Mountain and sea lantern

Chapter 659 Another Twenty Years of Imprisonment

At a corner of the inner city wall, one could see the entrance to the prison. Ba Yingshan, the city lord of Zhixu City, stood there quietly, watching people come and go at the prison gate. His expression was not good, and his uncertain gaze held worry.

What happened back then made him live in fear and be very careful for a long time.

He dared not contact the Qi family again, and the Qi family dared not contact him again; it was as if the two sides had never had any contact before.

Just when everyone thought the matter was over, the Qi family sent someone to infiltrate again, but that person was caught. As a result, Shi Chun was brought back from the outside world. All signs indicate that the old case is about to be reopened.

The key point is that when this incident occurred, he was completely unaware of the arrest of the Qi family members in the city. He only found out after the people involved were arrested, and upon asking, he learned that it was personally supervised by the prison inspector.

Even when Shi Chun was brought back from the outside world, he only found out after hearing the commotion and learning that the person had been captured.

He felt that he was being avoided in everything, which made him feel very uncomfortable.

He just couldn't understand what the Qi family was up to. They had already alarmed that 'prison warden' back then, yet they still dared to act recklessly and anger that person. No one could save the Qi family then. Weren't they afraid of being wiped out?

The problem is, he's afraid. There must still be people in the Qi family who know about his secret collusion with the Qi family back then, otherwise they wouldn't be able to work together from the inside and outside. Once the Qi family is caught, who can guarantee that they won't expose him?

Finding the right moment, he turned and went down the city wall. At the intersection downstairs, he happened to meet the armored soldier in charge of the matter, a rather refined-looking man, Xu Yong, one of the Four Great Attendants, who was running errands for the prison inspector.

"Lord Ba," Xu Yong nodded politely, as the two were of the same rank.

Ba Yingshan chuckled and said, "There's quite a commotion on the street outside. I heard they caught that Shi Chun. He's been released for so long, why bring him back?"

Xu Yong gestured towards the morgue with his lip: "That guy told me before he died that the reason he came in was to find some kind of leverage against his family."

Ba Yingshan was taken aback. "Family secrets? The Qi family?"

Xu Yong nodded. "He wanted to make a name for himself within the family. Remember Qi Ziru, the guy who came in from the Qi family back then? Before he died, Qi Ziru prepared a document to protect himself, detailing all his contacts with our mole. The guy who just died risked coming in because he overheard this secret and wanted to find that document as leverage. However, after searching for a long time, he couldn't find where it was hidden. He investigated and found that Shi Chun might be the last person to have contact with Qi Ziru, and might have taken something from Qi Ziru. He might have been able to find related clues through Shi Chunsheng. But before he could even find Shi Chun, we caught him. We have to bring Shi Chun back and make him reflect on his actions."

Ba Yingshan said, "Oh, I see. No wonder."

He appeared calm on the surface, but inside he was experiencing a turbulent storm.

After chatting casually for a while, the two went their separate ways...

A few days later, a commotion broke out in the inner city. After the search team kicked open the door of a guard's room, they found that the guard inside had died from poisoning, and his body was swollen and bruised.

The incident began when someone poisoned the prison.

Someone had poisoned the drinking water delivered to prisoner Shi Chun. The guards discovered the poison and traced the source of the water back to the deceased, but the trail went cold.

As a result, a large-scale search was conducted both inside and outside the city, but Shi Chun himself was completely unaware of it.

From the attic, Du Huoguan watched the city lord, Bayingshan, who was directing his men to search the city. He remained indifferent and detached.

Xu Yong, who was standing beside him in armor, asked tentatively, "You clearly know it's him, so why don't you do anything to him?"

Du Huoguan simply replied, "It still has value."

The search was so extensive that it caused widespread panic in both the inner and outer cities. Some people with ulterior motives learned that someone had poisoned Shi Chun in prison, and a legitimate city guard involved in the poisoning was subsequently silenced.

In the old pavilion of Dazhi City, the woman in red paced back and forth with a doubtful look in her eyes after hearing the news. The news of the poisoning made her wonder if she had misjudged the situation. Was there really something wrong with Shi Chun being arrested?

Inside a deep and ancient hall, the head of the Qi family, who had returned after being summoned to the Prison of the Dead to identify a corpse, convened a confidential meeting with several of the most core members of the clan.

"I told you the matter is over and you're not allowed to have any more contact with the Prison of Life. Who is it? Who is still reaching out? Don't they want to live anymore?"

The patriarch, Qi Zhun, shook his head with his gray hair like a lion's head, his face flushed as he roared at the crowd, pointing his hand at an elderly woman who was dressed quite elegantly.

The old woman was Qi Ziru's mother. She stood up and told everyone, "No one in my family knows the inside story of what happened in the prison back then. As for why Qi Feng went to the prison again, I really don't know. He suddenly disappeared before, and we were searching for him everywhere. If he had been secretly instructed to go in, how could we have searched for him so openly?"

An old man present sighed and said, "Yes, the blame has been placed on Qi Feng, but the problem is, who will believe it? Now everyone is paying attention to my Qi family. Even the Heavenly Court keeps inviting me for tea. I can't explain myself, and I dare not reveal what I did behind everyone's back then. What do you suggest we do?"

At the same time, Lan Qiaoyan also appeared in Zhixu City. After learning about the situation at Bowang Tower, she went to visit the inner city.

Finally, with permission, she was allowed to visit someone in prison.

Seeing Shi Chun lying listlessly on the shady ground inside the cage, she felt both annoyed and amused.

Shi Chun, whose cultivation was restricted, didn't notice until she was outside the cage. She looked up, jumped up, and rushed over, leaning on the cage with delight, saying, "Boss lady, what brings you here?"

Lan Qiaoyan looked around and sneered, "Let's see if you're dead yet."

Ignoring the guards watching, he deliberately opened his hand in front of him, revealing a line of writing: "The big guy asked me to come see you." After the other man saw it, he immediately and discreetly rubbed the writing away with his palms together.

It was indeed Wu Jinliang who contacted her, wanting to know about Shi Chun's situation.

She was the beloved daughter of Situ Gu, who had been freed from the demon queen. Only after gaining her freedom did she learn about the shocking incident during the execution. Her daughter, Miao Yilan, also recounted the events to the couple. Neither she nor Miao Dingyi expected such a thing to happen. No matter how much their daughter pleaded, it was useless. Once she was imprisoned, the couple couldn't do anything about it.

Before they escaped from the Western Niu Royal Court, Wu Jinliang contacted Miao Yilan, asking her to inquire about Shi Chun's situation. He also gave Miao Yilan a generous gift, saying that Shi Chun had specifically asked him to deliver it to her.

The family was used to receiving gifts from Shi Chun and believed it was Shi Chun's idea.

This time, the gift was delivered too cautiously, which was not like Shi Chun's usual style. Wu Jin told him the location of the buried gift, but he didn't dare to show his face at all. Miao Yilan had to dig it up herself.

Upon seeing the handwriting inside the cage, Shi Chun smiled bitterly, "It seems I won't die yet." He then asked, "Are my friends outside alright?"

Lan Qiaoyan knew who he was asking about and replied, "Everything's fine for now. But what about you? Why were you brought back again? What happened?"

"I don't know what the Qi family was up to back then..." Shi Chun launched into a long, rambling complaint.

Since both of them could only say what they could say, Lan Qiaoyan was asked to leave when the time was up.

In the days that followed, Lan Qiaoyan would visit the prison once every few months.

Meanwhile, Shi Chun, who was locked up in the cell, was going crazy with boredom. There was no one to talk to or chat with, he was restricted from cultivating due to the restrictions on his body, and the light was dim.

Every month, someone would come to interrogate him, asking if he was the last person to see Qi Ziru and Shen Youkun, and asking him to think about what else he hadn't confessed.

Shi Chun insisted that the deaths of the nephew and uncle had nothing to do with him, claiming he knew nothing about them.

At other times, in a desolate, forgotten silence, the situation was clear: if you didn't confess, you couldn't leave.

Unaware of the passage of time outside, a year passed in the blink of an eye. Inside the prison, Mr. Shi was disheveled, filthy, and smelly, spending his days in the dim light battling lice on his body.

Meanwhile, on the highest pavilion in the city, the man with long, flowing hair, dressed in a black robe with gold trim and covered with a violet gauze overcoat, stopped again and once more, sitting under an umbrella, drawing erotic pictures.

Prison Master Nie has arrived.

After Du Huoguan rambled on about the situation in the prison and admired the new moves in the erotic paintings, he tentatively reminded her, "By the way, that Shi Chun is still locked up here."

Nie stopped writing and asked in confusion, "Is he imprisoned in Zhixu City?"

"..." Du Huoguan was speechless. It turned out that this person had even forgotten where Shi Chun was locked up. No wonder he hadn't come to Zhixu City once since Shi Chun was arrested. He immediately nodded and said, "Yes, he has been locked up for more than a year."

Nie responded with an "oh," and said, "He's only been imprisoned for a little over a year."

Then I continued drawing.

"..." Du Huoguan was bewildered and couldn't understand what was going on. In the end, he tried asking, "We can't keep them locked up forever, can we? When will they be released?"

Nie paused for a moment, then resumed writing, casually replying, "Let's lock him up for another twenty years."

"Twenty years?" Du Huoguan was slightly surprised and had to ask, "Warden, is it really necessary to keep someone locked up for so long?"

Nie stared intently as he described, "Do you think that if he goes out now, while he's still in the limelight, all sides will easily let him off the hook? Twenty years is enough time for some things to fade away. If you think about it, twenty years will be just right. Give him the opportunity; how he chooses his path is his business, and we won't interfere."

What does "just right in twenty years" mean? Du Huoguan immediately pondered the deeper meaning behind his words, comparing the events on the timeline twenty years later with the actual events, and suddenly realized, "I understand, but his current cultivation level is not yet at the Human Immortal realm, so he is not qualified to participate in the competition."

Nie said lightly, "That's your business."

A month or so later, the cell door was opened, and Shi Chun jumped up in surprise because another person had been thrown in, and he seemed to have gained a fellow inmate.

After the restrictions on his cultivation were lifted, he realized that he was not a fellow inmate at all.

"This man is connected to that case, but he refuses to talk. If you can get him to talk and find out his situation, I'll let you go. This is only because Lan Qiaoyan pleaded for you." Xu Yong left the man and said these words before leaving.

Having the opportunity to leave and regain his cultivation, the disheveled Shi Chungang rolled up his sleeves and mustered his spirits. He examined the dying prisoner and his heart sank. The injuries were too severe; the man was almost dead. What was the point of interrogating him? The prison was also short of medical supplies. Could this be because of Lan Qiaoyan?
Complaining won't help; we can only see what happens.

However, just as his right eye, which had regained its freedom, was activated again, he suddenly discovered that the seriously injured prisoner actually possessed demonic energy and was from the demonic path? It seemed that his cultivation level was not low either. He put a dirty index finger into his mouth and bit the tip of his finger.

Sometimes he would crack his teeth, and sometimes he would sneakily peek out of the cage.

(End of this chapter)