The Dragonhawk Heavy Cavalry was defeated—utterly defeated.
Faced with the Trapping Immortals Legion, they had no power to resist, crushed and slaughtered on the battlefield without mercy. The battle didn't last long; it ended in mere moments. All that remained was the battlefield strewn with broken flesh and a heavy stench of blood hanging in the air, shrouding everything like a thick mist.
This scene left everyone in the Skyhawk Royal Court silent and in despair.
Yes—despair.
Even the Skyhawk Royal Court's deepest foundations couldn't stop the onslaught. In front of the Great Yi Dynasty, it was a swift and devastating collapse. It wasn't just defeat—it was annihilation, and there was no chance, not even the dignity of putting up a symbolic resistance.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, the enemy forces have been completely exterminated. Please inspect the battlefield."
Wushuang Ghost, drenched in blood, bowed to Yi Tianxing.
"Very good. Clean the battlefield and prepare the formations."
Yi Tianxing nodded slightly.
This battle had showcased the might of the Trapping Immortals Legion, marking its name in history. From this day forward, the name Trapping Immortals would be feared and respected across the land.
"Skyhawk King, do you yield now?"
Yi Tianxing looked calmly at the Skyhawk King.
"The Great Yi Dynasty... the Trapping Immortals Legion... I never imagined that the heavy cavalry I've painstakingly built, with immense wealth and effort, would be so utterly crushed. Is the difference between a royal court and an imperial dynasty truly so vast? I hate it... I believed in my strength, but in the end, it was a joke. But—I have done no wrong. I, Tuoba Tao, have done no wrong!"
Tuoba Tao lifted his eyes to the sky and laughed, bitter and tragic.
He didn't think he had done anything wrong.
So what if they ate human flesh? It was the law of the jungle.
With no food left, should he have watched his people starve to death? He believed he had made the right choice—the only choice.
From Yi Tianxing's perspective, Yi wasn't wrong either.
The only crime was weakness.
That was the original sin.
"I am not guilty!"
Tuoba Tao shouted. At this moment, all thoughts of resistance had vanished. He had witnessed Yi Tianxing's power—even the Living Buddha had been repelled. Continuing to fight would be meaningless, a disgrace. He might as well surrender.
With a swift motion, he drew the scimitar at his waist and aimed it at his own throat—preparing to take his own life.
He was a king. If he were to die, it would be with dignity. He had no power over the outcome of the war, but he could choose how he died.
Clang!
Suddenly, a chain shot out, coiling around him like a spirit snake. In a blink, he was bound up like a dumpling.
"You want to die? That's far too kind a fate. Death is a release. For the countless innocent people who died because of you—how is that fair?"
Yi Tianxing said coldly.
Letting the Skyhawk Royal Court fight a proper battle had already given Tuoba Tao face and dignity as a ruler. But now that they'd lost, it was time to settle the blood debt.
"Even if my Skyhawk Royal Court is defeated, I am still the sovereign of a fate dynasty! Do I not even have the right to choose death?"
Tuoba Tao's face was grim with fury.
"No. You've lost that right. The victor becomes king, the loser a bandit. You should understand that well enough."
Yi Tianxing said calmly:
"Not just you—every sinner in the Skyhawk Royal Court will pay. Death would be too easy. You will all repay your blood debts yourselves."
Letting them die easily would be letting them off.
"Your Majesty, the Sky Prison of our Great Yi is quite spacious. Why not throw the Skyhawk King and all his men inside? Each cell seals off their cultivation. Ten per cell. Only one portion of food and water per day. Let them slowly atone for their sins through endless imprisonment."
Jia Xu spoke up with a chilling suggestion.
Why grant them the mercy of quick death? Some crimes had to be repaid in suffering. If Heaven wouldn't exact vengeance, then Great Yi would.
Around them, bounty hunters looked at Jia Xu with a hint of dread.
Ten people per room. One portion of food and water. Not nearly enough to go around. Driven by hunger, chaos would erupt—fighting, killing, cannibalism.
Eating human flesh again.
And with the temperament of these steppe nomads, eating human meat wouldn't faze them.
It would be brutal self-slaughter.
"Very well. All male members of the Skyhawk Royal Court—send them to the Sky Prison. Whether they survive will depend on their own fate. If they wash away their sins, they may yet live."
Yi Tianxing nodded.
This arrangement fit perfectly with his plans.
The Sky Prison was a treasure forged from an extra-dimensional cube. Its prison chambers were ever-shifting, full of hidden dangers. Death could come at any moment, and fear would gnaw at them long before that.
With a thought, a black portal appeared in the void—deep, endless, emanating an instinctual terror.
"Enter!"
The Yin-Yang Shackles dragged Tuoba Tao into the portal. In a blink, he vanished. He didn't say a word—he knew he had no say in his fate now.
"All males of the Skyhawk Royal Court—send them into the Sky Prison."
With this order, the remaining men were rounded up and thrown into the black portal. None resisted. After witnessing the slaughter of their elite cavalry, their morale had collapsed. They submitted quietly, like broken men.
Beside the dark passage, an image appeared.
Projected into the sky above the Skyhawk Plains for all to see.
"That's… the Sky Prison!"
"I've seen it once before. A madman who dared attack the Emperor was thrown in there. Wonder if he's still alive."
"Look—it's the Skyhawk King! He's already imprisoned. Who knows how long he'll be stuck in there."
The bounty hunters looked up at the vision in the sky. The Sky Prison was infamous. No one had ever heard of someone coming out of it easily.
They saw Tuoba Tao locked in a room with nine other warriors. The chamber was strangely high-tech, yet spacious despite housing ten people. Each wall had small hatches that could open.
There were countless such rooms in the Sky Prison.
Imprisoning this many nomads was nothing. The prison could easily hold them all.
They were sent in, and the Sky Prison barely blinked.
This treasure absorbed the karmic sins of its prisoners to grow and evolve. In time, it could spawn more cells to contain even more inmates.
Many past prisoners had been captured alien cultivators or criminal humans from within Great Yi.
When someone first enters, they begin in a "safe cell." But if they try to escape, they'll end up in death cells—full of traps and danger. Many die there.
If you survive a death cell, your karmic sin is drained faster. This shortens your sentence.
But most never leave alive.
These rooms have traps deadly enough to kill Dharma Realm cultivators. Even Nascent Soul experts aren't safe. If the prison ascends to Earth-grade treasure, it'll be even deadlier.
"So many of these nomads carry immense karmic sins. If the prison absorbs it all, it might evolve again."
Yi Tianxing's eyes gleamed with anticipation.
This was waste turned to use—redemption through suffering.
Suddenly, as he looked into the image of the Sky Prison—
"Hmm? That's him."
Yi Tianxing's gaze shifted, a trace of surprise flashing in his eyes.