Chapter 244 - 98: Sudden Emergence of the Demon Ring

Words : 1517 Updated : Sep 27th, 2025

Shang Country’s Heavenly Prison, a different scene unfolds for Yue Jinghua, who has been incarcerated for three days now. During the several hundred years since the founding of Shang Kingdom, the citizens have prospered so much that even the farmers in small towns and suburbs could save up a few silver coins each year. The saying goes that in the civilian realm, doors are not bolted at night and lost items found on the roads are not pocketed; the vacancy rate of civilian jails accounts for fifty percent. And if the civilian jails are like this, the Heavenly Prison detaining criminals of heinous crimes, in even starker contrast, often has a vacancy rate as high as ninety percent. The Heavenly Prison has over thirty cells but only imprisons three or four inmates. The pine oil lamp brightly lights the passageway of the cells, the straw in the cells is very dry and comfortable, there is no sound of interrogation throughout the night nor threats from intense questioning, and the food is more or less normal. It was around the second day after her incarceration that Yue Jinghua had figured out the situation within the entire Heavenly Prison. The Heavenly Prison is located in the most hidden place within the royal palace, so even those who are well-acquainted with the palace’s terrain would have difficulty locating the cells in a short time. Each cell has no windows, leaving only a palm-sized skylight. That little skylight then becomes the sole way for prisoners to connect with the outside world each day. Besides that, the Heavenly Prison is heavily guarded; inside, there are ten prison guards of the Dark Earth Rank and Dark Jade Rank. Rumors have it that these people are all former subordinates of General Tianwei, personally trained by him, with extraordinary abilities. At night, they activate the defensive Dark Arrays, which are easy to defend but difficult to assault. Not to mention, once a prison break occurs, the already substantial guard force both inside and outside the palace would be the least of concerns. For a serious offender of the Heavenly Prison, escaping from the prison is as hard as ascending to heaven. However, more than the Dark Arrays and the guards with outstanding abilities, what really concerned Yue Jinghua was the Six-Eared Dog-Rabbit Fox being bred at the exit of the Heavenly Prison. This hybrid Dark Beast, with lineage from both the Fox Clan and the Dog Clan, hails from the neighboring Dragon War Empire. It possesses the nimbleness of foxes and the olfactory sense of canine, with incredibly sharp hearing. If a prisoner were to attempt an escape, the Dog-Rabbit Fox could track them down by scent alone within a hundred miles. In other words, if Yue Jinghua wanted to leave the Heavenly Prison, she would have to deal with three obstacles: the Dog-Rabbit Fox, the defensive Dark Array, and the prison guards. Even if she managed to take care of all those, she would still need to consider the safety of everyone at Jingxin Courtyard. Lie Rou and the little boy, one frail, the other young, fleeing with them would obviously be impractical. After weighing the pros and cons, Yue Jinghua decided to calm her heart and stay in the Heavenly Prison. Surviving adversity has always been a strength of Yue Jinghua’s, and to others, the Heavenly Prison might seem like a ferocious beast, but for Yue Jinghua now, it was a timely rainfall. The Evil Qi in the prison was denser than any other place in Poluo City. If the Spiritual Energy that wanders above the Canglong Continent happens to be the treasure for refining Dark Energy, then Evil Qi serves as the foundation stone for practicing Sha Technique. Although she had learned the basics of the Sha Cultivation Method from Jue Shang, ever since she left the Senluo Sea—a place rich in Evil Qi—Yue Jinghua had found it difficult to find a suitable place for cultivating the Sha Technique. After arriving in the Heavenly Prison, however, she discovered to her surprise that it was an excellent place for Sha cultivation. The current Heavenly Prison may seem like it doesn’t hold many wronged souls, but a few hundred years ago, at the beginning of the Shang Kingdom’s foundation, when wars were unsettled, a large number of Dark Practitioners and thieves were thrown into this prison. Most of these people did not leave the prison alive. As Yue Jinghua cultivates the Sha Technique, she awaits the person who framed her to eventually show their true colors. This night, just like always, Yue Jinghua was practicing the Sha Cultivation Method. Unlike the Dark Skill of Canglong Continent, the Sha Cultivation Method of Chen Continent is the exact opposite in approach. If Dark Skill flows smoothly through the Dantian for one circulatory cycle, then the Sha Technique must run counter to the Dantian for one complete circuit. One with the flow and the other against it, if it were an ordinary person, both forces would surely strangle each other, battling fiercely within the body of the Dark Practitioner, resulting in a life-and-death struggle. Even a body as strong as that of the Demon God might explode and perish. Therefore, for thousands of years, there have been very few who dare to cultivate both Dark Skill and Sha Technique together. Yet, Yue Jinghua is a rare Abnormal Person who can cultivate both skills simultaneously, and she has accidentally discovered that practicing Sha Technique and Dark Skill together unexpectedly benefits her cultivation’s advancement. From the words of Red Cloud Dragon, Yue Jinghua learned that she carried one of the four grand Divine Skills of the Plane within her body – the Nine Revolutions Star Creation Technique. Earlier, Yue Jinghua had witnessed the marvelous utilities of this Dark Skill. However, when her cultivation reached the second layer, her Dark Skill advancement became stagnant. But after learning the Sha Technique, the situation took a turn for the better. Whenever the flowing and counterflowing Dark Powers fought within her body, the stars within Mo Xi’s Sea of Consciousness emitted a peculiar glow, absorbing the deadlock force completely and cleanly. A tadpole-like stagnated Evil Qi was slowly absorbed into Yue Jinghua’s body. As the murky colors faded away, within the Mo Xi’s Sea of Consciousness, the earliest-appeared Jade Dark Star began to rise with a ring-shaped halo resembling black silk around it, just like the planetary rings surrounding several of the major nearby planets seen in modern textbooks. After running the Sha Technique in reverse for one complete cycle, Yue Jinghua opened her eyes, her pupils ink-stained, looking even darker. Just as Yue Jinghua pondered the role of that ring of stars, a hurried footsteps sounded outside the Heavenly Prison at the break of dawn. Several dog-rabbits let out howling cries, but soon enough, the sound softened. The prison guards unanimously cry out, "Long live the king, long live, long live!" Dressed in bright yellow court attire, King Fa Xiao Yun, accompanied by a group of guards, approached steadily. After waiting for three days, one finally arrived. Yue Jinghua’s gaze slightly narrowed, and she sneered inwardly. The sound of chains dropping on the ground outside the cell door. King Fa Xiao Yun of Shang Country arrived at the prison with a somber face early in the morning, presumably because Princess Sha Fei’s poisoning had worsened. Throughout these three days, in order to preserve the unborn child of Princess Sha Fei, King Fa Xiao Yun had almost searched the entirety of Shang Kingdom for Pill Masters. But no one could determine the poison that afflicted Princess Sha Fei, let alone cure her. As Princess Sha Fei’s condition deteriorated day by day and her unborn child was in constant danger, Princess Xiu Rong wept and made a fuss daily. Left with no choice, King Fa Xiao Yun came personally to extract some information through interrogation. In the well-lit prison cell, King Fa Xiao Yun saw Princess Yue Jinghua’s appearance clearly for the first time. He had long heard that Yue Jinghua was the number one beauty of the Dragon War Empire, but when King Fa Xiao Yun had met Yue Jinghua previously, she was already disfigured, which made him hardly inclined to give her a second glance. Having not seen her for a few days, she looked quite well, showing none of the discomfort typical of a prisoner. Just as King Fa Xiao Yun was about to step into the prison, he saw under the bright torchlight, the half of Yue Jinghua’s face that was nearly perfectly beautiful. Her jet-black hair was casually tied up to one side, revealing the graceful curve of her neck, like that of a swan. Indifferent to his arrival, she neither moved nor pleaded for mercy. Were it not for the heavy chains on her hands and feet, one would find it difficult to believe that she was indeed in the Heavenly Prison. For a moment, King Fa Xiao Yun’s heart sighed in admiration, she truly was the foremost beauty of the Dragon War Empire. A pity, indeed...

Chapter 244 - 98: Sudden Emergence of the Demon Ring

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