Immortality Cultivation: Fellow Daoists, please live for two more episodes!

"Senior brothers, my name is Sun Yunqi. I just killed two fellow disciples in the Falling Star Crater. I have come here to turn myself in."

Hearing this, the two guards looked at each other, staring at Zhou Youyuan as if he were some rare animal.

In Shuiyue, the Enforcement Hall is actually a very leisurely job, because Shuiyue does not pursue infighting among fellow disciples and emphasizes survival of the fittest.

Therefore, the Enforcement Hall is rarely of any use. Even when it is, it is usually because they have accepted bribes from others and are helping to teach someone a lesson.

Having held this lucrative job for so many years, they considered themselves quite worldly and had seen all sorts of situations, but this was truly the first time they had ever come forward to turn themselves in.

In the courtroom, a weary-looking elder judge was flipping through case files. Hearing about this unusual matter, he surprisingly looked up and glanced at the case.

"You killed someone and no one came to report you, but you came here on your own?"

"right."

"Did you know you could spend 500 points to avoid jail time?"

"Know."

"You knew that, yet you still chose it? Do you even have 500 points?"

"have."

"I'll ask you one more time, pay the money or go to jail?"

"Go to jail."

The elder in charge of law enforcement put down the case file and began to calculate the accounts for him on his fingers:

"If you serve a year in prison, the monthly payment will be 1,200. The hard work in prison will only help you pay 300 or 400. You'll have to pay the remaining 800 or 900 out of your own pocket. If you can't pay, your life will be taken away."

"You do the math: paying 500 to settle things versus spending over 1000 a year... How's your math?"

"good."

"So you still chose to go to jail?"

"Personal reasons."

The law enforcement elder stared at him for a long time:

"Did you owe someone money outside and come here to hide?"

"No, it's really just a personal reason."

"Personal reasons."

The elder in charge of law enforcement muttered these four words, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and put it down.

"Alright."

He pulled a black restriction ring from the drawer and threw it over:

"I'll put it on your left wrist. According to the sect rules, harming a fellow disciple is punishable by a year's imprisonment. Just a heads-up, if you can't stand it, no matter how many days you've already been here, five hundred is five hundred. As long as your sentence isn't over, you won't lose a single penny when you get out."

There are no fools in Shuiyue. This kid in front of him is probably up to something, and he knows that very well.

But what could he do even if he knew? Just now, when the two disciples next to him weren't paying attention, the little guy secretly raised his right hand and threw a cloth bag next to him.

There wasn't much, just one piece of spiritual marrow.

Yes, he's a sensible person.

Anyway, this kid has a legitimate reason to turn himself in, and he's smart, so why not give him some face?

There are too many scheming people in this prison; he can't possibly manage them all.

Zhou Youyuan replied, "Understood."

The restriction ring fastened to his left wrist, and the chilling power surged into his meridians, suppressing most of the spiritual power at the third level of Qi Refining.

As I walked out, I overheard the elder muttering to the guard, "After more than ten years of this job, I've finally seen something new today. I'll make a note of it in the book and let Elder Gou hear it too."

This was to prevent him from causing trouble, so they found an accomplice to share the responsibility, and the plan was halfway done.

Having successfully entered prison, Zhou Youyuan's steps became lighter as his mood improved.

Fan Xiao is a chatterbox, and there's one advantage to being a chatterbox: he often doesn't even realize what valuable things he's saying.

That day, on the communal bed, he talked about everything from the outer gate competition to the imperial prison, and then he brought up a man named Pei Changgeng.

He possessed a superior single-wood spiritual root and was once a prominent figure at the ninth level of Qi Refining, having even stepped into the Heavenly Palace. Two years ago, he was among the top three in the outer sect competition, but afterwards, he was accused of using forbidden secret techniques and sentenced to three years in prison.

This ruling is clearly rigged. Who would have thought that a great figure who has passed through the Heavenly Palace would have to obediently squat and writhe in pain because of a lack of points?

Unable to make the monthly payments after a year, he sold the Heavenly Palace and fell back to the eighth level of Qi Refining.

Another year has passed, and he still can't pay the monthly payment. He was punished with the Yellow Court skill and is only at the third level of Qi Refining.

Now it's the third year, which is the time when he should be released from prison and die because he can't pay his monthly bills.

But this ending will most likely not happen again, because Zhou Youyuan has arrived.

The Water Moon Law Enforcement Hall is full of people who line their own pockets. With a little maneuvering, they can select two nearby cells that are basically no more than ten feet apart.

The fact that a falling star killed two people was his ticket to success.

As the saying goes, "Take a cup of wine from your spirit, and I will offer it to you to prolong my life through countless eons."

Is there anyone more suitable to be a candidate for the Yuan dynasty than Pei Changgeng?

……

The Heavenly Prison is located inside the Ten Thousand Skulls Mountain, with three hundred stone steps, two iron gates with restrictive barriers, pale white lamps, and a bone-chillingly cold atmosphere.

The guard led him inside until they stopped in front of an empty cell at the end of the corridor.

"This is the one."

Zhou Youyuan pulled out a bamboo token worth 100 points from his sleeve: "There's a guy named Pei Changgeng in cell number three. I'd like to share a cell with him."

The disciple on duty looked at the bamboo tally, then at him: "Do you know Pei Changgeng?"

"I don't know him."

"You don't know him but you specifically asked to live with him? Let me tell you, the last person who was put in a room with him got up to pee in the middle of the night on the third day and went the wrong way, bumped into the fence, and broke his nose."

"Not only did Pei Changgeng not help him, but he also said, 'Who told you not to count your steps?' That disciple came crying to me the next morning, asking to be transferred to a different cell. Are you sure?"

"Sure."

The disciple on duty shook his head, and the bamboo tally was erased.

……

Cell No. 3

The stone bed, water vat, chamber pot—it was no different from any other cell, except for something on the wall.

The densely packed carvings stretched from the head of the stone bed all the way to the corner of the wall, arranged in groups of five, neatly arranged, totaling seven hundred and thirty-one carvings.

The owner of the carved mark sat cross-legged on the inner half of the stone bed.

He was twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with a thin face, high cheekbones, and wore a faded, pale prison uniform. His spine was as straight as if it had been measured with a ruler.

He was sitting cross-legged, his hands supporting him on the edge of the stone bed as he did push-ups, his body suspended in the air, going up and down, while counting aloud:

"One hundred and twenty-seven...one hundred and twenty-eight..."

The fence slid open with a click, and Zhou Youyuan squeezed in sideways.

"One hundred and twenty-nine...one hundred and thirty."

It stopped at 130.

Ignoring the newcomers, he sat up and took a half-worn pebble from the corner of the wall, carving a line into it.

The 732nd.

He put the gravel back down, then closed his eyes and leaned against the wall for a short rest, without glancing at Zhou Youyuan at all throughout the entire process.

Zhou Youyuan introduced himself with a grin: "Sun Yunqi, served a year in prison."

No response.

He didn't mind and sat down comfortably on the outer half of the stone bed, less than four feet apart from the other person.

This cell is less than two zhang square, and all eating, drinking and relieving oneself are done here. From the moment I sat down, I was already satisfied with the "within ten zhang" of the Deathbed Record.

All that's left is time and a drop of blood.

……

Life in prison was like a bowl of porridge with water added.

He was fed three meals of coarse rice porridge every day. If he couldn't pay his share, his essence and blood would be drained every five days. Every day at dawn, Pei Changgeng would do 130 push-ups to carve a mark, and then close his eyes and lean against the wall.

When eating, break the pancake into four pieces and eat them one by one.

Zhou Youyuan once casually asked him, "Why don't you just swallow it all at once?"

Without even looking up, he said, "Eating too fast can cause choking, and choking will delay your practice tomorrow."

After saying that, he closed his eyes again and didn't say anything more.

Half a month passed like this, with the two of them crammed into a space less than two zhang square, exchanging no more than twenty words in total.

Zhou Youyuan, however, was not in a hurry.

Putting aside the fact that he's bound to "The Book of Funerals" and doesn't need to be friends with this guy.

The closer you get to this kind of person, the more wary they become. The best strategy is to do nothing.

However, it wasn't him who broke the deadlock.