"What are the fourth to twelfth cages holding?"
"God's power?"
Xu Qing's mind stirred intensely. He was familiar with the handwriting. It was his handwriting but the content was completely unfamiliar to him. In the end, he abruptly lifted his head and looked around.
"It affected my memory?!" Killing intent flashed in Xu Qing's eyes. The Third Heavenly Palace in his body shook and the aura of the Poison Restriction spread out and enveloped his entire body. After that, he took a deep breath and used the power of the Fourth Heavenly Palace for the first time.
It was the Purple Moon Heavenly Palace.
With a thought from Xu Qing, the Fourth Heavenly Palace trembled. A wisp of purple moonlight bloomed in Xu Qing's sea of consciousness and enveloped his entire body. At this moment, the formless life level of his body suddenly increased.
His expression became cold and his eyes were ethereal. Although his appearance didn't change, he gave off the feeling that he was no longer a human with emotions but a god that looked down on all living beings.
With this attitude, Xu Qing went to look at D132 again.
With this glance, D132's appearance changed drastically in his eyes.
This place wasn't black at all but red. It was bright red and the ground was covered in blood. Be it the walls or the cages, they were all blood-colored.
Only one area emitted light. That was the place where the little boy was beside him.
Because they were very close, the light emitted by the little boy also enveloped Xu Qing.
He was in the light, and other than the blood-colored light, there was also a dense blood fog, as though it wanted to invade but was blocked.
Xu Qing's mind shook. He abruptly looked at the cage where the cloud beast was in. Inside… wasn't the cloud beast but a headless stone lion!
Its entire body was greenish-black and emitted a dense ominous feeling.
After that, he looked at the cage where the human woman was in. That place had also changed, as though the veil had been lifted, revealing the true scene. The woman inside was no longer a beauty but a skeleton.
A gigantic straw doll was in the cage. Its entire body was blood-colored and countless straws kept falling down. It transformed into small straw dolls and kept devouring the woman's skeleton. After eating it, it spat it out and pieced it back together.
It was as though it would continue tearing it for generations.
Noticing Xu Qing's gaze, the huge straw doll even turned its head and grinned at Xu Qing.
As for the cage that imprisoned the millstone and head, it was also different from before. The millstone had vanished, replaced by a massive water vat that emitted an ancient aura. Within the vat was a murky liquid, and a black lotus had bloomed, sending out countless branches that spread throughout the area surrounding the cage.
Many of them directly pierced into the head, causing the head to have a pained expression.
At that moment, the head noticed Xu Qing's gaze. However, its expression was very strange. There was helplessness in it as it spoke in a weakened voice.
"I'm the only one who hasn't changed. I told you, I'm a good guy…"
Xu Qing fell silent and swept his gaze toward the other cages. What he saw caused monstrous waves in his mind.
He didn't see the fourth to twelfth prisoners.
He saw a huge finger that pierced through a hundred cages. This finger emitted an indescribable divine might and the blood that flowed from it illuminated the whole cell red.
The blood fog and blood were all born because of It.
That was… the god's finger.
In the last cage, the old man from the Painting Race had a sinister expression. His body was emaciated, with half of it naked and covered in bite marks. He was drawing with his fingers.
Countless paintings floated in the cage and the scrapped paintings filled the ground. Upon closer inspection, every painting inside depicted Xu Qing!
Noticing Xu Qing's gaze, the old man turned his head and grinned.
"Good morning, Lord Guardian."
This was D132's true appearance.
There weren't fourteen prisoners here but six.
Xu Qing's expression turned grim. After carefully examining the paintings, he made his way to the location of the headless stone lion. With a wave of his right hand, the array formation of the cage was activated, causing the stone lion to crumble and shatter with a resounding rumble.
Next was the straw doll. It was also torn into pieces by the array formation, followed by the water vat's black lotus and head.
Xu Qing stomped the head into pieces. Before it died, it let out a sigh.
"Why don't you believe me?"
Finally, it was the Painting Race. Under the strange smile of the old man, Xu Qing flicked his sleeve, and a ball of flames whistled past, incinerating everything.
After doing this, he gazed at the finger for a long while, lost in thought. Eventually, he turned around and walked out.
This finger was D132's true secret.
In the end, what was imprisoned here was actually this god's finger. It was just that Xu Qing didn't understand why such a thing was placed in Area D.
Xu Qing looked at the little boy and saw that the light outside its body was resisting the blood intent emitted by the god's finger. He suddenly understood.
"The Diamond Sect's ancestor was wrong. Misfortune isn't caused by being unable to withstand the enhancement of luck, but it comes from a curse. The god's curse. Luck is here to suppress the curse."
"Therefore, the past guardians will be indirectly affected by the curse and suffer misfortune."
"This is a cognitive curse. The way to break it is very simple. You just have to see through everything."
"Therefore, you are the true guardian here."
Xu Qing spoke softly.
The boy nodded.
Xu Qing was silent. He walked to the cell gate and looked at the bamboo slip in his hand. He crushed it and scattered it on the ground.
He no longer needed this item. He planned to resign from D132's post. This place was bizarre. Even though he had seen through cause and effect, he wasn't willing to stay here any longer.
Hence, he restrained his purple moon and Poison Restriction and pushed open the cell gate.
The moment he walked out, as the gate closed, Xu Qing drew in a deep breath and frowned.
"Unfortunately, that little boy can't communicate. However, he doesn't seem to have any ill intentions toward me. It's more like curiosity."
"Forget it. However, there are only 14 prisoners in D132. That's too few."
Xu Qing felt that he should think of a way to increase the number. With such thoughts in mind, Xu Qing gradually walked away. He wanted to see Kong Xianglong, who was currently imprisoned.
After Xu Qing left, everything in D132 was as usual.
The cloud beast was still chewing, the human woman was still coaxing the straw doll to sleep, the millstone was still spinning, and the painting of the Painting Race didn't disappear. The old man sighed.
"Why is there such a terrifying fellow here? He wakes up every day. When will it end? Even when we remind him, he will wake up and kill us; even if we don't remind him, he'll still wake up after analyzing the situation."
The head at the millstone screamed when it heard this.
"I'm more annoyed than you. It was all normal when this guy came the first time. After the second time he came, he woke up. From then on, he would wake up every day. Moreover, every time he woke up, he would stomp me to death, and that part never changed!"
"Does it feel that good to stomp on me? I told him countless times not to step on me. Damn it, I want to kill him. No, straw hat will kill him. He's destined to die!"
Amidst the commotion, the little boy's figure appeared at the entrance of the cell. It picked up the shattered bamboo slip pieces. Carrying them with it, it made his way toward a hidden and undetectable corner of the cell and threw the pieces over.
In here… there was a pile of bamboo slip fragments.
There were words on each fragment. They were all Xu Qing's handwriting.
If one were to calculate carefully, they would discover that the number of bamboo slips was only one less than the number of days Xu Qing had been on duty here.
Perhaps tomorrow, there would be another shattered bamboo slip.
The little boy let out a deep sigh and disappeared without a trace. When it reappeared… it was already outside D132, standing behind Xu Qing.
No one could see it, not even Xu Qing.
It followed silently, as though he was abiding by a promise. It was going to protect Xu Qing until the young lady who was willing to be friends with it arrived.
That was the agreement.
However, it was a little vexed because the person it wanted to protect no longer needed its protection from the second day onwards.
He had seen through everything about D132 and it on that day. He also didn't need its help to neutralize his bad luck, he broke the bad luck himself.
Hence, he would wake up every day, gain enlightenment, and carry out a massacre here.
Due to the influence of the god and the suppression power of the Prison Department, he would forget everything every day.
The cycle repeated.
This was D132. It was also the core of the Prison Department's strength.
Misfortune indeed didn't come from luck. It came from a curse, a god's curse.
No one could withstand it. One could only forget and sever cause and effect.
* * *
