[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-immortal-through-martial-path-i-who-cannot-die-s":3,"chapter-immortal-through-martial-path-i-who-cannot-die-s-immortal-through-martial-path-i-who-cannot-die-s-chapter-230":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Immortal Through Martial Path, I Who Cannot Die Shall Ultimately Be Invincible",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2325448,4549,"Chapter 230: Sectarians","immortal-through-martial-path-i-who-cannot-die-s-chapter-230",230,"\u003Cp>“These days have become utterly absurd. My family has done this line of work for four generations, and this is the first time I’ve heard of jailers being asked to donate money.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiao Jin kept muttering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“These days feel like the prelude to total chaos. Chen Tou, I’m right, aren’t I?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Guanlou grunted, “You know it. Say less. Watch out—they might charge you with spreading heresy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiao Jin slapped his own mouth. “Ah, I just can’t hold it in. Two hundred cash isn’t much, but this whole thing is just too strange. The old emperor has no money, so he’s begging jailers for alms. Future generations, when they see this, what will they think of our time?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What else can they think? It’s rotten through and through. When has any dynasty’s sage ruler ever been so poor he had to beg door to door? When has any golden age ever been so bankrupt it ran deficits year after year? Not even leaving money for descendants—no, they’ll drain every last coin from them too.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Guanlou was seething with suppressed rage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>True, two hundred cash wasn’t much—it cost about that much for a meal outside. But the issue wasn’t the amount; it was the message this sent: the court was rotten, cowardly, and broke. If things were this bad in times of peace, how could the court survive even a minor disturbance? How long could this false peace last?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The people were unsettled, trembling with fear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A simple snowstorm had already left the court stretched thin, begging for donations, and doing it so shamelessly. What if a massive drought, flood, or uprising came? What then?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You tell me to say less, but you can’t keep your own mouth shut,” Xiao Jin said smugly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Guanlou kicked out, “Have you finished your patrol? Get moving. It’s freezing—don’t let them freeze to death. If they need bedding, send someone to notify the families of the condemned officials. Get them to bring over a few quilts right away. If they die, we won’t take responsibility.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Don’t expect the Tianlaomiao to pay for warm clothes or bedding for prisoners. Dream on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Prisoners had to figure it out themselves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What if a prisoner had no family? Then, reluctantly, rummage through the warehouse’s pile of unwashed trash and pick out two rags to keep them warm. If that fails, let them freeze to death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this weather, even if a few prisoners froze to death, the higher-ups wouldn’t care.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every winter, during the coldest days, and every summer, during the hottest, the Tianlaomiao had official, legitimate death quotas. As long as they didn’t exceed the limit, and the dead weren’t key prisoners tied to powerful interests, the higher-ups turned a blind eye and didn’t bother asking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiao Jin led his men to patrol the cells.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Guanlou flipped through outdated official bulletins: the north and east were both in turmoil with White Lotus sectarians; the Embroidered Uniform Guard was arresting them in droves. Every arrested sectarian’s entire family was executed without exception. For the ringleaders, they used the most brutal executions. Lately, Old Zhang had been swamped—helping the Embroidered Uniform Guard shoulder their burden, training his disciples. If you can’t even perform a slow slicing properly, what good are you?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Guanlou was relieved these sectarians had gone to the Embroidered Uniform Guard, not been sent to the Tianlaomiao.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t want a single sectarian locked up in his prison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those White Lotus fanatics were too wild, too insane. There had already been multiple jailbreaks in the regions, killing many yamen runners and jailers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This winter, the Tianlaomiao was bound to be turbulent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as the money-donation fuss died down, a new batch of prisoners arrived. The most notable were the White Lotus sectarians.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Guanlou took one look and his head throbbed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He whispered to the junior jailer Xu, “Xu my lord, why are these sectarians being sent to the Tianlaomiao? Isn’t that the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s job? Why are they giving up this credit?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Junior jailer Xu told him, “This Zhang sectarian was caught during a routine patrol by the Six Ministries. It’s their achievement, so they won’t hand it over to the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The prison warden said the sectarians will be held in the Jia-class cells.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Guanlou immediately protested—this was a hot potato, and he didn’t want it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Xu my lord, putting this sectarian in the Jia-class cells isn’t appropriate. The Jia-class cells hold condemned officials—mostly weak, bookish scholars who can’t lift a sack. If you put a sectarian in there, I fear chaos will break out. The Bing-class cells are far better suited—they hold river pirates, each one skilled and dangerous.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Precisely because the Bing-class prisoners are all skilled, we cannot put Zhang the sectarian in there. That wouldn’t be imprisonment—it’d be letting a fish return to the sea. Think: if Zhang spreads White Lotus teachings there, recruits followers, what then? The Yi-class cells carry the same risk.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Only the Jia-class cells are safe. Every condemned official there has read the classics, worships only the words of the sages. The sectarian’s delusions can’t sway them—perhaps the officials will even turn around and educate Zhang, reform him, and help the court capture the rest of the sect, strike at the heart of the rebellion. The warden has planned this carefully; don’t ruin his strategy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Junior jailer Xu spoke with full conviction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Guanlou was stunned—his argument made perfect sense. If he weren’t stationed in the Jia-class cells, he might have believed it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bullshit teaching.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What is a sectarian? Someone whose mind has been twisted, obsessed with the White Lotus and the Mother of the Universe, deaf to any other words. Trying to reason with such a man using Confucian phrases? That’s like playing the lute to a cow—you’ve got the whole approach wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Guanlou felt only darkness. He truly didn’t want anything to do with sectarians.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If that’s the case, just hand the sectarian over to Wu the head of the martial squad. He’s a veteran, seen it all.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not acceptable. Wu isn’t as steady as you, Chen Tou. This sectarian is of utmost importance—no room for error. The Six Ministries may come for interrogation at any moment. The warden personally ordered that this prisoner be under your watch. He trusts no one else. This is the warden’s faith in you—don’t betray his confidence.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Guanlou could only grimace. He thanked the prison warden for his high regard. Being too capable had its downsides—you got stuck with all the hard jobs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he really didn’t want this job.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Zhang sectarian had the face of a common townsman—rough, yet sharp-eyed. Only his gaze stood out: piercing, intense. Looking at him, you felt you were gazing upon a believer ready to die for his faith, his whole body radiating golden light—the radiance of a martyr, too brilliant to stare at.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Guanlou sucked in a breath—this was a sign of Qi deviation!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This Zhang sectarian was surely a seasoned follower, possibly even a high-ranking member of the White Lotus. But it was only his guess.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Six Ministries’ dossier listed him as merely a minor leader of the Beijing cell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hah!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could a minor leader radiate the aura of a martyr? Could he carry such presence?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Six Ministries must have misjudged him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If this man truly was a White Lotus high-up, Chen Guanlou instantly felt like he was facing a dire threat—he scanned the surroundings: were there White Lotus agents lurking nearby?\u003C\u002Fp>",1255,"2026-06-20T17:39:59.050Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","805cb58efbbc6100c47a0a250ff24d1bb32226360a4f7a41ba9b625163571d0f","immortal-through-martial-path-i-who-cannot-die-s-chapter-231","immortal-through-martial-path-i-who-cannot-die-s-chapter-229",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fimmortal-through-martial-path-i-who-cannot-die-s-cover.jpg"]