Ten Directions Absolute Prison.
Copper walls and iron fortifications! From ancient tis to the present, it has had a long and storied history. Established in antiquity, the prison made full use of the terrain and materials. Once inmates were locked inside, they could practically say goodbye to their freedom. They simply couldn't get out!
Back then, martial arts flourished, and skilled practitioners were nurous. But even the experts couldn't escape.
In modern tis, the number of martial artists has dwindled. With the prison now reinforced using modern technological materials, who could possibly escape? A prison break? What a joke. The people inside could never get out, and those on the outside found it extrely difficult to infiltrate.
Ordinary criminals simply didn't qualify. No matter how many homicides they were responsible for, they were just sentenced to death elsewhere. Bribing a prison guard was also impossible, as the wardens here were the governnt's most trusted confidants...
"Damn it!"
"How are we supposed to get Lin Tang's hair for another DNA test?"
The various factions were at their wits' end.
Shen Youling struggled to hold herself up as she gathered information from every possible source. She felt even more hopeless after learning that in the entire history of Ten Directions Absolute Prison, the number of people who had ever made it out could be counted on one hand.
If he couldn't be rescued, then a prison visit should be possible, right?
Unfortunately, no matter how she tried to pull strings, she was rejected every ti. After much difficulty, she finally t her adoptive father, Xiao Xuanye, again.
She fell heavily to her knees, hoping he could lend a hand.
"Heh—" Xiao Xuanye looked at her mockingly. "Shen Youling, my dear daughter. Ever since I beca a cripple, you've never brought a cup of water or offered a bite of food. Now that your husband is in trouble, you finally think of ? Isn't it a little late for that?"
"I'm sorry, Adoptive Father, it's my fault! From now on, I'll stay by your side and take care of you. Please, just let see Lin Tang one ti!"
At this point, any more reasons would only be seen as excuses, so Shen Youling didn't argue. She only kept kowtowing.
However, even after she knelt for several hours, Xiao Xuanye still refused to relent.
"You can see for yourself that I'm already finished. What influence could I possibly have to get you into Ten Directions Absolute Prison?"
...
「Jiangbei.」
Shen Xin, Dong Mingfeng, and Shen Jiayue, like an incessant pestilence, appeared once again before the bedridden Shen Qiushi.
"Dad," Shen Xin began, "I heard about Lin Tang's incident. He even dared to deceive Elder Yan, got sentenced to life imprisonnt, and is now in the legendary Ten Directions Absolute Prison?"
"In that case, we have to reconsider Youling's future!" Dong Mingfeng added. "We can't let her live as a widow-in-waiting for the rest of her life, can we?"
"Where is Youling? Tell her to co out. As her mother, I must talk so sense into her..."
"Get out! All of you, get out!" Shen Qiushi's anger knew no bounds. He slapped Shen Xin across the face, nearly knocking out all his teeth. "If it weren't for you signing that cornea donation agreent, Lin Tang wouldn't have resorted to impersonating soone else, let alone attracting Elder Yan's attention! I only wish I had a gun; otherwise, I would shoot you all dead!"
"Hey, you old codger, why are you throwing all the bla on us?"
"It's clearly Lin Tang's own fault! What does it have to do with us?"
"Exactly, exactly."
...
「In the capital.」
Yan Qinghe finally returned and held another eting with the other elders.
"These are troubled tis indeed, and to think Lin Tianyang would erge now of all tis," one said.
"Sigh, the Lin Family was too stubborn back then. If they had just offered up their great secret for our protection, their clan wouldn't have been exterminated!" lanted another.
"An innocent man gets into trouble because of his wealth. When all is said and done, the Lin Family was just too greedy! They wanted to monopolize the secret, which led to their downfall!"
"Now that Lin Tianyang is locked in Ten Directions Absolute Prison, he cannot be released until we obtain and decipher that great secret!"
"This is also for his own protection. He should understand that."
"Yes, if we were to release him and let him wander freely, he might be killed by so mysterious force, or the great secret could be leaked..."
"The main issue now is how to gain his absolute trust so that he will reveal this secret..."
The eting ended.
Yan Qinghe erged slowly. Tong Xinwei approached him.
"Elder Yan, what was decided? How long are we going to keep Lin Tianyang locked up? What, indefinitely?! How can that be... We promised him it would just be for a few days, and then we'd find a way for him to pull off a clean escape..." Tong Xinwei panicked. "If he finds out we deceived him, won't he hate to death?"
"I've already said it, this is to ensure his safety! You don't want to see him die out there, do you? Or are you truly confident that you can protect him? Five years ago, his mother was so formidable, killing over a hundred martial arts masters, yet she still died. How many could you defeat?" Yan Qinghe glanced at him.
"I..." Tong Xinwei was speechless.
Despite his reputation as a formidable imperial guard, he knew full well he lacked the ability to protect Lin Tang. With a long sigh, he added worriedly, "Ten Directions Absolute Prison is full of the worst super-criminals. A naive young man like him going in there is bound to suffer greatly. He might even face life-threatening dangers. No, I must go in as well, to protect him up close!"
Yan Qinghe was at a loss for words.
Naive? Could Lin Tang, the man who managed to poison Xiao Xuanye and Guo Jufeng, escape a hail of gunfire unscathed, and stay alive and kicking until now, really be described with that word?
...
Ten Directions Absolute Prison was located inside a volcano, with rolling magma deep underground. The prison environnt was torrid year-round.
Lin Tang, dragging his shackles, was escorted by a stoic-faced prison guard. Passing through the corridors, he saw that the walls of each cell were especially thick, and the cell doors were made of a thick and robust modern alloy. Never mind that the prisoners inside were unard; it would be aningless even if they were given cutting torches and pneumatic drills and allowed to cause whatever destruction they pleased.
"Eh?"
"How long has it been since they sent a new guy in? Did the sun rise in the west today?"
"And such a young pretty boy at that?"
"Tsk tsk, the kid has such red lips and white teeth. He looks so delicate!"
"Haha, have you been locked up so long your preferences have changed? You're actually checking out a guy?"
"What a pervert!"
"Kid, what did you do to end up here, huh? Co on, share a cell with your uncle here. I'll watch out for you."
While Lin Tang curiously surveyed his surroundings, a group of prisoners crowded the bars, sizing him up with grins. Although they tried their best to appear benign, their inherently ferocious and vicious nature still spilled out like boiling water.
"Silence!"
"Behave!" the prison guards shouted coldly, pulling out their remote controls.
At that, the prisoners scattered like mice that had seen a cat. Lin Tang noticed that tal rings were fixed to their wrists and ankles, inside of which electricity constantly crackled.
Later, Lin Tang's shackles were removed, and he was fitted with identical tal rings. According to Yan Qinghe, to ensure "authenticity," he wouldn't tip off the guards to give Lin Tang special treatnt. Therefore, from the prison guards' perspective, Lin Tang was a bona fide super-criminal, and they showed him no kindness whatsoever.
"Lin Tang, I'm warning you," the prison guard said coldly. "I don't care how insubordinate you were on the outside. In here, if you're a dragon, you coil up; if you're a tiger, you lie down. Otherwise, you'll co to a bad end!"
He then explained how the tal rings worked. First, a press of the remote control would discharge a current strong enough to make a person incontinent with pain, but not kill them. Second, even without the remote, if a prisoner's movents were too large or their heart rate exceeded a certain threshold, the rings would activate automatically.
Therefore, in theory, there should be no fighting among the inmates here. In other prisons, inmates were put to work, a practice jokingly referred to as "pedaling the sewing machine." The inmates here were special; they only needed to be detained and didn't have to work. They just had to stay put.
Once the prison guard had explained all the rules, he abruptly shouted, "Prisoner Lin Tang, did you hear all that clearly?"
This is actually a good place for so secluded cultivation! Lin Tang was pondering this.
Hearing the guard, he raised an eyebrow and replied nonchalantly, "Mm-hmm, heard you."
A harsh smile appeared on the poker-faced guard's face. "Wrong answer! You are required to respond loudly within one second, 'Understood!' Since this is your first violation, your punishnt is only ten seconds of electrocution!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he decisively pressed the button on the remote.
In the neighboring cells, the prisoners perked up their ears, relishing his misfortune.
"Heh heh, this newbie is too careless. He's in for it now."
"Hmph, every new guy gets a taste of this to put them in their place. Even if he had followed the rules and answered correctly in ti, that bastard would've still found an excuse to shock him once."
"Co to think of it, I don't think I've been shocked in months."
"I've gone longer. Over a year!"
"Look at you, all proud, huh? I can't stand it if I go a day without getting shocked! I won't turn into a wimp just because I'm afraid of a little jolt!"
"Qian San, you can brag all you want. Everyone knows you only got shocked a few tis your first year here and never again since. I'm starting to think your ring is busted. I'll report it to the guards and have them get you a new one."
"Fuck you! Mind your own damn business!"
"Look, he's getting antsy! He's getting antsy!"
"Shh, shut the hell up, you guys. Aren't you curious? Why hasn't the new guy started screaming yet?"
"Huh? You're right..."
The prisoners were astonished. The guard was equally baffled. He tried pressing the remote a few more tis.
ZZZT!
A powerful current raged through Lin Tang's body, yet he showed no reaction. Forget this specially made device; he could withstand the high-voltage electricity from a power line. In the end, however, he was kind enough to let out a few "cries" to save the guard so face.
The guard scratched his head, suspecting the ring was malfunctioning. He removed Lin Tang's ring, fitted him with a new one, and cranked the power to the maximum setting.
After shoving Lin Tang into a cell and locking the iron bars, the guard left hurriedly, intending to have the first ring thoroughly inspected.
Just as Lin Tang was about to sit down and cultivate, his new "cellmates" dropped their benign façade. They instantly rushed over and surrounded him, their expressions as ferocious as those of ravenous wolves.
They barked one after another, "Kid, state your na! And tell us exactly what you did to get thrown in here! Spit it out!"
"And what do you have on you? Any cigarettes? Hand over everything, now!"
"You dare refuse? We'll skin you alive right here and now!"
Lin Tang looked at them strangely, glancing from one man to the next. "I thought the electric rings were supposed to prevent fighting?"
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