28: Chapter 28 Mass Gravesite, Tempering with Malevolent Energy!

There was less than half a month left until the capital's annual Lantern Festival.

The atmosphere in the prison was quietly changing.

The tense, murderous, and oppressive feeling that had persisted for days was gradually dissipating, and the jailers chatted more frequently while on duty.

In the breakroom, an iron charcoal brazier was burning in the center.

Old Wang grabbed a handful of melon seeds, cracking them and spitting out the shells as he ate.

"Have you heard? That Constable Lin from the Six Doors spent three days and three nights in the interrogation room and finally pried open the mouth of that Young Master from the Zhang family."

A young jailer nearby leaned over, his face full of curiosity.

"What did they find out? Zhang Yulong is the Young Master of the Vice Minister of Revenue; did Constable Lin really dare to use such heavy-handed tactics?"

Old Wang scoffed.

"That Constable Lin is a ruthless character. I heard Zhang Yulong was stubborn at first and refused to talk no matter what. Constable Lin didn't say a word and went straight to torture."

"The Zhang family's Young Master had never suffered like that before; he wet his pants on the spot and confessed everything like beans spilling from a bamboo tube."

Old Wang lowered his voice and leaned in a little closer.

"Zhang Yulong confessed everything, and Constable Lin has already taken people to scout the location, preparing to wipe them out in one fell swoop."

The young jailer clicked his tongue.

"Getting information around the time of the Lantern Festival? That's the busiest time in the capital, with people packed into the streets—they sure know how to pick a date."

"It's just tough for us. We know the inside scoop, but now we're confined here, and who knows when we'll be allowed out to get some air."

...

Chen Ran sat in his breakroom.

He held a rag in his hand, slowly and methodically wiping the black iron longsword resting across his knees.

With his current Realm, even from dozens of meters away,

the chatter of Old Wang and the others still fell clearly into his ears.

Who Lin Wan arrested and how the imperial court fought had nothing to do with him.

As long as new prisoners were sent to the prison, he just needed to collect his rent on time.

His gaze fell on the longsword in his hands.

After the Evil Qi riot during his Realm Breakthrough, the surface of this nameless black blade had undergone some changes.

On the originally gray rust, several extremely thin, dark red patterns had appeared.

As he brushed his fingers over the patterns, he could feel a trace of unusual warmth.

Chen Ran stopped the movement in his hands.

This thing was strange.

There was someone in the prison who knew about such things.

Chen Ran sheathed the longsword and stood up, picking up the wooden bucket on the ground.

...

The corridor of the Cell Block D was dark and damp, with water droplets seeping from the walls.

Jiang Mengli sat leaning against the pile of hay in the corner.

She wore thin prison clothes, and the black iron chains on her wrists and ankles dragged on the ground.

It was kept very clean here, showing none of the harshness that a prison should have.

Since the last probing by the Red Lotus Demonic Cult, both sides had implicitly agreed not to take action again.

The Red Lotus Witch sat quietly in the cell, appearing to be resting with her eyes closed, but Chen Ran knew these martial arts experts were usually looking for opportunities to break through their Seal.

Because her strength was suppressed by the Seal, her complexion was extremely pale, but the natural allure between her brows remained undiminished.

Chen Ran walked to the cell door.

He opened the small window on the wooden gate, unhooked the black iron longsword from his waist, and pressed it heavily against the cell door along with its scabbard.

"Take a look." Chen Ran said.

Jiang Mengli lifted her eyelids, her gaze crossing the thick prison bars and landing on the longsword.

She examined it for a moment, her eyes flickering slightly.

"I don't know."

Chen Ran nodded.

He reached out to take the longsword and turned to leave.

He also took out an oil-paper package from his bosom and tucked it back into his sleeve.

The oil-paper package emitted the aroma of delicious food, causing Jiang Mengli's expression to change slightly.

"Wait!" Jiang Mengli called out to stop him.

Chen Ran stopped and turned around.

Jiang Mengli bit her lip, her eyes locked on the oil-paper package.

The food in the prison was terrible, and every time she wanted to eat something good, she really had to rely on this little jailer.

"I am the dignified Red Lotus Holy Maiden, yet I still need to rely on this person!"

Thinking of this, Jiang Mengli showed a hint of shame and indignation, and said in a dissatisfied tone:

"The celestial star meteorite iron is a rare divine object that can absorb the surrounding Qi on its own." Jiang Mengli's speaking speed increased. "Recently, the Evil Qi in the prison has been surging backward, and perhaps it absorbed a mouthful, triggering a trace of its true nature."

Chen Ran placed the longsword back on the ground.

"How do I fully activate it?"

Jiang Mengli swallowed the dry bun and leaned back against the corner of the wall.

"The celestial star meteorite iron is extremely rigid and Yang. To fully sharpen it, you must either forge it with extremely Yang fire for forty-nine days or soak it in extremely Yin Qi."

"This prison has an extremely heavy amount of Evil Qi, which barely counts as an extremely Yin place."

"However, the Evil Qi in this corridor is too thin. You need to find a place with extremely heavy Yin Qi where dead people are piled up. A subterranean Yin spring or a Mass Grave. Throw it in and let it absorb enough."

Chen Ran got his answer, put away the longsword, and hung it back on his waist.

He walked to the small window and threw the oil-paper package from his sleeve inside.

...

In the afternoon, during the hour of the sheep.

A prisoner in Section C could not endure the days of severe torture and breathed his last.

The body was dragged out by two jailers, wrapped in a broken straw mat, and thrown at the entrance of the passageway.

Old Wang walked over, covering his nose, his face full of disgust.

"On such a cold day, who wants to go to the back mountain to dump the body? It's really bad luck. Whoever gets this errand is unlucky."

Chen Ran voluntarily stepped forward and pulled up the corpse-transporting cart parked in the corner.

"Brother Wang, let me do it."

Old Wang beamed and patted Chen Ran on the shoulder.

"Alright, you're a hardworking kid. Go and come back quickly, and I'll treat you to a drink tonight."

The back mountain of the prison.

It was nominally a mountain, but in reality, it was a mound of waste soil piled up after digging out the underground area when the prison was built.

Over the years, most of the prisoners who died in the prison were thrown here.

Over time, this place became a Mass Grave.

The mountain was covered in thick fog all year round, and not a blade of grass grew.

The air was filled year-round with the pungent stench of corpses and thick, gray Evil Qi.

If an ordinary person stayed here for the time it took for a stick of incense to burn, they would surely fall ill upon returning, or even lose years of their life.

Chen Ran pulled the cart, stepping over the withered bones and gravel covering the ground, and arrived at a huge pit on the mountainside.

The bottom of the pit was piled with incomplete skeletons, some of which had not yet fully decayed.

A few black crows perched on the bones, letting out one or two hoarse cries.

Chen Ran was expressionless; he grabbed the edge of the straw mat and gave it a tug.

The body rolled into the depths of the pit.

He brushed the dust off his hands.

The gray fog around him drifted along his sides.

Chen Ran drew the black blade from his waist.

As soon as the blade left its scabbard, it emitted a low hum.

The dense, cold Evil Qi at the bottom of the pit was drawn to it, turning into wisps of gray lines that converged toward the blade.

Chen Ran stood up and walked with the blade toward a broken black iron stele a few steps away.

It was a leftover piece from when the prison was repaired, half buried in the soil and half exposed.

Its hardness far exceeded ordinary refined steel, and it was the raw material used for the shackles to imprison Martial Artists.

Chen Ran did not use his internal Qi.

Relying solely on his Physical Body strength, he raised the black blade and slashed down.

There was no huge clashing sound.

The upper half of the broken black iron stele slid off at an angle, hitting the ground with a muffled thud.

The cut was as smooth as a mirror.

Chen Ran raised the blade, checking it under the dim light.

There were no nicks or signs of the edge rolling on the blade.

This level of sharpness was already beyond the ordinary.

Chen Ran looked at the smooth cut on the broken black iron stele.

With his current strength, combined with this fully sharpened black iron longsword, he was enough to cut the black iron chains in the Cell Block D.

However, the chains were inscribed with high-level Formations from the Demon Suppression Division.

Simply cutting the chains was useless; if he could not break the Formation, the prisoner's own strength would still not be liberated.

Chen Ran returned the blade to its scabbard.

A cold wind blew, sweeping up the fallen leaves on the ground.

Suddenly, a gust of Yin wind whistled past, transforming into a terrifying figure that stopped in front of Chen Ran.