Chapter 3894: A Vast Underground Prison

Lin Mu remained motionless for several breaths. More for appearance than necessity, as the impact itself meant little. His physique absorbed it effortlessly.

Even so, he honestly evaluated the prison’s design.

An ordinary mortal would have died instantly. Several bones would shatter before the body even came to rest. Cultivators within the Body Tempering Realm would fare a little better. Even someone who had only recently entered the Spirit Realm would suffer serious injuries.

Broken legs, broken ribs, internal injuries, concussions and many more problems. The prison clearly made no effort to preserve a prisoner’s condition. Whether someone arrived healthy or half crippled appeared completely irrelevant.

As long as they survived, it was fine.

Lin Mu slowly stood up as dust fell from his robes. The movement immediately triggered another change. The invisible force keeping his limbs together suddenly disappeared. His arms relaxed naturally and his legs separated.

Even his back no longer remained rigid.

The strange restraining technique had deactivated and only the shackles remained. Lin Mu immediately lowered his gaze toward them. The thick metallic rings still tightly encircled his wrists and ankles.

Now that he could freely move again, he carefully examined them. His fingers lightly touched the surface as the cold metal carried an unusual texture. Even before using any perception techniques he sensed something different.

Then recognition dawned as his brows slowly rose.

"Baleful Qi Eater Steel..." The words escaped almost instinctively.

He looked at the shackles with renewed appreciation. Finding Baleful Qi Eater Steel alone proved difficult enough. But forging it into usable equipment, represented an entirely different challenge.

The material naturally consumed Qi.

Every attempt at refining it became an exhausting battle. Formation Masters hated working with it and immortal Smiths avoided it whenever possible. Even heating the metal required specialized flames capable of enduring continuous Qi consumption.

Adding formations became considerably harder as every formation line had to compensate for the material constantly draining spiritual energy. Most craftsmen simply gave up before finishing.

Only genuine masters possessed both the patience and ability required.

Lin Mu had only seen a few kilograms of it back at Mantleheim. Most of it was just unrefined chunks of metal, as the dwarves did not find it that useful for them. Even the few complete products he had seen were simply just some restraining tools, similar to these shackles.

"They certainly spared no expense." Lin Mu quietly rubbed one of the shackles again.

The craftsmanship impressed even him as these restraints easily qualified as High Grade Immortal Tools. Using such treasures merely to restrain prisoners demonstrated the frightening wealth possessed by the Heavenly Stream Guardian Sect.

More importantly... It demonstrated how seriously they treated the Mad Demon Depths.

No ordinary prison warranted equipment of this caliber.

Lin Mu quietly smiled. "So, I truly am inside the Mad Demon Depths."

The realization brought satisfaction. His destination had finally been confirmed. He slowly looked around.

"The name certainly suits it." The place carried an oppressive atmosphere difficult to describe. It was a mix of heaviness and an ancient dread. As though countless resentments had accumulated throughout endless years.

Lin Mu also remembered another detail, the masked cultivators.

One of them had issued an order.

"Leave him in Level One."

Level One. The wording itself suggested a hierarchy.

If there existed a first level, there naturally had to be additional ones: Second, third and perhaps even dozens more.

Lin Mu quietly considered the possibilities. ’The prison is probably divided according to danger.’

Weak prisoners would remain near the surface. Stronger criminals would descend deeper. The greatest monsters likely occupied the lowest levels. Such an arrangement appeared logical.

The stronger the prisoner, the more difficult escape became and the deeper they would be imprisoned. Exactly how many levels existed remained impossible to determine. For now though, his current destination happened to be the first.

His eyes gradually adjusted further to the darkness. The moss covering sections of the cavern ceiling emitted its familiar green glow. And unlike the upper cave, the patches here appeared scattered irregularly.

Large portions of the chamber remained completely dark and only faint outlines emerged from the shadows. The ceiling itself stretched much higher than before. Dozens of meters or perhaps more.

Enormous stone pillars supported portions of the cavern and natural rock formations mixed with signs of artificial excavation. The place felt ancient beyond measure. Lin Mu waited another few breaths before making his decision.

He would risk a brief inspection.

Carefully his Immortal Sense quietly spread outward. The Baleful Qi Eater Steel immediately responded. The shackles greedily consumed the released Immortal Sense. Lin Mu clearly felt the suppression as his perception weakened considerably.

He estimated the loss almost immediately.

’Nearly half.’ It was a significant reduction.

Though far from complete as his Immortal Sense continued expanding. The Abyssal Horizon Veil Seal remained perfectly stable and its concealment never wavered. The amount of Immortal Sense released remained small enough to avoid disturbing his disguise.

That alone pleased Lin Mu.

Half his usual perception still exceeded what countless cultivators possessed. The expanding wave gradually spread across the underground world. Then, Lin Mu stopped breathing for the briefest moment as his eyes slowly widened.

The chamber surrounding him represented only a tiny fragment.

His Immortal Sense reached countless tunnels extending through every direction. Natural caverns connected with carved passageways. Massive underground halls branched into narrow corridors and hidden chambers lay concealed behind formation barriers.

Vertical shafts linked different depths while stone bridges crossed enormous underground chasms. Some passages extended beyond the limits of his perception before splitting yet again into even more routes.

The sheer complexity overwhelmed any ordinary attempt at mapping.

This place resembled an entire underground world rather than a simple prison as every direction revealed another network of passages, another collection of caverns and another layer hidden beneath the previous one.

Lin Mu finally understood why no one simply escaped.

Finding the exit alone would challenge even experienced cultivators. And somewhere, within this endless labyrinth, lay the true heart of the Mad Demon Depths.

Perhaps, if fortune favored him... The forgotten traces of the Virtuous Calamity Daoist as well.

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