At the same time, in Area D132.
Xu Qing frowned and looked at the place where the little boy had disappeared. After a long time, he walked toward the cage where the Painting Race was.
Perhaps it was because of the threat from the shadow earlier, the old man from the Painting Race didn't hide this time around. Instead, the moment he saw Xu Qing, he hurriedly approached the railing and cupped his fists respectfully.
"Shui Mozi, the sinner of the Painting Race, greets the Guardian."
"What is it?" Xu Qing looked at the illusory old man in front of him and asked in a low voice.
"Lord Guardian, it's luck!" The old man didn't hesitate at all and replied in a low voice.
When Xu Qing heard this, his gaze turned sharp.
Under his gaze, the old man's body trembled slightly. He felt that this guardian in front of him was very different from what he had seen before.
In reality, he didn't really care about the guardians. After all, his race was special. Even if the people in these paintings were destroyed or even if the painting itself was destroyed, it would be fine. They were all illusions.
However, at that instant earlier, the life-and-death crisis brought about by the guardian's shadow made him have a strong feeling that the other party could eat him.
This made him nervous. After all, if he was eaten, it would be very painful.
Hence, he noticed the change in Xu Qing's gaze and hurriedly continued.
"Lord Guardian, I don't know why that luck is here either. It was already here when I was locked up."
"I still have to thank the Lord Guardian for your help because that luck always likes to stay in the world of our Painting Race. With it around, I don't dare to appear. I even felt like it wanted to eat me."
"Therefore, I couldn't remind you previously. I hope you can forgive me."
The old man hurriedly explained. He also knew that his words were not believable, as he had no intention of reminding the Pawn from the start.
However, he still had to say it.
After all, sometimes, explaining and not explaining were completely different in a sense.
At the very least, this represented his sincere attitude.
Xu Qing coldly glanced at the old man from the Painting Race. He didn't believe much of the other party's words and couldn't be bothered to interrogate him.
After turning around and returning to the cell gate, Xu Qing spread out his shadow and gave it the order to watch this place.
This could be considered a reward for it.
The shadow was instantly excited. It revealed happy emotions as though it had a new toy. It quickly split into 14 parts which then spread into the 14 cages.
The cloud beast stopped eating because the shadow was helping it eat because of its curiosity.
The woman trembled even more and stopped coaxing the straw doll to sleep. This was because after the shadow appeared, those straw dolls stood up one after another with trembling bodies and circled around it with extremely obedient behaviors.
In the end, they even surrounded the woman with the shadow, watching her like a hawk.
The millstone was still spinning, but it wasn't spinning on its own. Instead, the head was using all its strength to push it.
Both sides were horrified. This was because in the cage they were in, a shadow whip manifested and continued to whip.
In the cage with the painting of the Painting Race, the expressions of the 22 figures changed from their previous smiles to fear. This was because the shadow's main body was lying on it and licking it here and there.
The entire cage was filled with peace at this moment.
Only the little boy would occasionally look at Xu Qing. His gaze would always land on his right wrist and his curiosity gradually wasn't as intense as before. In the end, he simply sat cross-legged opposite Xu Qing and supported his chin as he looked at Xu Qing.
Xu Qing also looked at it.
He knew that this little boy was the secret of this D132.
Time flowed by and before long, half a month had passed.
During this half a month, Xu Qing didn't encounter inexplicable things when he went out again. As for D132, it became extremely normal under his supervision.
However, every time the prisoners inside looked at Xu Qing, they would express some horror.
This was because they were all missing something.
It was all the shadow's doing.
Its curiosity was too strong. It always liked to take a bite here and a bite there… Fortunately, these prisoners were bizarre entities and would recover after a night.
The head was no longer rambling, but would occasionally let out a sigh when Xu Qing passed by.
"Don't stomp me to death. I don't want to be trampled to death. It hurts."
The little boy also became familiar with Xu Qing. Basically, every day when Xu Qing came, it would immediately manifest and sit at the side.
It was as though he was following some agreement to protect Xu Qing.
Sometimes, it would even look for the shadow and watch it terrorize the prisoners.
As for the Diamond Sect's ancestor… Under his pitiful expression, Xu Qing didn't keep him in his storage bag. Hence, other than the shadow, the Diamond Sect's ancestor was also roaming free in D132.
He was very interested in that millstone. Somehow, he discussed it with the shadow and managed to bring the cage of the millstone under his management.
The shadow was most interested in the Painting Race. It especially liked to lie on it and lick it from time to time.
As time passed, the painting became blurry.
Looking at all of this, Xu Qing silently calculated the time in his mind. According to his communication with the other Pawns in the past half a month, he knew that the Pawns of the Prison Department had a monthly share of dealing with prisoners.
However, if the distribution was according to the number of prisoners in the cells, Xu Qing calculated that he would only get two.
He felt some regret.
"There are too few prisoners in D132."
Just as Xu Qing was thinking about how to replenish the prisoners, the old man from the Painting Race pleaded with a trembling voice.
"Lord Guardian, this old man has a secret to tell you. I don't ask for anything else but that after the Lord Guardian hears it, if you think this old man's secret is not bad, then… can you take this shadow back?"
Xu Qing's expression was as calm as ever and he didn't care.
"Lord Guardian… How many prisoners are we holding in our D132?"
The old man spoke with a trembling voice.
This sentence contained deep horror, as though he was also extremely helpless and had no choice but to tell Xu Qing.
Xu Qing frowned and looked over coldly.
He had known about the 14 criminals here when he arrived and had already checked them one by one. Moreover, he had already found out the secret about D132.
Now that this old man from the Painting Race suddenly asked this, he seemed to be deliberately mystifying things.
Xu Qing's gaze turned slightly cold and he was about to retract his gaze.
However, at the next instant, his expression suddenly changed as he recalled carefully.
"Lord Guardian, you also sensed it, right…"
When the old man from the Painting Race saw this, his voice trembled.
"Lord Guardian, are there really 14 criminals here?"
"Lord Guardian, recall carefully."
"In your memory, how many prisoners are there?"
"Have you really discovered the secret of D132?"
The old man's voice grew weaker and weaker until it finally disappeared.
Xu Qing looked at the cage the other party was in and his eyes gleamed.
The other party's words carried a hint of inducement. Xu Qing could already tell this.
However, no matter what, he still confirmed it in his mind and recalled the memories in his mind.
On the first day he came here, he had already checked the cages here one by one.
There were a total of 14 prisoners. The first was a cloud beast, the second was a human woman, the third was a millstone… The 13th was a head, and the 14th was the Painting Race.
"14. That's right." After Xu Qing pondered carefully, he took out the information jade slip and checked it very carefully. There were still 14 of them.
However, for some reason, Xu Qing felt that something was amiss.
However, he couldn't say what was wrong. Hence, Xu Qing stood up and walked toward the cage where the cloud beast was.
After taking a look, he walked a large circle along the corridor until he reached the old man from the Painting Race. He counted and there were 14 of them.
At that moment, outside the Painting Race's cage, Xu Qing's expression was gloomy. He stared at the blurry painting and gave the Diamond Sect's ancestor an order.
In an instant, the black iron stick flew out and circled the entire cell. It flew into every cage to investigate and finally returned, telling Xu Qing that everything was normal.
Xu Qing fell silent and released his shadow to investigate again. The shadow even swept past every prisoner and finally transmitted a divine sense fluctuation.
It was the same as what he had investigated previously.
There were indeed 14 criminals.
Xu Qing's expression darkened. He controlled his shadow to move a portion of the painting away, revealing the old man in the painting completely.
The old man from the Painting Race also looked at Xu Qing. His expression was filled with panic as he wailed.
"Sir, I had no choice but to spout nonsense. Just now, the black shadow was about to eat me up. I had no choice but to buy some time for myself like this. Otherwise, I'll be gone. Sir, you're magnanimous. Forgive me once, just once!"
Xu Qing didn't speak and his gaze turned even colder.
The old man trembled and his panic turned into fear. After that, he quickly spoke.
"What I'm going to say next is a true secret. Lord Guardian, actually, the true prisoner our Prison Department is suppressing is… a god!"
"Tell me in detail," Xu Qing slowly said.
"Lord Guardian, I don't know the details either. I heard from a prisoner who was even older than me here in the past that when the Prison Department was built, they sealed a god's clone… This is also the reason why the successive Palace Masters guard this place."
Xu Qing fell into deep thought. He thought of the first time he came and the roars he heard from the deep pit. He also thought of the tremors that would occasionally come from the Prison Department.
He also thought about how they dealt with the corpses here. They threw the corpses into the deep pit as though they were feeding something.
These thoughts filled his mind and expanded until they finally occupied his entire mind, diluting the doubts he had about the old man from the Painting Race.
After a long time, Xu Qing glanced at the old man and completely recalled his shadow from the painting.
Although the shadow was unwilling, it had no choice. It could only focus its attention on the other prisoners and continue playing.
The Diamond Sect's ancestor was the same and went to the millstone.
Area D132 returned to normal.
That lucky little boy also appeared again. It seemed to have been following Xu Qing the entire time, maintaining a certain distance and never leaving.
Time slowly passed and several days passed.
Xu Qing was normal. Although he had occasionally pondered over the old man's words, they had unknowingly dissipated in his mind.
On this day, when it was time for his shift to end, he, who had left D132 and was preparing to return to the Sword Pavilion, saw an acquaintance in the Prison Department.
It was Kong Xianglong.
