Un corazón puro en una vasija de jade

Capítulo 154

The oil cauldron was ablaze with flames, making the prison even more eerie.

Yongye entered the eighth gate. Each time he entered, two people simultaneously unlocked the door. After each entry, the door was then locked again.

Up. Unless someone is carrying an official seal, it's not easy for them to break in and get out.

This is a grave.

Entering the eighth level of the Heavenly Prison during the Eternal Night, there was only one feeling.

"He's helped you so many times, and this is how you treat him?"

Prince Yan turned his head away awkwardly.

Yongye snorted and observed carefully.

Without the fire in the oil pan embedded in the wall, this place would be utterly dark.

There were no windows, and four cells on each side of the narrow corridor. Standing in the corridor, one could see the eighth layer of iron bars, and all the air came from the seventh layer of cells.

The cell door was different from the others; it was a stone door with only a small, one-foot-square window at the bottom, covered by barbed wire and locked. It looked like a place for passing food or toilet waste. No one could possibly squeeze through.

Prince Yan stood outside a stone door and said, "The jailer doesn't have the key to open this stone door."

Does anyone have it?

"Your Majesty." Crown Prince Yan took out a key and was about to open the stone door when Yongye stopped him.

She picked up the lock and examined it carefully, then said, "Give me a thin piece of iron."

A moment later, she took the thin piece of iron and poked it into the keyhole, carefully feeling for the spring. After about an hour, the lock clicked open. But then it stopped moving again. Yongye sighed, "This lock can't be opened without a key."

Prince Yan laughed and said, "This lock is no ordinary lock. If it is not opened with a key, a mechanism will pop out when it is opened and will never retract. It fits perfectly, so it is just a block of iron and not a lock."

He picked up the key and inserted it. Only then did Yongye realize that the key's structure was very strange. She pondered, "I just wanted to see if anyone could open this lock. It seems that the lock on the stone door has not been touched."

Prince Yan unlocked the stone door and pushed it open. It was very tight. His face flushed red as he said, "Yongye, come here."

Yongye chuckled and shook her head. "So weak you could barely kill a chicken," she thought, perfectly describing someone like Prince Yan. She slowly exerted force, and the stone door gradually opened. A pang of sadness welled up inside her: "Could it be that those imprisoned here are not intended to be released?"

Crown Prince Yan was taken aback and remained silent.

The door opened, and two torches were moved in, illuminating the inside.

The interior space wasn't large, about two zhang wide and two zhang long. It was very tidy. There was a clean stone bed, and nothing else. The walls were made of large bluestones with mortar.

Seeing that there were no bowls or chopsticks by the wall, Yongye asked, "Is a meal delivered once a day?"

"Yes, I arrived before lunch today and took yesterday's food. No items are allowed to remain in this stone cell."

"Not even a blanket?"

"No."

Yongye took a few steps and said, "The person just vanished into thin air?"

"Yes."

"All of you, get out of here, and don't leave any torches behind."

Prince Yan glanced at her, then withdrew from the stone gate.

"Close the door. Don't disturb me." Yongye wanted to return to the state where Feng Yangxi was alone inside. She didn't understand how the person could have disappeared.

The stone door closed as instructed, and the space immediately fell silent. Yongye sat cross-legged on the stone bed, thinking that Feng Yangxi must have done the same back then.

It felt like I was back in my childhood, learning my skills in the underground chamber with my master in green robes. The darkness that might be terrifying for others was something I was already used to.

Will he get used to it? Will he feel hopeless staying here? Yongye couldn't help but feel heartache. She forced herself to calm down, remembering what her master in green had said about that feeling.

The wind blew in through the stone door window, bringing with it the unique stench and murky air of the prison. Five people stood outside the door: Prince Yan, two jailers, and two guards.

"Your Highness, block up the windows of the stone gate," Yongye said loudly.

Prince Yan complied. Soon, silence fell. Not a ray of light could be seen from the windows. The air grew heavy and oppressive.

Yongye sat quietly, slowly becoming a part of the stone house. She could sense even the slightest external influence, even the smallest breeze, the wind coming from the cracks in the wall.

Her hand reached out and touched the wall. Suddenly she jumped up: "Your Highness!"

The stone door was pushed open by the guards, and Crown Prince Yan asked in surprise, "Have you found anything?"

Who lives in the cell next door?

"unmanned!"

"What?"

“In the past ten years, only Feng Yangxi has moved into the eighth cell,” Crown Prince Yan said with certainty.

Yongye smiled brightly, walked to the wall connecting to the next room, and said to the two guards, "Push it."

Two guards gave the spot she pointed to a push, and a piece of bluestone crashed down, falling into the adjacent room. The door to the next stone chamber opened, and Yongye walked in, clicking his tongue in admiration: "Flawless, even the wall plaster has been redone."

Prince Yan didn't understand, but Yongye laughed and said, "There's a tunnel here. Just lift the stone bed and you'll find out."

The stone bed was lifted, revealing a large hole, and Prince Yan stared in disbelief. Who would dig a hole into the Heavenly Prison? Yongye stood at the entrance of the hole, examining it for a long time before saying, "This hole wasn't dug recently. Perhaps ten years ago, someone was imprisoned here. This hole was to rescue that person, and it just so happened that Feng Yangxi entered the Heavenly Prison, so it came in handy."

Feng Yangxi was taken away without making a sound, undoubtedly under the influence of some kind of sleeping potion. The eighth cell only received meals from the jailers at noon; after noon, it was as quiet as a graveyard. Someone entered through the tunnel and began digging at the wall. Even Feng Yangxi would find it strange; given his personality, he certainly wouldn't make a sound, but would want to see what was happening. Then the sleeping potion blew in, and Feng Yangxi was knocked unconscious in the poorly ventilated cell before being taken away.