Chapter 778: Mural of the Prison Cell

"Hum~"

After reading the inscription on the stone tablet once through, Li Yuan sensed a familiar fluctuation.

"Dharma Net!"

Li Yuan reached out to touch the stone tablet; with a flash of light before his eyes, he saw the Dharma Net he had glimpsed many times through the Sword Lotus body.

The difference was that what he could now see was the very bottom layer of the Dharma Net, and the only function he could perceive was 'Sacrifice'!

"This prison cell can absorb and exhale the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and one can practice magic arts, but every day one must sacrifice at least a wisp of magic power…"

Sensing the message from the Dharma Net, Li Yuan's brows knit tightly, and many of the doubts from when he first entered the Mysterious Yellow Realm were resolved.

For instance, why cultivators in the Great Mysterious Yellow World were so exceedingly few…

And for another example, the source of the Dharma Net's 'Pouring of the Crown'…

"The prisoners in this Tower of Heavenly Sins are the very cornerstone of the Dharma Net's bottom layer."

"Truly ruthless."

Looking at his own sentence of a full one hundred and twelve thousand years, Li Yuan could not help but feel his teeth ache.

The Three Saints Sect truly did not treat prisoners as people.

Silently committing all the information to memory, Li Yuan stood up, dragging his heavy shackles, and slowly shuffled within the prison cell that was some ten zhang across.

These shackles not only suppressed his cultivation to a level barely at the threshold of entering the Dao, but were also as heavy as a mountain, making every movement agonizing.

"My five senses have also been suppressed to an extremely low degree…"

Li Yuan furrowed his brow, surveying his surroundings.

The darkness of this prison cell was thick as ink; without invoking the Soldier-Controlling Register to bolster himself, he could not even see beyond the span of a palm, and even after switching to a perception set for augmentation, he could not see beyond the prison cell.

Forcing down his discomfort, Li Yuan scanned every direction.

The prison cell was entirely dark grey, made of some unknown material that even Shadow Demon Water could not corrode; pushing his perception to its absolute limit, he could only faintly make out what seemed like divine patterns.

"Hum~"

Li Yuan silently adjusted his Soldier-Controlling combinations, relying on the faint glow emitted by the stone tablet to scan the cell, and soon his gaze fell upon the cell's walls.

On the grey-black stone walls was an extremely intricate and bizarre mural.

"This mural…"

Li Yuan slowly approached, but could not help a jolt of shock in his heart.

Spread across the walls of the entire prison cell, the mural depicted countless figures—some in human form, some in beast form, some in the shapes of weapons, plants, or trees.

Countless races, countless creatures beyond reckoning.

These figures were packed extraordinarily densely, most even overlapping one another, making one's scalp crawl at the sight.

"Five hundred and forty-one million…"

Li Yuan did a quick count on his fingers, then could not help but look toward the stone tablet: "The number inscribed on this tablet—does it refer to the number of prisoners once held within this cell the size of a ding character?"

As this thought flashed through, Li Yuan's gaze suddenly sharpened.

The figures on the mural seemed to still be writhing?

"This mural…"

Relying on the augmentation of the Soldier-Controlling Register, Li Yuan keenly detected that faint anomaly; he focused with all his might, observing the figure closest to him.

"Hum~"

It seemed as though flowing light burst forth before his eyes.

In an instant, Li Yuan seemed to see a dark void, see mountains and rivers and plants, see spirit beasts and Dao soldiers…

"These are the Fa Fa Jie of those previous prisoners?!"

"No—these are Eerie Grounds!"

Though it was only a fleeting glimpse, Li Yuan's heart gave a sudden lurch: "They even captured their Fa Fa Jie along with them?"

The spirit returns to the nether.

Eerie Grounds are formed when the Shen Jing of a fallen mighty one is eroded by You Jing.

In other words, when a cultivator perishes, whether it be their Fa Fa Jie or their Fa Heaven, they must inevitably fall into the Returning Ruins!

"How could this be…"