The Judge's Verdict

Kongshan Prison!

Located on Broken Soul Mountain, 25 kilometers south of the Gujiang City.

With three cliffs and one gentle slope.

It was said that those who died there wouldn’t be able to escape as ashes.

The only way out was to complete one's prison sentence.

Late night. Cell No. 4027.

The other prisoners were fast asleep. The sounds of farting, teeth grinding, and snoring interweaved in the air.

In a corner of the room near the urinal, a skinny teen was curled up into a ball.

Suddenly, his eyes flew open as if he had just woken up from a nightmare. Flames of gold flared up inside his pupils and burned for a long while.

The teen looked around, excitement beginning to color his expression.

"After sacrificing a thousand years' worth of cultivation, I, Chu Xun, have finally returned." His voice was so soft that it was inaudible but carried an undeniable coldness.

Three thousand years ago, a lifetime ago to be exact, Chu Xun was shackled and thrown in jail on false charges.

For three whole years, he suffered extraordinary torment.

His cellmates would find new ways to torture him every day.

During the day, they would beat him up until he was covered in cuts and bruises. During the night, he had no choice but to curl up in the corner near the urinal, too afraid to even close his eyes. Like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow, even the slightest noise or movement was enough to make him shiver.

During the summer, his cellmates would strip him and toss him to the middle of the cell as a fodder for the mosquitos.

During the winter, they would drench him. Many times, he nearly froze to death at night.

Even though he had escaped death many times, he ultimately still died from his cellmates' torrent of fists the day before he was to be released.

However, the heavens were merciful. He found himself crossing the river of time and transmigrating to a different world of cultivation.

In the Great Immortality Odyssey, cultivation was the one true path!

Chu Xun was filled with regrets. Carrying the weight of his hatred, he began a painstaking journey in cultivation in hopes of becoming an Immortal Emperor. Only an Immortal Emperor could manipulate heaven and earth and travel through time.

Fortunately, he had demonstrated incredible talent in cultivation.

It had taken Cangming, the cultivation genius, an entire ten thousand years to become an Immortal Emperor. This caused a furor back then.

Yet, it took Chu Xun only three thousand years to do the same! His achievement sent a shockwave throughout the entire Immortal Continent.

After Chu Xun became an Immortal Emperor, he sacrificed all of his cultivation without hesitation and manipulated time and space to return to the day he was to be released from prison.

What was most regretful was that the great Immortal Emperor Chu was now just an ordinary human.

…

Chu Xun would be released from prison tomorrow. However, he knew that he would die inside this prison cell tonight.

He gently moved his battered body and felt a pain so intense that cold sweat formed on his forehead. He couldn't even begin to count the number of old and new injuries on his body.

His eyes glinted, cold and dangerous. He was no longer the Immortal Emperor Chu, but an ordinary human. In his current state, he had no hope of surviving his death tonight.

What he needed now was time and a peaceful environment. He must start cultivating again.

He must not let tragedy repeat itself.

Chu Xun took off his prisoner uniform and wrung it to form a rope. Like a ferocious beast on the hunt, he lay in wait...

The next morning, the first ray of sunshine filtered into the cell through the spaces between the iron grating on the window.

Chu Xun finally moved. With his teeth clenched, he stood up and walked toward a burly man lying on the bed.

The man was named Li Hu, nicknamed Old Tiger. Li Hu joined the cell on Chu Xun's fourth day here and the latter lived in a nightmare ever since.

Chu Xun bound Li Hu's neck with his uniform-as-rope.

Li Hu jolted awake from his dream. He saw a malevolent face as soon as he opened his eyes. So shocked was he that his soul nearly flew out of him and he began to struggle.

The veins on Chu Xun's arms bulged and his gnashed teeth creaked as he used all the force that he could muster.

Li Hu's face began to turn purple and his eyeballs were protruding from their sockets. The sudden strangulation, coupled with the fright that he had suffered, slowed his reaction. All he could do was put up a struggle.

His violent movements aroused the other prisoners in the cell.

They were dumbfounded to see the scene before them. Chu Xun, who usually wouldn't fight back when getting beaten up or retorting when getting scolded, had exploded. They couldn't quite respond.

"Stop." One of them finally recovered his senses and began running toward Chu Xun.

Chu Xun let go of his hold. He grabbed the bed frame and pulled with force.

The beds in the cell were bunk beds with metal frames. Chu Xun yanked the top bunk, pulling the entire bed down.

"Boom."

The bed crashed loudly on the floor, sending the ground shaking along with it.

While his audience was still stunned, Chu Xun walked up to the toiletry shelf in front of the cell door.

The shelf was made from wood and contained the toiletry of all eight prisoners in the cell. Like a madman, Chu Xun began trashing the shelf. The jar containing the toothbrushes, tooth cup, washbowls… Plastic fragments flew everywhere.

Chu Xun only stopped after pushing over the shelf.

Meanwhile, disarrayed sounds of footsteps rang outside the door.

"Clang, clang…"

Someone pounded the metal door so hard that it clanged.

"What are you doing? Revolting?" The little window on the metal door slid open, revealing Warden Li's fierce face.

Including the still frightened Li Hu, everyone squatted down with their fingers interlaced behind their heads.

Li Hu was a prison tyrant, but his influence was contained within this cell. The truly powerful people were these prison wardens. No matter how powerful one was outside the prison, the wardens had the last say here. Whatever they wanted to do was dependent on their mood.

Warden Li had a particularly hot temper. If those who fell into his hands didn't die, they would at least be skinned.

The metal door flung open and Warden Li entered with an ashen face. He looked at the mess in front of him with anger brewing in his eyes.

"What happened? Have you gotten sick of living, to cause trouble under my nose?"

"Warden Li, it's that kid. He tried to strangle me to death," Li Hu cried, raising his head and pointing to Chu Xun.

"Warden Li, this kid has gone mad. Not only did he try to strangle Sir Hu, but he even pushed over our toiletry shelf."

"…"

The prisoners subconsciously banded together.

Warden Li looked at the squatting Chu Xun, his brows furrowed. Chu Xun wasn't wearing his shirt, revealing a skinny upper body marked with bruises and crisscrossing scars.

However, to him, these people were all criminals guilty of horrible crimes, the scum of society, and absolute trash. They were not worthy of sympathy in the least.

"Did you do all of these?" Warden Li asked, narrowing his eyes at Chu Xun.

"Yes," Chu Xun answered calmly.

Warden Li was taken aback. He thought that Chu Xun would at least find an excuse for himself.

"You have ten minutes to tidy up," Warden Li told Li Hu and the rest. He then pointed to Chu Xun. "You, come with me."

Li Hu and the other prisoners smiled maliciously. They knew what Warden Li meant. There was no doubt that Chu Xun would be locked in that little dark room.

The so-called small, dark room was built out of hard rocks. The floor was covered in hard stones with sharp, rough edges. This was one of the ways the prison used to deal with misbehaving prisoners.

The small, dark room was surrounded by stones with sharp edges all around, forcing whoever was inside to stand on their tiptoes. One careless move and one would find the base of their foot sliced. If one wanted to lie against the wall, one would find his body cut by the stones.

Pitch-black darkness would fill the room once the door was closed. The prisoner inside could neither sit nor sleep. The dark, sealed environment tested both the physical and mental capability of a person. If one was locked inside for too long a time, he could very well suffer a nervous breakdown.

Up until now, no one had survived for more than three days inside the small, dark room.

Thus, every prisoner's expression changed when they heard about the place.

Chu Xun followed Warden Li out without resistance.

However, he flashed a strange smile at Li Hu before leaving.

"Sir Hu, what should we do now? The kid has been taken away. How do we make our move now?" a sturdy prisoner asked, his voice filled with ferocity.

"What's the rush?" Li Hu barked, impatient. "Just look at his body condition. He'll be let out after ten hours or so. We're still a day away from his release date. That's more than enough time for us to make our move."

"Let's wait for the night to be over. Once the kid is dead, we'll be able to leave. I'm sick of this d*mned place." Another prisoner spat, a murderous glint flickering in his eyes.

…

…

Chu Xun followed Warden Li to a small, dark room.

Warden Li opened the door expressionlessly.

"Get in."

Chu Xun smiled and said nothing. He was about to step in when Warden Li stopped him.

"Take off your shoes."

A dangerous glint flitted across Chu Xun's pupils. He stooped down and took off his shoes.

He had just straightened his body when Warden Li sneered and pushed him inside.

Chu Xun couldn't help groaning when his foot landed on the floor. The jagged stones cut into the base of his foot.

The door closed behind him and pitch-black darkness enveloped him.

In the darkness, Chu Xun bore the intense pain with a profound smile.

Allowing the stones to cut into his skin, he began feeling about in the dark. Even though he couldn't see, he started collecting the stones on the floor with his sharp senses.

He made piles of stones and placed them in five different directions. It looked like a mess, but there was actually a rule to it.

An hour later, Chu Xun put down the last stone in his hand.

"Boom."

The stream of air inside the small, dark room began to erupt at the same time the stone in his hand fell. It was as if a massive, incorporeal hand was disrupting the airflow, forming layers of ripples.

Chu Xun wiped the sweat on his forehead, the corner of his lips upturned.

"Five Ghosts Transportation Formation, complete!"

The Five Ghosts Transportation Formation was a spiritual formation with the sole purpose of transporting spiritual energy, that was, to suck in all surrounding spiritual energy.

Of course, this was a crudely-made Five Ghosts Transportation Formation.

Chu Xun entered the heart of the formation, sat down cross-legged, and began forming seals with both hands. Surprise crossed his face.

The prison was built on the deserted Broken Soul Mountain, where not a single soul could be seen for 50 kilometers. This meant that the area was fairly unpolluted. The spiritual energy here was much denser than he had imagined.

What a happy surprise this was.