Above the Great Dao

Chapter 1234 576: The Case of Chen Shi (2)

Upon thinking of this, he immediately transmitted a message to all the Bi'an: "Feign sleep! No matter what noise comes from within the Heavenly Prison, do not open your eyes!"

All the Bi'an in the Heavenly Prison immediately closed their eyes, each pretending to fall asleep.

"Hey! Prison Chief, someone came out of the Heavenly Prison!" The death row inmate next to Chen Shi shouted out.

The Bi'an all pretended to sleep, turning a deaf ear.

The other death row inmates in different cells looked out and indeed saw the new death row inmate, Chen Shi, swaggering outside, immediately causing discontent, as they all shouted: "Prison Chief, someone has escaped! Why aren't you seizing him?" "Prison Chief, are you blind? That brain-dead Immortal has gotten out!" "Still pretending to sleep? You lousy Immortals!"

...

They cursed incessantly, but the Bi'an all acted as if they hadn't heard, just hoping that Chen Shi would quickly escape from this troublesome place and not involve them.

Yet Chen Shi stood there looking around, apparently unsure of the path to escape from the Heavenly Prison.

He looked around, but no matter which direction he looked, all he could see were spiraling passageways, with their walls closely packed like pigeon cages filled with cells.

As he moved his steps, those passageways, and the cells within them, reordered and shifted as if no matter where he went or how fast he moved, he remained at the center of the Heavenly Prison!

"This phenomenon should be an extreme form of the Space Technique! It's likely that from any cell within the Heavenly Prison, the view looks exactly like mine. Every location is the center of the Heavenly Prison!"

Chen Shi's eyes flickered as he observed this spectacle, thinking, "The Qiankun Transformation refined to its peak is probably expressed in this way. Such an achievement far exceeds mine and even far exceeds Uncle Xiao Wu. Even if you threw Uncle Xiao Wu into the Heavenly Prison, he couldn't walk out!"

After pondering for a while, he walked back into his cell.

"Elder Brother, he went back again!" a Bi'an quickly reported, having noticed Chen Shi.

"Went back?"

The Bi'an who heard this couldn't help but have a headache. He originally hoped for Chen Shi to escape the Heavenly Prison, as once Chen Shi was out, his life or death would no longer be of their concern. Unexpectedly, not only did Chen Shi not leave, but he returned to his cell, clearly intending to stay.

"If a jailbreak were to happen…" he sighed quietly.

Chen Shi couldn't stay still in his cell, often running out and wandering leisurely about the Heavenly Prison, each time causing the Bi'an to pretend to be deaf and blind, ignoring him and the cries of the prisoners shouting about someone escaping.

"Keep it up, and I'll give you a whipping!" One of the Bi'an, annoyed by the noise, threatened the death row inmates.

"He's a death row inmate too, why aren't you handling his escape?" Some death row inmates were still disgruntled.

And then the Bi'an dragged them out with a whip, making them roll on the ground in pain, their screams echoing through the Heavenly Prison.

After that, whenever Chen Shi roamed outside, no death row inmates dared to shout, likely due to being scared of beatings.

Chen Shi's cultivation within the Heavenly Prison continued without obstruction, finding that the peace accelerated his cultivation progress more than before, bringing him joy.

"Just not sure how the Black Pot is doing now."

One day, Chen Shi was leaning against a cell, inquiring a cellmate inside, saying, "How did you end up here? I got in for fighting; I killed someone and got sentenced to the Immortal Execution Platform… Why aren't you speaking?"

The cellmate remained silent.

Chen Shi gathered his spirit and said, "Can you cultivate? I'm cultivating now, and my Mixed Yuan Dao Scripture is coming along quite well…"

"Boom!"

The Heavenly Prison suddenly shook violently, startling the Bi'an who were pretending to nap. They couldn't help but open their eyes, looking around in alarm: "Is someone breaking into prison?"

Then came more thunderous roars, not coming from within the prison but from the surrounding space outside, as if a giant was unleashing boundless power, destroying everything around!

Even the Heavenly Prison swayed intensely, shaking side to side, causing the inmates inside to stumble around, unable to stand firm.

There were also waves of incredibly frightening sensations, causing the Bi'an to crouch down, afraid to move, and even Chen Shi felt the unusually lively Immortal Yuan inside him suddenly quiet down, unable to rouse it no matter what.

"What kind of Daoist skill is this?" he thought, bewildered.

At that moment, a crisp sound echoed through the heavens and earth, audible even within the Heavenly Prison, as if something in everyone's heart had suddenly snapped.

Chen Shi felt emptiness, as if he had lost something precious, while many death row inmates in the prison seemed to have had the softest spot in their hearts touched, and many of the most vicious and wicked inmates began to cry.

The outside of the Heavenly Prison was filled with deafening shouts, like a tidal wave, the cacophony piling up, making it impossible to discern what they were saying.

Chen Shi perked up his ears to listen but couldn't make out the words, though he sensed an undertone of terror in the noise.

After a long while, the sounds gradually subsided, and the booms also disappeared at some unknown point.

Many Bi'an continued to guard the Heavenly Prison, afraid to go outside to investigate.

After another long period, someone delivered prisoners to the Heavenly Prison, and the Bi'an quickly gathered to ask, "Divine Catcher Pu, what happened outside to cause such a commotion?"

The Divine Catcher, tasked with capturing fugitives from all over, had just entered the Heavenly Court to deliver a death row inmate in exchange for some Immortal Spirit Liquid, and said, "The Heavenly Court was attacked. I heard a Great Demon appeared nearby, sneaked into the Heavenly Court during an unguarded moment, and went on a killing spree, killing many Immortals."

Chen Shi also stepped closer, mingling among the Bi'an, listening intently.

The Bi'an ignored him, but the Divine Catcher, unfamiliar with Chen Shi, scrutinized him more, assuming he was a prison guard, and thus paid no further mind, saying: "The Great Demon caused a huge scene this time, not only killing many Immortals but even the Heavenly Court was impacted. I heard that the Heavenly Mechanism Strategy, part of the Heavenly Dao Treasure, was also destroyed by that Great Demon."

Upon hearing this, the Bi'an were all stunned. The leading Bi'an said in a trembling voice, "The Heavenly Dao Treasure was destroyed?"

The Divine Catcher replied, "It wasn't the Heavenly Dao Treasure destroyed but the Heavenly Mechanism Strategy that was destroyed."

The Bi'an were visibly troubled. The Heavenly Dao Treasures had long been symbols of the Heavenly Court, their immense power maintaining the balance and keeping the Immortal Gods from opposing each other.

Now, with the destruction of the Heavenly Mechanism Strategy, that balance was broken.

Chen Shi poked his head in, curiously asking, "Who did it?"

Divine Catcher Pu glanced at him, then at the Bi'an who remained silent, and replied, "Of course it was the Great Demon, who else could it be? Could it have been those powerful Daluo Golden Immortals?"

Chen Shi understood, saying, "The timing of the Great Demon's appearance is too coincidental, so coincidental it seems like it was deliberately arranged. Why didn't it target those Divines, but instead specifically went for the Heavenly Mechanism Strategy?"

Suddenly, he recalled that during his Western Heaven Swing Harmonization, his consciousness had been summoned by the Heavenly Mechanism Strategy, which seemed to have forced him to "see" all its Heavenly Dao Patterns!

The so-called "seeing" wasn't really seeing. The Heavenly Mechanism Strategy had imprinted these Heavenly Dao Patterns into his consciousness!

"Just not long after the Heavenly Mechanism Strategy imprinted its Heavenly Dao Patterns, this incident occurred. Could it be that the Heavenly Mechanism Strategy had long predicted it would be destroyed and thus preemptively transferred itself into my body?"

He blinked, holding his chin with his left hand and his right hand supporting his left elbow, pacing back and forth.

Divine Catcher Pu watched him suspiciously, quietly saying, "This person is a prisoner, isn't he?"

"Prisoner? What prisoner?"

All the Bi'an were taken aback, looking around, "Where is there a prisoner?"

Divine Catcher Pu, not knowing what the Bi'an were up to, could only say, "Hurry and deliver the prisoner, so I can go to the Heavenly Court Government Office to claim the reward."

The Bi'an completed the transfer with him, delivering the prisoner to the Heavenly Prison for detention.

As Divine Catcher Pu was about to leave, someone hurried over, smiling, "Honored sirs, there is a decree from the Court, suspect Chen Shi has been found innocent and can be released!"