That was Mr. Tail's voice!
Sharp, with a terror that almost tore the eardrums!
The group, previously immersed in their own thoughts or observations, suddenly felt a chill run down their spines, their expressions instantly tensing like a drawn bowstring.
Even Hanya, her mind in turmoil and eyes slightly red, felt as if an invisible hand had seized her throat, instinctively holding her breath.
She forcefully suppressed the surging emotions to the deepest part of her heart and, along with the others, focused her entire attention on the source of the voice.
In the depths of the Shackling Prison, the air, already suffocating, now seemed to congeal into solid ice, every wisp of cold carrying a piercing malice.
Mr. Tail's voice paused briefly, as if trying to discern something in extreme fear, or as if confirming an unbelievable, terrifying fact.
When it sounded again, the voice was hoarse, filled with unprecedented gravity and a horror that almost cracked:
"Damn it... Something terrible has happened! Carnal, that utter madman... it's devouring the other Heliobi!"
"This power... this insane speed of expansion... Damn it! Damn it! It's probably... probably about to recover to the level of 'Conflagration' when it ravaged the Luofu back then!"
Conflagration!
These two words, like two invisible giant hammers, struck everyone's heart with the heavy echo of an ancient calamity!
The atmosphere in the Shackling Prison, already as oppressive as an abyss, now felt like the inside of an erupting volcano, like congealed magma—scorching, heavy, making even breathing an agony.
Hanya was almost the first to break free from her shock. Her elegant eyebrows above her dark-circled eyes knitted into a tight knot, her voice laced with an undisguisable urgency as she pressed,
"Mr. Tail, are you... are you sure? Carnal... can it really reach that... that state?"
Mr. Tail's voice was as heavy as lead, each word carrying an undeniable certainty and profound fear:
"Of course, I'm sure! I was differentiated from Conflagration's 'Isolation'! I know better than anyone how capable that Conflagration thing is! The aura this madman is emitting now... that evil sense of expansion... even if it's not there yet, it's definitely not far off!"
All color instantly drained from Hanya's face, leaving it as pale as paper.
She sucked in a sharp breath, the cold air stinging her lungs, forcing herself to calm down. Her words came out rapidly, yet her voice couldn't help but tremble slightly:
"Mr. Tail is not exaggerating... If Carnal truly devours all the Heliobi suppressed within the Shackling Prison... the consequences... are unimaginable!"
"The Heliobi suppressed by the Xianzhou for millennia are not just Conflagration's differentiated bodies; there are also many... many equally ancient and powerful fiery spirit bodies..."
Xueyi remained silent, her almost emotionless eyes now tinged with a layer of gloom.
Her gaze fell on her slightly trembling sister beside her, her voice still steady, yet with an almost imperceptible softness:
"Little sister, you..."
Hanya let out a long, almost painful breath, as if trying to expel all the weakness and grievance from her body.
She lifted her head, her eyes regaining the calmness and decisiveness befitting a judge:
"It has come to this, sister. If I let personal matters shake my resolve again, I would be unworthy of being a Ten-Lords Commission Judge! Right now, we must first resolve the crisis in the Shackling Prison!"
Daziel's sharp gaze swept across the gloomy corridors; the light from the runes on the stone walls seemed to have dimmed somewhat. He frowned tightly, analyzing in a low voice:
"The trouble is, it seems we can't sense the aura of any other jailers around here..."
"Jade feet?"
Fu Xuan, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, suddenly raised her voice, her fair, pretty face instantly flushing crimson. Her almond eyes widened as she glared at Daziel,
"Jade feet?! What jade feet! You pervert, you scoundrel! At a time like this, you still dare to covet my feet...!"
The memory of the shameful, sticky sensation on the soles of her feet before made Fu Xuan even angrier, wishing she could immediately activate the Matrix of Prescience and hit Daziel with a Heavenly Edict, Great Divination, Calamity Ends in Unity.
Daziel was stunned by this sudden accusation, then found it both funny and exasperating, quickly waving his hands to clarify:
"Master Diviner! What are you thinking about again! I was talking about jailers, the Martial Officers and those mechanical puppets originally responsible for guarding the Shackling Prison!"
Only after hearing the explanation did Fu Xuan realize she had made a huge blunder. The blush on her face deepened, and she coughed unnaturally, trying to save face, muttering with forced composure: "Er... well... the situation is urgent, it's possible for me to mishear things."
Guinaifen, seeing this, quickly stepped forward, using her unique enthusiastic tone to smooth things over, trying to ease the slightly awkward atmosphere:
"Alright, alright, Master Diviner, now is not the time for bickering. Carnal's threat is imminent; we need to think of a solution quickly. By the way, Lady Fu Xuan, about when can General Jing Yuan's reinforcements arrive?"
Reminded by Guinaifen, Fu Xuan also suddenly sensed that something was amiss.
Logically, a considerable amount of time had passed since they entered the Shackling Prison. Given General Jing Yuan's efficiency, the reinforcements should have made some move by now, yet it was completely quiet outside. This was too strange.
She quickly took out a special communication jade talisman carved with complex star charts, her fingertips swiping across it, checking the latest information flow.
The next moment, Fu Xuan's expression suddenly became incredibly grave, even tinged with a hint of horror:
"Damn it! Intelligence shows... Carnal has controlled the Martial Officers here and destroyed key hubs on the Path to the Shackling Prison connecting to the outside! The Shackling Prison... is now completely isolated from the outside world! The General is organizing forces to forcibly repair the passage, but this will likely... take a considerable amount of time..."
Sushang was completely bewildered, unable to resist scratching the back of her head and complaining bluntly:
"It's not that I'm complaining... but why did your Ten-Lords Commission make this prison so convoluted? All these mechanisms and secret passages, and now look, you've trapped all your own people inside, haven't you?"
Xueyi, upon hearing this, merely glanced at her calmly and explained indifferently:
"Such a design was originally intended to prevent prisoners from escaping to the greatest extent. However, since General Jing Yuan is personally guarding outside, it's impossible for Carnal to break through the blockade and escape from the outside."
However, the ominous premonition in Daziel's heart grew stronger. He knew better than anyone how tricky the situation was.
After all, in the original plot, Wèidù, in order to rescue Hoolay, had also used similar means to obstruct the actions of the Astral Express crew...
But that was Wèidù's century-long plan, meticulously plotted, whereas Carnal had actually thought of this so easily, making it countless times more terrifying than that Wèidù!
Daziel no longer hesitated, his eyes sharp, and he made a decisive decision:
"We can't wait any longer! We must set out immediately and head deeper! No matter what, we must first contain Carnal, prevent it from releasing more imprisoned entities! Buy time for the General to repair the passage!"
Hearing this, everyone's expression turned solemn. The fear lingering in the air did not dissipate but was replaced by a do-or-die resolve. They all nodded, agreeing with Daziel's proposal.
Hanya clenched the Netherworld Seal Brush in her hand, her knuckles white from the force. She looked at the passage entrance leading to deeper darkness, her voice low, filled with deep worry:
"Now... the only thing I'm worried about is that after Carnal devours the other Heliobi and its power surges, it will lose its last scruples..."
"Will it... will it release those heinous criminals who were sentenced for the Ten Unpardonable Evils and imprisoned on the lowest level?"
"Any one of those individuals reappearing in the mortal realm would be... a catastrophe..."
Her words echoed in the cold air, casting an even deeper shadow over everyone's hearts.
In the Chill Cages, the cold seemed to have congealed into substance, scraping against every exposed inch of the Martial Officers' and Judges' skin, penetrating to the bone.
After devouring countless of its own kind, Carnal was no longer the same; its form had undergone a heaven-and-earth-shattering distortion and mutation.
The pink mist surrounding its body was as viscous as swamp mud, yet it writhed with a strange, life-like movement. Every churn emitted a nauseating sweetness.
That exposed, heart-like core, with its gnarled, dark blood vessels, pulsed madly on its surface, clearly visible. Each contraction and expansion released terrifying power fluctuations that could make space tremble.
A foul aura spewed from the depths of the pink mist—a mixture of extreme sweetness and extreme decay, intertwining into a bizarre odor that could directly corrode the soul.
It levitated, no longer creeping along the ground, but arrogantly ascending into the air, slowly drifting towards the deeper, more forbidden core of the prison.
The Shackling Prison was divided into three levels.
The upper level was the Chill Cages, used to imprison and punish cold-fearing evil creatures.
The middle level was the Scorch Cages, used to imprison and punish heat-fearing evil creatures.
And penetrating all of this, reaching to the very bottom, was the giant pillar that suppressed endless despair and monstrous sins— The Unshackling Key.
This was what the Ten-Lords Commission used to imprison those heaven-defying individuals sentenced for the Ten Unpardonable Evils; it was the end point of the Shackling Prison.
Once, Carnal had held an instinctive awe and fear for the existences suppressed beneath the Unshackling Key.
However, at this moment, the surging, almost uncontrollable power rapidly expanding within its body endowed it with an unprecedented, almost frenzied confidence.
In a daze, it seemed to touch the edge of that "Conflagration" calamity that had almost incinerated the Luofu back then, feeling that heaven-burning, sea-boiling power.
It was even comparable to those equally classified as heinous criminals, whose very names were taboo, like the "Suìhuáng" (Lord of Embers/Flint)!
Carnal felt it already possessed the capital to negotiate on equal terms with those legendary taboo existences, and even... to manipulate them, to use them for its own ends!
A plan far grander, far crazier than devouring its own kind, a plan sufficient to overturn the entire order of the Xianzhou, was rapidly brewing like a malignant tumor in the depths of its mutated consciousness.
Before the overwhelmingly heavy entrance of the Unshackling Key, a solitary figure stood quietly.
It was a young man dressed in the Ten-Lords Commission judge's uniform, his face serene, but his eyes were empty and lifeless, as if his soul had been extracted.
He was originally one of the many guardians here, protecting this pillar that reached to the heavens, but now, he had been reduced to a mere puppet under Carnal's will.
Carnal silently drifted over, hovering before the young judge.
The churning pink mist slightly contracted inwards, more clearly revealing that pulsating, bizarre heart emitting an evil red light.
"Open the door."
Carnal's voice was not transmitted through the air but, like a cold steel needle, directly pierced into the young judge's mind, carrying an undeniable, all-resistance-crushing absolute authority.
Now, its power was so formidable that it no longer needed to painstakingly erase the target's consciousness as before.
It could make the controlled individual, while maintaining clear cognition, have their body completely and absolutely obey every command, without the slightest deviation.
This way, it could more vividly exert all the knowledge and strength the controlled individual possessed before death, becoming the most perfect tool.
The young judge's eyes remained empty, yet every movement of his body was as precise as the most sophisticated automaton, meticulously executing the command from the depths of his soul.
His lips moved slightly, uttering emotionless syllables: "Yes, Lord Carnal."
With a grating, heavy sound of friction, the stone door, engraved with countless ancient runes and weighing tens of thousands of catties, slowly opened inwards under the drive of a mechanism, revealing an even darker passage that seemed capable of swallowing all light.
The young judge led the way, his steps steady, as if patrolling his own courtyard.
Carnal followed closely behind, the pink mist like a shadow, and wherever it passed, even the air seemed to be dyed with that sweet and rotten taste.
They passed through layer after layer of restrictive formations flickering with dangerous light, continuously delving deeper into the bottom of this dark prison, a realm absolutely forbidden to mortals.
Finally, their footsteps stopped outside an independently carved-out grotto-heaven prison cell.
Here was where that Denizen of Abundance war-leader, who had made countless Xianzhou warriors tremble with fear—
Hoolay, was imprisoned.
The memories of the prisoners here, stored in the controlled judge's mind, surged into Carnal's consciousness like an unbridled flood.
Hoolay, Khan of the Rushing Wolves, the generational nemesis of the Foxian race, a terrifying existence that viewed all living beings as prey.
He had launched multiple brutal wars of aggression against the Xianzhou Alliance, his hands stained with the blood of innocent creatures, his sins numerous and too heinous to record.
His final judgment was: Punishment of the Eternal Sword Tree, never to be pardoned.
The place of imprisonment had to be secretly moved periodically, and each handover required the use of the highest-level forces, with every shackle on his body meticulously inspected.
The air filters inside the prison cell were even more crucial, needing to operate at maximum efficiency at all times to strictly prevent the slightest leakage of that formless yet overwhelmingly domineering wolf venom.
Carnal silently processed this cold information, a silent, disdainful sneer forming in the depths of its consciousness.
"...Your Ten-Lords Commission, you truly treat this old wolf as a formidable enemy, cautious to the core."
The young judge maintained that emotionless tone, faithfully reiterating the programmed cognition:
"This beast is a source of disaster accumulated over generations, its ferocity deeply ingrained in its bones, not even slightly diminished despite being suppressed for ten thousand years. Its wolf venom is insidious and domineering, pervasive, and must be guarded against."
The pink mist around Carnal suddenly churned violently, revealing undisguised disdain and arrogance.
"Is that so? Then I shall see for myself just how much ability this thing, which makes your Ten-Lords Commission so fearful, still has left..."
As the judge operated, the final barrier of the grotto-heaven prison cell boomed open, and an almost tangible stench assailed them—
It was a mixture of thick blood, indescribable decay, and the most primitive, wildest bestial aura, enough to make anyone with a slightly weaker will faint on the spot.
At the very center of the prison, a colossal creature, so large it was suffocating, was tightly bound by countless chains, thick as a child's arm, flickering with a dark blue runic light.
These chains were not physical but composed of pure energy, deeply embedded into the giant's flesh.
Every rune burned its soul and body.
The ends of the chains connected to an illusory, ferocious giant energy tree suspended in the air.
Its trunk was twisted, its branches like swords, constantly inflicting unimaginable, severe torture on the bound creature.
This was the legendary Punishment of the Eternal Sword Tree, an endless cycle of pain.
The giant creature's form vaguely resembled some terrifying wolf-man. The fur all over its body had long since withered and fallen off, revealing the gnarled, steel-like muscles beneath, covered in ferocious scars.
It was none other than the undefeated war-leader of the Denizens of Abundance, Hoolay.
Its massive head hung limply, eyes tightly shut. If not for the extremely faint rise and fall of its chest, the heavy breathing like a broken bellows, and the bloody smell saliva constantly dripping from the corner of its mouth, one would almost think it was already a cold corpse.
This peerless beast, which once dominated the seas of stars, its indomitable consciousness was still tightly imprisoned within this battered body by this endless torture, enduring eternal torment.
The young judge, seemingly out of an implanted sense of duty, subconsciously stepped forward and reminded in a low voice:
"Lord Carnal, according to the Ten-Lords Commission's highest security protocols, when contacting Hoolay, one must first take the 'Miasma-Clearing Pills' specially made by the Alchemy Commission or wear a 'Poison-Isolating Glass Mask' crafted by the Artisanship Commission."
"Wolf venom is formless and colorless, extremely corrosive. Even a Heliobus body, if unprepared, could be contaminated and eroded by it."
"Your subordinate has already prepared the artifacts and pills to suppress the wolf venom for you, you only need to..."
"Noisy! There's no need for that..."
Carnal rudely interrupted the judge, its tone filled with extreme indifference and unparalleled arrogance.
Its beating heart-like core "stared" intently at the seemingly silent yet latently destructive giant wolf, then suddenly contracted violently!
The next moment, pink mist, a hundred times denser, more corrosive, and more polluting than any before, erupted like a volcano suppressed for billions of years!
Overwhelming! Surging!
That pink "living mist," with an unreasonable posture, instantly submerged and completely enveloped Hoolay's mountain-like, colossal body!
It actually intended to use the same method it used on those ordinary Martial Officers and low-ranking judges to directly assimilate this peerless, ferocious beast that the Xianzhou had feared for millennia—
Instantaneous refinement!
The taboo entity, which the Xianzhou had regarded as a dire threat for ten thousand years and spoke of with dread, was, in the eyes of Carnal, whose power had surged and confidence inflated to the extreme, merely another readily available "emotional supplement" on its path to a higher level!
The Xianzhou fears it, but I do not!
___
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