Stellar Transformation-Chapter 146 - 6 Episodes 15 - s Capital Punishment

Nine Evil Hall, shaped in the form of "Twelve Capital Gates", had twelve palaces built at the respective positions of the twelve formation eyes, surrounded by gardens, private courtyards, pavilions, and so forth. Nine of these twelve palaces belonged to the nine Princely Heirs.

The other three were Qiankun Hall, Treasure Hall, and Main Hall.

At this moment, the seven surviving Princely Heirs, along with Qin Yu, were gathered atop the Main Hall. The seven Princely Heirs sat in order, with Di Long seated above them all, while Qin Yu alone stood.

In his black robe billowing, Qin Yu bowed and said, "Qin Yu, the Cave Master of Red Blood Cave Mansion, has seen Your Highness, and the other Princely Heirs."

Qin Yu, unflustered by honor or disgrace, neither servile nor overbearing, smiled as he faced everyone.

Having been a Princely Heir of the Prince Mansion since childhood, he was accustomed to grandeur. Though the seven Princely Heirs of the Nine Evil Hall were highly skilled, in terms of pomp and circumstance, they could not compare to the lavishness of mortal kings, as after all, the number of Demon Cultivators could never match that of mortals.

"Qin Yu, I would ask you why my Eighth Brother had to die," Di Long asked from his elevated position.

Qin Yu smiled and said, "Your Highness, before discussing the death of the Eighth Brother, may I briefly share my own story? If you listen to it, you will understand everything." Qin Yu spoke with ease.

The Princely Heirs below showed signs of impatience.

These Princely Heirs knew very well that by simply capturing Qin Yu and then allowing the Guardian Jing Zhe to devour him, they could straightaway know all there was to know. However, the only downside to this was... it was impossible to verify the authenticity of what Guardian Jing Zhe might say.

"Very well, speak," Di Long was not in a hurry.

Qin Yu nodded, then stated, "Initially, once I had made some advancements in my cultivation, I and my brother Hou Fei left our master and roamed until we arrived in the Red Blood Territory where Demon Cultivators congregate."

"Master?"

All seven Princely Heirs, including Di Long, furrowed their brows upon hearing this word because most Demon Cultivators practiced on their own and their cultivation techniques were passed within their clans, seldom having a formal master. The mention of a master by Qin Yu was startling to them.

Qin Yu continued, "Later, in the Red Blood Territory, through a fight, I came to meet Cha Ge and thereafter became the protector for the Red Blood Cave Mansion. I consulted my master who also agreed that I should hone my skills and improve my worldly interactions at the Red Blood Cave Mansion."

"However, later..." Qin Yu’s eyes seemed distant as if recollecting that day.

Di Long and the other Princely Heirs focused their attention, knowing Qin Yu had reached the crucial part.

"During that time, the Eighth Prince and Master Cha Hong engaged in a fierce battle in the Underground Secret Chamber Group. In this battle, Cha Hong was killed, and the Eighth Prince obtained the black jade box that Master Cha Hong took a hundred years to break open, and thus he acquired the eighth Jade Sword."

"There must have been a Jade Scroll in there as well," Di Long suddenly interjected.

"I don’t know, my master did not tell me whether there was one or not," Qin Yu answered naturally, "But later, a mysterious person suddenly appeared and launched a sneak attack on the Eighth Prince. The attacker, already stronger than the Eighth Prince and attacking by surprise, killed the Eighth Prince there and then."

"Damn it!"

"Bastard!"

The Princely Heirs atop the Main Hall immediately began cursing.

Di Long, however, remained calm and pressed further, "Qin Yu, the way you speak suggests you witnessed it yourself. How did you come to know?"

"My master informed me," Qin Yu replied with a smile.

Di Long continued to inquire, "Then how did your master come to know of it, and if your master’s Spiritual Sense was indeed so extraordinary as to discern the course of events, why didn’t he kill the mysterious person and seize the eighth Jade Sword himself?"

"Master’s divine skills are unmatched, so why would he care about the eighth Jade Sword? He had long known about the legend of the Nine Swords. When his spiritual sense discovered the black jade box, he already guessed everything. Master studies the way of heaven, extreme in his aloofness. If the mysterious person took it, then it was the mysterious person’s fate," Qin Yu suddenly sighed.

"Alas, I didn’t know during the great battle. If I had known beforehand, I would have asked Master for help, and perhaps the Eighth Prince could have been saved. Although Master is reclusive, he still cares deeply for me, his only disciple."

Di Long nodded.

Suddenly—

"Sixth Brother, personally escort Qin Yu into the Qiankun Hall, temporarily confine him in the ’Kan 1’ room." Di Long unexpectedly ordered Di Jian to lock Qin Yu in a room of the Qiankun Hall.

Qin Yu did not resist.

"Sixth Prince, there’s no need for force. I’ll go with you. With your level of cultivation, are you still worried I might escape?" Seeing Di Jian reaching out to grab his hands, Qin Yu immediately said.

"Good."

Confident in himself, Di Jian directly took Qin Yu and left the main hall, heading towards the Qiankun Hall.

Qin Yu did not know that the Qiankun Hall was actually a prison, specifically for holding important criminals. The guards of each room in the Qiankun Hall were extremely loyal protectors from the Nine Evils Hall. Being locked in there, escaping would be difficult!

***

Qin Yu and Di Jian walked side by side, stepping on the embedded cobblestone path, heading straight ahead.

"Sixth Prince, you imprison me because you’re worried I might escape, but I don’t know why you brought me here? I’ve already said everything I had to say earlier. If you ever decide to let me go, please inform me in advance."

Qin Yu greeted Di Jian warmly.

Di Jian’s face was icy cold.

In Di Jian’s heart, Qin Yu was already a dead man. Release him? Once Guardian Jing Zhe absorbs Qin Yu, he wouldn’t even have his physical body left.

"Eh, this palace is called ’Treasure Hall’? Could it be that it contains many treasures?" Qin Yu looked at the outside of the palace, which was surprisingly lightly guarded. If it really was a Treasure Hall holding valuable treasures, why were there so few guards?

Di Jian rarely started a conversation, "This Treasure Hall is where the Twelve Halls of the Nine Evils Hall store precious items, but we are not afraid of thieves."

"Oh, and why is that?" Qin Yu became curious.

Di Jian’s words carried a hint of pride, "Do you know what our Nine Evils Hall is best at?"

"Pills," Qin Yu immediately answered.

A smile appeared on Di Jian’s face, "You should know, both alchemy and artifact refining are not as good among demon cultivators as humans, but the alchemy technique of our Nine Evils Hall can compare with the top artifact-refining cultivator sects, and the reason lies in this Treasure Pavilion."

Qin Yu listened attentively.

"Treasure Pavilion, indeed, it’s precious to find good crystal stones for refining spiritual artifacts. For high-level masters like us, only top-grade spiritual artifacts are attractive. However, top-grade crystal stones are extremely rare to find. To store top-grade crystal stones, storage bracelets and space rings are enough. There’s no need for a Treasure Hall."

Speaking of what the Nine Evils Hall proudest of, Di Jian could not hide the excitement on his face.

"Treasure Hall, it utilizes restrictions, or Spirit Gathering Arrays, or high-level Gathering Essence Arrays, or various wonderful formations, to absorb appropriate natural energies and sunlight among others. In the eight vast spaces within Treasure Hall, various types of spiritual mushrooms and immortal grasses are planted. The ingredients for refining spirit pills are the hardest to find. A single spirit pill may require dozens of ingredients, and in the vast ocean, it is not easy to collect them all. My brothers and I thus make great efforts to collect all kinds of spiritual mushrooms and immortal grasses and then cultivate them."

Qin Yu couldn’t help but admire as he listened.

Planting?

The growth environment for the Spiritual Mushroom Immortal Grass is very important; some need to grow in scorching places, some in cold areas, others in dry conditions, and still others in cool shade. Cultivating the Spiritual Mushroom Immortal Grass on a large scale is certainly not an easy task.

Another factor is patience.

The growth period of the Spiritual Mushroom Immortal Grass is generally quite long, though there are shorter ones that might take just a few months. However, the longer ones can even take hundreds to thousands of years. The legendary Heaven and Earth Spiritual Treasures can take thousands to tens of thousands of years.

Once planted, one must patiently wait. It is admirable to expect an ordinary person to wait for decades or centuries.

"You have also tasted the Jade Qin Pill. It’s a unique pill from Nine Evil Hall, made using some materials from the Treasure Hall," Di Jian suddenly said coldly to Qin Yu, "Stop asking so many questions, just come with me."

With that, Di Jian quickened his pace and headed towards another palace.

Qin Yu chuckled secretly: "Me asking? It was you who got carried away just now, saying so much. However... this Treasure Hall really has some great stuff."

"Sixth Prince, the spirit herbs in the Treasure Hall are so precious, why is there such minimal protection?" Qin Yu brought up his initial doubt once again.

Di Jian sneered, "Who would dare to steal? The eight plots for planting are all surrounded by restrictions for protection. If anyone touches those restrictions, all our brothers would be alerted. Besides, what use is it to have so many ordinary guards? A few are enough to watch over."

Qin Yu understood and did not ask further.

Shortly after, Qin Yu and Di Jian arrived outside a massive palace, the very Qiankun Hall.

The twelve palaces of Nine Evil Hall were quite large, each one stretching one to two thousand meters in length. Such immense palaces, if left for mortals to construct, would require an unknown number of people and years to complete. However, Demon Cultivators built them quite effortlessly.

"Sixth Prince."

The guard at the entrance of the Qiankun Hall knelt on one knee.

Di Jian nodded and then led Qin Yu directly into the Qiankun Hall. Upon entering, Qin Yu felt as though he had lost direction, there seemed to be no sense of direction. There were only eight directions labeled "Kan, Li, Dui, Zhen, Xun, Qian, Kun, Gen."

Di Jian entered in the direction of Kan and went straight to the cell marked ’Kan 1,’ a rather oppressive cell made entirely of a type of black stone. Except for the cell door and a window, which allowed a bit of light into the cell.

"Open it."

Di Jian ordered the guard at the ’Kan 1’ cell.

The guard, startled, quickly executed the magic formula to open the cell. Then, looking at Qin Yu, Di Jian watched as Qin Yu smiled and walked into the cell, and the guard hurriedly executed the magic formula again to close the cell.

"What a rascal, the entire Qiankun Hall is a huge formation, each cell surrounded by restrictions. Even if one could smash these black stones, it would be impossible to break the restrictions," Qin Yu’s Spiritual Sense clearly felt the defenses of the restrictions, knowing he couldn’t break them.

About that window, although it seemed empty, extending a hand could reveal a transparent restriction there.

"Qin Yu, just stay quietly here."

Having said that, Di Jian turned around and left.

The cells in the direction of Kan were numbered from ’Kan 1’ to ’Kan 8,’ with ’Kan 1’ naturally holding the most significant prisoner. Among the eight positions ’Kan, Li, Dui, Zhen, Xun, Qian, Kun, Gen,’ Kan was the foremost.

’Kan 1’ also represented the most important prison cell inside the Qiankun Bag.

"Who is this person, to be imprisoned in ’Kan 1’?"

"Who knows, must be some formidable expert. Anyway, it’s none of our business."

...

The guards watching over the prison cells started chatting with each other, speculating about the identity of the person who could be locked in the most important cell.

******

In the grand hall, Di Jian had just returned.

"Summon Guardian Jing Zhe."

Di Long issued the order, and everyone understood Di Long’s intent.

Directly let Guardian Jing Zhe devour Qin Yu then.

"Big Brother, according to what this Qin Yu said, his master seems to be extremely formidable. If it’s true that he is such an impressive person, then if we kill this Qin Yu, and his master becomes angry with us at the Nine Evil Hall..." Old San Di Yang expressed his concern.

Di Long smiled and said, "Old San, you’ve been fooled by that kid. If, as the kid says, his master is such a master, who else in the Overseas Cultivation World has such power, apart from the Three-eyed Old Demon and the Green Dragon Palace Master?"

"Not necessarily, Big Brother, don’t you know the legend? In the Southernmost Land, close to the ’Chaotic Star Sea’ area, there is an ancient transmission array," Di Yang reminded.

Di Long laughed, "You’re saying his master comes from that place?"

Di Yang nodded, and the faces of the other princes also turned serious. If it was indeed true that he came from that place, then things might get complicated.

"You are being too cowardly. Just because someone boasts about how powerful his master is, you believe it. How could we in the Nine Evil Hall continue to kill if we believe every such claim? Moreover, didn’t you pay close attention to what Qin Yu just said?"

The princes looked towards Di Long.

Di Long continued, "Qin Yu mentioned that his master, with divine skills, disdains even the Nine Swords. Hmph, the Nine Sword Immortal Mansion was left by immortals. Even people from that place are likely crazy about the Nine Sword Immortal Mansion. For his master to disdain it is just too exaggerated. And moreover..."

Having heard the first point, they started to believe Di Long. Yes, who in the Cultivation World would disdain an Immortal Mansion?

"Qin Yu finally said, ’Although my master is reclusive, he still cares greatly about me, his only disciple.’ Why would Qin Yu mention this at the end? He wanted to let us know that his supposed super powerful master cares greatly for him, to instill fear in us. As expected, Old San, you got frightened."

Di Long’s expression changed, "If his master really is some super expert, he wouldn’t let us simply capture his disciple. To disdain even the Nine Sword Immortal Mansion, I do not believe there exists such an expert in the Cultivation World. Alright, Old San, issue an order to summon Guardian Jing Zhe."

Di Yang immediately responded, "Don’t worry, Big Brother; hmph, I was indeed fooled by that kid just now. But this time, he definitely won’t escape. Once Guardian Jing Zhe devours him, not only will his soul be scattered, but his body will be gone too."

Soon after, Di Yang went to summon Guardian Jing Zhe.

(Today’s third Chapter, the first one made up. Another Chapter is in the works...)

(To be continued. For further updates, please visit WWW.CMFU.COM, for more Chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)