Long Chen felt his vision go dark and then fall downwards. A strong force was pulling his body, causing him to feel some tingling and pain.
But it didn’t last long, and Long Chen soon found himself returning to normal.
He opened his eyes and found himself in a dark hall. The hall was empty and was made of metal.
“Senior Yan, is this the Transit Hall?” Long Chen realized that Yan Honghai was standing right beside him.
“Yes, this is the Transit Hall. We can reach the two main areas of the Star Devil Prison from here. We will ignore the large star area for now. Our destination is the asteroid area. It’s closer, and we can reach it from the Transit Hall.”
“What are the asteroid and large star areas?” Long Chen knew next to nothing about the place.
“The large star area is where we keep prisoners. It’s not where we’re going. The asteroid area is where the inner family sends their people to cultivate. Young Master Long Chen, you must know very little about this place, correct? Follow me.”
With Yan Honghai guiding the way, Long Chen followed him with curiosity. The further they walked out of the hall, the more Long Chen was mystified by the void.
When they exited the main door and entered a plaza, Long Chen was shocked.
He realized that the Transit Hall was the only building embedded in a cliff. It was also the only place that gave him a view of the cliff itself. All he could see in the opposite direction was a dark void.
“Is this … space?” Long Chen tried to calm down because the scene in front of him was too preposterous.
Based on how the Transit Hall looked, he had assumed that the Star Devil Prison was located in a deep, underground cave, but to think he was seeing the night sky itself! No wonder it was called the Star Devil Prison.
“Do you see those glittering stars within the darkness? Those are asteroids.” Yan Honghai pointed at some of them.
“You mean I will be heading there?” Long Chen knew that the space he was seeing was not infinite. The distance between him and the stars wasn’t large, roughly a hundred to a thousand meters or so.
“Yeah, but don’t worry, I will take you there. Do you see those chains?” Yan Honghai nodded and pointed at the edge of the plaza. Long Chen then saw two massive, metal chains that originated from the void and connected to the Transit Hall.
They were the largest chains he had ever seen, and their toughness seemed extraordinary too. Even though they were rusty, there was a trace of ancient energy on them.
Each link of the chain was oval and was roughly half a meter in thickness. A single link was almost several beds large. How could chains this thick ever be weak?
“Are the chains connected to the stars?” Long Chen asked.
“Yes, the left one goes to the large star area, while the right one goes to the asteroid area. Long Chen, do you see the five brightest shining stars in the large star area? Those are the stars belonging to the Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, and Heavenly Wolf.” Looking at the beautiful scene, Yan Honghai felt pride as a member of the Lingwu family.
Azure Dragon? Is that where they are keeping the prisoners? I wonder which star Mo Xiaolang is being kept in?
Yan Honghai became serious and explained, “Young Master Long Chen, according to Lord Xuanxiao’s instruction, I will now take you to one of the stars within the asteroid area, but there is something important I must tell you.”
“What is it?” Long Chen was curious as to why he had gotten so serious.
“Do you see the void? That is not space itself. When you walk on the chains, you must be careful not to fall into it, or no one will be able to save you. No one in the Lingwu family knows what happens to the people that fall off.”
“Fall?” Long Chen was speechless. The Star Devil Prison was not as safe as it seemed, but as cultivators, they would easily be able to traverse the chains without difficulty as long as they were not fighting.
“Of course, something like that wouldn’t happen since we are cultivators. I’m just giving you a warning.” Yan Honghai laughed. “Come, follow me. Watch your step. I will show you to one of the weaker ones to see if it works for you.”
Yan Honghai jumped on the chain leading to the asteroid area, and Long Chen followed him closely.
Mo Xiaolang should be on one of the stars in the large star area. Should I ask Yan Honghai for information? Would I expose myself? But Yan Honghai is someone Xuanxiao trusts. Long Chen kept thinking while walking.
It was indeed frightening to see the darkness beneath them. Long Chen felt his heart skip a beat when he looked down, as if the void was a beast waiting to devour him.
Yan Honghai turned around and smiled. “Be careful now. We should be able to reach it in an hour.”
“Thank you for your help.”
“No worries. I heard that you beat the genius of the outer family, Jin Sheng’en, correct?” The journey was boring, so Yan Honghai was happy to have someone to talk to.
“Yeah, but he’s not really a genius. The true genius is the one from the Silver family.” Since Long Chen didn’t know how to ask, and Yan Honghai was coincidentally talking about the qualifiers, Long Chen managed to shift the topic to Mo Xiaolang.
“Indeed. Mo Xiaolang was highly talented even when compared to members of the inner family. The geniuses from the inner family were very jealous of him. But there’s nothing much we could say.” Yan Honghai shook his head when it came to Mo Xiaolang. This topic was taboo for them.
“I heard that he was imprisoned in the Star Devil Prison. He must be in one of those stars, right?” Long Chen probed.
“Yeah, I saw with my own eyes when he was led to the Azure Dragon star … Long Chen, are you interested in him? I advise you not to bring him up, because the four patriarchs barred us from discussing him.”
“No, I’m just curious. We all admire strong geniuses, don’t we?” Long Chen smiled.
Yan Honghai failed to see that Long Chen was tricking him and smiled while they continued walking.
There was nothing in front or behind them, only darkness. This made Long Chen feel afraid for some reason.
Is he stuck on the Azure Dragon Star? I thought he would be kept on the Heavenly Wolf Star. Long Chen slowly formulated a plan to rescue him. Even though they weren’t far apart, Long Chen didn’t understand the secrets of the Star Devil Prison. How could he save Mo Xiaolang without information?
“We will arrive soon.” The light from the asteroids[1] wasn’t bright, but they were considerably larger now, meaning they were close.
Soon, the chains broke off into tens of different chains, each heading to a different asteroid. Yan Honghai identified the chain they needed to walk on.
“Here at the crossroads, every single chain is marked with the name and gravitational strength of the asteroid. Look here, you can see that the chain we chose is connected to an asteroid with five times the gravitational force.” Yan Honghai pointed at the marker on the chain.
“If the gravitational force of a particular asteroid is too weak for you, you can come back here and choose another. I would suggest that you take it methodologically and don’t jump to an asteroid with a much stronger gravitational force. You might die from it!” Yan Honghai explained.
“I understand, I won’t be rash.” Long Chen chuckled and remembered the warning.
“I can’t keep accompanying you. I will leave once I bring you in. You can just enter and exit on your own later on.”
Under Yan Honghai’s guidance, Long Chen approached one of the smaller asteroids. At the end of the chain was a yellow asteroid around two hundred meters in diameter.
Its surface was far from flat, and it had numerous ridges. Long Chen felt like he was a bug walking on a brain when he stepped on it.
There was nothing other than the ridges though, just yellow dirt and soil[2].
“Is the gravitational force here five times stronger?” After walking off the chain and stepping onto the asteroid, Long Chen felt like he had become heavier, as if a massive boulder was weighing him down, but the pain was not overbearing and he soon adapted to it.
“This is indeed good.” His body wouldn’t move as he wished, and it was hard to circulate his Qi.
“Looks like you do have an advanced Black-tier Body Tempering technique, so the gravitational force is not deadly to you. But I would still suggest that you take it slow and gradually increase the gravitational force rather than going all out and choosing the one with the strongest gravitational force. I have to go now. Be careful.”
Long Chen couldn’t possibly stop Yan Honghai from leaving, so he said goodbye.
He had two objectives in the Star Devil Prison. One was to find out where Mo Xiaolang was, while the second was to cultivate. Now that he was here, Long Chen would never give up a chance to increase his strength, especially after he realized how beneficial the increased gravitational force would be to his cultivation.
Now that I know Mo Xiaolang is on the Azure Dragon Star, I will have to find other details to formulate a plan, but I will just train for now!
1. Don’t ask us why the asteroids can glow in this novel. ☜
2. Again, I have no idea why there is soil on asteroids ☜