate their meals without fail.

“Wang Chen.”

The cultivator in charge of roll call at the Supervisory Hall said with a smile, “You’ve been performing well recently; you’ll soon be promoted to a full-fledged prison guard.”

Wang Chen just smiled, “Thank you for your kind words.”

He had heard the same words from this person three times already.

Every time, he could detect an insincere undertone, as if taking pleasure in his misfortune, almost like mockery and sarcasm.

But Wang Chen always pretended not to understand.

The unique environment easily twisted people’s hearts.

Those who spent a long time in the dungeon, be they the Wardens in charge or the working prison guards, often had some psychological problems.

For example, Dan Lingfeng, whom Wang Chen was most familiar with, often mumbled to himself and, after a jug of Spiritual Wine, would say things that were incomprehensible.

As for those who were twisted, gloomy and unpredictable, numb to feelings…

They were everywhere!

This nine-level Yongle Dungeon, with eight doors on each level, had swallowed up countless prisoners and prison guards.

With the duty badge hung at his waist, Wang Chen carried the food box and began his work for the day.

The food box was a specially made spatial item, storing the prescribed meals for the prisoners, also known as prison food.

Passing by a cell, Wang Chen would open the food box, take out a set meal, and push it through a special small window for the prisoners to fetch for themselves.

They were given one meal every three days.

Prisoners incarcerated in the dungeon had their mana sealed and were not given enough Spirit Food to keep them weak over the long term, enduring the pain of being eroded by the Yin Sha Energy day and night, without the strength to escape.

It was said that since Yongle Dungeon was established, it had held countless prisoners.

But only three had ever escaped using their own power!

This was a secret Dan Lingfeng had drunkenly confided to Wang Chen, saying that one must not even mention the names of these three people, lest they bring great trouble upon themselves.

“Kind-hearted young man…”

As Wang Chen stuffed a set meal through the window, the prisoner inside, with a feeble breath, pleaded, “Could you give me another portion, I’m about to die, I just want to eat my fill before I die.”

“So I don’t turn into a starving ghost on the road to the Underworld!”

The plea sounded very pitiful, and the prisoner, with white hair and ragged clothes, a frail and stooped body, looked utterly spent, enough to evoke compassion in anyone.

Yet Wang Chen’s heart was as hard as stone, completely unmoved.

He turned and walked away.

“Really now.”

The old prisoner who had been on the verge of death just moments ago agilely clambered up from the ground and snatched the paper meal box resting on the small window ledge.

“Young people these days, they don’t know how to respect their elders at all, so impolite!”

While grumbling, he devoured his meal voraciously, polishing off the entire box in just a few bites.

Afterwards, he crumpled up the meal box and stuffed it into his mouth as well.

Chewing, he swallowed it down!

At this time, Wang Chen hadn’t even walked ten steps away.

Although he didn’t have eyes in the back of his head, he pretty much knew what the other person was up to, and it was nothing out of the ordinary for him.

In this dungeon, there were all sorts of people—some were innocents wrongfully accused, others were pitiful souls who had encountered misfortune.

But most were big villains and crazed madmen.

Wang Chen didn’t have the ability to distinguish whether they were innocent, so no matter who was locked in the cells, be it a coquettish beauty or an elderly person, he treated them all like NPCs.

When the last portion of the fixed meal in the meal box was distributed, he found the innermost cell of Bing Six District was empty.

The enchanting Yu Fei had disappeared.

Dead?

Wang Chen was slightly taken aback.

Since entering Yongle Dungeon as a prison guard, Wang Chen’s most memorable was undoubtedly this female cultivator of the Hehuan Sect.

It wasn’t that she was the prettiest or most eye-catching among the prisoners, but that her charm and fiendish index were proportionate.

Those sin cultivators who were sent to the cell opposite to Yu Fei didn’t last many days; either they went mad or harmed themselves, Wang Chen had witnessed firsthand how one prisoner went insane.

The thought of it was chilling!

But Yu Fei didn’t dare use similar tactics on the prison guards. Wang Chen had been tempted by her a few times, but it seemed more like playful teasing. After they became acquainted, she actually started behaving more properly.

When Wang Chen patrolled here, he would occasionally exchange a few words with Yu Fei.

Somehow, discovering the disappearance of this female cultivator from the Hehuan Sect, he felt a sense of inexplicable loss.

Shaking his head, Wang Chen cast out the inexplicable emotions from his Sea of Consciousness.

He turned back and continued his patrol along the fixed route in Bing Six District.

It was only when night fell that Wang Chen returned to the Supervisory Hall.

Just as he had handed in his waist token and meal box, the cultivator responsible for the roll call pointed to a room next door, “Wang Chen, Lord Chen wants to see you, go on in.”

This cultivator was not the one from the morning, Wang Chen promptly bowed and said, “Yes.”

When he knocked on the room door, he saw a middle-aged cultivator dressed in a scholar’s robe, who was fervently writing at the desk and said without lifting his head, “Sit.”

“Thank you, my lord!”

Wang Chen took a seat on the chair next to the desk.

This middle-aged cultivator was the warden in charge of Bing Six District, his authority second only to True Person Lu, the Golden Core Warden who had initially brought Wang Chen down.

Since True Person Lu rarely involved himself in prison matters, often as elusive as a dragon, he was the true authority of Bing Six District.

Wang Chen had been here for three months, and had only seen him four or five times.

“Wang Chen, isn’t it?”

The middle-aged cultivator set down his wolf-hair brush and looked at Wang Chen with an indifferent gaze, “How long have you been working in the Forbidden Prison Department?”

Wang Chen’s heart tightened, “Reporting to my lord, it has been three months.”

“Three months, huh.”

The middle-aged cultivator seemed to recall something and asked seemingly casually, “I remember you were brought down here by True Person Lu, right?”

Wang Chen replied, “Yes.”

——–

Here’s the first update.