Chapter 269

A day passed as if it was a year in the heavenly prison. There were a few convicted Asuras in the heavenly prison, but most of them were evil demons and demonic beasts that were suppressed here. Although it was called the heavenly prison, no celestial beings were imprisoned here. He had heard that there was a hell in the underworld, which was the most sinister and terrifying place in the three realms, and this place was probably hell in the heavens.

Because he had offended a god, Ah Yun naturally had a hard time in the heavenly prison. He was locked up in the darkest and dampest cell and was blamed for whatever he did. He lacked water and food and was often dragged to the beast fighting arena to fight against demonic beasts for the prison guards’ entertainment. He would be put into the water prison* or suffer punishment if he had the slightest resistance, and he suffered a lot.

His spiritual power was sealed. No matter how angry and humiliated he was, he could not revolt. He grew up to be laid-back and unruly, so he had never suffered such a crime. He regretted and suffered every day. He often thought of Lan Jiang. In fact, he did not want to think of that person at all, but he could not control it. He wondered whether all that he had suffered would leave no trace in Lan Jiang's heart, just like he said, "It has nothing to do with me."

The more pain he experienced, the more numb his heart became. His obsession with Lan Jiang, which used to burn fiercely, had already cooled down a lot.

He met a few fellow Asuras in the heavenly prison, who roughly had the same experience as his. For a hot-tempered race like the Asuras, those who couldn’t tolerate the humiliation had already scattered their own souls, while the remaining ones could only endure strenuously. These prison guards were celestial beings in the Heavenly Palace that already had the lowest positions. They had no divine positions except for the prison wardens. The more they bullied the Asuras, the more pleasure they took in their humiliation. After all, only in this way could they compare their superiority to the Asuras.

Of course, not all of these prison guards deserved to die. He Mian, the prison guard who was bribed by an elder and gave him immortal medicine on the first day, helped him several times in secret. Unfortunately, He Mian had limited authority and could not let him have an easy time. What made him endure the humiliation and survive was the desire to escape from here and taking revenge on those prison guards. He wanted to live, at least longer than those prison guards.

He began to plan his escape, and He Mian helped him in every way he could. He gradually felt that He Mian was much more capable than he thought. He could always do something that Ah Yun felt was extremely difficult or smuggled in some incredible things for him. If it wasn't He Mian's contribution, then it should be from the elders'. It seemed that the elders had never given up on him.

There was one time, Ah Yun was testing him, saying that he wanted to eat snowberries from the snow mountains, and they must be pure white without red spots and with the burrs plucked clean. It turned out that He Mian really brought them to him. At that time, he thought that other than He Mian’s lightweight words due to his humble position and being unable to stop the other prison guards from torturing Ah Yun, he almost became his servant who granted all of his requests.

When he joked brazenly like this, He Mian became silent. Ah Yun thought he was angry and teased him again, "I’m just joking, why are you angry? You can say I'm your servant too. We Asuras never cared about titles or statuses."

"We are......friends, right?" After the silence, He Mian said seriously.

"Hmm." Ah Yun tilted his head to think. He thought that this word was very new. New in the sense that Asuras and celestial beings could actually be called "friends", but they were really companions standing together now. Ah Yun smiled. "You are the only good celestial being I know. We are friends now."

After more than a hundred days of planning, Ah Yun deployed his big plan to escape from prison. He Mian would get him the immortal pills that could help him break through the spiritual power’s seal and a set of clothes that could be used to disguise as a prison guard, then help him set a small fire to create some chaos so that he could escape while he had the chance.

The plan went really well. He took the immortal pill a day in advance and spent 16 hours to break through his spiritual veins, and He Mian, who received the secret signal, used the heavenly fire to ignite the woodshed, of course, faking it as an accidental fire. The prison guards were shouting to put out the fire, but the heavenly fire was not an ordinary fire. Instead of being extinguished when it met water, it would burn more and more intensely. It could only be blocked with spiritual power and extinguished slowly.

After recovering his cultivation, Ah Yun easily broke open the cell, wearing the prison guard's uniform, and swaggered out. But after he regained his freedom, he didn't escape immediately. Because he had escaped, he wanted to let his fellow Asuras out as well. Those Asuras would only be treated more harshly if they stayed here, and he really couldn't just walk away.

After thinking about it, he sneaked back and saw that the fire in the woodshed was about to be extinguished. He must create a larger chaos before he could get all the prison guards out of their cells. So, he secretly took a little heavenly fire and went to the water prison.

During his time in the heavenly prison, he was repeatedly thrown into the water prison and tortured. He hated this place to the core. Wouldn't burning it be a great way to dispel his hatred? Moreover, the heavenly fire would burn more vigorously when it encountered water. Those prison guards would surely get busy.

After setting fire in the water prison, the fire instantly raged. He ran out of the water prison and shouted. When he drew all the prison guards here, he went back to the cell alone to save his Asura companions.

Several Asuras were released from their cells one by one and fled towards the outside of the heavenly prison in groups.

At this moment, there was a boom and a column of fire. Something exploded in place. Amid the huge fire and loud noise, half of the heavenly prison was turned into ruins in an instant.

The water prison exploded!

Ah Yun stared blankly at the blazing fire and rolling smoke with only one thought left in his mind ---- he was in big trouble.

He heard the prison guards’ screams, which seemed so weak in the deflagration fire. He saw countless evil demons and demonic beasts break out of their cages and fled in all directions.

"Ah Yun, let’s go." An Asura tugged on him and said urgently, "Let’s escape quickly!"

"I......" Ah Yun suddenly thought of something, "I have to go find He Mian. What if he also went to put out the fire?!" His heart was tightly squeezed. If He Mian was also in the water prison, he would probably have a difficult time escaping alive at this moment.

"You are crazy. If he didn’t go, he’ll naturally be fine. If he went, it won't help if you go back. Run!" The Asura looked at the ruined heavenly prison with a pale face and thought of the prison guards that were burned to death and the evil demons and demonic beasts that were released. This was a great disaster. If they were caught again, it would not be as simple as being caned and serving a hundred years' imprisonment. What was waiting for them must be the cruelest consequence.

Ah Yun stared at the overpowering fire. His brows were tightly knitted, and his red hair had lost its luster under the torture of those days, but it was whitewashed with a layer of false vitality against the raging flames, just like the fragile freedom he had now.

Everything was irreversible. No matter what he had done and regretted, if he had a choice, he wished he had never met that god called Lan Jiang on that boundless white snow, for whom he was amazed at first glance and fell in love at first sight. After all those foolish deeds since then, he deceived himself into not facing the truth that had been undisguised since long ago.

Now, he was forced to face his own heart, but other than the growing pain, it was no longer meaningful. All the evil consequences he bore from planting the causes would be borne by him alone.

At that time, although he was prepared to face the disaster he had caused, he could not imagine what agonizing price he would pay for all this, and how this price would distort the fate of all.

 

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PS: I wonder if He Mian is Lan Jiang, since the narrative stated that he could carry out difficult missions…but still seems a bit far-fetched, idk man.

PS from Emzie: *that one meme* how many times, how many times do I have to tell you that your actions have cOnSeQuEnCeS?!!?

 

water prison*[水牢]--- prison cell containing water, in which prisoners are forced to be partly immersed

 

Edited on 28 July 21 (Emzie)

 

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