The Villain's White Lotus Halo

2

Chapter 2: The Dungeon

In this world, what would be the predicament that would make you lose all hope?

Would it be Yunmeng Ze1 falling into a miasma field, poisons and toxins forever plaguing the river? Maybe it would be meeting a hurricane on top of an ocean, one that rolled up waves as high as the heavens? Or perhaps it would be the awakening of terrible beasts, ones previously slumbering in the depths of the Shi Wan1 Mountain?

Although everything mentioned above were all extremely dangerous, if one's cultivation was profound and they were equipped with strong spiritual treasures, it wouldn't necessarily be a death sentence. Escaping from their troubles was still a possibility.

However, Cang Ya Mountain's dungeon was different.

Hidden beneath a huge mountain, within the depths of the forest and in a lush valley, the dungeon was filled with an air of mystery.

In a long and narrow corridor that stretched until the end was too far away to see, a copper oil lamp was placed every five chi2. The flickering candle flames looked like the pupils of beasts at night. There wasn't any leftover blood from cruel torture sessions, nor any cursing or wailing. There was only a heavy silence as deep and dark as ink. The only sound one could hear was the unending echo of the water clock used to mark night watches.

It's wheel turned unceasingly, thousands of times without exceptions.

Even the guards who changed shifts every three shichen3 had expressionless faces, lips sealed and silent.

In this world, loneliness could force someone to death.

No daytime, no night. No cold, no warmth. The emptiness and silence were magnified to the extreme.

Tricky people with power as strong as the heavens, extremely violent and evil murderers who kill for fun, genius youths who made unforgivable mistakes, and demonic cultivators were all merely prisoners when they were kept in this dungeon.

If one truly wished to differentiate these prisoners, there was a way: you could separate them into ones who had already attended their trials and ones who didn't, or ones who had visitors and ones who didn't.

However, it was rarer for a prisoner to receive visitors than it was for them to see daylight once more.

Besides the fact that this dungeon was an important place for Cang Ya Mountain, and how only extremely significant people had the qualifications to even request entry, this dungeon was unique because of it's mountain range. The lower one went, the heavier it became.

Martial art cultivators would feel as if their bones were pressured and their muscles were tightened. Spiritual cultivators felt like their spiritual energy was blocked. For a normal cultivator, being suppressed like this was the same as being an ordinary mortal.

Even the guards, ones who were experts in a martial art that would allow them to resist the mountain range's ability, could only withstand staying there for half a day. After that, they would feel their bones and their muscles ache horribly.

However, this dungeon's usual silence was disrupted today.

The almost solidifying atmosphere was broken. Within the stillness of the corridor, the sound of footsteps began echoing. They were steady and powerful, and even their strong aura was maintained.

These footsteps were neither rapid nor unhurried. Although they echoed in a dungeon that would never receive light, it was like they were walking on a big road under the sunshine.

When the figure that created those footsteps walked past the lofty copper oil lamp, the jumping flame illuminated the person's face. Unexpectedly, it was a woman!